List of references in live-action television

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This article is about references to the Super Mario games in live-action television. For shows based on the Super Mario games, see List of television series and films.

The following is a list of cameos, references, or strong allusions to the Super Mario franchise appearing in live-action television programs that are not officially related to Super Mario. For a list of television shows officially starring Super Mario characters, see List of television series and films. For a list of references in animated television programs, see List of references in animated television.

2010 Asian Games

During the fourth quarter of the match between South Korea and China on November 25, 2010, a Course Clear sound from Super Mario Bros. was heard.

30 Rock

In the episode "Mamma Mia", television writer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) makes an allusion to the arcade game Donkey Kong and Mario's Italian heritage when talking to her boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), who is of Irish descent. She says to him, "Really? You're going to do the repressed Irish thing? Be Italian for like one second." She then, in a faux Italian accent, begins to mock Jack: "I'm-a Jack. I don't know who my father is. I'm-a so emotional. I'm gonna smash these barrels!"

In another episode, "Brooklyn Without Limits", Liz walks up to Jack wearing blue and white striped "shorteralls", which Jack responds to by making a remark about the Mario Brothers.

31 Minutos

In the episode "El despido", an instrumental version of the song "Super Brooklyn" by Cocoa Brovaz, which samples "Ground BGM" and "Underground BGM" from Super Mario Bros., plays in the intro of Odiando mucho a 31 Minutos.

100 latinos dijeron

In one of the episodes, one of the contestants from the Super Team is named Super Mario. Also, one of the questions on the October 12, 2015 episode is about the tools the Mario Bros. use when they are working at a construction site.

100 Things to Do Before High School

Crispo dressed like Mario.

In the episode "Have the Best Halloween School Day Ever", Crispo dresses up in a costume similar to Mario, with a C on his cap, while Mindy dresses up as Princess Peach.

A*mazing

A computer challenge featuring Mario Kart 64.

The following Super Mario games have been featured on the show's computer challenge segments:

• Diddy Kong Racing
• Donkey Kong Country
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
• Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
• Gnat Attack from Mario Paint
• Mario Kart 64
• Super Mario 64
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Super Mario Kart
• Super Mario World

Abbott Elementary

In "Candygrams", Gregory Eddie tells Tariq Temple not to turn off the Nintendo GameCube as he is five percent through a Super Mario Sunshine speedrun.

Adam Ruins Everything

In the episode "Adam Ruins Malls", when host Adam Conover insults the clerk of the supplements store by calling him an ape, the show turns into an 8-bit parody of Donkey Kong. The clerk begins acting like Donkey Kong and rolls barrels toward Adam, his guest Emily, and another customer.

After Midnight

In the January 17, 2024 episode, contestants Kurt Braunohler, Aparna Nancherla, and Whitney Cummings participate in a segment called "To Smash or Not to Smash" where the first round features Mario and Luigi. The contestants end up ultimately agreeing they would rather smash Luigi.

Al Derecho y al Derbez

In one of the program sketches, two frozen boys can be seen playing Super Mario Bros. They are in World 1-1 near the flagpole.

Al Rojo Vivo

In the WOW! segment from the May 20, 2011 edition, there are cakes based on Mario, Bowser, a 1-Up Mushroom, and other characters and items; Maria says that the cakes are based on the world of Mario.

ALF

At the beginning of the episode "We're in the Money", when ALF tries to use Willie Tanner's computer, he mentions that he wants to play Donkey Kong.

All Round to Mrs. Brown's

In the second episode of the third series, Agnes Brown refers to her son's husband, Dino Doyle, as Donkey Kong.

The Amazing Race

Original USA version

During the show's ninth season, during the episode I Think This Monkey Likes Me, BJ & Tyler, one of the teams, says that the race "is on like Donkey Kong".

Latin American version

Mauricio with a Nintendo DSi and playing Mario Kart DS, racing as Mario.

Nintendo sponsored the first and second seasons of this edition, giving away prizes such as Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo DSi to the competitors that finished 1st place in some legs of the race.

During a commercial of the second season, Édison father and Édison son from Mexico were seen playing with a DS. In the same season, during the first half of leg 12, Mauricio (a competitor from another Mexican team) is seen playing Mario Kart DS on a DSi.

In the fifth season, the Argentinean competitor Ezequiel is seen several times wearing a cap that resembles Mario's.

America Says

In one episode, one team was called the Mario Partiers, consisting of Allison, Derek, Tatum, and Pat. When the team introduced itself, Derek said that he and his teammates enjoyed playing retro video games, such as those in the Mario Party series and in Mario Kart. Tatum said that she was a Princess Peach woman who used to be a Toad, but ever since Tatum and Derek began dating, Derek was Toad. Pat said that he liked Yoshi and that Allison liked Donkey Kong. Later, after the team won the game, host John Michael Higgins asked Derek if the latter would buy an arcade if he won the $15,000, to which Derek replied that his team might go on a first-class trip to Super Nintendo World (referring to it as the Super Mario World) in Universal Studios and have a real-life Mario Kart race.

American Housewife

In the episode “The Mom Switch”, a box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Mario and Cappy on it is seen in the background of the department store.

America's Funniest Home Videos

In one episode, a kid is seen playing an underground level from Super Mario Bros. In another, a kid can be seen getting Super Mario Bros. 2. In yet another episode, some boys are playing with barrels, and the host Tom Bergeron jokingly warns them that Donkey Kong was never meant to be played in real life. In another video, a cat swats at Mario while its owner uses the Check Mii Out channel, prompting Tom to comment "Super Mario, meet super cute."

Angel

The episode "You're Welcome" has Spike playing a game heavily implied to be Donkey Kong ("Gorilla with barrels! Stupid plumber!") on an Xbox.

A.N.T. Farm

At the beginning of the episode "ReplicANT", Fletcher plays what seems to sound like a Super Mario Bros. beat on his trumpet. Later in the episode, Darryl challenges Olive and Cameron at the arcade to see who can get the highest score on the game Donkey King (a parody of Donkey Kong). Near the end of this episode, Wacky the Wolf (in a donkey costume over his wolf costume) is at the top of a stairway and throws barrels at Olive. She jumps over them and climbs a ladder, where she finds a hammer and uses it to hit Wacky on the head.

The Apprentice (UK)

• In the ninth episode of series 11, Lord Sugar asks one of the candidates whether when they were asked to change their attire if they had done so, or if they had remained as "a plum with a mustache, like Super Mario."
• In the ninth episode of series 12, when Lord Sugar criticized Sofiane Khelfa's lack of originality, he said "If it was up to you, Super Mario would've been called 'fat plumber'."
• In Gaming, when defending the simplicity of her game's design, Brittany Carter says it is like Mario Brothers.

The Apprentice: You're Fired!

In the fifth episode of series 14, host Rhod Gilbert compares an outfit that Sabrina Stocker was wearing to Super Mario.

Are We There Yet?

On the TBS sitcom, based on the Ice Cube movie of the same name, in one episode the family is playing a boxing game (most likely Wii Sports) on the Wii. After an argument after the mother defeats his son, the family decides to have a card game night. The son responds with "It's on like Donkey Kong!"

Austin & Ally

In the episode "Ferris Wheels & Funky Breath", a Donkey Kong plush can be seen at a carnival.

Australia's Funniest Home Videos

At one point in the July 23, 2011 episode, a young boy is seen playing on a PlayStation 2. The announcer's voice implies that the kid's favorite game is "Super Mario Over Excitement 5000". The boy then starts screaming in excitement.

Australia's Got Talent

In the 2011 series final, host Grant Denyer said it was "on like Donkey Kong."

Australian Ninja Warrior

2017 contestant Alex Matthews had the "Ninja name" of "Super Mario".

BBC News

Donkey Kong was featured alongside various other arcade games on the 06/01/23 edition of BBC Points West.

Beakman's World

Mario and Princess Toadstool are mentioned in the episode explaining how video games work.

Beef

In episode 5, "Such Inward Secret Creatures", while Michael and Bobby are buying tools for Danny's plan for them to disguise themselves as plumbers and enter Amy and George's house, Bobby suggests dressing up in overalls, to which Michael responds, "This ain't a video game."

The Big Bang Theory

A two-player Mario Kart Wii race at Mario Circuit during the episode "The Gorilla Experiment."

• In "The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation", Howard sits down at the lunch table with a new mustache. He says he calls it "the Clooney", while Raj replies "I call it the Mario and Luigi, but whatever."
• In "The Codpiece Topology", Sheldon's mother Mary sends him his Nintendo 64 along with Super Mario 64. He is later seen playing it on his laptop, using a "poorly coded Nintendo 64 emulator." He even says "Hop, you little plumber. Hop, hop, hop!" and "Everybody has a date. Even you, Mario, going after Princess Peach. And what am I doing? I'm just enabling you."
• In "The Gorilla Experiment", Raj and Sheldon are playing Mario Kart Wii with the Wii Wheel. Raj is shown playing with Yoshi in the Standard Kart M and Sheldon playing as Mario on the Standard Bike M in Mario Circuit. Raj wins and says to Sheldon, "Face it, dude, whether it's a real car or a virtual cartoon car, you can't drive." Sheldon says it was only because he hit a tree, and Raj adds, "And a cow and a penguin" (hinting that they were also racing on Moo Moo Meadows and N64 Sherbet Land). Raj tells him he really needs some cheat codes, motor skills, and a genie who grants wishes to little boys who suck at Mario Kart.
• In "The Bozeman Reaction", Leonard's and Sheldon's apartment is robbed, with several consoles and games mentioned as being stolen, including Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. When writing in a journal in bed, Sheldon also mentions, in his thoughts, that "outside, evil lurks, probably playing Donkey Kong on my classic Nintendo."
• In "The Staircase Implementation", Raj, Howard, and Leonard are seen playing a Nintendo GameCube game on the couch. The music and sounds emitted from the TV tell that they are playing Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, more specifically Waluigi Stadium or Wario Colosseum.
• In "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", Howard, Raj, and Leonard are, in one scene, playing Donkey Kong Jenga. During this scene, Howard is talking to Raj and Leonard about him and Bernadette possibly not having children and states that "even Donkey Kong had Donkey Kong Jr." He also mused about how Donkey Kong would have taught his son how to "kidnap princesses and throw barrels at Italian plumbers", but this is actually an erroneous observation as Donkey Kong's damsel-in-distress, Pauline, was not a princess.
• In "The Launch Acceleration", during Amy and Sheldon's date at her house, part of Amy's attempt to make him love her more includes playing "Ground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. as "romantic music". Almost immediately after, Sheldon admits that playing the game was the happiest 600 hours of his childhood.
• In "The Itchy Brain Simulation", Leonard attempts to return a long-overdue copy of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie.
• In "The Indecision Amalgamation", when Sheldon and Amy are at Best Buy contemplating whether to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, several advertisements for Super Mario games can be seen in the background. These are Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Party: Island Tour, Mario Kart 8, and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
• In "The Misinterpretation Agitation", during the scene when Dr. Lorvis invites Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj to see his collection of various types of memorabilia, arcade cabinets of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. can be seen among them. Leonard is later seen playing Donkey Kong at the end of the episode.
• In "The Long Distance Dissonance", as Sheldon walks Ramona down the stairway to her car, the rest of the group follows them, passing each other along the way. Once they all reach the exit, Sheldon runs ahead of the group to get the door and remarks, "That was fun. It's like Mario Kart."
• In "The Celebration Reverberation", Penny comes from her room to see Leonard staring at a board of their accomplishments he made the previous day. At one point, he says he got bored and tried to beat his high score on Mario Kart, to which he says that he failed.

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year

In the Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012, in answer to the question "What game was Prince Harry playing, in which he was caught naked?", Richard Ayoade answered, Donkey Kong.

Big Time Rush

Carlos and James dressed as Mario and Luigi, respectively

In the episode "Big Time Songwriters", Gustavo hires two new songwriters, who get in a huge fight and are injured. As they are taken away on stretchers, they argue about which hospital to go to. The hospitals they mention are "St. Mario's" and "St. Luigi's", a reference to the Mario Brothers.

In the episode "Big Time Rocker", Carlos and James dress up in Mario and Luigi costumes.

Black Mirror

In the episode "Playtest", Katie implements Cooper with a small device which she calls it a "mushroom", to which Cooper asks if it is similar to a Super Mushroom from Super Mario Bros.

In the episode "Loch Henry", Davis is seen playing as Toad on GBA Bowser's Castle 3T in Mario Kart Tour on his phone while he is in the hospital.

Bones

The episode, "The Gamer in the Grease", features a fictitious arcade game entitled Punky Pong where the player controls an explorer battling a Donkey Kong-inspired giant gorilla.

The Book of Jer3miah

In one of the episodes, Jeremiah's guardian is using Super Mario Bros. to teach a lesson.

Boy Meets World

In the episode "Quiz Show", Mr. Feeny talks about how technology is wasted and mentions how it is used to play Super Mario Bros., namely to beat Bowser (or, more accurately, "King Koopa") and rescue the Princess.

In the episode "Torn Between Two Lovers", Feeny and Eric mention something called "Donkey Kong King".

BrainRush

In one of the episodes, Lamorne Morris asked which job Mario had originally. The contestant did not know, with the correct answer being "plumber."

BrainSurge

In one of the episodes in the second season, Jeff Sutphen tells a story about his family: He says that his aunt has a bigger mustache than that of a video game plumber. The aunt is then portrayed with an outfit similar to Mario's with a V on the cap, with purple mushrooms in the background.

Brain Games

Near the end of the episode "Motion Commotion", Apollo Robbins asks people to bounce a ball and grab poker chips while the ball is in the air, with one participant being a man wearing a brown shirt that says "Going Bananas" with a picture of Donkey Kong on it.

Bridge of Lies

In series 3 episode 2, in the Final Crossing segment, one of the incorrect statements is "The first Super Mario Bros. video game was released in the 70s." The contestant selects this and is eliminated, as it was actually released in 1985.