How do you say... M-E-M-E?

What makes a good parody? It has to be true to the original.

It has to twist the original content in a way that's unexpected and/or taps into an exisitng meme about the origianl.

I keep trying to think of a third item (thanks Bob Shrum for teaching me the rule of threes), but I'm outta ideas.

BEFORE YOU CLICK THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK... Put your headphones in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0ilMx7k7mso

However you break it down, this is brilliant parody. It caputres the tone and feel of cable ads perfectly before twisting it into a sharp satire of the cable companies' business model. Ultimately, I think it's successful because it links into the meme that the cables companies are a**holes who care more about making money than they do about providing a good product.

My wife asked me who was responsible for this video, why did they do it? It's not part of some anti-cable campagin as far as I can tell, but maybe it ought to be because it perfectly crystalizes everything that's wrong with them.