व्यंग्य साहित्य की एक विधा है जिसमें उपहास, मज़ाक और इसी क्रम में आलोचना का प्रभाव रहता है। यूरोप में डिवाइन कॉमेडी, दांते की लैटिन में लिखी किताब को मध्यकालीन व्यंग्य का महत्वपूर्ण कार्य माना जाता है, जिसमें तत्कालीन व्यवस्था का मज़ाक उड़ाया गया था। व्यंग को मुहावरे मे व्यंग्यबाण कहा गया है।

A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it, but a parody can also be about a real-life person, event, or movement. Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, theater, television and film, animation, and gaming. Some parody is practiced in theater.