Times when you didn't get references, parodies, homages, etc

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

didn't get the reference on here about that Jericho should never have been made Doink for years, just thought it was a random in joke

that's until I read Jericho's 2nd book

[wildojinx]

Also, to me, the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes satirizing the Twilight Zone were just funny segments to me until I found out they were parodying that show. Heck, I was surprised when I first saw It's a Good Life and found out that Billy Mumy's character turned a guy into a Jack-in-the-box in the actual episode.

[Natural Born Farmer]

I feel like I dodge a lot of modern hip hop because I don’t want to have to know an artist’s entire history to understand the lyrics.

[H-Virus]

Nov 9, 2018 20:31:13 GMT -5 wildojinx said:

Also, to me, the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes satirizing the Twilight Zone were just funny segments to me until I found out they were parodying that show. Heck, I was surprised when I first saw It's a Good Life and found out that Billy Mumy's character turned a guy into a Jack-in-the-box in the actual episode.

Yeah, Simpsons and Futurama were both full of references that I didn't know about until much later.

[ERON]

My mind was blown when I found out the "You remind me of the babe" bit from Labyrinth was quoting from an old Cary Grant movie.

[Evil Homer]

Dean Ambrose titty master , I dont get it

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Okay, embarrassing story time. about 20 years ago I got to make a website for a fairly prolific TV and movie actor. It started out as a fan site but after getting in contact with me it became an official site of sorts (he let me announce a couple of upcoming roles and answered fan mail through the site).

Being a wet-behind-the-ears teenager at the time who wasn't particularly well-versed in certain aspects of American history relevant to this story, in trying to think of a name for the website I eventually settled on adapting a reference made by another actor about him - or, more specifically, the character he was playing - which I mistook for an on-set in-joke. The character was a racist southerner who whipped a black man, and so his website came to be called "The Grand Wizard of Acting" and stayed that way for two years until I started reading about the KKK.

Needless to say, he and I have since had a good laugh over this blunder, as has the actor who I'd quoted.

[MiLB Fan]

I could do multiple posts just on The Simpsons, but one episode in particular is “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet.”

In 1997, Rhino Records released Songs in the Key of Springfield, a soundtrack album featuring songs and dialogue from various episodes. One of the tracks was the Be Sharps’ live performance of “Baby on Board,” complete with Homer saying “I’d like to thank you on behalf of the group, and I hope we passed the audition.”

Like Barney, I didn’t understand what was so funny ... until I received a boxed set of The Beatles albums for Christmas a few years later and heard Let it Be for the first time. Ooooh, so THAT’S why everyone was laughing! After that, it was fun to watch the episode again and pick up on all the Beatles references sprinkled throughout.

[Milkman Norm]

Here's an old school one ( and I mean old school) Foghorn Leghorn was inspired by a character callled Sen. Beauregard Claghorn from The Fred Allen Radio Show. Obviously the names were similar but in addition Mel Blanc borrowed heavily from Kenny Delmar (the announcer who played the Senator) including borrowing the "I say,I say,.." thing.

[Deleted]

Nov 7, 2018 20:21:04 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

There's probably a ton of them from old Bugs Bunny cartoons... As a kid, I had no idea who Groucho Marx was, so anytime Bugs had the glasses and mustache and that cigar I didn't catch the reference.

Until recently, the only Jack Benny references I "got" was if somebody played a violin...poorly.
Now I'm in a Jack Benny group on FB and there are quite a few screen grabs of his classic pose - backwards hand under his chin - from Bugs Bunny and some others. Characters would do the "Well!" exclamation when taking a crack at him.
(What makes it even better: Mel Blanc, who voiced many of these cartoon characters, was a regular on the Benny show.)

[Milkman Norm]

Speaking of Jack Benny... The "Yesssss Man" from the Simpson is a reference to actor Frank Nelson who was often a foil on Benny's programs.

[Deleted]

Nov 10, 2018 10:29:35 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

Speaking of Jack Benny... The "Yesssss Man" from the Simpson is a reference to actor Frank Nelson who was often a foil on Benny's programs.

(Jack & Mary go for a bite to eat.)
"Excuse me..."
"YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS?!!"
"What do you recommend?"
"A bib; you look like the sloppy type."

Fun story about Frank: He demanded $750 per episode no matter how big or small his part was on the show. So he was usually saved for when he had a large role or plot. (Because...Jack's bit is that he's cheap.)

And speaking of big and large: if you ever see an big, fat announcer in any of those cartoons, that's an homage to Don Wilson; possibly the most well-known program announcer of the radio era.

[The Barber]

That most of the Three Stooges titles were spoofs of old movie titles.

[Shark]

In Spaceballs when they are about to turn the ship in to Mega Maid, Sandurz says they are ready for metamorphosis and Dark Helmet yells out "Ready Kafka?". It always sounded like it was a joke, but I never got it until I read Kafka's Metamorphosis in college.

[bibboid]

A good number of the threads on this site don't make any sense to me. They might be referencing movies or tv shows I don't watch, or books or comics I don't read, or music I don't listen too.

And I'm too old to care about learning what kind of goofy hijinks you are talking about.

*waves cane in the air angrily*
Now get of my lawn ya dad-blamed whippersnappers!

[Spiderf 4]

Nov 7, 2018 20:22:22 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

I didn’t realize that Scream was meant to be a parody of ‘80s slasher flicks; I just took it as a straight horror movie. And I actually saw Scream 2 first, so all the references to the first one went right over my head.

So basically that made "Scary Movie" some sort of parody of a parody?

[mrtuesday]

Nov 25, 2018 6:08:04 GMT -5 Spiderf 4 said:

Nov 7, 2018 20:22:22 GMT -5 MiLB Fan said:

I didn’t realize that Scream was meant to be a parody of ‘80s slasher flicks; I just took it as a straight horror movie. And I actually saw Scream 2 first, so all the references to the first one went right over my head.

So basically that made "Scary Movie" some sort of parody of a parody?

"Scary Movie" was actually Scream's original title before it was changed. So it made sense for the parody to take it for itself.

[sfvega]

Nov 7, 2018 19:45:48 GMT -5 Spiderf 4 said:

Second the Weird Al thing. I was into Weird Al years before I was "into music". I did know that Eat It was Beat It and Fat was Bad, but then apparently stuff like Syndicated Inc. was a parody of some Soul Asylum song, and Cavity Search was a parody of a U2 song.

I just heard that Soul Asylum song this year and immediately added it to my Spotify. And I just listened to the Weird Al song after reading your post. They're both great.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I watched Robin Hood Men in Tights a good dozen times before I was even aware of the Kevin Costner movie.

I still haven't watched the Kevin Costner movie in full, and from what bits I did see Men in Tights is much more enjoyable. (Aside from Alan Rickman, who wouldn't have felt out of place in the parody version at all)

[Deleted]

Growing up watching Golden era Simpsons, I was aware of some references and aware even more WERE references although not what they were references to, but subsequently seeing some movies and shows as an adult and realising the sheer volume of well placed and clever nods and parodies in those episodes never ceases to amaze me.