Some things are best experienced if taken seriously, nevertheless some cultures of today indulge in an opportunity to lighten up. Satire is one of defining aspects of modern culture.
And it’s like limited aspects of refined modern culture ‘pokes fun’ at itself. We see it in Bill Hicks (who is more beloved in the UK than he is in his home country) with his ludicrous portrayals of goat boy (BH is a hero).
We see it in the Simpson’s (Bart writing ‘I will not illegally download this movie’ and episode’s like ‘Behind the Laughter’ and so many other places.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Laughter
and a lot of examples from Dave Chappelle’s show instant classics such as O'Dweeds and the black white supremacist who is without eyesight. ‘The first "Frontline" sketch, "Blind Supremacy", featured the life of Clayton Bigsby (played by Chappelle), a biography of a blind white supremacist who is not aware that he is actually a black man.’ –wiki
Frank Zappa, Wowie Zowie “is carefully designed to suck the 12 year old listener into our camp”
I would think that what (in part) Mighty Python is about.
There are lots of others