It’s increasingly clear that Twitter’s only real value* is lampooning the ridiculous.
That what these highly successful parody Twitter accounts did in 2012. It seemed that everything that caught the public’s attention was treated a personified, overly rambunctious version of itself that sometimes made more headlines than the news itself.
Some accounts are still tweeting absurdities while others proved how difficult it is to extend a joke. Here are our 10 favorite parody-based Twitter accounts for 2012.
1) @YourAwayMessage (238,000 followers)
This account does not help the PTSD I am suffering from after the years I spent on AOL Instant Messenger, but it’s still one of the year’s most clever creations. The witty account brilliantly captures your old away messages that you used to display during your distressed teenage years. It has evolved from a single-serving account to what could be the world’s first teenage drama based on Twitter. I and its other 237,000 (!) followers want to know if things between her and Mike are going to be all right.
2) @InvisibleObama (and other political-themed accounts) (65,000 followers)
You can’t see him, but this account won’t shut up. Created after Clint Eastwood’s now-infamous speech from the Republican National Convention in August (the right-wing actor used an empty chair to slam Obama, remember?). The account seemed to kick off an election season filled with other politically positioned parody accounts, such as @FiredBigBird, @RomneysBinder, @PaulRyanGosling, and @FiveThirtyNate. The election itself was exhausting enough, but not even Nate Silver could predict the type of an emotional toll the parodies would take on us.
3) @WillMcAvoyACN (46,000 followers)
Love him or hate him, the fictional news anchor has been given new life by this parody. Based off of the bombastic protagonist of Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama The Newsroom, the account has a highfalutin opinion about the day’s news—just like its TV-drama counterpart. Since its creation in July, it has added an additional 40,000 followers. We wonder what Will has to say about his recent rise in popularity, but we have a good feeling it would just end with F-word-filled rant.
4) @NotTildaSwinton (43,000 followers)
The “impossibly high-cheekboned” Tilda Swinton’s parody Twitter smartly mocked the high-brow actress in a account that became too weird to explain—and too amusing not to follow. The impostor portrayed her as an existential storyteller living a mostly indescribable life in the Scottish Highlands. It all got too much for her when she formally said good-bye in early November.
5) @ZooeySiri (33,000 followers)
What Apple thought was a cute ad featuring talking raspberry-flavored Chobani yogurt and actress Zooey Deschanel has a prompted a Twitter account that keeps on answering life’s brain puzzlers. It all started from a misguided Verizon Wireless commercial which featured Deschanel inquisitively asking her iPhone to confirm that it’s raining. The world needs to know what other acute questions she’s asking her phone, and the account delivers. Siri, will @ZooeySiri ever receive an answer? Hopefully not.
6) @NYTOnIt (27,000 followers)
For being the world’s newspaper of record, The New York Times occasionally feels behind-the-times. The account astutely mocks the antediluvian trend pieces that gives more prudence to its nickname of the Grey Lady. Further implicating its tardiness, The Times‘s lawyers finally caught wind of the account in November and had the account temporarily suspended due to its avatar. Guys, there’s a parody account mocking the Grey Lady and it can’t take a joke, The Times is … Well, just wait to read the Sunday Styles trend piece about it in a few months.
7) @NormalTweetGuy (8,500 followers)
Who ever called normal “boring” should follow @NormalTweetGuy’s always observant tweets. Guy’s account wryly mocks the inner-thought process of what millions of Americans are thinking of. You think you’re ready for the big football game? He’s pumped too. Planning a relaxing evening watching a box office hit following by a meal at a casual restaurant? He’s right there with you. In this time of uncertainty, it’s Guy’s normalcy that we relish.
8) @LenosWritersRoom (4,700 followers)
This might be the only time you’ll hear the words “Leno” and “funny” in the same sentence and now want to shove a fork in your eye. The unaffiliated (we think?) account masterfully hypothesizes what type of unfunny jokes Leno’s is creating for his show’s monologue. Like watching your school principal trying to crack an “edgy” joke, @LenosWritersRoom’s tweets are filled with off-color, unfunny, and grunt-inducing tweets that basically describe Leno’s terrible jokes. More like Burlington Groan Factory, amiright Leno??
9) @GuarascioPort (3,200 followers)
When show creator Dan Harmon was forced out from Community in favor two new producers, fans nearly freaked. How could NBC do that to the low-rated show that has failed to attract a sizable audience with its overly quirky jokes do that to its creator? Oh, that might be the reason. Anyway, viewers didn’t exactly welcome the comedy’s new overlords, David Guarascio and Moses Port. The account takes trolling to a new level by petrifying the show’s changes. Joel McHale out, Carlos Mencia in? Hell yeah.
10) @Shoshannasboard (3,800 followers)
This. Is. Gorg. Shoshanna, the nation’s preeminent Jewish American Princess from HBO’s Girls, was made for Pinterest. Think Charlotte York for the Instagram set. Shoshanna’s personality and love for all things girlie would fit perfectly on Pinterest. This account imagines the type of ironic scrunchies, fro-yo flavors, and cute puppies she would the pin the heck out of.
11) @ThinkingCatalog (1,700 followers)
If you ever wanted to know what’s happening in the Adderall-riddled minds of millennials, read Thought Catalog. If you wanted to have a laugh at our biggest concerns, which is probably how Instagram is annoying us today, read Thinking Catalog. Although now-dormant, the account lampooned Thought Catalog’s overly dramatic and vapid headlines with ones of their own. Facebook in the Age of Facebook: is that from @ThinkingCatalog or Thought Catalog? We’d tell you, but only if you tell us how pretty we look.
Honorable mentions
@PinterestFake (8,400 followers) Disturbingly accurate peak into many of Pinterest user’s minds.
@TextInstagram (8,000 followers) A #nofilter look at your Instagram feed.
@NIKKlFINKE (closed) Toldja there was no way Finke would find this funny.
@Bill_Nye_Tho (12,000 followers) We don’t remember Bill Nye being this high when we were growing up.
@ObliviousNFLRef (71,000 followers) During the referee lockout, this might be the only touchdown they scored.
* Besides, you know, all the breaking news.