Elementary School Musical/References

Cultural references

• The title of the episode is a pun on the High School Musical movie series.
• There is also an episode of South Park that is also entitled "Elementary School Musical".
• This title is similar to The Fairly OddParents episode, School's Out The Musical.
• The opening title screen gag pays homage to the Partridge Family.
• The chalkboard gag is a reference to the film Inception.
• When the Gracie Films logo appear, we hear the jingle first, then a cow moo just like Mad Cow Productions.
• The cast of Glee sing a take on The Beach Boys song, "Good Vibrations".
• Sprooklyn, Springfield's district in this episode, is a parody of Brooklyn, a borough of New York City.
• Sprubway is a parody of Subway, a sandwich shop.
• Dregs is possibly a parody of Greggs, a bakery in the UK.
• Krusty having a Super Bowl nip-slip, using a child as a shield and appearing on The Electric Company is similar to the character Greg Stillson from The Dead Zone.
• Spider-Man, the Marvel superhero, is shown on the The Electric Company doing the monkey dance
• When Stephen Hawking says "A Brief History of Rhyme", it is a parody of "A Brief History of Time". Additionally there is also an album by MC Hawking entitled "A Brief History of Rhyme: MC Hawking's Greatest Hits".
• When Lisa gets back from Performing Arts Camp, in band class, the School Band playing "My Country Tis Of Thee" and Lisa interrupting by playing Jazz is a reference to the Season 1 episode Moaning Lisa, and maybe the Opening Sequence.
• A mechanical clock is shown with an automated figure of Adolf Hitler who comes out on the hour and gets hit on the head.
• Krusty, shown having a Super Bowl nip slip is a reference to the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake Super Bowl incident that happened in Houston Texas. It is sometimes referred to as Nipplegate, a word pun of Watergate from the Watergate scandal.
• Ethan Ballantyne says he plays a Gibson Guitar.
• The councilors; Kurt Hardwick and Ethan Ballantyne are based on the New Zealand comedy duo band; Flight of the Conchords that consists of the actors and musicians; Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie who both played Kurt and Ethan in the episode.
• When Kurt and Ethan fly back to their flat, they fly in the same fashion as Rocky the Flying Squirrel of the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, complete with identical sound effect.

Trivia

• When Otto is playing the bus driving game, the console he is playing on looks very similar to the Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
• The handcuffs placed on Krusty before Homer and Bart come in are shaped like the currency symbol for the European Union.
• Fake Trivia: On December 28, 2019, When this episode was on FOX, the broadcast was hijacked by a scary pig called "Scare Pig".

Goofs

• Kent Brockman says that Krusty joins the likes of Gandhi as a Nobel Peace Prize winner. However, Gandhi did not receive the award.
• Springfield International Airport's sign reads "Springfield Airport".
• When Lisa meets Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, her saxophone disappears.
• When Lisa is dropping her saxophone out of her bedroom window, there is a rope. When she leaves, the rope is gone.
• At one point during the "Artists" song, Ethan's tongue briefly turns white.

International premieres

• "Elementary School Musical" premiered on October 7, 2010 in the UK.