Brian Sings and Swings/References

• Meg watches as Chris’ hair and hat is placed on his head, spoofing the scene in The Empire Strikes Back in which Admiral Piett watches Darth Vader’s helmet being lowered over his deformed head, as a sample of the famous tune “The Imperial March” is played in the background.
• Brian reads the newspaper headline “Thanks to treatment Magic Johnson down to one AID.”
• Stewie says if Brian dies he’ll have to start hanging out with actor/wrestler the Rock again. The cutaway shows a trailer with Stewie and the Rock. The narrator (Don LaFontaine) speculates about the Rock’s race and then that of actress Jessica Alba. The Rock is part black and part Samoan. Alba is Mexican (from her father’s side) and white French-Canadian and Danish (from her mom’s side). During the narrator’ s speech about Jessica Alba, he claims that he would’ve “plowed that ’til next July” if he were 40 years younger.
• Meg’s teacher shows an episode of the educational science show NOVA but he taped over it with a homemade sex tape.
• The poster welcoming Meg into the Lesbian Alliance also says “See You Next Tuesday,” an innuendo for “cunt.” It is sometimes spelled, more obviously, “C U Next Tuesday.” The American Dad episode “Threat Levels” uses the same gag.
• The “mega-lesbians” at the “Lesbian Alliance Club” sing “Elvira” by The Oak Ridge Boys.
• Brian says that he has to “live life when you can and live it hard,” which Stewie calls “the Chris Farley method.” The comedian/Saturday Night Live alum had extensive drug abuse problems and died of an overdose, not unlike his idol, John Belushi, who was also a well-known SNL castmember.
• The flashback in which Peter “swam with the bulls” is a combination of the running of the bulls and synchronized swimming. They perform to “Waltz of the Flowers” from the ballet The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, which is a reference to the movie Caddyshack.
• In the cutaway where Thomas Edison hoards electricity, he watches the sitcom The Office (first aired 69 years after Edison’s death) and blasts “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix (released 36 years after Edison’s death).
• The imagery in the scene where Brian sits at the bar depressed mimics the cover of Frank Sinatra’s album, No One Cares; Frank Sinatra Jr. happens to be performing at that bar.
• Stewie, Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. make up the “New Rat Pack.” Frank Sinatra Sr. was in an all-star group called the Rat Pack.
• The part where Mayor Adam West is singing is a parody of the song “Edelweiss” from the musical Sound of Music.
• When Stewie is left alone in the makeup room he decides to play 52 pickup, which is a card practical joke.
• A recurring joke refers to Frank Sinatra Jr.’s mother as actress Mia Farrow who was briefly married to Sinatra Sr. in the 1960s. His mother is actually Nancy Barbato.
• When Stewie’s ear is severed and no one notices, he replaces it with a Mr. Potato Head ear.
• In a flashback, Peter is mugged by The Today Show [film critic Gene Shalit, who often speaks in puns. Shalit threatens Peter in movie titles and actors: “Don’t Panic Room; I’m not going to William Hurt you. I only want your Tango & Cash, so just Pay It Forward and we’ll all be Happy Gilmore.” Peter then asks in a confused manner “What?” Shalit has also been mentioned in “Ready, Willing, and Disabled” and the “Family Guy Viewer Mail 1” segment “Supergriffins.”
• Stewie decides not to buy a button-up jacket because it will make him look like actor/comedian Steve Harvey.
• Stewie laughs in a “messed-up” way at the sitcom Hope & Faith, which is a reference to laugh tracks used in sitcoms with lame jokes.
• On the cutaway showing John Goodman eating Thanksgiving dinner while his family starves, there are two children at the table. In real life, John Goodman has one child.
• When Quagmire attempts to videotape Meg and Sarah for a second time, his production crew is Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank, whose efforts to make an independent film were documented in the 1999 film American Movie.
• In a song, Stewie states his admiration for actor Robert Stack and Brian his of Candid Camera host Allen Funt. The latter is of course used to set up an expected rhyme (with "See you next Tuesday"), Stewie though singing "Or a nicely shaven .... leg".
• Brian’s temporary replacement, referred to as only a “Jew,” is Dean Martin’s old partner, Jerry Lewis.
• Frank Sinatra Jr. is introduced as the "member of the board," whereas Frank Sinatra has been known as the "chairman of the board."
• on one of the deleted scenes for this episode there is a family guy version of an ad for Folgers with Stewie and Lois Griffin in it.
• Asian guy in advertisement is probably Robert Kyiosaki.

For a list of keywords see Brian Sings and Swings/Keywords

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