Thunderbirds Are Spoofed

Even though it inspired Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s politically naïve spoof Team America: World Police, Gerry Andersen’s Thunderbirds still remains an obscurity in the U.S. However, in the rest of the world, Thunderbirds is considered a beloved institution as evidenced by these sketches below…

This is probably the first ever parody of Thunderbirds (as well as Andersen’s other programs: Super Car and Stingray). It’s clearly not the best sketch to appear on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s proto-Monty Python sketch show, “Not Only But Also” but it does have it’s amusing moments (particularly Moore’s vapid portrayal of Johnny) and, like all of the Thunderbirds spoofs you’ll find here, it’s creepy.




This ran on an episode of Australia’s sketch comedy series The D-Generation. The selling point here is the eerie physicality of the cast and their amazing ability to mock that palsied way that marionettes walk.




Les Dennis is probably best known to most Americans for his appearance on a first season episode of Extras. Les Dennis is probably best known in the U.K. for his sketch comedy series The Les Dennis Laughter Show and multiple, nasty public meltdowns. Here’s a Thunderbirds sketch from an episode of Laughter Show..




I’ve saved the weirdest and scariest for last. I have no idea where this sketch comes from, what’s going on in the sketch, why they look like they’re embalmed, why their lower lips are so elongated and puffy or why that one character starts breakdancing. It’s all in Japanese but I implore you to stick around until the scene where a floating Thunderbird eerily lip-synchs to a Japanese pop song.