Editing The Pirates of Penzance (section)

==Cultural impact==
{{main|Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan}}

===Major-General's Song===
{{main|Major-General's Song}}
[[File:Modern Major General, Bab.png|thumb|upright|The Major-General carries an encyclopedia in this "Bab" drawing.]]
''Pirates'' is one of the most frequently referenced works of Gilbert and Sullivan. The [[Major-General's Song]], in particular, is frequently parodied, [[pastiche]]d and used in advertising.<ref>Zetland, Earl. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL81E47F8C9314A1D7 "Modern Major General Parodies"], accessed 7 May 2012</ref> Parody versions have been used in political commentary as well as entertainment media.<ref>Hinkle, A. Barton. "Hinkle: The Attorney General's Song", ''[[Richmond Times-Dispatch]]'', 10 May 2010</ref> Its challenging [[patter song|patter]] has proved interesting to comedians; notable examples include [[Tom Lehrer]]'s song "[[The Elements (song)|The Elements]]" and [[David Hyde Pierce]]'s monologue as host of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''.<ref>[http://snltranscripts.jt.org/94/94kmono.phtml "David Hyde Pierce's Monologue"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320074805/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/94/94kmono.phtml |date=20 March 2012 }}, SNL transcripts, accessed 15 February 2010</ref> In 2010, comedian [[Ron Butler]] released a YouTube pastiche of the song in character as [[Barack Obama|President Obama]] which, as of September 2021, had garnered more than 1.9 million views.<ref>Butler, Ron. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54FRMedT_s "Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)"], YouTube, 11 October 2010</ref><ref>Zacher, Scotty. [http://chicagotheaterbeat.com/2010/10/18/gilbert-and-sullivan-spoof-a-modern-us-president-fun/ "Gilbert and Sullivan spoof: A Modern US President. (Fun!!)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108180017/http://chicagotheaterbeat.com/2010/10/18/gilbert-and-sullivan-spoof-a-modern-us-president-fun/ |date=8 November 2011 }}, ''Chicago Theatre Beat'', 18 October 2010, accessed 7 May 2012</ref>

Pastiche examples include the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' version, "I am the very model of a cartoon individual", in the episode "H.M.S. Yakko";<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBFGj7LX530 "Animaniacs – Cartoon Individual"], YouTube, accessed 15 February 2010</ref> the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' audio "I am the very model of a [[Gallifrey]]an buccaneer" in ''[[Doctor Who and the Pirates]]'';<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIdDXQ2h1Pc "Doctor Who Gallifreyan Buccaneer"], YouTube, accessed 15 February 2010. Other songs, from ''Pirates'', ''Pinafore'' and ''[[Ruddigore]]'', are also parodied in the recording</ref> the ''[[Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip]]'' version in the episode "The Cold Open" (2006), where the cast performs "We'll be the very model of a modern network TV show";<ref name=Studio>Schillinger, Liesl: [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/theater/22schi.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1 "Dress British, Sing Yiddish"] ''The New York Times'', 22 October 2006</ref> and the ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' video game version, where the character [[Mordin Solus]] sings: "I am the very model of a scientist Salarian".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HgVM6JSIY "''Mass Effect 2'' Mordin Singing"], YouTube, 23 January 2010</ref>

The song is often used in film and on television, unchanged in many instances, as a character's audition piece, or seen in a "school play" scene. Examples include a ''[[VeggieTales]]'' episode entitled "[[The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!]]"; the ''[[Frasier]]'' episode "[[Fathers and Sons (Frasier episode)|Fathers and Sons]]"; ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Deep Space Homer]]"; and the ''[[Mad About You]]'' episode "Moody Blues", where Paul directs a charity production of ''Penzance'' starring his father, Burt, as the Major-General. In ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' (season 3, episode 4) guest host, comedian [[Gilda Radner]], sings the song with a {{convert|7|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} talking carrot (Parodying the pilot/pirate confusion in ''Pirates'', Radner had requested a {{convert|6|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} talking ''parrot'', but was misheard).<ref>[http://www.tv.com/the-muppet-show/gilda-radner/episode/176733/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;12 The Muppet Show] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508135023/http://www.tv.com/the-muppet-show/gilda-radner/episode/176733/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;12 |date=8 May 2008 }}, TV.com, accessed 25 July 2009</ref> In an episode of ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', Al Borland begins to sing the song when tricked into thinking he is in a soundproof booth. In the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "[[Atonement (Babylon 5)|Atonement]]", [[Marcus Cole (Babylon 5)|Marcus Cole]] uses the song to drive [[Stephen Franklin (Babylon 5)|Dr Stephen Franklin]] crazy on a long journey to Mars.

Examples of the use of the song in advertising include [[Martyn Green]]'s pastiche of the song listing all of the varieties of [[Campbell's Soup]]<ref>Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/G/GreenMartyn.htm "Martyn Green"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905101325/https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/G/GreenMartyn.htm |date=5 September 2006 }} ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'', 2003, accessed 2 December 2011</ref> and a 2011 [[Geico]] commercial in which a couple that wants to save money, but still listen to musicals, finds a roommate, dressed as the Major-General, who awkwardly begins the song while dancing on a coffee table.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpaS2Q3hTlA "Roommate – Easier Way to Save – GEICO Commercial,"] Geico, accessed 2 December 2011</ref> [[Gimbels]] department store had a campaign sung to the tune of the Major-General's Song that began, "We are the very model of a modern big department store."<ref name=Gimbels>One of these ads ran in ''The New York Times'' on 27 October 1953 as a full-page advertisement.</ref> George Washington, in the number "Right Hand Man" from the 2015 musical ''[[Hamilton (musical)|Hamilton]]'' by [[Lin-Manuel Miranda]], refers to himself with irony as "The model of a modern major general", which he rhymes with "men are all". Miranda commented: "I always felt like 'mineral' wasn't the best possible rhyme."<ref>Mead, Rebecca. [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/09/hamiltons "All About the Hamiltons"], ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 9 February 2015 Issue, 2 December 2015</ref>

===Film and television===
Other film references to ''Pirates'' include ''[[Kate & Leopold]]'', where there are multiple references, including a scene where Leopold sings "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major-General" while accompanying himself on the piano; and in ''[[Pretty Woman]]'', Edward Lewis ([[Richard Gere]]) covers a social gaffe by prostitute Vivian Ward ([[Julia Roberts]]), who comments that the opera ''[[La traviata]]'' was so good that she almost "peed [her] pants", by saying that she had said that she liked it better than ''The Pirates of Penzance''". In [[Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney's]] cartoon ''[[Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers]]'' (2004), there is a performance of ''Pirates'' that becomes the setting for the climactic battle between the Musketeers and [[Pete (Disney)|Captain Pete]]. ''Pirates'' songs sung in the cartoon are "With cat-like tread", "Poor wand'ring one", "Climbing over rocky mountain" and the Major-General's song. "Poor wand'ring one" was used in the movie ''[[An American Tail]]''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090633/soundtrack "Soundtrack for ''An American Tail'' (1986)"]. Internet Movie Database, accessed 22 April 2010</ref> The soundtrack of the 1992 film ''[[The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992 film)|The Hand That Rocks the Cradle]]'' includes "Poor Wand'ring One" and "Oh Dry the Glistening Tear".<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104389/soundtrack ''The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' soundtrack"]. Internet Movie Database, accessed 21 June 2010</ref> A nonsense pastiche of the Major-General's song in the 2017 film ''[[Despicable Me 3]]'', sung by [[Minions (Despicable Me)|Minions]], was termed "amusing"<ref>Marsh, Calum. [https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/movies/resistance-is-futile-why-the-ubiquity-of-the-minions-cannot-and-will-never-be-contained "Resistance is futile: Why the ubiquity of the Minions cannot (and will never) be contained"], ''[[National Post]]'', 29 June 2017</ref> and "the film's finest moment";<ref>Prigge, Matt. [https://www.metro.us/despicable-me-3-finds-a-loopy-series-finally-running-out-of-gas "''Despicable Me 3'' finds a loopy series finally running out of gas"], ''Metro'', 26 June 2017</ref> it was uploaded to YouTube by [[Illumination Entertainment]] as a singalong challenge, which has garnered more than 19 million views as of 2023.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwgTtwJHoWQ "#DespicableMeChallenge – In Theaters June 30"], YouTube, [[Illumination Entertainment]], 4 July 2019</ref>

Television references, in addition to those mentioned above, included the series ''[[The West Wing]]'', where ''Pirates'' and other Gilbert and Sullivan operas are mentioned in several episodes, especially by Deputy Communications Director, [[Sam Seaborn]], who was recording secretary of his school's Gilbert and Sullivan society. In ''[[Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip]]'', a poster from ''Pirates'' hangs on [[Matt Albie]]'s office wall. Both TV series were created by [[Aaron Sorkin]]. In the pilot episode of the 2008 [[CTV Television Network|CTV]] series ''[[Flashpoint (TV series)|Flashpoint]]'', a police officer and his partner sing the policeman's song. In an ''[[Assy McGee]]'' episode entitled "Pegfinger", Detective Sanchez's wife is a member of a community theatre that performs the opera. In a 1986 episode of the animated television adaptation of ''[[The Wind in the Willows (TV series)|The Wind in the Willows]]'' entitled ''A Producer's Lot'', several characters put on a production of ''Pirates''.<ref>[http://www.tv.com/the-wind-in-the-willows/a-producerand039s-lot/episode/266956/summary.html "A Producer's Lot"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629024005/http://www.tv.com/the-wind-in-the-willows/a-producerand039s-lot/episode/266956/summary.html |date=29 June 2011 }}. TV.com, accessed 14 March 2011</ref> In a 2005 ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "[[Peter's Got Woods]]", [[Brian Griffin]] sings "Sighing Softly", with [[Peter Griffin]]'s assistance. In a 2012 episode, "[[Killer Queen (Family Guy)|Killer Queen]]", Peter gives a garbled rendition of the [[Major-General's Song]].<ref>Pierson, Robin. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140329003847/http://www.thetvcritic.org/reviews/comedies/family-guy/season-77/killer-queen/ "Episode 16 – 'Killer Queen'"]}}, ''The TV Critic'', 21 March 2012, accessed 29 August 2013</ref> In the 2009 ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "The Slave of Duty", [[Aaron Hotchner|Hotch]] quotes "Oh dry the glist'ning tear".<ref>[http://www.tv.com/m/shows/criminal-minds/the-slave-of-duty-1308753/trivia/ "The Slave of Duty"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625232836/http://www.tv.com/m/shows/criminal-minds/the-slave-of-duty-1308753/trivia/ |date=25 June 2015 }}, ''Criminal Minds'', Season 5, Episode 10, 2009 (TV.com, accessed 24 June 2015). Hotch notes, at her funeral, that he met his slain ex-wife at tryouts for a high school production of ''The Pirates of Penzance''. He quotes from ''[[Iolanthe]]'' and then quotes the opening lines of "Oh dry the glist'ning tear", up to "... to see their father weep".</ref> In the 1992 episode "The Understudy" of ''[[Clarissa Explains it All]]'', the title character is chosen to understudy Mabel in a school production of ''Pirates'' and is unprepared when she must go on; a scene from ''[[The Mikado]]'' is also heard.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130205000746/http://www.tv.com/clarissa-explains-it-all/the-understudy/episode/56697/summary.html?tag=ep_guide;summary "The Understudy"]. Episode Summary, TV.com, accessed 26 July 2011</ref>

===Other references===
[[File:1887SorcererRuddigoreWallpaper.jpg|right|thumb|Wallpaper showing characters from ''Pirates'' and other Savoy operas]]
Other notable instances of references to ''Pirates'' include a ''[[New York Times]]'' article on 29 February 1940, memorialising that Frederic was finally out of his [[indenture]]s.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1940/02/29/archives/frederic-goes-free.html?sq=%2522Pirates%2520of%2520Penzance%2522%25201940&scp=3&st=cse "Frederic Goes Free"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 29 February 1940, p. 18</ref> Six years previously, the arms granted to the [[Penzance|municipal borough of Penzance]] in 1934 contain a pirate dressed in Gilbert's original costuming, and Penzance had a rugby team called the Penzance Pirates, which is now called the [[Cornish Pirates]]. In 1980, [[Isaac Asimov]] wrote a short story called "The Gilbert & Sullivan Mystery" (later retitled "The Year of the Action"), concerning whether the action of ''Pirates'' took place on 1 March 1873, or 1 March 1877 (depending on whether Gilbert took into account the fact that 1900 was not a leap year).<ref>[http://www.asimovreviews.net/Books/Book303.html "The Year of the Action"] in ''[[Banquets of the Black Widowers]]'' (1984); first published as "The Gilbert & Sullivan Mystery" in ''[[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine]]'', 1 January 1981</ref> The plot of [[Laurie R. King]]'s 2011 novel ''Pirate King'' centers on a 1924 silent movie adaptation of ''The Pirates of Penzance''.<ref>[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9970915-pirate-king "''Pirate King''"], Goodreads.com, accessed 13 July 2013</ref>

The music from the chorus of "With cat-like tread", which begins "Come, friends, who plough the sea," was used in the popular American song, "[[Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here]]." "With cat-like tread" is also part of the soundtrack, along with other Gilbert and Sullivan songs, in the 1981 film, ''[[Chariots of Fire]]'', and it was pastiched in the "HMS Yakko" episode of ''[[Animaniacs]]'' in a song about surfing a whale.<ref name=MUGSS>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061013163848/http://www.mugss.org/society/gands/culture/ "G&S Pop culture references"], Manchester Universities Gilbert and Sullivan Society, accessed 30 November 2011</ref> In the case ''[[Pierson v. Ray]]'', which established the doctrine of [[qualified immunity]] for police officers, the [[United States Supreme Court]] held that "[a] policeman's lot is not so unhappy that he must choose between being charged with dereliction of duty if he does not arrest when he had probable cause, and being punished with damages if he does."<ref>Schwartz, Joanna C. (2017). "How Qualified Immunity Fails", ''[[Yale Law Journal]]'', Yale Law School. Retrieved 26 February 2020</ref> State courts have cited the same song for other purposes: "Where does this extraordinary situation leave the lower... Courts and State Courts in their required effort to apply the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States...? Like the policeman in Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Pirates of Penzance'', their 'lot is not a happy one.'"<ref>''Wagonheim v. Maryland State Board of Censors'', 255 Md. 297, 321 (1969); and ''In re Stevens'', 119 Cal.App.4th 1228, 15 Cal.Rptr.3d 168 (2d Dist. 2004) ("a felon's 'capacity for innocent enjoyment' is just as great as any honest man's.")</ref>