¶ … parody is a comical spoof usually ridiculing a work of art or literature. Parodies may address anything from a popular fairy tale to a piece of music. Use of parody is commonplace in the arts, and has become integral to the postmodern sensibility. Usually parody refers to a work of art that most audience members will already be familiar with. Even audience members who are unfamiliar with the original piece may find the parody funny in its own right.

The popular television show The Simpsons used to rely a lot on parodies, especially during its Halloween specials. The Simpsons parodied Alfred Hitchcock films like Psycho, turning an old suspense film into an animated comical short. Likewise, the "Itchy and Scratchy" show on The Simpsons is in part a parody of the animated series Ren and Stimpy. Colbert Report is another example of a parody. In this case, the entire television series parodies right-wing cable news talk shows like Bill O'Reilly. Sometimes parodies are purely funny, and other times they can be used to make political statements. When Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart use parodies in their shows, the humor delivers an underlying social or political message. When The Simpsons parodies Psycho, the effect is purely playful.

However, even when parody is playful it still has artistic merit. The parody is in some ways like a band covering a song. Only with a parody the idea is to make people laugh. In fact, music is sometimes the object of a parody such as when The Simpsons made fun of the Iron Butterfly song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" or when South Park ridiculed the Christian rock phenomena.

Often to parody something means to respect and redeliver the original. The object of ridicule may still have meaning to a modern audience, but in many cases the original item has lost relevance through several generations. Its validity may be best understood through parody. From a postmodern perspective, a parody is essential for preventing the arts from being taken too seriously. Parody allows high culture to become fused with popular culture.