The Fool Monty/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season Episode
← 469 "Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life"	"The Fool Monty/References"	"How Munched Is that Birdie in the Window?" →

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on the film The Full Monty and a reference to Mr. Burns' nickname of "Monty".
• The couch gag is a parody of the flim Avatar.
• After an executive disembarks from the Fox News helicopter, the copter wobbles and crashes while someone on board cries out, "We're unbalanced! It's not fair!", punning the channel's slogan "Fair & balanced".
• When Kent Brockman breaks the news of the House Cat Flu on Channel 6 News, the graphics cards accompanying the story read "Apocalypse Meow" and "The Purrfect Storm", punning the movies Apocalypse Now and The Perfect Storm.
• In the vaccination line, Comic Book Guy is dressed as Wolverine, wearing an X-Men uniform.
• The band that Burns hires to play at his "I'm dying" announcement is called The Grave Matthews Band, a pun on the Dave Matthews Band.
• The scene where Mr. Burns hides in Bart's closet is a reference to the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Also, E.T. is seen in the closet amongst the other stuffed animals.
• At the bar, Smithers says that his new boss Dick Cheney likes to stack naked men, a reference to the Abu Ghraib incident during the Iraq War.
• When Smithers leaves Cheney's employ to return to working for Mr. Burns, Cheney zaps him with a "neuralyzer", a memory-erasing device from the Men in Black movies.
• Mr. Burns says he got the idea to enclose Springfield in a dome from the Stephen King novel Under the Dome.
• Nelson and Lisa appear in a Springfield Elementary School production of the Edward Albee play Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?.
• The music playing over the end credits is "Powerhouse", composed by Raymond Scott. The song is commonly heard in "assembly line" scenes in animated cartoons, particularly those made by Warner Brothers.

Trivia

• References to Smithers' sexuality:
  • Mr. Burns says that love is something that one man can't pay another for. Smithers starts to contradict him, but is cut off when Burns continues talking.
  • Smithers says that Burns was more than a friend to him, but his new boss Dick Cheney likes to stack naked men, and adds, "At least that's a start."
• The day this episode aired, Futurama also had an appearance of Dick Cheney's head.

Continuity

• Mr. Burns threatens to lower a dome on Springfield again. This has been done before. (The Simpsons Movie)
  • Also, Lou states that they could just dig a way out if he did lower the dome, something fans have suggested and wondered why they didn't do it since the movie aired.
• Maggie points a gun at Mr. Burns again, wanting to kill him. ("Who Shot Mr. Burns?")
• Mr. Burns manages to get the whole town to resent him, also similar to "Who Shot Mr. Burns?".