- Peter describes Jesus going through a journey similar to Quantum Leap.
- Stewie bathes with Kathy Bates in a parody of a scene in About Schmidt.
- When Francis baptizes Stewie “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” Peter adds in “and Space Ghost.” Space Ghost was the protagonist of both an old Hanna-Barbera television show, and a late-night talk show parody from the mid-1990s.
- When the doctor tells Lois and Peter of Stewie’s condition, Lois asks if Stewie “will have to go through what John Travolta did in that movie.” Peter fearfully asks if he’ll have to take Stewie’s face off, like in Face/Off, in which the protagonist and antagonist traded faces. Lois then states that she was referring to The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
- The vaudeville duo sings “Fatty’s in a little jam, dead girl, dead girl” to the tune of “Camptown Races,” and refers to silent movie comedian Fatty Arbuckle and accusations that he raped and murdered budding starlet Virginia Rappe.
- After Peter converts to Mormonism, he says that one of his new wives is the “Kramer” of his collection, a reference to Seinfeld. In addition, Peter takes three new wives, a reference to the common misconception that modern-day Mormons still practice polygamy. In reality, polygamy has not been a part of the LDS church for over 100 years; only break-off groups which are not affiliated with the actual church practice polygamy, and any member of the actual Mormon church who is found practicing polygamy is excommunicated. However, one of Peter's new wives correctly states that Mormons don't drink alcohol; as Peter himself is an avid drinker, he promptly gets rid of all three new wives by stuffing them in trash cans and pretending he never "converted" to Mormonism.
- Stewie became the pinball in the Sesame Street segment Pinball Number Count.
- When watching television, Peter listens to television announcers that describe comedies in a light and airy tone, then switch to dark and menacing for dramas. ABC in the 1980s and 1990s was known for doing this.
- Peter incorporates a number of elements from Fonzie in his religion. Peter tells the congregation to “sit on it,” and then “let us ‘Aaaayyyy!” two of Fonzie’s catch phrases. There is also a motorcycle in the church, as well as a jukebox, a reference to Fonzie’s trademark move of pounding his hand on a jukebox to automatically make it play his song. Peter also refers to the “mystery” of Richie’s older brother who was never seen again after the first episode of Happy Days and reads a lesson to the congregation from “Potsie’s Letter to the Tuscaderos”, the Tuscaderos being a female motorcycle gang.
- After Stewie is released from his bubble, he says to Brian that he and his friends at Cobra Kai will take him down, referring to the name of the gang of bullies in The Karate Kid.
- The ending sequence of Family Guy mirrors that of the opening for Happy Days and uses the song “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and his Comets, the opener for Happy Days’ seasons one and two. According to the DVD commentary, they used the Bill Haley song because they were refused the rights to the Happy Days title theme song.
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