How I Wet Your Mother/References

References/Trivia

Season 23 Episode References

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"How I Wet Your Mother"

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Cultural references

The episode's name is a reference to the TV series, How I Met Your Mother.
The episode is a parody of and a reference to the film, Inception.
Waylon Smithers uses a Portal gun to get past the robots in the storeroom.
The closing credits feature audio of the song "Dream Operator" written by David Byrne (with vocals from Byrne and Glenn Close).
One of the dreams references the "Family Therapy" Tracey Ullman short.
Grampa says his and Mona's arguing was actually a TV program, featuring Mitch Miller shouting at "one of his idiot singers". Miller produced for many singers, including Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and Johnny Mathis.
In Homer's dreams, he has Jennifer Aniston's hair from Friends.
In Homer's dream, Robin Williams states that Stanley Kubrick wanted him to star in The Shining, Ronald Reagan states that Casablanca was originally going to star him and John Travolta states that there was a Grease 2 and he wasn't in it.

This episode marks the second appearance of B.F. Sherwood. B.F. Sherwood has the longest gap between his first and second appearances of any other recurring character. His second appearance in "How I Wet Your Mother" was 4 shorts and 501 episodes after his first appearance in "Family Therapy".

Barney didn't seem to realize he didn't work at the Power Plant, and he was heard in the bathroom there in "The Falcon and the D'ohman".
Homer is also against his brain in the previous episode, "Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart".
Homer also fails to go undercover into a shop in "Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson".
On Mr. Simpson's Wild Ride, several past versions of Homer are seen:
- Fat Homer ("King-Size Homer")
- Pie Man ("Simple Simpson")
- King Homer ("Treehouse of Horror III")
- Homer as Mr. Plow ("Mr. Plow")