I previously announced these would be put up on my own webspace, but I don't have that anymore, so I'll post it here.

Here's Pod People. There was again stuff I couldn't hear well or couldn't identify, so have at it.

POD PEOPLE

Opening
• “IBM, CBS, RCA, the CIA, the FBI, the NBA, the A&P, NBC, ABC, R. Crumb, and C.P.O. Sharkey.”
o These are all familiar acronyms. For the record, they are Integrated Business Machine, Columbia Broadcasting System, Radio Corporation of America, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Basketball Association, Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, National Broadcasting System, American Broadcasting System, and R. Crumb is the credit for cartoonist Robert Crumb, best known for creating the subversive character Fritz the Cat.
o “C.P.O. Sharkey” was a sitcom starring Don Rickles as Chief Petty Office Otto Sharkey, who helped train (and abuse) various Navy recruits using Don’s patented system of insults.
• “Good night, and may God bless!”
o Crow is doing an impression of Red Skelton, a comedian who hosted a long-running radio and television program (on TV, from 1951 to 1971). At the end of every program, Red would say “Good night, and may God bless!” He would carefully distinguish between saying “God bless” and “May God bless,” noting that one was a benediction of which he had no power to grant.

Host Segment One
• The opening with the lines “Don’t you do it!” and “I got nowhere else to go!” are quotes from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). Joel is doing the Lou Gossett Jr. role of the drill sergeant, with Tom as Richard Gere’s Mayo, the Navy brat whom Gossett is trying to whip into shape. This is the pivotal scene when Mayo finally admits how valuable the program is to him.
• “It’s an A minor augmenter with an Eddie Van Halen bolt action at the bottom.”
o Eddie Van Halen was the co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen (really!), the group responsible for such songs as “Jump” and “Hot for Teacher,” among others. Eddie is a famous guitarist, noted for his use of amplifiers and a fulcrum vibrato for his electric guitar.
• “What happens when you go into your favorite karaoke bar and you want to hear ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ by Foreigner?”
o The best known song by the rock band Foreigner, “I Want to Know What Love Is” hit number one on both the UK and US charts in 1985. Their second most popular songs were “Double Vision” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” which hit number two.
• “Lou Gramm, songwriter and Chess King spokesmodel, gets a big fat royalty check!”
o Gramm was one of the founding members of Foreigner in 1976 and sang vocals for many of their songs, including “I Want to Know What Love Is
(which he did not write). Gramm left the group in the ‘80s, came back in the ‘90s, and left again in 2003 to form his own band. His best known solo song (from the ‘80s) is “Midnight Blue.”
o Chess King is a men’s clothing retailer that was popular as one of those “upscale” ‘80s clothiers (nothing to do with chess). In the wake of people remembering what fashion looked like at the end of the ‘80s, Chess King went bankrupt in 1995. Gramm did some ridiculously silly-looking advertisements for Chess King in the ‘80s.
• The songs on the public domain machine:
o “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” was written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe and became popular as a Union marching song during the Civil War. “My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”
o “Ba Ba Black Sheep” is a nursery rhyme first seen in 1744 about a sheep talking about where his wool will go.
o “Gregorian Chant #5”—Gregorian chants are unaccompanied choral “songs” used by the Roman Catholic Church. They were first developed during the Carolingian period in the 700’s, named for Pope Gregory.
o “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” is a nursery rhyme first published in 1806 about, well, a star. It uses basically the same tune as “Ba Ba Black Sheep.”
o “The Magic Flute” is a 1791 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart about the search for Princess Pamina by Prince Tamino. It is Mozart’s last opera, as he died soon after its opening.
• Frank and Dr. Forrester are singing “Ave Maria,” a musical version of the Hail Mary prayer used frequently as a hymn. While Charles Gounod in 1859 added a melody and words to J.S. Bach’s musical version, the piece most commonly thought of as “Ave Maria” today is Franz Schubert’s Ellen’s Third Song (1825), which opens with the words “Ave Maria,” even though the other lyrics have nothing to do with the prayer. Even when the original “Ave Maria” is played, a lot of times they will use Schubert’s melody now.

Movie Segment One
• “Pod people got no reason to live…”
o This is a parody of a lyric from the song “Short People” by Randy Newman, which went to #2 in 1977, his highest song ever. The song was a novelty piece jokingly making fun of short people, which included the lyric “Short people got no reason to live.”
• “Isn’t that Nia Peeples’ brother?”
o Nia Peeples is an actress/singer who was on the television programs “Fame” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.” Her best known songs are “Trouble” and “Street of Dreams.” I remember her most for hosting the show “Party Machine” in the early ‘90s.
• CONNIE CHESTON “And she’s married to Maury Povich, right?”
o Connie Chung is married to Maury (and has been since 1984). A journalist, she has appeared on all three major news networks, including a co-anchor stint with Dan Rather on CBS that did not go well. She has recently hosted two low-rated programs, “Connie Chung Tonight,” and (with her husband), “Weekends with Maury and Connie.”
• “William Anton. I think that’s Susan Anton’s half-brother.”
o A musician/actress, Susan Anton was one of TIME’s “Most Promising New Faces of 1979,” and has enjoyed a smattering of success as a recording artist, television, and film actress, although she is best known for her work on Broadway. She appeared for three years on “Baywatch,” as well.
• “Whoa, it’s the Iron Maiden dude!”
o The alien in this shot looks like “Eddie,” the mascot for the hard rock band Iron Maiden. “Eddie the Head” was a mask the band enjoyed and prominently featured on their album covers; Eddie generally looked fiendishly psychotic.
• “This is the Swamp Thing versus the sweet thang.”
o Swamp Thing was a DC comics character—Dr. Alec Holland was killed while researching on a biorestorative formula, but fell into a swamp and ended up mutating into Swamp Thing (although later writers would make the point that it wasn’t Holland—it was a plant entity that thought it was Holland). Swampy would protect his swamp from bad guys and would appear in two films and a cartoon series.
• “Ah, the tears of a clown.”
o “The Tears of a Clown” is a 1967 song by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, which hit number one on the US and UK charts. The song, similar to the other Smokey song “Tracks of My Tears,” is about someone who hides his tears behind an empty façade.
• “Emergency…911.”
o Crow is doing an impression of William Shatner, who hosted the reality show “Rescue 911” from 1989 to 1996. The show featured real-life life-saving incidents and provided instructional tips to the audience. I am not certain if the writers got the name of the show wrong because twice in this show, a reference is made to “Emergency 911,” instead of “Rescue 911.”
• “A man falls. Stunned by a monster.”
o Is this a reference to anything?
• “Ooh, boldly backing away from where no man has gone before.”
o This is a parody of the opening lines to the show “Star Trek” and its spin-off, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” After describing the mission of the Enterprise, Captains Kirk and Picard would end by saying their ultimate mission was “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” although Picard would say “where no one has gone before.” I think they are trying to hum the theme song to the original “Trek” backwards.
• “Come on and dance.” “I’m Curly Neal, to show you how.”
o Joel is pretending to balance the Earth on his fingertips like a basketball. Fred “Curly” Neal was one of the great Harlem Globetrotters basketball players and thus, an expert in this regard. Curly played from 1963 to 1985.
• “It was a dark and stormy night. I had taken a creative writing course.”
o This line is the opening to the novel Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton and has become immortalized as an example of clichéd, overly dramatic writing. In “Peanuts,” Snoopy would always begin his hack stories with this phrase.
• “Daktari!”
o “Daktari” was a TV show set in East Africa about a veterinarian (Marshall Thompson) who protected the animals there. The reference may be to the fact that the opening to the show featured a truck/jeep as well, like the one seen in this shot (well, they’re not that similar).
• “Dorky park.”
o There is a real dance troupe called Dorky Park, but they had not formed at this time. This is a parody of the real-life Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow named after writer Maxim Gorky. Martin Cruz Smith wrote an eponymous novel about murders at the park, which was made into a 1983 movie starring William Hurt.
• “D’oh…”
o Tom uses this as the catch phrase of the one poacher. “D’oh!” is the catch phrase of animated character Homer Simpson (from “The Simpsons”), used to express annoyance and exasperation. Homer’s voice actor, Dan Castellaneta, has said he took the phrase from old comedy shorts featuring actor Jimmy Finlayson.
• “Well, let’s grab the pic-a-nic baskets and scram, Boo-Boo!”
o Joel is doing an impression of Yogi Bear, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character created in 1958. Yogi, “smarter than the average bear,” lives at Jellystone National Park where he, and his pal Boo-Boo, frequently try to steal “pic-a-nic baskets” and avoid Ranger Smith. Yogi appeared in a bevy of cartoon shows over the years, only a few really any good.
• “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”
o This is a line from the movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). As Dorothy (Judy Garland) wanders through the strange land Oz with her new friends, the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) and the Tin Man (Jack Haley), they chant the phrase as they think about what scary things may be lying ahead.
• “Well, time to start camping! You dress up like Oscar Wilde and I’ll sing Noel Coward songs.”
o Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward were both great playwrights. Wilde wrote the famous play The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Coward wrote Blithe Spirit and Cavalcade, as well as musical revues and a series of films including In Which We Serve. Both Wilde and Coward were homosexual, although Wilde’s sexuality is difficult to pigeon (he may have been bisexual).
• “Tonight on ‘Music from Hearts of Space,’ we’ll go on a cosmic joyride with music from various Bay Area artists.”
o “Hearts of Space” is a radio show that began locally in 1973 in Berkeley and was quickly syndicated. It plays ambient and aesthetic music (like the kind heard throughout this movie) and can be heard today on XM Satellite. The constant references to this program in this episode prompted the “Hearts of Space” guys to send some albums to the writers.
• “I didn’t get cast in the Lorne Greene role for nothing.”
o Lorne Greene was a veteran actor, best known for playing the patriarch Ben Cartwright on “Bonanza” and the patriarch Commander Adama on “Battlestar Galactica.” Greene, with his silvery white hair, somewhat resembles the head poacher.
• “First up on ‘Hearts of Space,’ John Tesh with Whispering Firestorm, then it’s Yanni with Snoremaster of Trafalgarmore, then comes Bay Area musician Delmondo…then an synthesized interplanetary tribute to Perry Como.
o John Tesh was the anchorman on “Entertainment Tonight” for a decade, but is also a composer of new age and contemporary Christian music. He does a lot of keyboard-driven music and did a stint as Yanni’s keyboardist. Tesh also wrote the famous “Roundball Rock” song that was used as the theme for the “NBA on NBC” and is still associated with the NBA.
o Yanni is a keyboardist who specializes in “contemporary instrumental” (new age) music. A Greek, he is a very popular concert performer and has been nominated for Grammys for the albums, Dare to Dream and In My Time.
o I don’t know who Delmondo (Del Mondo?) is.
o Perry Como was a singer known for his extremely laidback personality and style. He had fourteen number one songs, including “Hot Diggity” and “Round and Round.” Como was frequently parodied for his relaxed style.
• “Football practice!”
o This apparently is a quote from the movie Shocker (1989), a Wes Craven horror film starring Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from “The X-Files”) as a serial killer that possesses people because he is pure electricity. The lead character, “Jonathan” (Peter Berg), has a bad experience near the beginning of the movie at football practice—I assume at one point in the movie he has a nightmare about it? Anybody help?
• “Puma? Puma!”
o This is a reference to the second season episode Ring of Terror (1962), in which the “host” of the movie calls for his cat, “Puma.” The call of “Puma!” became a recurring joke for a while.
• “Spielberg?”
o The very successful movie director Steven Spielberg, that is. This reference is probably to the fact that Spielberg enjoys populating his movies with kids, including E.T. (1982), of which the plot of Pod People has some twisted similarity with.
• “It’s the ABC Movie of the Week.”
o “The ABC Movie of the Week” aired weekly, fairly high-quality TV-movies from 1969 to 1976 at various times on the ABC network. The shot of space resembles the strange “tripping through space” opening that began this program.
• “Well, that guy’s gonna get his Presidential Physical Fitness award.”
o This was a program devised by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to encourage healthy exercise among schoolchildren. Students participate in 5 events and those that successfully meet criteria in all events receive the Presidential Physical Fitness award. I didn’t win that, but I did win the runner-up award, the “National Physical Fitness Award.” No event involves climbing a rope.
• “That darn cat!”
o That Darn Cat! (1965) was a Disney comedy starring Hayley Mills and Dean Jones, about a FBI agent forced to use a cat to solve a mystery. The film was remade in 1997 with Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug.
• “Next time on ‘MacGyver!’”
o “MacGyver” was a famous action TV program starring Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver, a really cool secret agent type who used typical household products to make fantastic inventions to assist him. The opening to the show always featured a big explosion.
• “I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks…”
o Another Wizard of Oz quote. This is from the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), who is reduced to frighteningly babbling the phrase when he passes through the Wicked Witch’s (Margaret Hamilton) Haunted Forest.
• “Hey, looks like Yoda’s home.”
o Yoda (Frank Oz) is a character in the Star Wars film series. A little green fellow, Yoda is first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) living in a hut similar to this on the swamp planet Dagobah. There is a fine impression from…Tom?...of Oz’s voice for Yoda.
• “With a name like Smucker’s raspberry preserves, you know it’s good!”
o Smucker’s is a company that produces fruit spreads like jams and jellies. Founded in 1897, it is famous for its advertising slogan, “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good!” Veteran actor Mason Adams spoke the phrase on the TV commercials.
• “Welcome to Lazerium. Tonight, music by Rick Waite.”
o Not sure about this. There was a Lazerium “Cosmic Concert” that was performed at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco for a time, but I don’t know if this is a reference to that.
• “I’m no longer your whipping boy. I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more.”
o “Maggie’s Farm” is a 1965 song written by Bob Dylan. A blues song, it features the refrain “I can’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more,” which has been interpreted as a counterculture anthem.
• “This Outward Bound is really broadening him.”
o Outward Bound was founded in 1941—its goal is to use challenging outdoor expeditions to improve personal growth and social skills of participants. Folks learn self-reliance and working with others, sort of like a peaceful version of “Survivor.”
• “These are kola nuts. These are uncola nuts.”
o This is a reference to a 1970’s series of commercials starring Geoffrey Holder (best known probably for either his work in the movie Annie or as Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die), who showed us a “kola nut,” a real nut originally used to make soft drinks, and the fictional “uncola nut,” which was supposedly used to make the uncola, “7-Up.” It’s a pretty neat commercial mainly because of Holder’s voice.
• “Now Mr. Science is gonna show us the white cells.”
o I don’t think there was a real show called “Mr. Science.” Crow may have meant to say “Mr. Wizard,” who was Don Herbert, a guy who had various shows as “Mr. Wizard” explaining the scientific principles behind ordinary things, mostly to young people.
• “It’s a Gold’n Plump chicken!”
o Gold’n Plump Poultry is the largest chicken producer in the upper Midwest. Formed in 1926, it was renamed Gold’n Plump in 1976. It’s located right in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
• “Oh, what is he, a L.A. cop?”
o This is a reference to, I assume, the Rodney King incident which occurred in 1991. Four Los Angeles cops attempted to arrest a black man named Rodney King—in the process, they viciously beat him and stunned him, all of which was caught on film by an onlooker. In a city court, three of the cops were acquitted of all charges, apparently convinced that King’s actions prior to the assault warranted heavy treatment. While two of the cops were convicted on federal charges, the verdict, seen as an example of institutional racism, set off a series of riots in Los Angeles.
• “Hey, this guy looks like Norm Abrams getting killed!”
o Norm Abram was the master carpenter who appeared as an instructional host on the PBS shows “This Old House” and “The New Yankee Workshop.” Norm, with his beard and flannel shirt, slightly resembles the guy getting killed here.
• “Hey, it’s White Fang and he’s stealing those bifocals!”
o White Fang, “the biggest and meanest dog in the USA,” was a puppet used on Soupy Sales’ children’s program. He was seen only as a giant white shaggy paw who spoke in unintelligible grunts.
• “Bambi, humans are basically good.”
o Bambi was a deer character created by Felix Salten for a 1923 novel. He was immortalized in the movie Bambi (1942), an animated feature by Walt Disney—the film is highly remembered for the infamous scene where hunters shoot and kill Bambi’s mother.
• “You’re beginning to sound like Sam.” “Son of Sam.”
o Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) was a serial killer that killed six people in New York during the 1970’s, using a .44 caliber gun. Berkowitz dubbed himself “Son of Sam” in a letter he sent to police and would later claim to have demonic influences. He is currently serving a life sentence.
• “Gino Vanelli?”
o Gino Vanelli is a Canadian singer who had a Canadian number one with “I Just Wanna Stop.” He also did the popular songs “People Gotta Move” and “Nightwalker.” I’m not quite sure what the reference is—I know Vanelli had a lot of hair at one point.
• “I’m doing a one man show: Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen, Leslie Nielsen.”
o Leslie Nielsen is a film actor best known for parodying his ramrod leading man personality with comedic roles in Airplane! (1980 and the Naked Gun series. He had originally been known for his authority roles in movies like The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Nielsen has silvery hair that resembles the head poacher.
• “I’m moving!” “Movin’ on.”
o This may be a reference to the show “Movin’ On,” about two truckers (Frank Converse and Claude Akins) who roamed the country getting into adventures. This was President Ford’s favorite show.
• “Even the movie The Fog didn’t have this much fog.”
o The Fog (1980) was directed by John Carpenter and stars Jamie Lee Curtis. It deals with a strange fog that appears in a California town and mysterious deaths that accompany it.
• “Look, it’s Julie Andrews, and she’s on fire!”
o This is a reference to The Sound of Music (1965) starring Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp. In the famous opening scene, Andrews stands in a valley like this one and sings the title song.
• “You know this scene didn’t appear in the original, but they restored it. Aren’t you glad?” “Thank you, AMC.”
o AMC is American Movie Classics, a cable channel begun in 1984 to show classic films that weren’t getting air time on the regular channels. Recently, the network has become far tackier; it shows a lot of commercials and prefers to show more recent movies (and generally not very good ones too). The true classic movie channel is now Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
• “Oh, that comb used to belong to Keith Richards.”
o Keith Richards is the guitarist for the rock group the Rolling Stones, noted for his bad-boy image as a drug-using decadent outlaw. He recently appeared as Captain Jack Sparrow’s father in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Richards has long, kind of all over the place hair.
• “3M today, for a more vibrant future for the plastic-based industry!”
o 3M was founded in 1902 as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. It is a company that has produced many office-style innovations, such as masking tape, Scotch tape, Post-It notes, and some of the first digital audio recordings. It produces over 50,000 products today.
• “Hey, it’s Greg Brady!”
o Greg Brady is the eldest Brady son on the sitcom “The Brady Bunch” and its endless spin-offs. Played by Barry Williams, Greg had frizzy hair similar to Rick in this movie.
• “Here they come.” “Walking down the street. They get the funniest looks from everyone they meet.”
o This is the opening lyrics to the theme song from “The Monkees,” a ‘60s sitcom about the rock band the Monkees. The four Monkees sang the theme, which featured the classic refrain, “Hey hey, we’re the Monkees!”
• “Hey, Greg Louganis is so talented.”
o Greg Louganis is one of the greatest divers of all time, best known for capturing two gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He bears some resemblance to Rick, I suppose (believe it or not, but Mario Lopez played Louganis in a TV biopic). Louganis came out of the closet in the mid ‘90s and also revealed he was HIV positive.
• “This might be Mike Curb Congregation’s best album ever!”
o Mike Curb Congregation was a band formed in 1969 by record company executive Mike Curb. They had a kind of youthfully bland exuberance and did record one of my favorite songs, “Burning Bridges” (the theme to the movie Kelly’s Heroes) in 1970. Curb was a Republican who eventually became Lieutenant Governor of California.
• “Hey, it’s Andy Travis from ‘WKRP!’”
o Andy Travis was the ostensible main character of “WKRP in Cincinnati,” a TV sitcom about a struggling radio station. Andy was a new program director, played by Gary Sandy, who tried to fix ratings—he bears a resemblance to Brian.

Host Segment Two
• Joel’s nonsense song mentions Lesley Gore, a singer who achieved stardom as a teenager in the ’60s with her hit “It’s My Party.” Gore also sang one of my favorite songs, “Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows.” She recently came out of the closet and has begun to record new material.

Movie Segment Two
• “And they have Pringles.”
o Pringles are a brand of potato chip invented by Alexander Liepa in 1968. The chips are distinctive for their wafer-thin shape as well as the tubular can with a resealable plastic lid (invented by Fred Baur).
• “Look, Pocahontas, Rick’s mine.”
o Pocahontas was an American Indian woman, the daughter of Chief Powhatan in Virginia. According to myth, she saved John Smith’s life during the early days of Jamestown. While she did meet Smith, she eventually married John Rolfe and went to England, where she died.
• “I’m Laura Stapleton.” “Maureen Stapleton?”
o Maureen Stapleton was a character actress in movies, television, and the stage (winning an Oscar, Emmy, and a Tony). She won the Oscar for her role as Emma Goldman in Reds (1981), but also appeared in Airport (1970) and Interiors (1978).
• “All right in the box? S’alright.”
o This is a reference to the comedy of Senor Wences, a Spanish ventriloquist who would frequently appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” One of Wences’ most famous bits was “Pedro,” a disembodied head in a box. Wences would talk to Pedro in the box, who would frequently say he was “s’alright.”
• “Joel, what are boobs?” “You know, like Jethro Bodine.”
o Jethro (Max Baer Jr.) was a character on the sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies,” about the rural hillbillies that end up rich and in Beverly Hills. He was the nephew of Jed Clampett and was something of an idiot (a boob, say), thus leading to lots of comedic possibilities.
• “Uncle Bill?” “Jody?” “Buffy?” “Mr. French?” “Mrs. Beasley?” “Chief?” “McCloud!”
o The first four characters are all from the sitcom “Family Affair,” a rather horrible show about a bachelor, Bill (Brian Keith, seeming as disinterested as possible), who “inherits” three kids from his late brother—Jody (Johnny Whitaker) and Buffy (Anissa Jones, who died of a drug overdose as a teenager) are the 6-year old twins (Cissy is the other, older child). Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) was Bill’s trusted butler. Mrs. Beasley was Buffy’s doll.
o Chief and McCloud are from the detective show “McCloud,” starring Dennis Weaver as McCloud, a rural marshal who goes off to the big city and becomes assigned to the NYPD. McCloud got the job done, but usually infuriated his chief (J.D. Cannon) for not really following proper city procedure.
• “Boy, I hate Kenny!”
o Uh, a little help?
• “Hey, it’s Desi and Lucy in ‘The Big, Big Trailer!’”
o Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, the comedic husband and wife team best known for starring in the sitcom “I Love Lucy,” made a film in 1954 entitled The Long, Long Trailer. The movie is about a couple who buys a new trailer home and spends a year driving through the U.S.
• “Oh, this is Morrissey.”
o (Stephen) Morrissey is an English singer who formed the alternative rock band The Smiths in 1982 and served as their vocalist. In the late ‘80s, he went solo to popularize such jangle pop songs as “Everyday is Like Sunday” and “Suedehead.” Apparently his music sounds similar to what is being played here.
• “Boy, you know Ringo did some bad songs, but this is really embarrassing.”
o Ringo Starr was the drummer of the group the Beatles (you may have heard of them). Kidded as the “least talented” of the four, Ringo nevertheless had a fine solo career after the band’s dissolution. He had two number one songs, “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen,” although his career swiftly declined after the mid 1970’s.
• “Ah, the von Trapp singers on the road.” “I hope they find some Nazis.”
o The Trapp Family singers, led by Maria and Georg von Trapp, were a family musical group who, after fleeing the Nazi takeover of Austria, became popular worldwide as entertainers. Their story was immortalized in the movie The Sound of Music (1965), where they were played by Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
• “And it really came together when Mom sang along!”
o This is a reference to “The Partridge Family,” a 1970’s sitcom about a family band. In the first season, the show used the theme “When We’re Singing,” which included the lyric quoted by Joel in a reference to Mrs. Partridge (Shirley Jones). For most of the show’s run, they used the familiar “C’mon Get Happy” theme.
• “Beastmaster?” “Ringo?” “Axl?” “Sinead?” “Chief?” “McCloud?”
o Ringo, Chief, and McCloud are all above.
o The Beastmaster (1982), a sword-and-sorcery film based on a popular science fiction novel, told the story of Dar (Marc Singer), the son of a king who triumphantly reclaims his birthright from usurpers. The movie spawned two sequels and a television series.
o I suppose this could be referring to various Axels, but I think this is a reference to Axl Rose, the frontman for the hard rock band Guns N’ Roses. The band formed in 1985 and became famous for such songs as “Sweet Child O’Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle.” The controversial Axl is the only one of the original members still with the group as of now.
o Sinead O’Connor is a singer noted for such songs as “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “No Man’s Woman.” She is controversial, noted for her shaved head and her iconoclastic viewpoints on things like the Catholic Church (although she is actually ordained in a schismatic branch of the church).
• “Just put away his Dinty Moore.”
o Dinty Moore is a brand of beef stew introduced in the 1930’s (currently under the control of Hormel). It is arguably the most famous kind of beef stew sold and has a familiar spherical can shape.
• “Hey, it’s a casio forest.”
o I think this is a reference to the synthesizer produced by the Japanese electronics company, Casio (the CZ synthesizer). Like all synthesizers, the Casio CZ made electronic-sounding noises, much like the weird sound effects heard here.
• “This is CNN.”
o CNN (Cable News Network) is a cable station dedicated to 24-hour news coverage. Its famous station ID is actor James Earl Jones intoning the phrase “This is CNN” in his classic voice, accompanied by a dramatic drumbeat like the one heard here.
• “My mother was a saint!”
o On August 9, 1974, as Richard Nixon prepared to resign the presidency in light of the Watergate scandal, he gave an impromptu speech to his staff members. A little rambling but apparently heartfelt, Nixon talked about his family and stated “My mother was a saint,” in reference to her devotion to the family.
• “Dad?” “Mummy?” “Mr. Drysdale?” “Mr. Eddie’s father?” “Mr. Douglas!” “Mr. Haney!” “LISA!” “Chief?” “McCloud!”
o Are the first two references to any show in particular?
o Mr. Drysdale (Raymond Bailey) was a character on the sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies,” discussed above. Drysdale was the banker who dealt with the Clampetts. The voice is an impression of his assistant, Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp).
o Mr. Eddie’s father is a reference to the sitcom “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” which told the tale of a widower (Bill Bixby) and his young son, Eddie (Brandon Cruz). The housekeeper, Mrs. Livingston (Miyoshi Umeki), was Japanese and would refer to the dad as “Mr. Eddie’s father.”
o The next three names are all references to the sitcom “Green Acres,” about a couple, the Douglases, who move from Park Avenue New York to Hooterville, a rural farming community. Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) was a con man who kept trying to sell Mr. Douglas (Eddie Albert) junk—he spoke in the distinctive voice used to say the “Mr. Douglas!” line. Mrs. Douglas (Eva Gabor) was named Lisa—Mr. Douglas frequently expressed disapproval of his wife in the sort of tone used for the “LISA!” line.
• “And there on the handle was a…”
o This is the ending of an old urban legend—the story is of a serial killer who escapes from prison; he has a hook for a hand. A couple hears about the story over their car radio while they are parked to make out. The woman gets scared and the man reluctantly finally drives off; it turns out, though, that they discover a hook on the car door handle.
• “Next week, on ‘Mannix!’”
o “Mannix” was a detective show in the late ‘60s and ‘70s starring Mike Connors as private eye Joe Mannix. Mannix was a very physical tape and the show usually featured all sorts of violence and action.
• Does anyone know what Joel is saying about “wanna dance” when we see the alien’s feet?
• “Oh, it’s Laura Palmer.” “And Soupy Sales.”
o Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) was a character on the mystery series “Twin Peaks.” She was killed in the first episode by an unknown assailant, which prompted the investigation that consumed most of the series run. Her dead body was discovered in a scene similar to the one shown here.
o See the “White Fang” joke above for the Soupy Sales reference.
• “Bosley?” “Angels?” “Chief?” “McCloud!” “Daddy?” “Leviathan?” “Laverne?” “Shoil!” “Hel-lo!”
o Bosley and the Angels are from the action series “Charlie’s Angels,” about three women investigators who work for the unseen Charlie (John Forsythe). Bosley (David Doyle) was the goofy representative whom the Angels reported to.
o Leviathan is the name of a sea monster discussed in the Biblical book of Job; it was used as the name of a movie about a sea monster in 1989, but I have no idea if that’s what the joke refers to.
o The three last references are from the sitcom “Laverne and Shirley.” Laverne and “Shoil” (Shirley) were two roommates played by Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, who lived in 1950’s Milwaukee and got into funny situations. Their neighbors were the sleazy Lenny and Squiggy (Michael McKean and David L. Lander)—they would always enter by saying “hel-lo” in the manner said here.
• Anyone know what Tom says when Rick and Brian return with Laura?
• “I wonder when Flo and Alice are going to get here.” “Mel at home.”
o This is a reference to the sitcom “Alice,” about a waitress and would-be singer named Alice (Linda Lavin). She worked at Mel’s diner alongside the brassy Flo (Polly Holliday). Mel (Vic Tayback), the owner of the diner, was grouchy but good at heart and resembled Uncle Bill.
• “Shave and a haircut.” “Two bits.”
o This is a very brief couplet: five notes (“shave and a haircut”), and then a two-note fanfare (“two bits” or “ta-dah!”). It first appeared in 1899 and has appeared in various milieus since (it’s easy to play by tapping, hence the reference).
• “And remember, no wire hangers!”
o This is a quote from the movie Mommie Dearest (1981), a biopic of the actress Joan Crawford, based on the book written by her daughter, Christina. Christina presented Joan (played in a nice piece of overacting by Faye Dunaway) as an abusive psycho. In one of the movie’s most infamous scenes, Joan goes crazy when her daughter uses a wire instead of a wooden hanger for a dress. Screaming “No wire hangers ever!”, she beats her daughter with it.
• “Goodnight, mother.” “Goodnight, John-Boy.” “Goodnight, Hardcastle.” “Goodnight, McCormick.” “Goodnight, Chief.” “Goodnight, McCloud.”
o John-Boy (Richard Thomas) was a character on “The Waltons,” a family drama about a Virginia clan during the Depression era. At the end of each episode, characters would say “good night” to each other, with “goodnight, John-Boy” being the final line.
o “Hardcastle and McCormick” was an ‘80s action show starring Brian Keith as Judge Hardcastle, a retired judge, who teamed with Daniel Hugh Kelly as McCormick, an ex-con and race car driver, to serve as vigilantes tracking down criminals.
• “Oh, he’s trying to hatch the egg. What is he, Horton?”
o Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) was a children’s book by Dr. Seuss involving the kindly elephant Horton who is conned into sitting on a bird’s egg. While everyone makes fun of him, Horton stays the course and is rewarded when the egg hatches to reveal a winged elephant.
• “This is the Cowsills part, this is movie C.”
o The Cowsills was a bubblegum pop band formed in 1965 by the Cowsill family out of Rhode Island. The group is best known for the songs “The Rain, the Park, and Other Things” and the title song from the movie Hair (1969).
• “Jehovah’s Witneses.”
o This is a religious group that is an offshoot from traditional Christianity. The Witnesses believe in what they call a restoration of “First Century Christianity” and dispute much of the church’s current teachings. They are known for going door to door to hand out their literature and preach their religion.

Host Segment Three
• There are a lot of old references: Yanni, Hearts of Space, “Emergency 911.” But nothing new.

Movie Segment Three
• “Hey, you’re no prize yourself, Dan Folgelberg.”
o Dan Folgelberg is a folk jazz singer who has produced such songs as “Run for the Roses” and “Same Old Lang Syne.” He frequently uses his music to discuss social issues. I guess he kinda looks like the poacher here.
• “Hey, it’s Mr. Snuffleupagus.”
o “Snuffy” is a character on the children’s show “Sesame Street.” A woolly mammoth type, Snuffy is a buddy of Big Bird’s and is played by Martin P. Robinson.
• “Mongolian barbecue?”
o Mongolian barbecue is a style of stir frying meats and vegetables on a large, open surface (which is actually from Taiwan, not Mongolia). BD’s Mongolian Barbecue restaurants are a national chain that specializes in this style of cooking.
• “Alf, no!”
o “ALF” was a TV sitcom about an ALF (Alien Life Form) that hung out with an Earth family—his actual name was “Gordon Shumway.” ALF was a goofy hairy puppet played by Michu Meszaros as a costume and mostly operated by Paul Fusco, who did the voice. ALF has been pretty durable, even scoring a recent talk show for TV Land.
• “I named you after Donald Trump.”
o The Trumpster is a billionaire real estate developer known for his flamboyance, abrasive personality, and his…hair. Trump owns a lot of expensive buildings and casinos across the country and achieved great fame as the host of the reality series “The Apprentice.”
• “Tommy, did you hear me?” “Can you feel me near you?”
o This is a lyric from the song “Tommy Can You Hear Me?”, part of the rock band The Who’s classic rock opera Tommy (1969). Tommy Walker, the main character, has odd psychosomatic problems and his mother tries to reach out to him, expressing herself by singing this song.
• “She really does have combination skin.”
o Combination skin is a skin disorder in which a person has both oily and dry skin. This sounds like it is a commercial reference of some sort.
• “Carbon scoring all over my droid.”
o This is a reference to a little film called Star Wars (okay, Episode IV: A New Hope) (1977). In the film, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) buys a couple of droids named C-3PO and R2-D2 and notes that the latter has a lot of “carbon scoring” on him, which apparently means damage.
• Does anyone else think that Crow’s voice for Trumpy could be a parody of John Hurt’s performance as the deformed John Merrick in the 1980 movie The Elephant Man?
• “Isn’t this Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army?”
o Gary Numan is a musician known for his “electropop” style that heavily uses synthesizers. Under the band label “Tubeway Army,” he recorded songs like “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and “Complex.” His biggest hit was “Cars,” which is sung by Joel and the Bots coming up.
• “Pepperidge Farm remembers.”
o Pepperidge Farm is a company founded in 1937 that produces snacks like cookies and “goldfish” crackers. In the 1970’s, they produced a series of TV commercials using this slogan to link their product with the “good old days,” usually having some old guy like Bill talk.
• “Hope she doesn’t miss her Josie and the Pussycats audition.”
o Josie and the Pussycats were characters created for Archie comics created in the 1970’s—it’s a teen musical group led by Josie James and her “Pussycats” (Melody and Valerie). The characters appeared in a cartoon series and a feature film.
• “Okay, you’ve drawn Siegfried. Now where’s Roy?”
o Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn are a pair of illusionists, noted for their long-running act in Las Vegas involving magic and white tigers. The flamboyant duo’s act was interrupted in 2003 when Roy was viciously attacked by one of the tigers he was using in an act.
• “What, she’s from Rand McNally?”
o Rand and McNally were two guys, who in 1868, formed a business to produce maps. Rand McNally is now the preeminent map and atlas company in America and their ubiquitous “road atlases” are seen all over the roadways.
• “On a star?” “Can she carry moon beams home in a jar?”
o Crow is quoting a lyric from the song “Swinging on a Star,” an Oscar-winning song introduced by Bing Crosby in 1944 for the movie Going My Way.
• “This kid sounds like Georgette.”
o Georgette Baxter (Georgia Engel) was the girlfriend and later wife to Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) on the sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Georgette used Engel’s familiar ditzy, squeaky voice to great comedic effect during the show’s run.
• “Oh, they got ‘Wild Kingdom’ on that telescope.”
o “Wild Kingdom” was a long-running nature show which featured Marlon Perkins and Jim Fowler (later just Jim) exploring nature looking at interesting wildlife. Jim usually got into some pretty tight scrapes.
• “He’s got Bette Davis eyes.” “Orphan Annie eyes.”
o “Bette Davis Eyes” was a song made famous by singer Kim Carnes in 1981 (even though it had been written and recorded in 1974), spending a whopping nine weeks as the Billboard number one song. The title was named after actress Bette Davis, best known for her dramatic work in movies like All About Eve (1950) and The Little Foxes (1941). Davis was not a conventional beauty, but had very expressive, absorbing eyes.
o “Little Orphan Annie” was a comic strip created in 1924 by Harold Gray, which was later adapted into radio and film presentations. Telling the tale of a spunky orphan, the strip interestingly always featured Annie as having vacant circles for eyes.
• “Great, now we’re in Gumby.”
o Gumby was a clay figure created by Art Clokey for a series of cartoon shorts. The reference is specifically to the fact that the Gumby series was filmed in stop-motion to simulate animation and thus has the sort of choppy effect seen in this sequence.
• “Oooh, it’s supercalafragilisticexpialidocious!”
o This is the name of a song in the film Mary Poppins (1964) when the characters attempt to come up with the longest word they can. The film features the sort of levity on display here…although much, much better.
• “Wow, we’re in Pee-wee’s Playhouse now!”
o “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” was a children’s show hosted by Paul Reubens as his Pee-wee Herman character, a childlike man who had a wacky playhouse where all sorts of crazy things happened. The show is sort of polarizing; some found it very annoying, while others though it was highly imaginative and clever.
• “It’s a Peter Gabriel video!” “Yeah, somebody hit that kid in the head with a ‘Sledgehammer!’”
o Gabriel is an English musician who became famous through his work as the lead singer to the progressive rock group Genesis. In 1986, by now a solo artist, Gabriel had a hit song called “Sledgehammer,” which hit number one on the U.S. charts. The music video for this song is very famous and influential, featuring usages of claymation, pixilation, and stop-motion photography, hence the reference. According to MTV, “Sledgehammer” is the most played music video on the station.
• “Great, now he can remake ‘Rudolph’s Shiny New Year.’”
o “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” is a sequel to the famous children’s special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the story of the picked-upon reindeer who saves Christmas. The sequel, produced (like the original) using stop-motion photography by Rankin-Bass, sees Rudolph trying to save the Baby New Year and was narrated by Red Skelton.
• “Get me, I’m Lionel Richie!”
o Lionel Richie is a soul singer who became famous as one of the Commodores, but later had a successful solo career with songs like “Endless Love” and “Hello.” The reference is to his song “Dancing on the Ceiling,” which featured a music video of Richie doing just that.
• “It’s just my Spike Jones album, mom!”
o Spike Jones was a bandleader whose group (the City Slickers) specialized in odd, parody/novelty songs, many times incorporating weird sounds like whistles or cowbells. He is best known for the song “Der Fuhrer’s Face,” which satirized Hitler by making a raspberry sound in the song.
• “Make that three hardboiled eggs.”
o This is a reference to the movie A Night at the Opera (1935), starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, and Chico). In one of the funniest sequences in movie history, the Marxes (and Allan Jones) are on a ship heading for America; their stateroom is incredibly small, almost like a closet. Groucho orders eggs to eat; the mute Harpo honks his horn a few times to indicate his order. After he honks, Groucho says “Make that three hard-boiled eggs.” The scene is gut-bustingly funny as somehow a dozen or so people end up in the miniature stateroom.
• “Are those blue contacts or are his eyes naturally that color?” “Oh, you mean, like Whoopi Goldberg?”
o Whoopi is a comedienne who has achieved success in many films like Sister Act (1992) and Ghost (1990), successfully playing comedic and dramatic roles. Truth be told, though, I don’t know what the reference is.
• “Ooh, the new Vogue is here.”
o Vogue is a fashion magazine dating all the way back to 1892. It achieved great fame beginning in the 1960’s in the wake of the sexual revolution. Anna Wintour, the current powerful editor-in-chief of the magazine, was recently satirized in the book and movie The Devil Wears Prada.
• “Great, your friend just died and you’re going to watch ‘Dallas.’”
o “Dallas” was a television soap opera that told the story of the powerful Ewing family, who had strong interests in oil and cattle ranching. The two principal characters were brothers J.R. (Larry Hagman) and Bobby (Patrick Duffy), the “bad” and “good” brothers respectively.
• “She was shattered.” “This town’s in tatters.”
o This is a reference to the 1978 rock song “Shattered” by the Rolling Stones, which uses these words as lyrics (although not quite in these forms). The song describes life in 1970’s New York City.
• “Cujo?” “Evil One?” “Supreme Being?” “ALF?” “Chief?” “McCloud!”
o See above for ALF. Cujo was a book written by Stephen King in 1981, which was later made into a 1983 film. It tells the tale of a St. Bernard who becomes infected with a form of rabies that turns him into a vicious killing machine.
o The two other characters are from the movie Time Bandits (1981), a fantasy film about a young boy who goes on a series of amazing adventures through time and space. The Supreme Being is the “God” of the universe, represented by actor Ralph Richardson in a business suit. His nemesis is the “Evil One” (David Warner), who represents the devil. At the end of the film, the Supreme Being destroys the Evil One, but a piece of Evil remains.
• “He seeks him here, he seeks him there, he seeks that rascal everywhere.”
o This is a parody of the writing style of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), a children’s author noted for such classics as How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat. Seuss had a distinctive prose style involving a set metrical form like the kind uttered by Crow (this usually involved some form of repetition of phrases). He also frequently used strange and made-up words.
• “Don’t worry about him. He’s moody and introspective. He’s in a corner reading Swimming to Cambodia.”
o Swimming to Cambodia is a monologue by actor Spalding Gray that later became a 1987 performance movie (and a book). Gray played a role in the movie The Killing Fields (1984), a film about the war in Cambodia, and his monologue is mostly about that along with other reflective themes.
• “Heeeeere’s Tommy!”
o In the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s book The Shining (1980), the main character, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), goes insane and tries to kill his family. In one very famous scene, he takes an axe and smashes through a door. He then pokes his head in and says “Heeeeere’s Johnny!”, an imitation of how announcer Ed McMahon would always introduce Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.”
• “Sounds like music from the High Plains Drifter, doesn’t it?”
o High Plains Drifter (1973) is a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, who stars as a mysterious stranger who wanders into town to apparently take revenge (the stranger is apparently a ghost). The musical score by Dee Barton is kind of ghostly as well.
• “A Sergio Leone feel to it.”
o Sergio Leone is a director who filmed numerous “spaghetti western” films, some of which starred Eastwood, who was clearly influenced by Leone for his own work, including High Plains Drifter. Leone’s films, including A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), were scored by Ennio Morricone in an extremely distinctive fashion, using such accompaniments as whistling.
• “Hey, Bill, are those Hagar slacks you’re wearing? Farah? Dadenlay? The Guys?”
o These are all various brands of pants wear/slacks. Farah is a specific company (dating back to 1920) and I think Hagar is too. I don’t know what Joel is saying for the third one and I don’t know what the Guys are.
• “Hi, we’re the cast from Straw Dogs!”
o Straw Dogs (1971) was a movie directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring Dustin Hoffman as a math teacher who moves into a small community with is wife. The residents don’t like young Dustin and kill his cat and rape his wife. Ultimately, Dustin turns violent and takes brutal revenge. Typically brutal Peckinpah fare.
• “Watchtower, oh, just kidding.”
o The Watchtower is a magazine published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses since 1879. Distributed by the Witnesses as part of their evangelical duties (including door to door), the magazine contains various Scripture studies. As opposed to other religious magazines, the Witnesses take the Watchtower very seriously and have regular meetings where the studies are run.
• “The radio’s not working.” “Oh, nuts. I wanted to hear Shadoe Stevens.”
o Shadoe Stevens was the host of “American Top 40,” a radio show that plays the top 40 songs currently on the charts. Stevens succeeded the great Casey Kasem and was replaced by the somewhat great Ryan Seacrest (although Casey returned in the interim). Stevens does announcing work as well, including working as Craig Ferguson’s announcer on “The Late Late Show.”
• “Horse poster compliments of Dynamite magazine. For teens.”
o Dynamite magazine was a magazine produced for young people about various pop culture happenings—it ran for 165 issues (from 1974 to 1992). It was produced by Scholastic Press—the final issue, trivia mavens, featured Julia Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• “I don’t know what threatens guys more: my face or my intelligence.” “Yeah, e=mc2.”
o This is the “mass-energy equivalence” concept, which is connected to but is not completely the famous “theory of relativity” developed by Albert Einstein. I’m not a scientist, but the basic point is that energy is said to equal mass times the speed of light (the c) squared. All mass has an energy equivalence and vice versa.
• “Oh, this is great. He’s going to do that Bob Newhart routine.” “Oh, ah, Abner, hello!”
o Bob Newhart is a comedian noted for his work on sitcoms imaginatively titled “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart.” A deadpan comic, Newhart’s standup typically involved him on the phone with an unseen person, usually a well known individual. I believe this reference is to a well known bit where Newhart talks to Abner Doubleday about his newfangled invention of baseball.
• “Trumpy, I brought you a cup of treacle.”
o Treacle is the English variant of the Greek word “theriac,” which refers to a kind of medicinal concoction made of opium, viper flesh, and other things. It was usually used to treat venom and poisons by the ancient Greeks, although it eventually became a comprehensive panacea.
• “Hey, she’s got her L.L. Bean disco survival boots on.”
o L.L. Bean was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean to sell rubbers and boots for hunters. It quickly expanded to sell all kinds of clothing and outdoor equipment and has become a thriving retail company. Boots are still the primary signature product, though.
• “Neil Peart on drums.”
o Neil Peart (1952--) is the lyricist and drummer for the Canadian rock band Rush, which has been successful for over thirty years. Peart is famous for both his gigantic set of drums and his literary-inspired lyrics.
• “Hey, it’s Craig Wasson all of a sudden.”
o This is a pretty obscure reference. Craig Wasson was an actor who starred in a suspense film Body Double (1984). Wasson, while housesitting, uses a telescope to become a voyeur. Entranced by one girl, he is horrified when he spots her murder and begins an investigation.
• “Now Trumpy and I will our version of Rear Window.”
o Rear Window (1954) is a classic suspense film by Alfred Hitchcock. Jimmy Stewart, while laid up with a broken leg, spends his time using a telescope to spy on his neighbors. He becomes suspicious that one of his neighbors (Raymond Burr) has killed his wife.
• “When Good Pets do Bad Things on ‘A Current Affair.’”
o “A Current Affair” was a newsmagazine (similar to “Hard Copy” or “Inside Edition”) that probed tabloid news stories for a decade before fading away. The most familiar host was Maury Povich; the show was well known for the “ka-chung” sound effect used in the opening.
• “Trumpy, we hardly knew ye.”
o While “we hardly knew ye” has been ingrained in pop culture as a stock phrase for a person’s passing, the phrase was originated in the Irish anti-war song “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye” from the nineteenth century, which mourns the death of Johnny in battle by saying the title phrase.
• “So people are being methodically killed by the Banana Splits. There goes Drooper. Fleegle. Snork.”
o The Banana Splits were a musical quartet of animals that were featured on “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour,” a Hanna-Barbara show. While most of the show featured cartoons by HB, there were wraparound segments by the Kroffts featuring the Splits in live-action bits (they were actors in fleecy costumes). The group consisted of Fleegle (a beagle), Drooper (a lion), Snorky or Snork (an elephant), and Bingo (a gorilla).
• “Oh, take the ‘Baretta’ hat off, old man.”
o “Baretta” was a detective show in the ‘70s starring famed murderer Robert Blake as Detective Tony Baretta, a tough cop who would crack crimes in the ‘70s fashion. Tony frequently wore those kind of hats that Bill is wearing which can look either tough or old man-like.
• “Faster, Trumpy, kill, kill!”
o This is a reference to the famous film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), directed by porn king Russ Meyer. While campy and exploitative, it stops short of being pornography. The movie tells the tale of a band of violent go-go dancers (the Pussycats) who embroil an innocent woman in their scheme to rob an old man.

Host Segment Four
• “I can’t bring him down! I don’t know how it works!”
o This is another line from The Wizard of Oz. At one point, the Wizard (Frank Morgan) has devised a way for him and Dorothy to leave Oz. They get into a balloon, but the balloon blows away, leaving just the Wizard inside. He yells that he can’t come back because he doesn’t “know how it works,” a familiar MST3K running joke.

Movie Segment Four
• “Don’t start with me, Martha.”
o This is a reference to the play and film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee. Both stories tell the tale of the couple George and Martha; George is a college professor who engages in vicious verbal warfare with his wife. In the film, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, married at the time, played the couple.
• “Boo? Boo Radley?” “Dark One?” “Beelzelbub?” “Chief?” “McCloud!”
o Boo Radley is a character in the book and film To Kill a Mockingbird. Boo is the main character’s neighbor: a mentally retarded man who is thought of as the neighborhood monster, but eventually serves as the children’s protector. In the film, he was played by Robert Duvall in his film debut. The other two names, I believe, are just alternate names for the Devil (Satan).
• “Trumpy! The Trumpazoid! The Trump-monster!” “Trumparino!”
o Crow is doing an impression of a character that Rob Schneider would do on the sketch series “Saturday Night Live.” Schneider’s character, Rich (or “the Richmeister”), was a friendly guy who would make up nicknames for people and say them in a sing-song fashion (“Kevin! The Kevinmeister! Makin’ copies!”). This was, sadly, Schneider’s most popular character on the show.
o I’m not sure, but I think Tom’s last name is actually a reference to comedian Louis Nye. Nye was a regular on “The Steve Allen Show,” where he frequently played the snobby character Gordon Hathaway who would greet Steve by saying “Hi, ho, Steve-a-reeno.”
• “He knocked his block off! But you can set it back again with Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots by Marx.”
o This is a very familiar toy developed in the ‘60s by the Marx toy company. It features a red and a blue robot controlled by two people—they push buttons to make the robots punch; eventually, one robot will smash the other one, causing his head to fly up. The commercials referred to this as “knocking his block off.” Mattel currently markets the robots.
• I’m not going to write out all of the drinks Tom mentions throughout this recurring bit. They’re all alcohol!
• “He shot my Jim Beam pheasant decanter.”
o Jim Beam is a brand of bourbon whiskey first distilled in 1795. Distilled in Kentucky, it is sold in a decanter with various “color” labels to represent the blends. The bottle on “I Dream of Jeannie” was actually a disguised Jim Beam decanter.
• “Nosey?” “Chirpy?” “Ratboy?” “Sondra Locke?” “Chief?” “McCloud!”
o I feel like the first two names are a reference to something specific, but I have no idea. Sondra Locke is an actress best known for her many films with then-lover Clint Eastwood, including Sudden Impact (1983) and Bronco Billy (1980). In 1986, she directed the cult film Ratboy where she plays a woman who befriends a mysterious, possibly mutant “ratboy” (Augustus Musgrave).
• “Hey, it’s like that scene in Mac and Me when Mac came back to life.”
o Mac and Me (1988) was a rip-off of E.T., involving a boy and his alien friend (MAC—Mysterious Alien Creature). The film has a lot of product placements and has very bad special effects. Mac is near death, but survives thanks to Coca Cola (I’m serious).
• “I like you Tommy. I’ll kill you last.”
o This is a reference to the movie Commando (1985). The main character, Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger), at one point confronts one of the bad guys, Sully (David Patrick Kelly). Arnold says “Sully, I like you. That’s why I’m going to kill you last.” He then later throws Sully over a cliff, saying “I lied” in reference to his previous promise.
• “They could put on a play in the backyard. Trumpy could play Cyrano.”
o Cyrano de Bergerac was a real French playwright made famous in a play by Edmond Rostand. In the play, Cyrano was a great duelist and romantic poet who had a very long nose which hampered his ability to form a relationship with a woman.
• “What do you think he’s going to dress him up as? Drew Barrymore?” “Henry Thomas he’s not.”
o This is a reference to the popular film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), directed by Steven Spielberg, about an alien found and befriended by a boy played by Henry Thomas. Drew Barrymore plays his sister. At several points in the film, the boy dresses E.T. up to disguise him.
• “Suddenly, I feel like somebody should be reading a Robert Frost poem. Something there is that doesn’t love a crummy monster film. It’s from the Mending Monster Wall.”
o Robert Frost was a great American poet who frequently explored rural life in such works as “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Mending Wall,” of which Tom parodies. The actual verse is “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
• “Norman? Norman? Important phone call!”
o This is a reference to the classic horror film Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In one of the most iconic movie sequences ever, Janet Leigh, while taking a shower, is stabbed to death by a mysterious intruder. The killer turns out to be Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), the operator of the Bates Motel where Leigh is at, who has taken on the personality of his mother (after killing her), even to the point of talking to himself in his mother’s voice.
• “Check it out, product placement right there.” “Die Hard II this is not.”
o Die Hard II (1990) is a sequel to Die Hard, featuring again Bruce Willis as tough cop John McClane. Black and Decker reportedly paid a huge sum to the filmmakers so that Willis would use a Black and Decker drill in one scene; when this scene was cut, the company sued the studio, which was settled out of court.
• “Hmm…Coke, Sprite, Pepto-Bismol, United Airlines, Steve Guttenberg…”
o I think the first four are pretty familiar. Steve Guttenberg is an actor who achieved mild stardom in such movies as Three Man and a Baby (1987) and Police Academy (1984). His career kind of petered out after the ‘80s and his name is usually used in a derisive way now.
• “There. Now you look like Admiral Peary playing the Elephant Man.”
o The Elephant Man was Joseph Merrick, an Englishman who suffered from “Proteus syndrome,” which horribly disfigured his face and features to resemble, I suppose, an elephant. He was made famous in a play and film version of his life (see above for the movie).
o Admiral Robert Peary was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person to reach the geographic North Pole in 1909. Frederick Cook also claimed to have been the first man, which resulted in a great deal of historical controversy which has yet to be effectively resolved.
• “She’s Zestfully dead!”
o Zest is a kind of deodorant soap sold by Proctor and Gamble. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, their ads used the phrase “Zestfully clean!” to connote just how clean the soap would make you.
• “Stop the madness!”
o I believe this is a reference to a 1980’s music video sponsored by the Reagan Administration decrying drug and alcohol usage among young people. Nancy Reagan appeared as did various other celebrities.
• “I know what you’re thinking, Tommy. Did mom fire six shots or only five?”
o This is a reference to the film Dirty Harry (1971), a film featuring Clint Eastwood as tough cop Harry Callahan. In one famous scene, Harry taunts an injured criminal about to go for his gun with the question “Did he [Harry] fire six shots or only five?” and then finishes with “Do you feel lucky?” The crook opts not to try, but Harry was out of ammo. In the ending, Harry does the same speech in a similar situation to the killer Scorpio (Andrew Robinson), but Scorpio does go for his gun…only to find that Harry had one bullet left.
• “John Bonham. Moby Dick.”
o “Moby Dick” is a song by the rock band Led Zeppelin. It is an instrumental piece, featuring heavy usage of drums by Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Bonham’s drum solo would run up to a half a hour in length; his son reportedly named the song, saying it was “big like Moby.”
• “Shane! Come back, Shane!”
o Shane (1953) is a film adaptation of a novel about a famous gunslinger named Shane (Alan Ladd), who lives with a homesteading family and befriends a young boy named Joey (Brandon de Wilde). At the end of the movie, Shane, after helping the family against villains, departs. Joey yells “Shane! Come back, Shane!” There is some debate over whether or not Shane is dying (from a previous wound) as he leaves, but I have never believed this to be true.
• “That Trumpy is one ugly--” “Shut your mouth!” “I’m only talking about Trumpy. Can you dig it?”
o This is a parody of the “Theme from Shaft,” the title song to the blaxploitation film Shaft (1971) sung by Isaac Hayes. The song infamously tells of the hip detective Shaft. At one point, Hayes sings that Shaft is a “bad mother--” before being interrupted by his singers. Hayes then says he is “only talking about Shaft.”
• “He must have crossed over to the other side.” “Break on through to the other side, man.”
o “Break on Through (To the Other Side)” is a song sung by the Doors, which was their first single. While unpopular at the time, it has remained a fairly consistent rock standard with its chorus of the title lyric.
• “Buddy Rich on drums.”
o Buddy Rich, the “world’s greatest drummer,” was a jazz drummer and bandleader highly praised for his power and speed. Rich’s most popular performance was a big band arrangement of West Side Story themes. He also reportedly had a large temper.
• “Day for night, I think.” “Thank you Truffaut.”
o Day for Night (1973) is a film by director Francois Truffaut. The title refers to the movie process in which scenes shot in daylight can be made to appear like nighttime. The movie itself deals with the making of a clichéd melodrama called Meet Pamela and various dramas.
• “Splendor in the grass.”
o Splendor in the Grass (1961) is a film by Elia Kazan featuring the tragic romance between young people played by Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty. The film won a Best Screenplay Oscar for author William Inge.
• When Tommy is looking for Trumpy, the theme song to the show “Lassie” is hummed. This show told the story of the intrepid collie Lassie, who helped out various families and owners and eventually wandered alone through endlessly mutating formats. The original opening featured a boy calling for Lassie while the song was played.
• “This is more intense than when Bobby Brady got last in the Grand Canyon.” “Wasn’t that in Hawaii?” “No, that was where Peter found that Buddha thing.”
o These are episodes of the famous sitcom “The Brady Bunch,” about the blended Brady family. The Grand Canyon episode was “The Brady Braves” (the tail end of a three-parter), where Cindy and Bobby get lost in said Canyon and are helped out by Indians. The Hawaii episode was a three-parter in 1972, where the kids find a tiki idol which leads to adventures.
• “He looks like he came from the Dumbo planet.”
o Dumbo (1941) is a Walt Disney animated film about a big-eared elephant named Dumbo who can fly using his ears as wings. The film was very short for a feature film, but was popular and maintains a well respected status today.
• “Time to take the mask off and see who he is. Do you folks at home know?”
o While this sort of clichéd dialogue is common among many mystery films and programs, the ending question is similar to a common feature of the sleuth program “Ellery Queen.” Near the end of every episode, Ellery (played by Jim Hutton) would turn to the audience and ask if we at home knew whom the murderer was.
• “Tommy, answer me please!” “State it in the form of a question.”
o This is a reference to the popular game show “Jeopardy!” Contestants must state their answers in the form of a question or risk being judged wrong. Thus, “He was the first president.” “Who was George Washington?” is the proper answer.
• “I’m over here, mommy!” “Talking to Billy Barty!”
o Billy Barty was a diminutive dwarf actor who played various film roles in stuff like Foul Play (1978) and Willow (1988). He was very identifiable on screen with his rasp and clownish style.
• What is Tom starting to sing as the music starts up?
• Anybody know what the “I’ve laughed with monsters” song is a parody of?
• EMILIO RUIZ “Isn’t that Martin Sheen’s son?” “Who isn’t?”
o Martin Sheen, an actor best known for playing Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now (1979) and President Bartlett on “The West Wing,” has had four children, including three sons (Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez, Charlie Sheen, and Renee Estevez—Estevez is Sheen’s real last name).
• “Hey, Martin and Lewis were in this movie.”
o Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were a comedic duo in the ‘40s and ‘50s, plying their trade on radio, television, and a series of films. Dean was the laidback good-looking guy who got the girl and sang songs. Jerry was his manic partner, who always got involved in wackiness. Crow does a Dean impression (more of a Crosby impression, in my opinion) and Joel does Jerry after this line.
• “I say both of these guys were in the Knights of Columbus.”
o The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. As seen by the namesake, it has a heavy Italian flavor to its membership although it obviously is not exclusive.
• “Basil!” “Yes, dear, I’m doing it dear!”
o This is a reference to the sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” in which John Cleese and Prunella Scales played the bickering couple the Fawltys who operated a seaside resort. Scales’ character, Sybil, would continually snipe at her husband, Basil. One famous bit was that he would quickly respond by saying “Yes, dear, I’m doing it dear!”

Host Segment Five
• “We are the stuff dreams are made of.”
o This is basically a quote from the Shakespeare play The Tempest (the quote in the original play is “stuff dreams are made on”). It was made famous in the movie The Maltese Falcon (1941), in which Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) says that the title bird is the “stuff that dreams are made of.”
• “Burma-Shave.”
o Burma-Shave was a shaving cream company started in 1925. In the ‘20s, to take advantage of more motorists, they started a famous advertising gimmick of posting poems on billboards along the highways advertising their product. My favorite Burma-Shave bit was: “Hay! Straw is cheaper, grass is free, buy a farm, you get all three! Burma-Shave!”
• “William Holden’s coming over…”
o William Holden was an American actor best known for his tough-but-sensitive-guy roles in movies like The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Stalag 17 (1953). He was also very well known for his drinking, which sadly ultimately cost him his life when he slipped while drunk and bled to death.
• “Tom Servo, if you don’t stop doing your Anthony Newley…”
o Newley was a British singer and songwriter who had hits like “Why?” and “Do You Mind?” He also wrote such famous songs as “What Kind of Fool Am I?”, “Goldfinger,” and the music for Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).

Mike, have you seen the newish "Annotating MST3K" topic at the bottom of The Kitchen Sink of Love? I have to admit I didn't understand what Gordon was talking about, but you might!

• “He seeks him here, he seeks him there, he seeks that rascal everywhere.”
o This is a parody of the writing style of Dr. Seuss ...

I'd need to hear the line in context, but isn't the poem a minor rewrite of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Sir Percy Blakeney?

“They seek him here, they seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel.”

Oooh, good call. I wasn't aware of that poem.

Mike - "Time to take the mask off and see who he is. Do you folks at home know?"
o While this sort of cliched dialogue is common among many mystery films and programs, the ending question is similar to a common feature of the sleuth program "Ellery Queen." Near the end of every episode, Ellery (played by Jim Hutton) would turn to the audience and ask if we at home knew whom the murderer was.
Actually I believe it goes back to the Ellery Queen RADIO show. Not sure who played Ellery on radio though.

The radio version of Ellery Queen is highly erratic, constantly switching networks and lead actors. In the 1939-1940 run on CBS, Queen was portrayed by Hugh Marlowe. On the NBC 1942-1944 run, it was Carleton Young who got replaced with Sydney Smith in August 1943. It went back to CBS for 1945-1947 with Smith managing to stick around. In the fall of 1947, it hopped back to NBC and featured Lawrence Dobkin as Queen. Finally, near the end of 1947 it switched to ABC, where Dobkin stayed on until January 1948. He was replaced with Howard Culver, who stayed until the show ended for good in May of that year. Reference source is The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio by John Dunning.

• What is Tom starting to sing as the music starts up?

He's starting to sing Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares To You." The tune of the score resembles the beginning of Sinead's song.

Whoops--forgot to add that the "Come on and dance" reference is an obvious nod to the Steve Miller Band song "Swingtown," which has a similar tune to the music in the film and has the constant refrain "Come on and dance."