So, it's no surprise that the tale of the vengeful prince is so widely familiar-and so widely made fun of. After all, the original is both difficult to understand, in terms of language, and excessively long.

An uncut version of the play runs around four hours, and let's face it: that's way more than the average person's attention span. The solution? Shorten it! Of course, abridging a work of literature solely for entertainment is often done with less than total concern for the original's integrity… resulting in delightfully irreverent abbreviations. Here are five of the best humorously shortened Hamlets, guaranteed to make Shakespeare cringe and you laugh out loud.

1. The Simpsons' Hamlet

   
   Who doesn't love The Simpsons? I've been a fan since I was too young to understand most of the jokes, but some of my favorite episodes have to be the literary parodies, making fun of everything from The Odyssey to Lord of the Flies. This approximately six-minute version of Hamlet, from an episode featuring three classic stories, stars Bart as the Danish prince and bartender Moe as his murderous uncle. It doesn't quite follow the real storyline, but the hysterical ghost encounter and play-within-a-play scenes more than make up for it.

2. The Animaniacs on Hamlet

   
   
   Okay, this one isn't exactly an abridged version of the play, but it's too entertaining to leave out. This little cartoon “translates” Hamlet's “Alas, poor Yorick!” speech into modern English-and not very respectfully, at that. It's a little bit cutesy (it is a kids' cartoon, after all), but there's still plenty for us grown-ups to laugh at.

3. Seamus Kennedy's “Three Minute Hamlet”

   
   Seamus Kennedy is an Irish singer and comedian, and one of my favorites among his pieces is his quick version of Hamlet (which is actually a little less than three minutes!) Some of the vocabulary's a bit odd, at least to this young American, and you'll probably want to look up the lyrics to make sure you catch everything, since he has to talk pretty fast to fit the whole story in so little time. But it's well worth it, especially the end! You can listen to the song on Seamus Kennedy's MySpace, and it's available for download on iTunes.

4. The Reduced Shakespeare Company

   
   
   The Reduced Shakespeare Company, which observes that “The comedies aren't as funny as the tragedies”, is famous for its show featuring ALL of Shakespeare's plays in extremely condensed versions infused with silly British humor. Their Hamlet is actually quite long (It's in four parts on YouTube; the link here is to the first), but certainly worth it. I'd also recommend the rest of their Shakespearean “reductions”, particularly Romeo and Juliet.

5. Hamlet in 60 Seconds

   
   No, that's not a typo. 60 seconds. If you watch only one of these five Hamlets, make it this one. It's absolutely hilarious. I can't think of a better way to spend a spare minute. (Thank God for subtitles, though.) Oh, and I recommend using the “pop-up” video option; it tends to work better.