The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer/References

Cultural references

 * In The Seven-Beer Snitch Fat Tony says Marge sometimes drives his son home from school and Marge says he must be Michael's dad.
 * Otto's exclamation "Real songs are about deals with the devil, far-off lands, and where you'd find smoke in relation to water." are allusions to the songs "Devil went down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band, "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin & "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple.
 * The song Metallica plays as they ride away in the back of Hans Moleman's truck is the title track from their 1986 album "Master of Puppets".
 * When Metallica leaves, Otto squashes his hat in the same form Don Ramon from El Chavo del Ocho does.
 * Krusty the Clown, owner of the chain of Krusty Burger restaurants, pays the mafia to keep McDonalds and Burger King out of Springfield.
 * When Fat Tony is driving his Lincoln Navigator in the carpool, The Sopranos theme song is heard. Additionally, several Sopranos actors (including Joe Pantoliano and Michael Imperioli) voice mob characters in this episode, note that they had their real faces in this episode.
 * Nelson says in this episode that "There is no Mafia" which is another reference to The Sopranos, where Anthony Soprano Sr. says this to his daughter Meadow.
 * Fat Tony works, as he says, in "Waste Management", which is the official job of Anthony Soprano Sr.
 * Fat Tony asks Milhouse for one of his binders to use as a trap. Fat Tony chooses the Garfield binder rather than the Love Is... binder. "I prefer the cat, he hates Mondays, and we can all relate."
 * The house of Fat Tony also strongly resembles that of Tony Montana from the movie Scarface.
 * Fat Tony's son, Michael, is named in honor of Michael Corleone, son of Don Vito Corleone, in Mario Puzo's The Godfather Trilogy. His hairstyle is also extremely similar to Al Pacino's around the time of the film.
 * At the end of the episode Michael says to Lisa: "Don't ever ask me about my business", a quotation from The Godfather. The room where this takes place is very similar to the location in the original movie.
 * The final portion of the episode is a reference to the final scene of The Godfather, Lisa plays Diane Keaton, and Michael (whose character resembles a young version of Michael Corleone) plays Al Pacino. The Godfather theme is also heard.
 * Homer claims Shark Tale to be the best gangster movie ever.
 * Fat Tony asks "Who wants to sleep with the fishes?.. Because I brought this Finding Nemo bedspread!" "Sleeping with the fishes" is a gang language quote for dumping a dead body into the river. This is also referenced in  The Simpsons Movie  where Fat Tony tries to dump his "yard trimmings" into the Springfield river.
 * The episode title is a reference to the film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, which also involves a crime boss and food.
 * When Fat Tony arrives for the carpool, he says "We are going for a ride!.... By which I mean the carpool" Much of Fat Tony's quotes is related to gang language.
 * After Johnny Tightlips says to Michael that he has to stand up as mob boss, Louie says that he wants to drop by the Lexus dealership to test drive their new hybrid. Tightlips replies to him that he's a hybrid, half-idiot and half-moron. This is a joke on the hybrid motor setup of an electric motor and a gas engine.
 * The promotional image for this episode is based on promotional material for the HBO original series The Sopranos.
 * The horn of the truck truck is the same horn that Dennis from the Thomas and Friends TV series has.

Goofs

 * At the beginning, when Lisa and Bart go up the bus there are children behind the seat Bart will sit. But when Bart sit on, the children disappears. But in the next scene, the children appear again.
 * When Otto was singing, Lisa disappears.
 * When Lisa pulls on the cord for Otto's headphones, her necklace is orange.
 * Otto breaks the bus' windshield. But in the next scene, the windshield was fine. Later, when Otto talks to Kearney, the windshield was break again.
 * A policemen should stop Bart from driving the school bus, but Bart arrives at the school without any problem.
 * Bart says that he passes the yellow lights (traffic lights) and Marge thought it was a joke. Although the yellow lights of the traffic lights can be pass without any problem.
 * When Fat Tony gives Michael the math notebook, he gives him by the back window which would be impossible in real life as the back window cannot be removed.
 * When Fat Tony shows the Finding Nemo blanket, Nemo is yellow with blue stripes and Dori is red.
 * In Latin America, Homer mistooks a pocket knife as a "knife".
 * In slow motion, when Homer was eating the poisonous meatballs the sticks go through the plate.

Trivia

 * The beans used in the cafeteria are from World War II.
 * This was the first episode with Fat Tony's son.


 * This is the second time Otto has gotten suspended from driving the bus, the first time was in The Otto Show.


 * Similarly, this was the second time something happened with the bus/bus driver that forced the parents to carpool their kids, the first was in Homerpalooza after Otto drove the bus into a car crusher after steering off the road in an attempt to avoid running down Jasper Beardley at the last second after sleeping at the wheel.


 * This was also the second episode where a Simpson hijacks a bus. The first was My Mother the Carjacker.
 * This is the first time Principal Skinner saved Bart from getting spanked by Otto.