The Simpsons' 10 Best Parody Episodes Ranked

"The Simpsons" is one of the best TV shows in history, and certainly one of the most influential. It's an American institution that changed both animated comedy and animation on TV forever. It also set a standard for how to build a lived-in fictional television universe, creating a large ensemble of side and background characters (like Harry Shearer's Dr. Marvin Monroe) that make Springfield feel like a living place.

For over 35 years, "The Simpsons" has delivered half-hour episodes of television that are heartfelt, outrageous, and hilarious. The show has also commented on and lampooned both contemporary sociopolitical issues and pop culture in all its forms, whether it's anime, indie film darlings, or classic horror stories. Indeed, it seems no movie, TV show, or book out there is safe from being parodied by "The Simpsons," just as there's seemingly nary a famous person who can avoid eventually paying a visit to Springfield.

Since /Film has already ranked the best episodes of "The Simpsons" ever, we're going to get a little more specific and rank the show's best parody episodes this time. Before we do that, though, a clarification. This list only includes episode-length parodies, which eliminates the many excellent "Treehouse of Horror" parody segments like "The Shinning" (which would've otherwise deserved to be listed here). So, with that being said, let's look at the best parodies on "The Simpson."

At the time "The DeBarted" aired in March 2008, "The Simpsons Movie" had only just hit theaters the prior summer, and it had been a long while since an episode of the show had simply focused on a small story involving Bart (Nancy Cartwright). If this was just a normal episode about the young rapscallion it would already be a pretty good one, but what makes it great is how it brings the extremely adult bloodthirsty mayhem of Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" into a relatable elementary school story about friends, pranks, and betrayal. (It's also but one of the many, many parodies of Scorsese movies in "The Simpsons.")

The episode sees a new troublemaker named Donny (Topher Grace) becoming a student at Springfield Elementary School and quickly evolving into Bart's new best friend and partner in pranking — only to turn out to be a mole working with the school's authority figures to get Bart suspended. But while the episode's plot is an effective and funny sendup of the overall narrative of "The Departed," it's the way it adapts the twists and turns from that movie for a low-stakes story involving a little boy and his friends that make this a great parody. The highlight of the episode, of course, is its magnificently timed joke about the ending of Scorsese's Oscar-winning film, with Dropkick Murphys' song "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" playing while Ralph (Cartwright) pops out of a garbage can, points at a rat, and says "The rat symbolizes obviousness!" as the camera pulls out wide.

Many "The Simpsons" parodies advertise themselves as soon as the episode begins — you know what you're getting. But the thing that makes "Bart of Darkness" great is how it blurs the line between a clear parody and homage to one of Alfred Hitchcock's best movies, "Rear Window." Indeed, it takes a while for the episode to make it clear Bart is essentially playing L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies, the James Stewart character who comes to suspect his neighbor committed a murder in Hitchcock's classic. As such, the episode slowly weaves in references to and Easter eggs from the film, like Bart's silhouette in a bedroom window (which looks just like Hitchcock's famous outline) or a heat wave at the start of the episode echoing the extreme weather in "Rear Window."

After Bart breaks his leg in the episode, he becomes increasingly isolated. Hence, his only means of fun — while everyone else is enjoying their poolside summer — is to look through a telescope he gets from Lisa (Yeardley Smith) in his room. Of course, hell-raiser Bart immediately starts using the telescope to spy on his neighbors and becomes convinced that Flanders (Shearer) has murdered his wife and buried her in his backyard. The result is a clever, funny parody of Hitchcock's tense thriller, with Bart reduced from a master prankster to a little boy isolated and scared, powerless to do anything but window-peep as his suspect closes in on him.

"A Serious Flanders" is the rare late-era "Simpsons" episode to be included on /Film's list of the show's greatest episodes, and it's easy to see why. This is an absolutely brilliant episode, and the best proof "The Simpsons" is still good. It's also arguably the series' biggest recent experiment — one that makes for a fantastic parody of the TV show "Fargo," as well as a bold, imaginative departure from everything "The Simpsons" normally does (breaking away from the show's formula and even its canon).

The two-part episodes kicks off with Flanders finding a duffel bag full of cash, which leads to a gruesome debt collector coming to Springfield in order to hunt him down. Of course, things go south, and a whole bunch of Springfield residents get brutally killed in the process. What makes this such a terrific parody is that it not only pokes fun at the plot of "Fargo" Season 1, but it also messes with the structure of "The Simpsons" in order to better fit the rules of Noah Hawley's show. Being a non-canon episode, characters die horrible deaths, whether that entails getting their head blown up or, in one case, getting their head covered in flour and then deep-fried like a donut. But more than that, the episode recreates the visual aesthetics and format of "Fargo" and other prestige TV series.

In doing this, "The Simpsons" becomes an entirely different show — one with slower pacing, hyper-violence, an overly serious tone that suddenly turns silly, and an abundance of flashbacks and lengthy monologues. "A Serious Flanders" is not just a great parody, it's also a damn good episode of television.

The best parody episodes of "The Simpsons" do more than just poke fun at the thing they're parodying. Case in point, "SimpsoncalifragilisticexpialaD'oh!cious" is more than just a hilarious lampoon of a beloved Disney movie, with excellent jokes about cutting corners being the American way and the Simpson family being so horrible they ruin a perfectly perfect nanny. This "Mary Poppins" sendup also marks the first full-fledged musical episode of "The Simpsons" — and every single song is catchy and funny as hell.

In the episode, Marge (Julie Kavner) becomes so stressed she starts losing her hair, so the family hires a nanny in the form of Shary Bobbins (Maggie Roswell), who is definitely not a copy of Mary Poppins. Shenanigans ensue, of course, as the family becomes so dysfunctional and dependent on Bobbins that they drive her to the brink of sanity. What makes the episode memorable, however, are the songs. "The Simpsons" is full of great tunes both original and parodic, and "SimpsoncalifragilisticexpialaD'oh!cious" has banger after banger that takes the soulful, heartfelt melodies and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers and turns them into catchy, cheeky songs about lacking motivation, alcoholism, and impossible expectations. Plus, it has one of the most unexpectedly morbid endings in the history of "The Simpsons."

Recent years has seen "The Simpsons" do a lot of experimenting with canon, formula, and tone, delivering all-time great horror episodes outside of the annual "Treehouse of Horror" tradition. After doing a home invasion episode and even a Thanksgiving horror episode, "The Simpsons" delivered one of its best horror episodes ever with "Not It." The episode, of course, is a parody of Stephen King's "It," particularly the two-part film adaptation directed by Andy Muschietti. Adapting King's entire book into a 22-minute episode, we follow several charactes as they face off against the evil killer clown Krusto (Dan Castellaneta) as kids, and then again as adults.

"Not It" is a shockingly good adaptation of King's book, hitting all the major notes, characters, and scenes. As a horror episode, it's also quite effective in recreating the scares of its source material while still being a parody. Krusto is honestly quite terrifying at times, all while remaining the same ridiculous clown we know. Moe's (Hank Azaria) line about overhearing his parents talking about child coffins costing the same as full-sized ones is hysterical, while an early scene of Barney (Castellaneta) being devoured by the clown in the sewers is as horrifying here as its counterpart is in Muschietti's first "It" movie.

What makes the parody work as a "Simpsons" episode, however, is that it changes the decades-old dynamics of the residents of Springfield in funny and creative ways. Switching out Barney for Comic Book Guy (Azaria) in the group and the love triangle with Marge is an inspired choice, especially when we see that Homer (Castellaneta) ends up becoming the owner of "D'ohs Tavern," while Moe is a ventriloquist rock star. The end result is a fantastic episode of television that's both funny and makes you see classic characters in a new light.

A great parody is more than just funny. See also "Marge on the Lam," a hilarious caricature of "Thelma and Louise" that doubles as a poignant and heartfelt episode about Homer and Marge's relationship (specifically, Homer's neediness). There are countless episodes about the dysfunctional dynamic of Homer and Marge's marriage, but this just might be the best of them.

In "Marge on the Lam," Marge befriends the fiery and rebellious divorcée Ruth Powers (Pamela Reed) and the two start spending time together ... which, naturally, leads to Homer becoming insecure, jealous, and eventually getting involved in a high-speed police chase. You see, Ruth was betrayed by her husband in more ways than one, and when he stopped paying child support, she stole her car. While it's a fun riff on "Thelma and Louise," down to its jumpy climax, the episode is at its best when it explores Homer's childlike behavior, which prompts him to go absolutely wild when Marge decides to take a single night off with friends. It's a testament to early "Simpsons" that the episode recognizes Homer's flaws without just making him a buffoon, showing him to be absolutely in the wrong while having him act ashamed of his misdeeds.

We once named "24 Minutes" one of the most underrated episodes of "The Simpsons," and with good reason. The moment Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer says "Previously on '24' ... I mean, 'The Simpsons,'" it become evident the episode is doing a bit. However, it's the lengths the episode goes to commit to said bit that makes this such a good parody. Sure, the idea of a potentially major stink bomb attack on Springfield Elementary forcing Bart to work together with Principal Skinner (Shearer) and his CTU (the Counter Truancy Unit) to stop the attack is a fun one that ends up giving rise to a surprisingly tense situation — plus, there some random yet hilarious gags (like Ralph getting trapped in a massive hamster cage). And yet, it's the attention to detail that makes this episode soar.

"24 Minutes" is one of two great cases of "The Simpsons" taking advantage of its status as Fox's biggest animated cultural footprint to parody other shows on the network (more on that shortly). If it wasn't for the comedic tone and the fact it's animated, this could actually be a side-story in an episode of "24" ... because production-wise, it basically is. The episode not only brings in Jack Bauer and Mary Lynn Rajksub's Chloe for a cameo, but it also uses the same "Previously On" narration, extensive split screens, font, credits sequence, and even the sound design of the hugely popular live-action drama.

As a parody, the episode also pokes fun at some of the, well, more problematic aspects of "24," particularly its glorification of Jack torturing suspects — at one point, Bart beats the hell out of Nelson (Cartwright) — and Islamophobia. Likewise, when Jack Bauer arrives at Springfield Elementary and immediately points a gun at a 10-year-old before calling in a whole SWAT team to do the same, it's not just hilarious, but it additionally works as an indictment of "24" and the hold it had on the American audience in the 2000s.

"The Springfield Files" is as much a parody as it is an actual crossover with "The X-Files," and it works like gangbusters on both accounts. In the episode, Homer spots an alien, prompting FBI Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) to go to Springfield to investigate. Of course, the alien turns out to be a highly medicated Mr. Burns (Shearer), glowing in the dark from his years at the power plant. All the same, the episode captures what makes "The X-Files" one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever, from its score doing a great job incorporating and satirizing Mark Snow's legendary "X-Files" music to Mulder's classic purple prose monologue feeling like Chris Carter himself wrote it.

This episode is also just a gobsmacking showcase of the joke-a-second pacing and tone of early "Simpsons." It's full of hysterical and often random throwaway moments, including Moe having a Sea World killer whale in his backroom, Reverend Lovejoy (Shearer) discussing "E.T." in his sermon, Homer describing the plot of "Speed" without remembering its title, and especially the polygraph joke. Still, it's Duchovny and Anderson that really make this parody work. Somehow, the two are even better here than on "The X-Files" itself, with Anderson in particular giving a subdued yet hilarious performance as Scully, a woman who recognizes she is surrounded by the biggest clowns on the planet in Springfield.

One of the biggest criticisms of later seasons of "The Simpsons" is that the show's characters have mostly become caricatures or gotten "Flanderized." Homer went from a buffoonish but well-meaning dad to just a clown, while Bart went from a young rascal with a big heart to an actual spawn of Satan. Occasionally, however, we get loving episodes that understand Bart's nuances and treat him like an actual kid. 

Such is the case with "Barthood," a parody of Richard Linklater's acclaimed coming-of-age film "Boyhood" — one of the most ambitious cinematic experiments ever — as well as an episode that's all about Bart feeling overshadowed by Lisa and ignored by his parents. "Barthood" recreates the storytelling gimmick of Linklater's movie, jumping forward in time and tracing Bart's life from the age of 6 until he's 18, and the changes that occur in his life. Most importantly, the episode is similar to Linklater's movie in that it tells a simple and nuanced story about Bart growing up — one that doesn't feature much in terms of classic "Simpsons" shenanigans.

Here, Bart is more than a daredevil and a kid who makes everyone around him angry; he's someone who sees his dad constantly thinking the worst of him and his sister getting the attention all the time. This may not be the funniest or most experimental "Simpsons" episode, but it is one of the most heartfelt and emotional. Getting to see Bart slowly learn to appreciate himself for who he is, warts and all, this is the rare future-set episode where Bart isn't merely a failure — making it one of the character's finest hours.

"Cape Feare" can truly be summed up in three words: dark and funny. This might just be the darkest canonical episode of "The Simpsons" ever. Yet, within that darkness are some of the funniest gags in the history of modern television. Indeed, this is one of the best episodes of the show, and certainly the only one to inspire a postmodern play and be banned in Germany. It is, of course, a parody of "Cape Fear," specifically Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake starring Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte, that focuses on Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) getting out of jail and deciding to finally kill his nemesis, Bart, forcing the Simpsons into the Witness Relocation Program.

This is the most savage, sadistic, and single-minded Sideshow Bob has ever been, which makes him legitimately scary in the episode. The episode includes some great horror-comedy moments outside of Bob as well, like the jump scare of Homer asking Bart if he wants to see his new chainsaw and hockey mask. Naturally, there are plenty of memorable slapstick bits and side gags as well, like Moe smuggling pandas in his backroom (a classic gag sorely missed these days), the reveal of Bob's "Die Bart Die" tattoo, and, obviously, the simple genius of Bob repeatedly walking into loose rakes. As terrifying as Bob is, though, the true genius of the episode as a parody is how it uses the character to transform De Niro's menacing Max Cady from Scorsese's film into, basically, Wile E. Coyote.

Still, what makes this the best parody in the history of "The Simpsons" is how it seamlessly interweaves the show's own history and characters into the story. The characters fit perfectly into the plot of "Cape Fear," as does the tone. Even if you've never watched "Cape Feare" before, you could never mistake this for just any old "Simpsons" episode in which Bob finally decides to have his revenge.