40 Cryptic Jokes and References Expertly Hidden in TV Shows and Movies That You’ll Need A Comedic Rosetta Stone to Unravel

We’ll help you decipher these this time, but next time you’re on your own
40 Cryptic Jokes and References Expertly Hidden in TV Shows and Movies That You’ll Need A Comedic Rosetta Stone to Unravel

Like our approach with the fact-finding students we mentor, we’re gauging how much you hidden-joke-and-reference-finding students can handle today. It’s always good to gently push you a little further than you think you can go, but we don’t want to overwhelm you — or scare you off altogether.

On the hunt for these hidden jokes and references, you’ll get some serious hand-holding today. Pay close attention, because our hands won’t be here tomorrow.

The Shining

easter eggstra meanings and references THE SHiNiNG The famous axe scene was inspired by The Phantom Carriage. The iconic 1921 silent film sees a drunken man taking an axe to the door with his wife and children on the other side. Even the pace of the door smashing is the same as the scene in Kubrick's movie. It's also believed that the 1919 film Broken Blossoms served as inspiration. GRACKED.COM

The Simpsons

Grandpa's measurements. GRACKED COM In season 6, episode 18, A Star is Burns, Abe Simpson yells, The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I like it. You might think this is complete gibberish, but a rod is actually an old English measurement that can equal anywhere from 9 to 28 feet. A hogshead is an old unit of mea- surement for liquids that equals about 79 old wine-gallons.

Zootopia

Adult jokes in children's movies DE-WORMING has never been this easy U de Port Behind You adidas COULD IT RE TINE TE BET YOURSELF FIXED? Zootopia Get yourself fixed How are you going to pay your mortgage if you have a thousand kids? By getting fixed! Nip, tuck, Nick! CRACKED.COM

Beetlejuice

EASTER EGGSTRA REFERENCES & HIDDEN MEANINGS CRACKED.COM SCHITT'S CREEK Beetlejuice When Johnny and Moira visit the creek for the very first time in the final season, Moira's donning an umbrella that feels an awful lot like a Beetlejuice throwback, one of O'Hara's iconic movies.

Coraline

CRACKED.COM KiNG LEER! Sening Spink Forcible In Coraline, this poster is on Spink and Forcible's wall. Yes, that's a burlesque version of a Shakespeare play.

Pinky and the Brain

During a song about history in Pinky and the Brain Pinky mentions a certain grawe mertel guwm is lassel ife current luft dob hemils wile lear belgare . illes de Mab . in ****** malbe mel ...... ... Pate have Mak Fir lifgete . illes de dunces - Make . is malle mal - pala leaves Mak - - malke - bus(reard Vip make denree - . is sougne mal aswae densen To . - اسط ..... الوسط 4 mertal de To 1pm das will Fir - . كنسمة Je NA DATTER left deb will n Vignio - les battle

BoJack Horseman

BOJACK HORSEMAN Fans are well aware that visual gags are a staple of this show, and will often pause the show to spot all the gags. STOP PAUSING AND JUST WATCH THE SHOW BROKEN SNOW GLOBES D & ROLLED In Season 5 Episode 5, a possum can be (very briefly) seen holding up a shirt that reads, Stop pausing and just watch the show. GRACKED.COM

South Park

UNITED NATIONS In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the flag display outside the United Nations includes the Jolly Roger and an LGBT Pride flag. CRACKED.COM

Gravity Falls

MO52584 ESC - O 4 - 2 3 W O - ENTER TAB O E R T L с CAPS D - H J K r m z x C B SK HIFT < B N M RL Old Man McGucket's laptop in Gravity Falls has a key for the symbol of The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. CRACKED.COM

The Emperor’s New Groove

THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE Pretty sly reference to pitching a tent for a kid's movie. CRACKED.COM

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

IDER AN MARVEL COMICS GROUP ENT COMICS CODE c 121 In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the ARTHORITY JUNE 02457 clock strikes 1:21 when Gwen dies. 2 3 4 DETOR WRONG! BUT WHO? SPIDER MARVEL COMICS GROUP. WHO? 2 - и 121 JUNE DAS AMAZING SPIDER-MAN This is a call-out to The SCHOOL CANNO Amazing Spider-Man issue KOMEONE CLOSS TO 121, from which the storyline DIES about Gwen's death was WT SUPER adapted. SENSE - NEVER BUT - WHO? WHO? She died the same way as in the film-Spider-Man caught her with his webbing as she TALE-- DEVRECTED fell, but she

Boyz N The Hood

BOYZ ZZ HOOD KINGS WE WANT EAZY An amusing scene shows a crackhead attempting to steal someone's gold chain only to be caught and beaten up. The guy is wearing a t-shirt that refers to Eazy-E, a rapper who was feuding with the film's star Ice Cube. CRACKED.COM It was a sneaky jab at Eazy-E.

Lion King

GRACKED.COM IN THE LION KING SIMBA SAYS, YOU'RE so WEIRD!, TO WHICH SCAR (JEREMY IRONS) REPLIES, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. THIS IS A CALL BACK TO REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, IN WHICH ALAN DERSHOWITZ SAYS TO CLAUS VON BÜLOW (IRONS), YOU'RE A VERY STRANGE MAN, AND RECEIVES AN IDENTICAL REPLY.

Star Wars

STAR THE FORCE AWAKENS In the scene where Han Solo WARS notices that a Rathtar is near, the sound made from the Rathtar's movement is the exact same sound effect of the boulder in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'! CRACKED.COM

Ant-Man

COMIC CODE In Ant-Man, Darren Cross dismisses AUTHORI the Ant-Man research as Tales to M C astonish. 2 JA ELL x FILL CA PPENE WAS Silly, I know. Propaganda. Tales the to N SAVE ME SOMEB SAVE ME astonish. Trumped B.S. to up scare ANT U.S.S.R. DON'T LET THEM DRAG ME TI TALES TO TALES TO 12 12 TALES TO NOT SE INTO ASTONISH ASTOMISHASTONISH S ANT LOT - me 10 - I a - Featuring THE PAR THE RETURN OF THE THC ASTONISHING MAN ANT MAN! IN THE Sex - ANT-MAN! ... ANT 0 - TOTAL % HILL! -

Garrett Morris

Ant-Man has an obscure SNL reference. It's Garrett Morris' cameo -- a nod to his playing Ant-Man in an old SNL sketch about a superhero party. CRACKED.COM

The Last Jedi

The Last Jedi riffed on an ancient Star Wars parody. The shot of what turns out to be a sci-fi iron is an homage to Hardware Wars, a 13-minute 1978 spoof that used everyday objects like irons, flashlights, and vacuum cleaners as spaceships and planets. CRACKED.COM

Get Out

Get Out's shade of light blue for its opening credits is an homage to The Shining. G E T OUT THE SHINING CRACKED.COM

Tron

Programs fighting other programs in the Disc Arena was Tron's way of paying homage to Spartacus. CRACKED.COM

Mission: Impossible

The Mission: Impossible - Fallout team built a hallway set just so they could film a reference to 1967's Point Blank. B CRACKED.COM

The Goonies

The Goonies' Jake Fratelli wearing a fedora is the filmmakers' way of paying homage to Indiana Jones. CRACKED.COM

Kong: Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island has a reference to Taxi Driver. King Kong HIZZYLI Hank Marlow has a jacket that says Lizard Company --а riff on Travis Bickle's jacket (which says King Kong Company). CRACKED.COM

Thor: Ragnarok

Valkyrie's way of opening bottles in Thor: Ragnarok is a New Zealand film reference. She opens them with a knife because a guy in 1994's Once Were Warriors opens beer bottles with a fish slicer. CRACKED.COM

Iron Man 3

The ficus plant that shows up at the start of Iron Man 3 is a nod to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also starring Robert Downey Jr. (it was his idea). CRACKED.COM

Star Trek

2009's Star Trek put in a very subtle nod to the original show. When Pike sits in the captain's chair for the first time, there's a band of light over his eyes - - a reference to the '60s show's mood lighting. CRACKED.COM

Moon

Sam lavishing care on his plants in Moon was a reference to 1972's Silent Running. And each of his plants is named after a sci-fi movie director (the names are on their labels). CRACKED.COM

John Wick

The mirror room scene in John Wick: Chapter 2 was an homage to the 1973 Bruce Lee flick Enter the Dragon. CRACKED.COM

Aladdin

In Aladdin, when Jafar ends the Prince Ali reprise by launching Aladdin and the tower into the sky, that's a nod to the golf swing Johnny Carson would end his monologues with. CRACKED.COM

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, when Caesar enters the apes' common space through the tunnel for the first time, that's director Rupert Wyatt's nod to Maximus entering the arena in Gladiator. CRACKED.COM

Independence Day

Jasmine's kid's toys in Independence Day are actually an Easter egg. Her son plays with Godzilla toys, a reference to Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's 1998 Godzilla movie (Independence Day came out in 1996, but they'd already made the deal to do Godzilla by then). CRACKED.COM

Spider-Man

CRACKED COM SPIDER-MAN INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE While Miles Morales is visiting his uncle Aaron in his apartment, the TV is on. 11 And the TV is showing an episode of Community, which features Donald Glover in Spider-Man pyjamas.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

40 Cryptic Jokes and References Expertly Hidden in TV Shows and Movies That You’ll Need A Comedic Rosetta Stone to Unravel

Baby Driver

CRACKED COM BABY DRIVER Baby has such a massive crush on Debora that the black heart graffiti btoo notton turns red as soon nood as he sees her. SETTOS

Avengers: Infinity War

AVENGERS WAR CRACKED.COM INFINITY MARVEL STUDIOS That blue guy chilling in The Collector's display case? Don't mind him. That's just Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development.

Ice Age 3

Remember that time Sid tried to... uhhh... ICE AGE B DAWN OF DINOSAURS milk a ram? CRACKED.COM

Animaniacs

Here's a tale of two middle finger jokes in cartoons. A Tale Of Two Kitties did this one first, in 1942... GIVE ME THE BIRD! Give me the bird. If the ...I'd Hays give office 'im the would only boid all let me... right! ...and in 1993, Animaniacs did something similar but more concise. We'd love to, really... CRACKED.COM Give me ...but the Fox censors the bird. won't allow it.

Toy Story

In Toy Story, Woody calls Buzz's laser a blinking little bulb. Mr. Potato Head then explains that Woody just has laser envy. CRACKED.COM

Transformers

40 Cryptic Jokes and References Expertly Hidden in TV Shows and Movies That You’ll Need A Comedic Rosetta Stone to Unravel

Aladdin

CRACKED.COM Aladdín and the KINGOTHIEVES The Earth starts shaking during the wedding of Aladdin and Jasmine. Genie responds with: I thought the Earth wasn't supposed to move until the honeymoon.

Minions

40 Cryptic Jokes and References Expertly Hidden in TV Shows and Movies That You’ll Need A Comedic Rosetta Stone to Unravel

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