Television — Referring to the early days of television.
Ford Thunderbird — The 1956 Ford Thunderbird that Wolfguy Jack and his assistant, Debbie Dunham, are riding in during the commercial is one of many seen at the restaurant.
Headlines plastered on the walls throughout the restaurant include:
The Beatles — Even though they didn't arrive until the 1960s, the explosive popularity of the English band is acknowledged.
Milkshakes — A popular treat at 1950s-era teen hangouts.
Vietnam War — Although it didn't reach its peak until the mid- to late-1960s, the war began in 1955 and is so acknowledged.
Teen Pregnancy
Conformaty
Menu items — The following 1950s references are used for the menu items:
Allen Ginsberg — Hamburgers named Allen Ginsbergers, for the beatnik writer.
McCarthyism — The grilled cheese sandwiches are named Un-American cheese sandwiches, after Sen. Joe McCarthy's pejorative for people suspected of being Communists.
Polio vaccine — The hot dogs are named polio dogs, after Jonas Salk's vaccine that would ultimately wipe out the dread disease.
Dennis the Menace — Jay North reprises his role as the title character of the 1959-1963 sitcom at Greaser's grand opening. (Bart was originally conceived by Matt Groening to be a more extreme, and truly menacing, version of Dennis.)
Pulp Fiction — The dance contest at a 50s-themed restaurant is similar to the one in the 1994 movie.
Wolfman Jack and Debbie Dunham — Restaurant proprietor Wolfguy Jack and his girlfriend are thinly veiled caricatures of the radio personality and the character from American Graffiti, respectively.
The episode title is a pun on the classic Henny Youngman one-liner, "Take my wife, please."
American Gothic — The painting featuring Apu and Manjula standing in front of the Kwik-E-Mart is based on Grant Wood's famous painting. (The farmer in Wood's painting is holding a pitchfork, but Apu is holding a broom.)
Friday the 13th — The Hell's Satans are staying at Camp Crystal Lake, which is named after the campground where Jason Voorhees terrorized teen-agers in the slasher film series.
Guinness World Records — The TV special the family watches — complete with Lisa echoing criticism about the reliability of the records — is a takeoff of several Fox "Guinness" specials that had recently aired.
The bike Homer wins is a 1955 Harley Davidson FLH Panhead.
The name that Homer gave to his Biker group, as well as the actual group of the same name that menaced Homer afterwards, Hell's Satans, were a spoof on the real-life biker group Hell's Angels.
"Hell's Angels" — In the scene where the real Hell's Satans take over the Simpsons' living room, Hunter Thompson, author of the book Hell's Angels is seen briefly sitting by the back door. This is a reference to the fact that Thompson held parties in his apartment during the time of writing his book of which the Hell's Angels were frequent guests.
Trivia[]
Homer's motorbike has training wheels. You can actually get training wheels for a motorcycle.
Homer seems to send Marge back in time during the dance contest.
Real Harley Davidson with training wheels like Homer's
No wonder Greasers Cafe went out of business if they give away a prize like that for the dance contest, they have a Nightly dance contest.
Goofs[]
When Homer is sitting at the table after the bikers leave the Simpsons' house, he raises his fork behind his head, and when he brings his hand back into view, the fork is on the table again.
In "The Homer They Fall", Homer was shown to be so weak, he couldn't even harm a fly with his punch, whereas in this episode, Homer can easily swing a motorcycle like a sword. However, he may have picked up some strength after that episode and before this one.
