Parody documentaries, often called mockumentaries, have been a comedic technique in film and television for a long time. The various types of documentaries, such as sports, music, and history, can be easily parodied or satirized by using the mockumentary format. The conventions of the documentary format naturally lends itself well to comedy and comedic characters. Whether it is dry, deadpan humor being earnestly presented in shows such as The Office, or the more absurd, character-driven mockumentaries seen in Documentary Now!, mockumentaries remain one of the funniest forms of parody and satire and have only grown in popularity as a genre. Here are the definitive top ten mockumentary movies and TV shows. 

10. Modern Family

With the single-camera setup quickly becoming the new normal for sitcoms in the 2000s, ABC’s Modern Family revitalized the “family sitcom” genre by combining it with a mockumentary sitcom style featuring a single camera and confessional interview segments for each character. Modern Family was a critical and ratings hit for the network and ran for eleven seasons between 2009 and 2020. The show is considered not only one of the best mockumentaries but also one of the last great network family sitcoms. 

9. The Rutles

Based on a sketch from BBC’s Rutland Weekend Television, Eric Idle’s Beatles parody The Rutles aired on NBC in 1978 under the title The Rutles: All You Need Is Lunch. Though not a ratings success, The Rutles is often remembered for its talented ensemble cast, which includes Idle’s fellow Monty Python star Michael Palin, as well as musicians such as Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, and George Harrison of the Beatles. Co-produced by Lorne Michaels, The Rutles also features multiple Saturday Night Live performers, including Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Al Franken, Tom Davis, and even Lorne Michaels himself. This mockumentary is often credited as a precursor to future mockumentaries, particularly musical mockumentaries such as This Is Spinal Tap. A sequel, The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch, was released in 2003 and features performances from Jimmy Fallon, Robin Williams, and Catherine O’Hara.

8. Drop Dead Gorgeous

1999’s Drop Dead Gorgeous is a dark satire of beauty pageants and the fierce, competitive culture surrounding them. Drop Dead Gorgeous is set in a small town in Minnesota, where a documentary is being filmed about the preparation for their pageant competition and the deadly lengths some of the contestants are willing to go to in order to win. Kirstie Alley stars as Gladys Leeman, who runs the beauty pageant whose daughter Becky (played by Denise Richards) is competing in. The film was not commercially successful upon its initial release but has developed a cult following and has often been cited for its accurate satirical depiction of beauty pageant culture, which has only become more prevalent since its release in 1999. 

7. Documentary Now!

Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Rhys Thomas struck comedy gold with IFC’s Documentary Now! Each episode of the series focuses on a single fictional character or event and satirizes various styles of documentary filmmaking, from music documentaries to historical documentaries. The show enlists the talents of various performers, notably from Saturday Night Live, as it was created by four SNL alumni and has produced multiple memorable characters and episodes.

6. Parks and Recreation

After successfully adapting The Office for American television, Greg Daniels teamed up with writer Michael Schur to develop another workplace mockumentary series with Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, head of the Parks Department for the city of Pawnee, Indiana. With a hilarious ensemble comprised of Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Chris Pratt, and Rob Lowe, Parks and Recreation ran on NBC for seven seasons and was a critical and ratings success, with some fans even arguing that it outperformed The Office in terms of quality in later seasons. 

5. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Comedy trio “The Lonely Island” gave their take on the musical mockumentary with 2016’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which follows pop sensation Conner4Reel (played by Andy Samberg) as he goes on tour to promote his critically derided sophomore album Connquest. Starring a hilarious ensemble featuring comedic talents such as Tim Meadows, Sarah Silverman, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph, Popstar also includes appearances from musicians such as Seal, Questlove, and Ringo Starr who appear as themselves, with Justin Timberlake and Weird Al Yankovic appearing as characters. As is the case with other “Lonely Island” projects, Popstar has gone on to receive cult status and has even been called the modern-day This Is Spinal Tap. You can read more about “The Lonely Island” in a previous article I wrote about them.

4. The Office

The 2005 U.S. version of The Office completely revitalized the mockumentary genre, taking it to new heights. At a time when sitcom audiences were slowly growing fatigued with the traditional live-audience three-camera setup, The Office popularized the single-camera setup, practically spawning its own genre of sitcoms, including Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, and Abbott Elementary. The show was praised for its cast, which includes Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the regional manager of a branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton. John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, and a large ensemble are also featured as employees of the paper company. The show’s humor, heartfelt moments, and character growth showed that the mockumentary genre not only lent itself to comedy but also to genuine emotional storytelling. 

3. Real Life

Albert Brooks’s directorial debut, Real Life, was surely ahead of its time upon its initial release in 1979. Satirizing An American Family, the PBS program widely regarded as the first-ever reality show, Real Life follows Albert Brooks as a fictional version of himself who seeks to live with and document a dysfunctional family in hopes of winning both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. The film also features a memorable performance from Charles Grodin as the patriarch of the Yeager family. Real Life was groundbreaking and experimental for its time and catapulted Albert Brooks’s directing career. It has only grown in relevance since its release, as both the mockumentary and reality television genres have become increasingly popular in recent decades. 

2. Best In Show

After proving his improv abilities on Saturday Night Live, Christopher Guest would go on to direct a number of acclaimed mockumentaries, including Waiting For Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration, most of which starred Guest along with fellow improvisation actors such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch, and Fred Willard. But the funniest of Guest’s mockumentaries has to be 2000’s Best In Show. In the world of dog shows and hopeful dog owners striving to win such competitions, Best In Show was so impactful that it inspired the annual airing of The National Dog Show on Thanksgiving. 

1. This Is Spinal Tap

Topping the list is Rob Reiner’s 1984 comedy classic This Is Spinal Tap. A hilarious mockumentary starring improv legends Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest as the bumbling rockstars known as Spinal Tap, who are the subject of a documentary from legendary filmmaker, Marty DiBergi (played by Rob Reiner), Reiner’s directorial debut is not only the prime example of a mockumentary, it also broke new ground for being an almost entirely improvised movie with McKean, Shearer, Guest, and Reiner all given writing credits. This Is Spinal Tap remains one of the most quoted comedies of all time, and the film was not only a critical and commercial success but also received praise from real-life rock stars who appreciated its accurate depictions of the music industry and the rockstar lifestyle. Its blend of improvisational comedy and music helped influence the likes of Tenacious D, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and Conan O’Brien. The popularity of the film led to Spinal Tap releasing a real album, Break Like the Wind, in 1992, and to the release of a sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, in 2025. This Is Spinal Tap remains a hilarious mockumentary, with the laughs turned up to eleven.