The Yes-Man Who Would Be King/References

References/Trivia

Cultural references[edit]

The comic title is a reference to the short story The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling.
Mr. Burns tells Smithers that he watched The Making of I'll Take Sweden and that Anita Ekberg is quite a dish.
Little Stockholm has advertisements for Volvo cars. Volvo is a Swedish car manufacturer.
The Swedish television miniseries Scenes from a Marriage is playing at a theater in Little Stockholm.
The shop in Little Stockholm that Smithers visits has Max von Sydow nutcrackers for sale.
When the shop employee sees the resemblance between Smithers and the King of Sweden, she exclaims "by the beard of crafty Odin, father god of neighboring Norway."
According to Moe, American actress Thelma Ritter once sat on the clean bar stool in Moe's Tavern.
According to Principal Skinner, Smithers doesn't have the temperate, law-giving wisdom of Charlton Heston.
Smithers says that AMC is showing All About Eve in its "Dames We Love" series. He also says that every man, woman, and child is required to savor Bette Davis and Celeste Holm in the most outrageous catfight of the century.
Smithers tells Ned that he doesn't need permission to buy a Pat Boone CD.
Homer asks Smithers if he can get a Royal Crown Cola for him.