In this Valtrex ad, Alec Baldwin and Amy Poehler play a husband and wife who are confused when suddenly, in the midst of a long-term, monogamous relationship, one of the partners tests positive for genital herpes. Thank God the husband read about a study that explains everything away. And remember, as the commercial says, "Ask your husband if you need Valtrex. He may know more than your doctor. Doctors don't know everything." — NA
19. "Colon Blow," SNL, 1989
Among the many things the comedy world lost with the death of Phil Hartman was his uncanny voice, which seemed to distill the unctuousness of the American huckster to its essence. That voice made him perfect for recurring Simpsons characters like Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz; it also (combined with his '50s-commercial-pitchman's face) elevates this throwaway scatological gag into a minor classic. — PS
promotion
18. "Bad Idea Jeans," SNL, 1990
This spoof of a '90s Guess Jeans ad is just a series of really bad ideas being casually coughed up by thirtysomething yuppies wearing acid-wash denim with a red label in the crack. "Well, I thought about it, and even though it's over, I'm going to tell my wife about the affair." And, "Now that I have kids I feel a lot better having a gun in the house." It's a beautiful lampoon of clueless upper-middle-class male suburbanites who think they know everything. The pickup basketball game they stride toward at the end of the parody is just the icing on the cake. — WD
17. "Schmitt's Gay Beer," SNL, 1991
Ads for domestic beer are essentially soft porn for straight guys, but they're so ubiquitous that we don't find them all that sexually explicit, which is why "Schmitt's Gay Beer" is so brilliant. Swap out the women for men, the bikinis for banana hammocks and the breast implants for ham-hock pecs, and what originally looked like good, wholesome horsing around in a pool looks like late-night pay-channel programming. — WD
16. "Crystal Gravy," SNL, 1993
Crystal Pepsi was a grouper in a barrel, to be sure, but SNL made the most of their parody. The bit combines a great recreation of Pepsi's bullshit new-agey commercials — right down to a soundalike for Van Halen's cheeseball "Right Now" in the background — with the pure sight gag of a hair-gel-like substance oozing all over dinner. God, the '90s, huh? — PS
15. "The Love Toilet," SNL, 1991
The Love Toilet is a perfect storm of commercial parodying: a mix of great comedic writing with a commentary on groan-inducing "I want to smell your morning breath" love. The voiceover asks, "Why not share the most intimate moment of them all?" Why not, indeed? A young Kevin Nealon and a fresh-faced Victoria Jackson make goo-goo eyes at each other, their panties strung around their ankles. — NA
14. "Wrap-It-Up Box," Chappelle's Show, 2003
The best fake commercials offer one of two things: a product you would never in your life actually purchase (i.e., the Bass-o-matic), or a product you would kill to have, if only it were really on the market. The Wrap-It-Up Box is of this latter category, the perfect device to subvert our culture of politeness, where everyone feigns interest long after interest has shriveled and died. — WD
13. "Happy Fun Ball," SNL, 1991
Sadly, the days of truly hazardous children's toys are long gone, so "Happy Fun Ball" doesn't pack the straight parody punch it did almost twenty years ago. It does, however, bear a striking resemblance to modern commercials for pharmaceuticals. Viagra is, technically speaking, a type of Happy Fun Ball, so the litany of warnings remains hilariously relatable. Plus, the idea of taunting an inanimate rubber ball is laugh-worthy all by
itself. — John Constantine
12. "G-R-R-R Detergent," The Lily Tomlin Comedy Special, 1975
Few people know that Lily Tomlin used to do real TV commercials, usually with a subtle wink at the vapid marketing behind detergents and breakfast cereals, making her one of the first satirists of advertising back when it was oh so earnest. This parody of an ad for G-R-R-R Detergent holds up remarkably well several decades later — it's all in Tomlin's believably flustered delivery. Everything is encapsulated in that moment when she first notices the lipstick stain on her husband's shirt and stares into the washing machine for just a second too long. — WD
11. "Stretch Marks by Patti Caldwell," SNL, 1980
A close second to Eddie Murphy's "Buhweet Sings," Gilda Radner portrays Patti Caldwell, whose album, Stretch Marks, "for career women in their late-thirties," is hilariously depressing. Songs like "I Used To Be Quite Interesting, Really" and "Kids — It's Academic Now (Too Risky)" are accompanied by a montage of Patti looking alternately empowered and destroyed, but always in taffeta. — WD
