- 7 months ago
When satire strikes a nerve, the results can be explosive! Join us as we explore memorable spoofs that left their targets fuming, from Stephen Colbert's Ham Rove to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression. These parodies pushed boundaries and provoked outraged responses that became almost as famous as the original jokes themselves!
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00:00Did anybody here see South Park last night?
00:02Just first.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06And today, we're looking at spoofs of influential individuals that notably incensed the targets.
00:12For the purposes of this list, public figures can include entertainers whose brand is defined
00:16by sociopolitical engagement, but not celebrities mostly focused on their art.
00:21I would have to say Adrian Brody.
00:23Adrian Brody?
00:24Yeah.
00:25What happened?
00:26He didn't take it all that well.
00:27Right.
00:28The Colbert Report.
00:31Karl Rove.
00:31They want a head on a platter.
00:34Wait.
00:36A head on a platter.
00:42Then let's give them the ham.
00:48In 2011, Stephen Colbert established a political action committee to demonstrate the subject
00:53on his show.
00:54Unable to get conservative political consultant Karl Rove to help out, the Colbert Report
00:59regularly interviewed a loaf of canned ham wearing a pair of glasses.
01:03This ended when the 2012 re-election of President Obama prompted Colbert to, quote, kill Ham Rove
01:08on the air.
01:09What are you waiting for?
01:10Kill him!
01:11Why don't you do it?
01:12I can't do it.
01:13It's not kosher.
01:16Fine.
01:17Fine.
01:19I'm sorry, Ham Rove.
01:21One of us is dead meat, and you already are.
01:24The real Rove then responded at last in an interview with ABC News.
01:29He initially dismissed the parody, but found Ham Rove's death an extreme gesture of Colbert's
01:34disdain and even a threat.
01:36Either way, he was not amused.
01:38I don't know whether that was working out his inner feelings or encouraging maybe somebody
01:42to maybe mimic him or just sort of being funny, but there was a little bit of, you know, anxiety
01:48in his stabs there, so.
01:51The closest Colbert came to an apology was donating his Super Pax funds to charity in the late
01:55Ham Rove's honor.
01:57In Living Color, Spike Lee.
01:59You like?
02:00No.
02:01Come on, you gotta like.
02:02No, I...
02:02Come on, look, you gotta like.
02:04I don't.
02:04Please, baby, baby, please.
02:06Please, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, please, baby, baby, please.
02:09Fox's sketch comedy show In Living Color would touch some nerves with its spoofs.
02:13In a 2019 retrospective for The Hollywood Reporter, actor David Alan Greer named a particularly
02:18shocking critic.
02:20Prominent filmmaker and political commentator Spike Lee was reportedly furious about Tommy Davidson's
02:25depiction of him fighting unruly customers at a video store named Spike's Joints.
02:29Now, I know what you're thinking right now.
02:32You're thinking, hey, now's a great time to throw a trash can through the window.
02:36Well, I couldn't agree with you more.
02:38That's why I got trash cans in the back for $15.
02:41This play on the film Do the Right Thing was deemed too exaggerated and insulting to
02:46Lee's serious portrait of race relations in urban America.
02:49Some movies may be a little too reverent to mock so flippantly.
02:52Of course, Lee, who apparently didn't like In Living Color at all, can be a bit too outspoken
02:58at times.
02:59It wasn't widespread, you know, that sentiment.
03:04Just vocal.
03:05It wasn't that vocal either.
03:07Really?
03:07Mm-mm.
03:09But I guess it was just enough that the media picked up on it and it got a lot of attention,
03:14which is generally what happens in those cases.
03:17Saturday Night Live, Sarah Palin.
03:19It's got to be all about job creation, too.
03:22Also, too, shoring up our economy and putting Fannie and Freddie back on the right track.
03:29And so health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending because Barack Obama,
03:37you know.
03:38Most believe that the former governor of Alaska was always a good sport about her recurring
03:42spoof on SNL.
03:44Debuting during Sarah Palin's 2008 vice presidential run, Tina Fey's quirky exaggeration of the
03:49politician's mannerisms and perspective made the comedian an icon.
03:53You know, Hillary and I don't agree on everything.
03:57Anything.
04:00I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.
04:06And I can see Russia from my house.
04:08Palin told Sean Hannity that she found the bit, quote, hilarious and lovingly dressed
04:15as Faye for Halloween.
04:16But in James Andrew Miller's book Live from New York, she revealed that she thought the
04:20parody made her look like, quote, an idiot.
04:23Palin's cameo on SNL was not a peaceful gesture, but a counter.
04:27The truth is that Palin felt exploited by Faye and that the spoof helped kill her political
04:32career.
04:33It also helped make both women become bigger public figures.
04:36You can't let Tina go out there with that woman.
04:40She goes against everything we stand for.
04:42I mean, good Lord, Lorne.
04:44They call her, what's that name?
04:45They call her Cara, Cara.
04:47What do they call her again, Tina?
04:48That'd be Caribou Barbie.
04:49Caribou Barbie.
04:51Thank you, Tina.
04:53The Daily Show, Bill O'Reilly.
04:55Are you happy now, Stuart?
04:56You're.
04:56Are you happy?
04:58Happiness is not what comes by me.
05:00But let me say this.
05:01Your humility has moved me.
05:06The relationship between political commentator Bill O'Reilly and political satirist John
05:10Stewart seemed civil on one side.
05:13The liberal Stewart's hosting style and skits on The Daily Show regularly poked at his conservative
05:17counterpart.
05:18Nonetheless, O'Reilly made a number of appearances on the talk show and regularly had Stewart on
05:23his The O'Reilly Factor.
05:25During a particularly heated debate in 2024, O'Reilly turned to the audience and remarked,
05:30I truly hate him, but I don't, I don't show it.
05:34You hold it very well.
05:35Yeah, I don't, I don't put it out.
05:36This may have been in jest, but it surely comes from a place of real frustration with
05:40Stewart's snarky comedy.
05:42Four years earlier, Stewart told The New York Times that giving O'Reilly a platform was
05:46perhaps the worst part of The Daily Show.
05:48So my job as a journalist is to say...
05:51Oh, when did you get that job?
05:54Too easy.
05:55You really make it too easy.
05:57We're going to talk tomorrow.
05:58We got to go.
05:58This is too long.
05:59The Simpsons.
06:00Morrissey.
06:01I step out my door and I take a deep breath.
06:05Turn back inside and pray for my dad.
06:08Because everyone is horrid except me and possibly you.
06:13Possibly me.
06:14The former The Smiths frontman rose to the forefront of left-wing political activism in
06:19the UK and beyond.
06:21In recent years, however, many progressives have rejected Morrissey for his support of
06:25British nationalist sentiments.
06:26This disillusionment was paralleled in the 2021 The Simpsons episode Panic on the Streets
06:31of Springfield, in which Lisa discovers that rock star Quillaby has abandoned his vegan
06:36and anti-racist views.
06:37Because everything is horrid except me.
06:41So slag off to you.
06:44Morrissey quickly took to his personal blog to decry this misrepresentation of his complicated
06:48image.
06:49His manager also released a statement rejecting accusations of racism and asserting the singer's
06:54dedication to animal rights.
06:56Morrissey seems to have grown a thick skin with critics, but prefers that the critiques
07:00be accurate.
07:01Shut your gobs, you wankers!
07:05Woohoo!
07:07Wankers!
07:09Can't you see this show?
07:10It's just a cash grab.
07:12I'm only here because I lost my fortune suing people.
07:15Doonesbury, Dan Quayle.
07:17Since the beginning of American counterculture, Gary Trudeau's comic strip has tackled many
07:21politicians along Michael Doonesbury's coming of age.
07:24The most memorable reaction came from Dan Quayle in 1991.
07:28That was really uncalled for, Senator.
07:37You're the one that was making the comparison, Senator.
07:41Doonesbury depicts the then-U.S. Vice President as an actual Quayle feather involved in a drug
07:46trade.
07:47This capitalized on claims from two incarcerated drug dealers that were ultimately proven false.
07:51Trudeau's platform for this conspiracy theory caused Quayle to go on a rant during a morning
07:56conference shortly before the offending strips were published.
07:59This was just part of the cartoonist's private feud with the Bush family and administrations,
08:04dating back to his and George W.'s mutual Yale days.
08:07Ironically, Quayle made the biggest public spectacle.
08:10Which is very unpresidential, and it elevated me way beyond my importance in the national conversation.
08:16The Boondocks, Tyler Perry.
08:18With that dress, that wig, and these beautiful muscular gifts from God, I have built an empire.
08:25And soon, I will crush Ice Cube, and my supremacy of black Hollywood will be complete.
08:33Entertainment magnate Tyler Perry may upset some people with the quality of his work,
08:37but he tends to be moderate in his opinions.
08:40The animated sitcom The Boondocks still went pretty hard on him through the stand-in Winston
08:44Jerome.
08:45The episode Pause follows the making of one of Jerome's films, and characterizes him
08:49as internally racist, religiously fanatical, and secretly gay.
08:54Jesus says the scene would have more impact if you grabbed the Mordukes and kissed her deep
08:58on the lips.
09:00Kiss?
09:00Hold on, Jesus said that?
09:01Jesus said that we need to kiss passionately so the audience can feel our love.
09:05Change it in the script!
09:07Praise Jesus to be right!
09:09Perry was so offended by this parody that he pressed Turner Broadcasting System to pull
09:13the episode from reruns.
09:15There was even a disputed rumor that he had a hand in the Boondocks' eventual cancellation.
09:19The incident is still a testament to both the man's power and the limits of his tolerance
09:24for criticism.
09:25Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!
09:26This isn't working!
09:27I cannot work like this anymore!
09:29I've worked with Jesus!
09:31South Park, Donald Trump.
09:33The small town of South Park, Colorado is protesting against the president.
09:38The townspeople claim that the president, who is a great man...
09:41A great man?
09:42Great guy!
09:43We know he's probably watching, and we are just reporting on this town in Colorado that's
09:48being sued by the president, and they are fighting back.
09:51And just to be clear, we don't agree with him.
09:53No, no, no, no!
09:54Spoofs of celebrity businessman Donald Trump have skyrocketed since his election to president
09:59of the United States in 2016 and 2024.
10:02He can hardly keep up with it all, but often publicly condemns such prominent critics as
10:07Saturday Night Live.
10:08And I actually do have a replacement plan, okay?
10:11I just read about it this week.
10:12It's a terrific plan.
10:13Just great.
10:13It's called the Affordable Care Act.
10:18That's the same thing as Obamacare, and if you repeal it, 20 million people will lose
10:23their health insurance.
10:24I mean, people could die.
10:25Listen, sweetheart, I'm about to be president.
10:27We're all gonna die.
10:28Next question.
10:29Alec Baldwin's impersonation was still nicer than the 2025 South Park episode Sermon on
10:34the Mount.
10:35Trump is depicted as a deranged tyrant and Satan's lover, as in the show's earlier spoofs of
10:40Saddam Hussein.
10:41You remind me more and more of this other guy I used to date.
10:44Like, a lot.
10:45Like, you guys are exactly alike.
10:47This was writer-director Trey Parker's extreme response to Paramount Global Settlement in
10:52a defamation suit by Trump.
10:54Though the president didn't directly review the episode, members of his administration
10:58have represented his intense outrage.
11:01At a San Diego Comic-Con panel, Parker offered only a sarcastic apology.
11:06Guys, did you anticipate the reaction today?
11:09Have you been following it?
11:10What do you make of it?
11:11We're terribly sorry.
11:12Saturday Night Live, Barbara Walters.
11:16Journalist and television personality Barbara Walters was highly respected throughout her
11:20long career.
11:22She was also known for a slight speech impediment, especially after Gilda Radner's exaggeration
11:26in a 1975 sketch on Saturday Night Live.
11:29Dr. Kissinger, in conclusion, there is one thing that really, really irritates me about you.
11:36After 40 years of being in this country, why do you still talk with that silly, silly accent?
11:43Baba Wawa became a recurring character on the show and one of Radner's career-defining routines.
11:50Walters, however, was deeply hurt by this mockery of the speaking and interviewing style that made
11:54her an icon.
11:55That is, until her young daughter got her to, quote, lighten up on the matter.
11:59Cecily, I'm a serious person.
12:02I'm not like some fake anchor like you or Colin.
12:07Oh, but you're a co-host on The View.
12:15That's a fair point, yeah.
12:17Walters went on to embrace Baba Wawa, as the inside joke left her reputation unscathed.
12:22Still, it's hard enough to be a trailblazer without being a seminal spoof of broadcast journalists.
12:28No, I think you're being very reasonable.
12:31Harry Wiesner.
12:32Harry Wiesner.
12:34Five million dollars.
12:36I'm witch.
12:36I can do anything I want in television.
12:37Excuse me.
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12:54Hustler.
12:55Jerry Falwell.
12:56Publishing provocateur Larry Flint frequently tested the boundaries of decency in American
13:01media.
13:01Look, Moses freed the Jews, Lincoln freed the slaves.
13:05And Larry Flint with Hustler magazine liked to free a lot of neurotics.
13:09Besides, I think a copy of Hustler magazine is a lot cheaper than a psychoanalyst anyway.
13:14A 1987 issue of the adult magazine Hustler took aim at a supposed champion of decency,
13:20televangelist Jerry Falwell, with a fake interview about how he lost his virginity.
13:24A footnote asserted that the seedy article was, quote, not to be taken seriously.
13:29Falwell wound up taking it seriously all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.
13:33The question you have before you today is whether a public figure's right to protection
13:38from emotional distress should outweigh the public interest in allowing every citizen of
13:46this country to freely express his view.
13:48There, it was formally ruled that any sufficiently clear parody of a public figure is protected
13:52speech.
13:53Flint's landmark victory thus opened the door for some courageous comedy, whether the subject,
13:58or really anyone with taste, liked it or not.
14:01If this freedom don't exist for some of us today, it may not exist for any of us tomorrow.
14:07What are your favorite public figure parodies and responses from the parodied?
14:11Give us your riff in the comments.
14:13Please trust me, it's not sour grapes, but rather that another network recognizes in me
14:19a great talent for delivering relevant news stories with crystal clarity to millions of Americans.
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