Parody Because audiences had seen these classic Westerns, they had expectations for any new Westerns, and when these expectations were inverted, the audience laughed. Perhaps the earliest parody film was the 1922 "Mud and Sand", a Stan Laurel film that made fun of Rudolph Valentino's film "Blood and Sand". Laurel specialized in parodies in the mid-1920s, writing and acting in a number of them. Some were send-ups of popular films, such as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"—parodied in the comic "Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde" (1926). Others were spoofs of Broadway plays, such as "No, No, Nanette" (1925), parodied as "Yes,
Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde man's nature with the use of a powerful drug -- "Dr. Pyckle's 58th Variety", a spoof of "Heinz's 57". Transforming into the personality of Mr. Pride (again Laurel), he terrorizes the town with unspeakable acts including stealing a boy’s ice cream, cheating at marbles, and popping a bag behind a lady pedestrian. The townspeople track him down where Mr. Pride locks himself in the laboratory and transforms back at Dr. Pyckle. The doctor assures the townspeople that he hasn't seen the "fiend" they were after. While he talks, the drug used for the transformation spills in the plate of food