407. Pillsbury Dough Boy Ad Parody

March 17, 2026

Q. I just ran across your website while trying to track a “memory” down. I remember back in maybe the mid ’70s an ad in one of the issues that was a parody of a current Pillsbury commercial.  The real commercial had Poppin’ Fresh jumping out of an oven shouting: “It’s me—Poppin Fresh!”  The fake ad in Lampoon showed the Dough Boy jumping out of an oven and running down a kitchen counter with his backside in flames, screaming: “AYYY IEEEE! I’M ON FIRE!!!”  It makes me giggle when I remember it, and was hoping that you might have knowledge or feedback about that particular parody. Unless it was the weed, I’m pretty positive it was in Lampoon. 

A. I did a search on all the regular issues (from the National Lampoon Complete DVD-ROM) on various search terms, but nothing turned up. For what it’s worth, I don’t recall seeing this.

The Poppin’ Fresh character did appear in The Encyclopedia of Humor, a special issue not included on the DVD-ROM. But in that case, it was something else—a comic called “Heading for Trouble” featuring someone wearing a Poppin’ Fresh costume driving around drunk with a guy wearing a Mr. Peanut costume.

There was also a Pillsbury ad parody in a Family Circle magazine parody called Famine Circle in the July 1974 (“Dessert”) issue. It features an ad for “Hot Nillsbury Bran Nuffins that you’ll never bake” and a photo of an emaciated, sunken-chested “Nillsbury No-boy.” But, again, that’s not it.

If anyone else knows the answer, please post a comment below.

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