- Occurrence of a joke
- Joke in the background
- Foreshadowing
- Combined joke
20 episodes feature this joke:
Season 1
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17: Altar Egos
Henry Winkler strikes a Happy Days pose.
Will Arnett (G.O.B.) and Amy Poehler (G.O.B.'s seal-dealing wife) were married at the time of filming.
Season 2
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8: Queen for a Day
Liza Minelli, who plays Lucille 2, famously sang "New York, NY." Her character remarks, "Everyone thinks they're Sinatra."
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11: Out on a Limb
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Maggie Lizer, adopts Jerry Seinfeld's cadence in a reference to the infamous 90's television show they co-starred on.
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13: Motherboy XXX
Henry Winkler literally jumps the shark — as he did in happy days.
G.O.B.'s wife is played by Will Arnett's then real-life wife Amy Poehler.
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17: Spring Breakout
In the background, an extra jumps the shark, which is a reference to Henry Winkler (Barry Zuckercorn) and Ron Howard (announcer) on Happy Days.
Season 3
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2: For British Eyes Only
Brad Garrett beat out Jeffrey Tambor (George Sr.) for the "Best Supporting Actor" Emmy.
Andy Griffith costarred with Ron Howard.
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3: Forget-Me-Now
Scott Baio's character replaces Henry Winkler's character — as he did on Happy Days.
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5: Mr. F
Rita is played by a Yank, South African Charlize Theron. "You can always tell."
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6: The Ocean Walker
Tony Hale performs a dance to Mr. Roboto, as he did in a Volkswagen commercial.
A picture of Rita before plastic surgery is actually a picture of Charlize Theron in "Monster."
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7: Prison Break-In
Ron Howard corrects the name of a Happy Days star.
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8: Making a Stand
Andy Richter plays quintuplets, and starred in a comedy called "Quintuplets."
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9: S.O.B.s
Andy Richter plays quintuplets, and starred in a comedy called "Quintuplets."
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11: Family Ties
Jason Bateman's sister, Justine, plays Jason's potential sister Nellie.
The episode is titled "Family Ties," the name of the television show that Justine Bateman starred in.
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12: Exit Strategy
The actor who played the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld portrays a Saddam look-alike.
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13: Development Arrested
Ron Howard is the narrator and an executive producer of Arrested Development. "Maybe a movie."
Season 4
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1: Flight of the Phoenix
Michael's phone calendar is stuck in 2003, the year that Arrested Development started.
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2: Borderline Personalities
The narrator references the current (and unexpected) fourth season of Arrested Development: "... the beginning of a fourth season that would never come."
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4: The B. Team
Barry says, "I can't reach the Chachi" in front of Scott Baio (Bob Loblaw), who played Chachi on "Jonie Loves Chachi."
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12: Senoritis
An obviously older Michael Cera (George Michael) was supposedly "aged by the harsh winds of the sea" though only gone for a few hours.
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13: It Gets Better
George Michael says he signed up for Netflix to see the remake of Les Cousins Dangeroux.