Parody is a fine, fine art when performed correctly. Often, the tone has to be justso – you have to make sure that everyone has a straight face firmly glued on, and that there are no giggles erupting forth no matter how silly it gets. It’s acting indignant when everything around you is ridiculous (it’s kind of like keeping a straight face when someone is freaking out over a shade of peach at a bridal shop). As way leads to way with my life sometimes, my very good friend Jennie Muoio (who happens to be a mermaid – seriously, she takes part in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade every year, with each costume more amazing than the last) passed along a short parody sketch concerning the dark side of genealogy sites. Here’s Molly Brenner and Quentin Tice in an Ancestry.com parody:

Judy is the enthusiastic  relative we all have but don’t want to admit we all have. You know the type: you avoid sitting next to this person at the family reunion because you really don’t give a shit about the fact that your third great-aunt twice removed has a distant relation to one of the kings of Spain. If anything, you’re more like the Joey character: you want to forget about the fact that most people in the past married within the family, and that the notion of having even the slightest blood relationship with a potential partner is squicky at best. His growing looks of despair are just as great when coupled with Judy’s overly-affectionate, no-hold-barred approach to genetic closeness. Couple the delivery with the happy, twee music, and the tone is perfect. Well-done to everyone.

Happy Saturday.