One if by Clam, Two if by Sea/References

• The title of the episode is a reference to the poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow which commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere. Referring to the signaling system to be used if the British were sighted, the verse runs:

He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea"

• The car parked outside the Drunken Clam during the 1984 flashback is a DeLorean DMC-12.
• The music playing in the Drunken Clam in 1984 is the instrumentals from the song "Every Breath You Take" by The Police.
• The song that Peter plays on the glass harp during the storm is “What I Did for Love” from the musical "A Chorus Line".
• Awoken by Peter talking in his sleep, Lois is originally angry at what she assumes is an erotic dream involving someone named Jenny, but relieved to find out that Peter is actually dreaming about the late stand-up comedian Richard Jeni.
• With the transformation of the Drunken Clam into a British pub, the girlie magazines in the bathroom are replaced with Charles Dickens’s novel "David Copperfield", whom the men misinterpret as the magician.
• Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th Century British Prime Minister, statesman and literary figure, is referenced in a brief cutaway in which he states, “You don’t even know who I am.” With this reference, Family Guy pokes fun at itself referencing not only well-known pop culture icons and historical figures, but also relatively obscure people of whom many viewers have no knowledge.
• The scene after Peter and his friends try to find a new bar involves Peter, Cleveland, Joe, and Quagmire standing beside a fence drinking tins of beer and only saying “Yep” repetitively. The scene is a reference to "King of the Hill".
• Representing what would happen if the British took away action films, Peter imagines action movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in a romantic film titled "I Remember Cecil", which seems to belong to the same genre as "Brideshead Revisited" or "Room with a View".
• Cleveland’s line “Don’t tread on me,” spoken as they enter the British pub and try to reclaim it, is a reference to the First Navy Jack ensign, which featured thirteen horizontal red lines with a rattlesnake in the foreground. (A similar, albeit longer, allusion is made in The Simpsons' episode “Whacking Day”.)
• Stewie’s attempts to teach Eliza to speak properly are a parody of the musical "My Fair Lady".
• A cutaway parodies the “light cycle” sequence from 1982 film "Tron", where Peter claims he is the “green guy.”
• The message seen in the background during the "Tron" scene is, upside down: “IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOUR TV IS UPSIDE DOWN.”
• Believing that they are “trained to stay perfectly still,” Peter is punched in the face by a member of the British Foot Guards when he starts to say something about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
• The scene in which Peter and his friends sneak on a British ship and pour beer overboard is a parody of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, in which the Sons of Liberty did the same with "bricks" of British tea.
• Trisha Takanawa holds a charred portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and puns on the expression “flaming queen.”
• Peter says that a Channel 5 Quahog News report about a new arson suspect is better than "COPS", and that “you know there’s a fat, drunk guy in there.” The suspect turns out to be Peter himself.
• Peter and the gang’s arrival in jail parodies a scene in the 1994 film "The Shawshank Redemption". Peter’s method of carving an escape tunnel through the cell wall, seen later in the episode, mirrors the protagonist’s escape in that film.
• Demond Wilson, star of the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son", is hiding in Nigel’s study.
• Stewie calls Brian “Dogbert”, a reference to the title character’s dog in the comic strip "Dilbert", who is also an intelligent talking dog with white fur.
• Nigel and Eliza are also the names of two characters in “The Wild Thornberrys,” which starred Lacey Chabert, who provided the voice of Meg Griffin in season one and part of season two.
• The Golden Autumn Day Strangler may be a reference to Doctor Richard Greineder, who, in 2000, was convicted of murdering his own wife in a suburban park in autumn of the previous year.
• In the season 5 finale Meet the Quagmires it is said that Peter is 18 in 1984. The scene in the Clam in 1977 means that Peter is 11, but fully grown and working in a toy factory.
• Stewie's efforts to turn Eliza into a proper lady are a reference to the Lerner & Loewe musical, "My Fair Lady," based on George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion." Stewie plays the role of Professor Henry Higgins, with Rupert playing his friend, Pickering.
• When the guys enter the Clam's Head in Revolutionary War garb, they resemble the famous painting "Spirit of '76" by Archibald Willard.
• When the guys stand around by a fence with beer and take turns saying "Yep" is a reference to King of the Hill.

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