List of references in live-action television

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

One of the questions in this game show was "Based on their profession, which item in the house would the Super Mario Bros. best be able to fix?". The possible answers were the microwave, the furnace, or the toilet. The correct answer was the toilet; the contestant got it right, but four people from his mob got it wrong.

In the episode "," television writer  makes an allusion to the arcade game Donkey Kong and Mario's Italian heritage when talking to her boss , 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.

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.

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.

During an American Broadcasting Company news broadcast on March 10, 2017, the headline "National Mario Day" is displayed for a story about the celebration of Mario Day and its namesake, Mario.

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 spoof of Donkey Kong. The clerk begins acting like Donkey Kong and rolls barrels toward Adam, his guest Emily, and another customer.

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 con Maria Celeste
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.

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

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.

In a specific 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 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."

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

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.

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!"

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

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

At one point in the July 23rd, 2011 episode, a young boy is seen playing 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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 Shaun mention something called "Donkey Kong King".

In one of the episodes, 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.


 * In the episode "The 9-8," Jake accuses Stevie of "Donkey Kong punching" him as they fight in the closet.
 * In the episode "The Venue," Rosa criticizes Charles for supposedly showing her several pictures of his son dressed as Wario for Halloween.
 * In the episode "Cinco de Mayo," Jake compares Terry to "Birdo from Super Mario 2" when he is eating a bowl of eggs. Terry corrects him, noting she spits them instead.
 * Season 7 features a recurring gag of Jake being unable to beat Wario on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. In the episode "Trying", Amy asks Jake to avoid stressful situations such as playing video games, followed by a cut to Jake playing the Nintendo Switch and shouting, "Wario cheats!" The episode "Ransom" has Jake complaining about Wario to Charles at the start of the episode. Later on, a criminal has captured Jake and threatens to cut of his fingers, which Jake protests against as he needs them to beat Wario. The criminal says beating Wario is easy and is about to name a button the player has to tap when Wario approaches, but he is interrupted by the arrival of the NYPD, while Jake demands the answer as he is dragged into the criminal's car.

The episode "Doomed" has Buffy ask "Is this really the time for Donkey Kong?" after bumping into Riley, who is using an electronic gizmo.

In the July 20, 2015 episode called "Nintendo", the contestants made cakes inspired by the Mario series in honor of Super Mario Maker. In addition, the episode is dedicated to Satoru Iwata, who passed away on July 11th.

In the December 9, 2016 broadcast, in a segment called "The Gilmore Guys," a Yoshi hat could be seen on the table.

On the Canadian version of the trivia show Cash Cab, one of the $25 questions asked for the name of the kingdom that Mario had to journey through to rescue Princess Toadstool from the Koopas. Despite claiming to have played the games many times, the contestants did not remember the name of the Mushroom Kingdom and incorrectly guessed "Bowser's Kingdom" instead, earning a strike.

In the category Nice Asphalt from the first season, Super Mario Bros. is one of the possibly answers.

In a form of comedic irony, Charlie Brooker's critique of the announcement of the in Episode 5 of Season 1 is set to the music of the Super Mario Bros. ground theme and is concluded by his declaring Quantic Dream's tech demo as being "not quite Mario, is it?"

Clash of Karts: Mario Kart 8
In the special aired on December 5, 2015, four pairs of top teenage gamers play and compete in a Mario Kart 8 round-robin tournament with four YouTube personalities, Mari Takahashi, Meghen Camarena, SethBling, and Andre Meadows serving as teammates and coaches for a chance to win the Championship Trophy. This special competition was hosted by and.

During the roast of, thanked  for taking time out of throwing barrels at Super Mario to appear at the roast.


 * In a scene in the episode "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism", a foosball player says to Jeff and Shirley, "Oh, you are so on that things have now become very much like Donkey Kong."
 * In the episode "Queer Studies & Advanced Waxing", Elroy claims that Donkey Kong is a clear rip-off of a game he created called Construction Snake, with Mario having originally been a snake, Donkey Kong a palm tree, and the barrels eggs. Britta responds to this by asking why a tree would throw eggs at a snake, which Elroy counters by asking angrily why a plumber would be fighting a monkey.

In Episode 17 of Season 2, one of the segments has Special Ed calling two different people, whom he nonsensically rambles on to about Donkey Kong.

Cunk on Britain

 * In Episode 3 of Series 1, Philomena Cunk asks computer historian whether it was possible to play Mario Kart on the first computer ever made.
 * In Episode 4 of Series 1, as Philomena Cunk sums up the achievements of the 1950s were, she mentions how Mario 64 had revolutionized the platforming genre; her guest quickly informed her that computer games hadn't been invented in the 1950s.

In the final round for season 19 of the U.S. version of the show, and ' freestyle routine was based on the Mario series, with Green Shell, Banana Peel, and Super Mushroom set pieces. An animated background based on New Super Mario Bros. Wii accompanied them as well. Sadie took in the role of Peach, while Mark assumed the role for Mario. Two more dancers came in the routine as Luigi and Toad. A Super Mario Bros. medley composed by Koji Kondo was made specifically for the show.

In Chapter VIII of Volume I, Lionel and Troy play a version of Super Smash Bros. During the game, Lionel remarks how it's "weird" that Mario "still dresses as a plumber. It's been three decades since he did any form of plumbing." Troy then expresses annoyance at being hit with a Hammer, but Lionel hits back, saying Troy wanted "to play with Items on." Later in the same episode, Lionel says that he enjoys playing Smash Brothers on his dating profile.

In the fifth season episode "Working Mother," Mary Jo tells a story about how her son broke into a neighbors house in order to play Super Mario Bros. 3.

Die Millionenshow
In Series 21 episode 11, host asked the contestant the following: "Which of these video game characters is not created in Japan?" The possible answers were Lara Croft, Donkey Kong, Super Mario and Pikachu. The contestant walked away with €15,000.

Dino Dan: Trek's Adventures
In the episode "Show and Dino," one of the students introduces their pet as "Mario the hedgehog," which may be a combined nod to Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Disney Cruise Line
When the show is talking about an arcade room for the kids in the cruise ship, one kid in the background can be seen playing Diddy Kong Racing.

Doc Martin
Martin's aunt Joan tells a group of children that "Life isn't all about Space Invaders and Super Mario".

In the episode "Extremis", the Twelfth Doctor compares the people dying to rebel against the simulation to "Super Mario realising his situation and deleting himself from the game".

In the episode "The Bet", Josh is implied to be playing a Super Mario Bros.-like game, with Drake telling Josh to "jump the mushroom", most likely a Goomba; Mario's running and jumping sounds from Donkey Kong can be heard. Earlier in the episode, Josh plays a game on a Game Boy Advance SP and says, "Yeah! Look out, red turtle shell, you ain't no match for Joshie!", most likely a reference to a red Koopa Troopa.

The unscripted reality show Duck Dynasty opens its Season three episode "Bass Man Standing" with a scene known as "Donkey Commander," in which Jep plays on a Game Boy Color while Uncle Si watches, asking for a turn and periodically advising him to jump. While Jep's brother Jas is initially skeptical of the Game Boy, he remarks "that's pretty cool" when Si tells him it was "old school" Donkey Kong (although the distinctive yellow cartridge indicates it was actually one of the Donkey Kong Land games). Si also declares "It's on like Donkey Kong!", referencing a popular phrase based on the original arcade game.

In the episode "Collisions, Demolitions, and Dunderheads," one clip features a small green car leading a race on the last lap, with the driver, Luigi, being close to winning his first race. The car suddenly spins out and crashes, just feet before the finish line, with the announcer rewinding a clip of the crash to discover a banana on in front of the car.

El Diario de Daniela
Daniela's best friend Martin can be seen playing Super Mario 64 on a black Nintendo 64 with the Atomic Purple Controller in his bedroom. For unknown reasons, later in the soap opera the N64 was replaced with a SNES.

El Gran Juego de la Oca
One of the challenges on the show in the first season is the "Super Mario" Challenge. Also, Mario makes an appearance on the show.

When Go Roader GT is in Wheel Mode, the power of the engines from Engine-Oh G9 will go to Go Roader GT in order to charge up and while it does, a countdown sound effect can be heard, just like in the Mario Kart series. When the Go-ongers shout "Go on!", the go sound is heard and the Roader Strike is ready to attack.

striker, Mario Balotelli, is nicknamed "Super Mario."

In the episode "Everybody Hates Corleone," Chris wants to go play Ms. Pac-Man with a pretty girl. When they get there, Caruso says "Surprise, Donkey Kong!" and pelts him with water balloons.

During an introductory  game in one of the Season 1 episodes, a team guessed that Mario was originally called Jumpman. Host used Mario's Italian accent for the right answer, and said that he appeared in more than 200 games.

On the 2012 edition, there is a Nintendo 3DS with Mario Kart 7, Mario Tennis Open, and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games as one of the prizes. Also, one of the screens on the It Board has a ? Panel.

Freddy's Nightmares - A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series
The first segment of the episode "Missing Persons" depicts two children playing Super Mario Bros. They get a Game Over in World 1-2 when the new babysitter blocks their view of the television.

In the episode "Huangsgiving," after Jessica hangs up from a call with her sister Bonnie, with whom she is competing to host a Thanksgiving dinner superior to hers, she says, "It's on like Donkey Kong."

In the episode "Living While Eddie," Eddie is seen playing Rainbow Road on Super Mario Kart.

In the episode "Be a Man", Honey and Louis bring up the show, The Sopranos saying that it's good, but Jessica comments by saying that she'd rather watch real Italians being cruel to each other by watching her sons playing Super Mario Bros..

Frontline
In the episode The Soufflé Rises, which is the first episode, Mike is seen playing a Game Boy in his office. When one of his fellow employees walks in he quickly hides it away, forgetting to pause it. The other employee asks Mike if he can hear something, which turns out to be the main theme of Super Mario Land. Mike is also seen playing Super Mario Land later in the episode.

In episode 5, The Siege, a boy is seen playing another Game Boy, and Mike notices him and tries to start a conversation; interestingly, the sounds are from Super Mario Bros. instead of Super Mario Land or any other Game Boy game.

In the Season 3 episode “Aftershocks”, Stephanie Tanner asks her therapist if she has Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Game Boy, and her therapist quips that she will put it on her shopping list.

Gary Unmarried
In one episode where Gary's brother comes to town, Gary asks him if he would like to start off their video game montage with Mario Kart.

In one episode, George's father-in-law, Vic, dyes his hair and mustache black in order to impress George's sister (whom he was dating at the time). He incidentally also wears a red shirt and blue pants. When Vic asks her if she likes his hair, George says "Yeah that's smooth, put her on the spot there, Super Mario!"

Gene Simmons Family Jewels
In the episode "Geeks Will Inherit the Earth", Gene and Nick go to Comic-Con, where Boo Mario can be seen amongst the crowd.

The show features a couple of questions about Mario and Luigi, as well as Bowser. During a Power Surge game, a rebus containing Super Mario Bros. would show up at random.

In a season 2 episode, Mike asked contestants to name four video games starring Mario; afterwards, he said he has never played any Mario games, but he has played Donkey Kong.

In the eighteenth episode of season one, Puck states the Star Worlds are what make Super Mario World so amazing.

A March 1, 2010 segment compared to Mario; the segment uses music from Super Mario Bros. and sound effects from Donkey Kong.

Hamish and Andy's Gap Year
In the second episode during the "Food in New York in 100 Seconds", someone mentions that there is a deli where everything is made from hot dogs run by two Italians called Don and Tony Mario (who are actually Hamish and Andy dressed up), stated to be a reference to the Mario Bros.; this is followed with a set of pictures showing them dressed like Mario (Hamish) and Luigi (Andy).

In one episode, the boys can be seen playing an underground level of Super Mario World.

Hasta el Hoyo (Mexico)
In one episode, one of the questions was "Which of the following characters isn't an enemy of Mario?"; the possible answers were Bowser, Tatanga, Wario and Kirby.

In the seventh episode of series 51, comedian Ross Noble compared a picture of the King of Bahrain to that of Super Mario, and mentioned there being a princess in danger.

Hazme reír y serás millonario
The team of Facundo did a sketch of Mario and other characters in some games.

In the episode "Sick & Wired", Schwoz pretends to be an "Italian plumber" by dressing up as Mario, with an "S" on his cap.


 * In the episode broadcast on December 5, 2014, can be heard playing Moo Moo Meadows in Mario Kart 8.
 * In the background of Price Slice, starting with the episode broadcast on March 4, 2015, a copy of Mario Kart DS can be seen; after Price Slice was redesigned on June 24, 2015, the game is no longer seen.
 * In the episode broadcast on March 8, 2016, and  are seen playing Mario Kart Stadium as Koopa Troopa and Shy Guy in Mario Kart 8.
 * In the episode broadcast on April 18, 2016, challenges his son,, to a Mario Kart tournament. Aflie also mentions "blasting" Mac off of Rainbow Road.
 * In the episode broadcast on July 15, 2016, refers to her brothers as the Super Mario brothers.
 * In the episode broadcast on September 7, 2016, Peri Lomax jokes about her ex-boyfriend Tom Cunningham, being ill by saying he's got a disease that causes boys "not to shower, or dress, or do anything that isn't play Mario Kart."
 * In the episode broadcast on April 19, 2017, as Tom Cunningham attempts to prove to Peri that they haven't changed, he brings up how they used to play Mario Kart together.
 * In the episode broadcast on July 12, 2017, as Tom Cunningham and Alfie Nightingale search the Osbornes' attic, Alfie finds an NES, and lists some of the games on it, including Donkey Kong.
 * In the episode broadcast on May 10, 2018, says that his brother,  goes through women like he "goes through levels of Super Mario."
 * In the episode broadcast on May 17, 2018, Tom Cunningham and Alfie Nightingale can be seen playing Yoshi Circuit on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. In a later scene, the game is paused on Wario's Gold Mine.
 * In the episode broadcast on June 4, 2018, a man that is talking to on a dating app has the screen name of Super Mario.
 * In the episode broadcast on January 2, 2019, plays Sound Stage from Super Mario Party.
 * In the episode broadcast on May 26, 2020, plays Luigi's Mansion 3, briefly distracting an intoxicated  who subsequently crashes the van that they are in.

In one episode, Wayne can be seen playing as Princess Peach on Luigi Raceway in Mario Kart 64.

On the season 6 episode, "", when the parents of a newborn girl ask their older son - who is using a Nintendo DSi - which name he suggests for her sister, he replies "Toadette".

In the episode Columns, Marshall is playing Super Mario World on his SNES in a room while talking with Lily during a flashback scene.

In the episode Desperation Day, Marshall is playing Dr. Mario on his old Game Boy, and his mother mentions that he was having a great run. Later in the episode, Lily tells Marshall that it's best not to stay at his mother's for Valentine's Day playing Super Mario Kart, causing Ted to flip out a bit before the two begin to play.

In the episode Zoo or False Marshall confesses that he had been mugged by a monkey in the zoo. Barney retells that story to Robin, and the overdone scene sketched by him uses the Main Theme / Overworld music from Super Mario Bros. 2.

In the episode Bad Crazy, a Donkey Kong Jr. arcade cabinet can be seen.

In an episode of the Filpino series, a picture of Mario using his design from New Super Mario Bros. Wii can be seen in the kid's room.

In the episode "Damned If You Do", Q is told to get someone to sign a fake petition entitled, "The White House is Racist; Just Name it The House". The person who eventually signs the petition is a man wearing a hat with several spikes on it. Q comments on the hat, saying the man looks like a Koopa Troopa. This was part of the challenge for the jokers, to say something funny to the audience, but strange to the victim.

In the episode "Sneaking Number Twos, Going Number One", the Jokers have to put as many pencils as possible in a person's pockets or hood without them noticing. Joe sticks twelve of his into an eggplant, hoping to put the fruit, and all the pencils, in a pocket in one shot. Q states that his concoction "looks like a weapon from Mario Brothers".

In one of the “Magic Mirror” segments in the episode "Speech Impediment", Sal can be seen sitting down in a subway wearing a Mario costume, refusing to let a pregnant woman wearing a Princess Peach costume take his seat. In the inside jokes version of this episode, it's said that "Mario" wouldn't get up because it was Luigi's baby.

One of the auditions is a Mario-based level.

In the episode "Who Got Dee Pregnant?", Dennis had dressed up as Luigi for a Halloween Party. Mac, who was supposed to have dressed up as Mario, instead arrives as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings; Mac refers to him as Viggo Mortensen, the actor who portrayed Aragorn in the films). This upsets Dennis, who comments that being Luigi without Mario by his side makes him look like "some weird Italian plumber".

As part of a question, four children – Timothy, Luke, Alex, and Drew – are playing Mario Kart 64 with racing helmets on their heads. The question is "How many laps will racers complete?"; the answer is 47 laps.

Japan with Sue Perkins
In the opening sequence for the second episode, some people driving in the real-life Mario Kart in Tokyo are seen. One person is dressed as Mario, while two others are dressed as Yoshi.


 * In the episode "Ghost Bummers", Ravi dresses up as Albert Einstein for Halloween, and Jessie comments that he looks like "Super Mario's retired grandfather."
 * In the episode "Morning Rush", Ravi's mask bears a resemblance to Phanto.
 * In part 2 of the episode "Rossed at Sea", Marco quipes that "Super Mario was based on my grandmother, Maria. The woman loved her mushrooms."

Jetix Latin America
Under the sponsorship of Nintendo, a special "X-Cam" was made for Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. In another trade bloc in 2007, Diddy Kong Racing DS gameplay was presented.

Joe Lycett's Got Your Back
In the episode "Jess Phillips, Budget Airlines and Airbnb Scammers", Joe Lycett and one of his operatives pose as plumbers to confront a scammer, dressed as Mario and Luigi respectively. He refers to them as the "Super Mario Lovers", with a parody of the Super Mario logo, to "avoid being sued by Nintendo". Throughout the remainder of the segment, Joe Lycett also refers to Mario as "the most famous plumber of all time" and calls their van a Mario Kart, and the jump sound effect from Super Mario Bros. is played.

Kamen Rider Chaser uses the Signal Axe to do the finishing strike. To use it, first Chaser inserts the Signal Bike Chaser in the axe before pressing the red button. When that happens, the E-condition lamp will show a red light. That means he'll have to wait until it's fully charged and while it does, a countdown sound effect will play, just like in the Mario Kart series. When it turns green, the go sound effect will play and the finishing strike is ready.

Blocks that appear similar to Brick Blocks are seen often throughout the series.

Throughout the entire series, the Fourze Driver will activate the countdown once Gentaro flipped all four switches (excluding Episode 1, in which Yuki flipped the switches for him). The voice will countdown before Gentaro shouts Transform! in order to pull the lever. It is almost identical to the Mario Kart timer sequence.

In some of the episodes, when was transforming to its Trial form, the signature countdown sound effect can be heard during his transformation, just like the one used in the Mario Kart series.

In "Beat the Parents", Jack and his friend talk about playing Mario Kart.

In the episode "Fawlty Temple", a fake plumber has "Mario" written on his name tag.

During a segment with the mustache cam view, asks if one of the spectators looks like Mario or Luigi, and Mario Kart 7 was a candidate for the "Favorite Video Games" category.



During the broadcast, Mario and Luigi announced one of the awards with some help from the cast of , with a special level based on the Mushroom Kingdom on stage to determine the winner. Super Mario Maker was a candidate for the "Favorite Video Games" category, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam was listed as one of the sponsors.

The 2019 Kids' Choice Awards featured a segment with a Yoshi's Crafted World-inspired obstacle course.

La Jugada Olímpica
In this program from the Mexican network Televisa, in the first program of London's Olympic Games, showed a sketch called "Así se juega Mario y Sonic en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012", where showed skills about the 100m event, with Sonic the Hedgehog as the example and winner character. Later on, a poster of the same game appeared in a serial sketch called "¿Qué pasión? Las Aventuras de un Clásico Aficionado".

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
One segment of an episode briefly covers the backlash against Tomodachi Life for not allowing same-sex marriages in the game, as well as Nintendo's response that the company will be "more inclusive" in the future. This leads into an animated segment featuring several of Nintendo's characters reacting to the news, which includes Mario and Link kissing each other soon after hearing the news, Princess Peach and Princess Zelda doing much of the same, Toad and Yoshi getting married (with Peach serving as the pastor) and receiving the benefits of pension from a ? Block, and Bowser mourning over the death of his "longtime partner" Donkey Kong and receiving death benefits. The final event prompts John Oliver to comment that Donkey Kong dies multiple times in his games before asking the audience if they want him to restart the game. After receiving cheers, he immediately resets it, leading to Bowser and Donkey Kong appearing at a restaurant and enjoying brunch together.

In another episode, Oliver jokes about drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's ability to escape through bathrooms, saying that El Chapo is "just one 'M' on his hat away from looking like a psychopathic Super Mario."

During a segment of the Tuesday, October 9th, 2016 show, Oliver says, "If American democracy is a computer game, and Hillary Clinton is completing women's hundred-year quest to get to the Oval Office, it kind of makes sense that this would be the final boss," showing a graphic of a Donkey Kong-like sprite of Donald Trump.


 * In June 2013, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, came down to 's studio with his Wii U and played Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U with Jimmy.
 * On March 19th, 2013, Jimmy Fallon performed a cover of Sam Hart's "Mario Kart Love Song" alongside, both donning mustaches and Mario's Cap and Princess Peach's Crown, respectively.
 * During his annual "Video Game Week," Fallon received a suggestion from one viewer asking him to add lyrics to the ground theme from Super Mario Bros., to which Fallon responded by asking Tariq from to improvise lyrics to the song.
 * In an -themed parody of 's song "", Hawkeye (played by ) claims that he "kick[s] ass in Mario Kart."
 * On December 7, 2016, when Reggie Fils-Aime was invited to showcase the Nintendo Switch on the show, Jimmy played a demo of Super Mario Run, and Shigeru Miyamoto performed the Super Mario Bros. theme on guitar with The Roots.

In an August 2019 segment of "Popsicle Schtick", Seth gives the joke, "What do the Mario Brothers use to communicate with the spirit world?" The answer is "a Luigi Board," a reference to s.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
In the episode "Care", when Captain Donald Cragen notices Sergeant Munch and Detective Tutuola playing a video game in the break room, he refers to them as "the Super Mario Brothers."

Let's Make a Deal
In one episode, one of the contestants is dressed up as Mario.

On the July 3, 2012 episode, an audience member is seen dressed up as Mario while Kaitlin was playing Car Pong.

Lip Sync Battle
In the December 23, 2016 Country Christmas special, after Dustin Lynch's second lip sync song, the co-host Chrissy Teigen took off her fake mustache (in honor of his second lip sync song) and placed it on LL Cool J's face. Afterwards, she commented that he "looks like Super Mario".

Liv & Maddie
In "Kathy Kan-a-Rooney", when Splat catches Parker watching "Linda and Heather", the video game controllers on Parker's shirt resemble that of a Nintendo GameCube's. In "Howl-A-Rooney", in some scenes, Joey is wearing a T-shirt with a bomb holding a jukebox on it. Said bomb looks very similar to a Bob-omb.

Live at the Apollo
In the third episode of series 12, Australian comedian Sam Simmons compares himself to a "Super Mario Brother who had sex with a Spaniard from Betfred."

In the first episode series 15, comedian Kae Kurd joked that the only Italian he knew was from Super Mario, before making a Warp Pipe noise.

Lock 'N Load with R. Lee Ermy
When Gunny was testing an RC controlled AA-12 shotgun, he said it felt like playing Mario Bros.

Magical Zunou Power!!
In one of the "Search the Error" puzzles on the show, there is one based on Super Mario World.

Married... with Children
In "Love Conquers Al,' Bud reluctantly agrees to keep company to Kelly's date's sister Esmeralda, whom he calls "Bowser" before meeting her.

Mike & Molly
In "Weekend at Peggy's," Mike is heard playing Super Mario Bros.. Despite playing the above-ground theme, he curses Lava upon losing a life and then is heard clearing a world.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger
When Timerobo Alpha used the Press Blizzard finishing slash, the enemy will freeze for a moment. Then, the sword will point up and while it does, a countdown sound is heard, just like the timer in the Mario Kart series. When the sword is at the top, the enemy is defeated.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
In a 1983 episode, a boy teaches Mister Rogers how to play Donkey Kong. After watching the boy play, Mr. Rogers plays for a little while. After that, a man comes by and shows Mr. Rogers and the boy the inside of the cabinet, and how the controls work.

Mock the Week
In the July 7th, 2011 episode, one of the topics of the quick-fire improv round, "Scenes we'd like to See" was "Things you wouldn't read on a Road Sign." Andy Parsons came in with "Throw Banana Peel in 200 yards. Mario & Diddy Kong closing in."

In the July 16th, 2015 episode, Rob Beckett compared a picture of a Mexican drug lord to Super Mario.

In the September 20th, 2016 episode, Ivo Graham made jokes about Mario Kart.

Modern Family
In the episode "Run for Your Wife", the second episode in the series, Phil and his wife, Claire, race each other. To brag about how fast he is he asks his son if they would would like to play some Mario Kart afterwards. He replies with "Can't. I gotta work on my journal," then Phil calls him "Lame!". He then asks Alex the same thing but she refuses due to having a history paper.

In the episode "Moon Landing", someone draws a mustache on a poster of the main character, Phil, so he starts wearing a fake mustache. Because of this, his wife calls him "Mario".

In the episode "Dude Ranch", Alex is kissed by an Italian-American boy named Jimmy while at the dude ranch. Alex later tells him that she wanted her first kiss to be from someone with a high GPA and bright future, not with a Mario brother.

Modern Marvels
In episode 397, 80's Tech, Mario, Donkey Kong, Pauline, a Red Koopa Troopa, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and the ghosts make cameos. An Atari 2600, a Nintendo Entertainment System, a Game Boy, and a Nintendo GameCube are also briefly seen.

Mundo da Lua
In the episode "Muito Prazer, Blixto", Lucas appears playing a fictional game very similar to Super Mario Bros. 3 called "Blixto". The game character resembles Mario, although he is colored green like Luigi. In the same episode, Lucas imagines meeting with the character Blixto and receiving an item similar to a Super Star.

My Name Is Earl
In the episode "Foreign Exchange Student," Earl and his friends try to convince a Frenchman to stay in Camden County so Earl can cross him off his list. Randy, Earl's Brother, starts listing popular arcade games. Second on his list is Donkey Kong.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

 * During an intermission in Moon Zero Two, the characters discuss what different games would be like in space. One of them mentions that Nintendo would become "Moontendo" and Super Mario Bros. would become "Super Lunar Mario Brothers."
 * Also, during "The Castle of Fu Manchu", a woman is seen on a computer, and one character remarks, "She's up to level 3 on Super Mario Bros.!" They then begin humming the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme.
 * In "Hercules Unchained," one character exclaims, "It's just like Super Mario World!" Another begins humming the "Level End" theme.
 * In "Clonus," one of the scientist characters has a passing resemblance to Mario, which is repeatedly joked about by the characters.
 * In "Tormented," Tom Servo mentions waking up in the world of Super Mario Bros. during the closing segment.
 * In "Prince of Space", the riffers make a reference of a mix between Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros., remarking about a "giant monkey throwing mushrooms at two Italian guys".

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return

 * In the episode about the movie "Time Travelers", as the movie's cast moves through a hole to the next room, Jonah mimics the sound effect of a Warp Pipe.
 * In the episode about the movie "Beast of Hollow Mountain", during the conversation between characters Jimmy and Sarita in the graveyard, Crow states their "princess is in another castle."
 * In the episode about the movie "The Land That Time Forgot", as one of the submarine crew members is rolling a barrel down the hill, Crow calls out "Donkey Kong!" and starts humming the level theme.
 * In the episode about the movie "The Loves of Hercules", as Hercules is breaking into the gates of Ecalia, Crow references Mario's famous quote by saying in Mario's voice "It's-a me, Hercules!" Later, as a chariot is racing down a path in a forest, Crow makes a reference to Mario Kart.
 * At the start of the episode about the movie "Yongary", Tom Servo talks about a dream of his, where Etcon looked like the sewers of Mario Bros.
 * During the opening sequence of the episode about "The Christmas that Almost Wasn't", when Mr. Prune tries to cover a chimney, Crow states "Hey, he found the warp pipe to level 9!"

NCIS
In the episode "Blowback", after Abby pulls out an old laptop she wonders whether it has the original Donkey Kong on it.

NHK News
At the start of every newscast, there is a clock which shows the current time. In addition, a racing timer sound effect can be heard at three seconds to the top of the hour, which is identical to the one used in the Mario Kart series.

Nintendomanía
Nintendomanía was a Mexican program from March 1995 → July 2000 broadcast by TV Azteca in sponsorship with Nintendo showing the latest news, updates, tricks, moves, secrets and other things about Mario's and Nintendo's video games.

Gustavo "Gus" Rodríguez, one of the show's hosts, is also one of the first editors of the Latin American version of Club Nintendo magazine.

This program was revived at the end of February 2014 under the name Power Up! Gamers, now broadcast by Televisa (FOROtv's channel) and transformed into a program of multi-platform video games above all the eighth generation consoles and 2 seventh generation consoles (Wii U, 3DS, PS4, PSVita, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360). Also, the program integrating the original cast of Nintendomanía.

Only Connect
The British game show Only Connect has used Mario elements as clues several times.


 * In the seventh episode of series 5, the Lion wall in the third round included the words "World", "64", "Land" and "Bros.", all of which pertained to the category "'Super Mario' games". The wall also contained the red herrings "Sunshine" and "Galaxy".
 * A picture question in the tenth episode of series 6 was about items in the Mario Kart franchise. Clues involved were the Blooper, Koopa Shell, Banana and the Mushroom. The pictures shown are of the items' real life counterparts, and the items are referred to as "Squid", "Turtle shell", "Banana skin" and "Mushroom" respectively.
 * One of the sequence questions in episode 13 of series 11 was "Captain Syrup → Wario → Mario → ?", to which the answer was Donkey Kong, the connection being video game characters who originated in the following character's game.
 * A question in the first round of series 12, episode 30 had the word Kong as its hidden connection, leading to the clue "Devised by Shigeru Miyamoto: Donkey".
 * A first round question in series 13, episode 6 had Mario as the final clue to the connection "Famous plumbers".

Outnumbered
In the episode 'The Funeral', the first episode of the fourth series, a recurring theme throughout the episode is that Jake and Ben continually beat Pete at Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, causing him to strive to beat them.

Parks and Recreation

 * In the fourth episode of the first season, "Boys' Club," Andy is seen playing Mario Kart Wii as Toad on Luigi Circuit.

Pawn Stars

 * In an episode from season 5, Chumlee bought a big Mario figurine for $550. Before the commercials began, a small question was shown asking what Mario's original name was, the correct answer being Jumpman.
 * In the season 5 episode titled "Guns Blazing", a customer sells Corey a set of Game & Watch games. Among those games are Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong II. The customer mistakenly says that the Game & Watch series started around 1981, when in fact it started in 1980.
 * The underground theme of Super Mario Bros. briefly plays in "Chum of All Fears".
 * A Virtual Boy with Mario's Tennis is sold in the "Darth Pawn" episode, with the seller discussing the history of the system, Mario, etc.
 * In the season 12 episode titled "No Pawn for You!", Corey and Chumlee go to a seller's house to examine a Donkey Kong arcade cabinet.
 * In the season 17 episode titled "Pawn vs Ferrari", a customer tries to sell a rare, sticker-sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. that was sold during the NES's test market launch. After the customer says he wants to sell it for $1 million, Rick jokes, "I think Mario hit him on the head with a pipe wrench."

Programa do Ratinho
One promo for the show was loosely based on Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, using sprites, objects, backgrounds and sound effects from these games. It also included an Incoming Chomp from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Peach's Castle.

Puppy Bowl
In Puppy Bowl VII, during a "Kiss-Cam" moment, a dog is seen with a Mario Pinball Land toy.

Queer Eye
In Sloth to Slay, a member of an anime club asks Thomas if he played Mario Kart.

Quiz $ Millionaire
The money tree throughout the show resembles the tree from Mario Party Advance during Mini-Game Attack.

Repeat After Me
In Episode 7, Wendi tells Mario Lopez to say, "I'm-a-Super-Mario" to his fans.

Repo Games
During one episode, host Tom DeTone asks one contestant the following question: "In the world of video games, what is the name of Super Mario's younger, thinner, taller brother?" The contestant correctly answers Luigi.

Rock of Love 2 with Bret Michaels
In the Las Vegas episode, during a fight with one of the contestants, Jessica, another contestant states that "It was on like Donkey Kong."

Roseanne
In the episode "The Back Story", Roseanne plays on DJ's Super Nintendo towards the end. Although the screen is never shown, Super Mario World ' s title screen music can be heard. As the title screen can't actually be played on, it can be assumed that Roseanne was just pressing random buttons. When Dan asks Roseanne how she's doing, she responds by saying "Two more swords and I'm Queen of the Monkey People!", further implying that she wasn't actually playing Mario at all.

In another episode, Roseanne asks Dan about Super Mario Bros. 2.

Round the Twist
In the episode "Brainless", Bronson controls his siblings Pete and Linda after they lose their brains. He comments, "This is more fun than Mario Bros.!"

RuPaul's Drag Race
In Queens Behind Bars as the remaining contestants react to the elimination of The Princess, Sharon Needles says: "The Princess is in another castle," the line that the Mushroom Retainer says whenever Mario reaches one in Super Mario Bros.

Sábado Gigante
On the weekly Spanish-language variety show Sábado Gigante, there is a short character who dresses as Mario on the show.

Sam & Cat
In #FavoriteShow, one of the decorations for the set of the television show "That's A Drag" resembled a 1-Up Mushroom.

Saturday Night Live
Wario Land: Shake It! was referenced in the sketch "Wii Guys" on the 2009 Valentine's Day episode of Saturday Night Live. The sketch begins with two young men playing Wario Land: Shake It! in the basement of their family's house. They were eventually joined by their father, played by Alec Baldwin, who was not a big fan of video games until his sons introduced him to the unique Wii Remote. The sketch parodied the concept of shaking objects and enemies in-game via shaking the Wii Remote. The humor of the sketch was derived from the play-style of the father, who would hold the Wii Remote vertically and shake it with one hand, obviously playing on the similarities between shaking the Wii Remote and the hand motion of masturbating. However, it says that the game is two-player, which is not correct.

In Season 36's "Black Friday" skit, the Super Mario Galaxy 2 title screen is briefly shown on some televisions, presumedly for sale.

On the 37th Season Finale, Bill Hader's character Stefon makes a reference to a chef called Wario Batali, who, according to him, is Mario Batali's evil brother. Wario Batali makes an appearance on Stefon's wedding during the 38th Season Finale.

In the sketch "Beat the Bookworm" that aired January 21, 2017, the Bookworm is asked by the game show host, "Name these Super Brothers, Mario and –." The Bookworm, who claims to have spent the 90s reading books, guesses "Devin."

In the October 14th, 2017 sketch "Office Halloween Party," one of the office members is dressed up as Mario.

On the Saturday, November 17th, 2018 episode "Message from Jeff Bezos," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (played by host Steven Carell) walks by a poster of Toad while subtly mocking United States President Donald Trump. The Toad is a reference to the a Stormy Daniels interview where she compared Donald Trump's penis to "that Toad from Mario Kart."

On a segment of the April 11th, 2020 episode (shot from the cast members' homes due to the coronavirus pandemic), Twitch streamer "Cam Playz Dat" (played by Mikey Day) attempts to speedrun Super Mario Bros., but dies after slowing walking into the first Goomba of World 1-1. The game's music is noticeably distorted.

SEC CBS 2012
In a replay during a match against Alabama and Mississippi State, the theme for Super Mario Bros. can be heard.

Sex Education

 * In Episode 3 of the first season, Otis and Eric load up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and play as Toad and Yoshi on Shy Guy Falls. Eric makes a reference to Otis using a Blue Shell on him.
 * In Episode 5 of the first season, when Otis says he's getting back to doing normal things, Eric asks if that means he's going to "Get sad and play Smash Bros..
 * In Episode 8 of the first season, as they leave school, Otis asks Eric if he wants to go back to his and play Smash Bros..

¡Se vale!
During a broadcast of the program, one participant used a motley of Bowser.

Smart Guy
When Floyd is giving advice to TJ Henderson in one episode, he references an incident in the past where TJ sprained his wrist while playing the game Donkey Kong.

Sooty
In the episode "The Runaway Bath", Sooty whispers to Richard Cadell (who is wearing a fake pair of donkey ears) "Hello Donkey Kong" much to the latter's annoyance.

Sprint 4G TV Commercial
In one segment, when describing using the 4G connection to play games online, five people are shown to be playing Mario Kart DS on white Nintendo DSis. They are on Luigi's Mansion, and out of the five, one is Mario, and another is Yoshi. At the end, one of the men shouts "Eat it, Yoshi!" as an item sound effect plays.

In the episode "Super Bros. Shuffle" (season 4, episode 22), two of the hunters find a board game based on Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.

Strange Days at Blake Holsey High
In the Season 3 episode "Transference", footage from the Donkey Kong Country animated series can briefly be seen on a television. However, generic cartoon sound effects are used in lieu of audio from the actual show.

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
In series 15 episode 52, when Zoë Ball is introducing a segment about motion capture being used for dancing in video games, she says "When you think of video game duos, you think of Mario and Luigi, Sonic and Tails, Chloe and Neil".

Studio C
During the Season 5 skit "If Rapunzel's Hair Was Real", the actor James Perry (under the alias "The Punz") claims he has the new Mario Kart. Later, he also mentions Yoshi.

In the Season 7 skit "Nintendo NES Will Save the World", a man (played by actor Jason Gray) wearing a shirt with Mario and Luigi on it has to save the Earth by playing a Star Wars game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. At the end of the skit, Mount Rushmore is shown with Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Toon Link, and a Battletoad's faces carved in.

In another Season 7 skit titled "A Stairway Chase", actor James Perry states that he wishes he had one of those "buckets you just float around in like Bowser Jr.", referencing both the character and the Junior Clown Car.

In the skit titled "Atari's Revenge on Nintendo", employees of Atari sneak into Nintendo's headquarters and releases a vial of laughing gas. Three Nintendo executives soon come into the room to discuss their next big game. Once the laughing gas takes effect, the executives begin throwing out ideas such as using a mushroom to grow, going down pipes, throwing turtle shells, and gaining invincibility, with actor Jason Gray even humming the "Super Star Theme". Actor Jeremy Warner's character is named Mario and claims the video game should be named after him, and Jason, wearing a green shirt, says he should have a younger, taller brother. At the end of the skit, actress Whitney Call in a blond wig and pink dress comes into the room and is called a "princess" by the executives. Once the laughing gas takes an effect on her, Whitney claims their boss, "Mr. Bowser", is trying to kidnap her.

In the skit "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Parody", Mario, played by Jeremy Warner, reprises the role of the boxing matches' referee.

In "Mario Doesn't Want To Be A Hero", Mario, again played by Jeremy Warner, answers a knock on his door. Toad, played by Steven Meek, runs in with three ? Blocks and tells Mario that Princess Peach has been kidnapped again. Mario tells Toad to breathe, referencing Kirby in the process. He then tells Mario to pick a ? Block, reciting a line Toad uses in the Toad Houses from Super Mario Bros. 3. Mario does not want to, claiming Peach likely just has her phone off, but Toad says Bowser took her in his Airship. Mario questions if he has to be the one to save her, also questioning their relationship and Toad's capabilities. Toad says, during the first time Mario rescued someone, he was the only one with experience, so they continued turning to him. Mario then tells Toad to get Luigi instead, to which Toad responds that no one wants him. Mario then suggests Yoshi, who was apparently sent to a glue factory to fix a pot Link broke. The door knocks again, and Mario answers to get pizza, who then pays the pizza boy with Coins he retrieves by headbutting a Brick Block. Toad says he is not going to leave until Mario agrees to save Peach, to which he reluctantly agrees and Toad says his line from Super Mario Bros. 3 again. Picking one, Mario hopes it does not have a leaf in it, saying he did not like the tail. Mario opens the ? Block and smells a dead Goomba, which Toad admits that the whole ploy of Peach getting kidnapped by Bowser was made up just so Mario would sniff a dead Goomba. Mario congratulates Toad and they head out to go give the box to Luigi. Mario's house is filled with various decorations from the franchise, including a Warp Pipe, a Piranha Plant, 25m, a picture of Pauline, a Super Star, and a Super Mushroom pillow.

Supernatural
In the episode "Red Meat", the Reaper Billie tells Dean "time to say goodbye to Luigi, Mario" when the latter thinks that his brother, Sam, is dead, and is trying to negotiate a deal with Billie in order to bring back Sam in exchange for Dean's life.

In the episode "Twigs & Twines & Tasha Banes", Dean mentions "that Super Mario power-up crap".

Temptation (Australia)
In the Gift Shop on the August 3, 2006 episode, hosts Ed Phillips and Lavinia Nixon offer Michael a Nintendo DS Lite with games including Mario Kart DS, WarioWare: Touched! and more. Michael rejected the offer and decided to play on.

That's So Weird
In one of the vampire sketches, Count Edwardo The 3rd mentions that the girl next to him is Princess Peach and he is Super Mario.

The Amazing Race
During the show's ninth season, during the penultimate episode, BJ & Tyler, one of the teams, says that the race "is on like Donkey Kong".

The Amazing Race en Discovery Channel (series)
During a commercial of the second season of The Amazing Race Latin America, one of the teams (Edison Father & Edison Son, from Mexico) were seen playing with a Nintendo DS. Also during the first part of leg 12, over from La Paz, Bolivia to Guayaquil, Ecuador, on the plane appears Mauricio (Mexico) playing Mario Kart DS on a DSi.

Also, before the race, all the participants competed in the challenge "Wii Launch", in which all competed in a game of Wii Sports Resort (the winners were, likewise, Carlos & Mauricio). One of the sponsors of this season (as well as the first) is Nintendo.

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'."

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.

The Big Bang Theory

 * 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 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 the Super Mario Bros. ground theme 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 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 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.

The Chase

 * In series 6 episode 71, one of the questions a contestant was asked was "In the Nintendo video game series, who is Luigi's brother?". The contestant correctly answered Mario.
 * In series 8 episode 53, during the cash builder round the contestant was asked "Which video game gorilla appears in the game Tropical Freeze?", and correctly answered Donkey Kong.
 * In series 10, episode 44, the contestant was asked The modern slang phrase meaning something is about to happen is "it's on like..." what?, with the possible answers being Donkey Kong, Mario and Lara Croft. The contestant correctly answered Donkey Kong, along with the Chaser.
 * This phrase then became a running joke throughout the episode, with the contestant saying it after the question, then before the Final Chase.
 * In series 11 episode 66, host Bradley Walsh asked the contestant a question, "In the Nintendo game 'Luigi's Mansion', what kind of machine is the Poltergust 3000, used by Luigi to capture ghosts?", with the possible answers Electric fan, Leaf Blower and Vacuum Cleaner. The contestant incorrectly answered Leaf Blower, while the Chaser answered correctly.
 * In series 11 episode 151, Bradley asked the question "An arrangement of the Russian folk song 'Korobeiniki' became the well-known music for what computer game?", with one of the possible answers being Super Mario Bros., alongside Pac-Man and the correct answer Tetris. The contestant incorrectly guessed Super Mario Bros., noting it had a distinctive theme tune, while the Chaser correctly answered Tetris.
 * In series 12 episode 159, one of the questions in the cash builder round was "Rainbow Road appears in which Super Mario racing game?". The contestant correctly answered Mario Kart.
 * In one of the episodes, Bradley asked the question, "In the Nintendo games featuring Mario, what creature is Yoshi?", with dinosaur, dog and dodo as possible answers. The player correctly guessed dinosaur.
 * In one of the episodes, Bradley asked Mark Labett the question Which Japanese company makes the game Super Mario Maker?. Mark correctly answered Nintendo, catching the team with 33 seconds remaining, resulting in them losing the game.

The Chase: Celebrity Special
In series 4, episode 16, during the cash builder round the contestant was asked the question "In the Mario video game series, what royal title does the character Daisy hold?", which they incorrectly answered "queen".

The Chase Australia
In an episode aired on January 12, 2017, host Andrew O'Keefe asked the contestant a question, "Which video game allows players to create their own courses and share them online?", with the answers: Super Mario Maker, Donkey Kong Land, and Super Metroid. The contestant answered Super Mario Maker correctly.

The Daily Show
During the January 7th, 2010 episode, Jon Stewart talks about two recently retired Democrats. After he brings up the story, a picture of the Democrats' faces pasted onto Mario and Luigi's artwork from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga appears alongside the caption "Donkey Gone". During a May 4th, 2011 episode, Jon Stewart said "We can only make decisions about war if we see what war actually is and not as a video game where bodies quickly disappear, leaving behind a shiny gold coin," a reference to how enemies drop coins upon defeat in most Mario games.

During the November 17th, 2017 episode, senior correspondent Ronny Chieng remarks that "being number one sucks," in reference to how the United States may actually be in a better position after falling behind China during the Trump presidency. He mentions how in Mario Kart, "that asshole blue shell with wings isn't coming for number two." Onscreen, a video plays of a Spiny Shell hitting Mario and Luigi in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.

During the March 8, 2018 episode, Trevor talks about how Trump met with video game executives to discuss the effect of video games on real-life violence. Trevor plays "exclusive audio" of the meeting, in which Trump believes that Mitch McConnell is a Koopa Troopa. The "jump" sound effect from Super Mario Bros. plays as Trump jumps on McConnell.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show
In a November 2010 episode, Donkey Kong made a special appearance by scaring Kelly Osbourne. Ellen later gave everyone in the audience a Wii with Donkey Kong Country Returns.

The Flash (2014 TV series)
In several episodes, Cisco Ramon is seen wearing shirts with Mario characters on them. Additionally, in the sixteenth episode of Season 3 called "Into the Speed Force", Harrison "H.R." Wells of Earth Nineteen refers to the Speed Force as the Negative World. Surprised by his remark, Cisco then asks H.R. if there is Super Mario on Earth Nineteen, to which H.R. agrees and jokingly challenges Cisco to.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
In the 1991 episode "Love at First Fight," when Kayla Samuels asks Will if "He had ever memorized too many things at once that his head was going to bust," he responds, "No, but I once got up to the third level of Super Mario Bros., and yo it was hectic up there!"

The Goldbergs

 * In the episode "Fonzie Scheme", after Murry comes home from his shopping spree, two boxes of Donkey Kong cereal can be seen on the counter.
 * In the episode "I Coulda Been a Lawyer", while Murry is helping Barry with his resume, playing Donkey Kong became "unpaid assistant to a primate physician". Later, Barry describes the game to his interviewer.
 * Advertisements for this show and its spinoff Schooled shown on E4 in March 2019 contained a screen reading "After Donkey Kong".
 * In the episode "8-Bit Goldbergs", Adam is trying to come up with an idea for making a game, and he points out Donkey Kong playing behind him. He also mentions Mario being a hero and the Hammer power-up.
 * In the episode "Lame Gretzky", Murry says "Did you know the Mario brothers aren't real? I thought they were some kids across the street!"

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

 * In a July 2016 segment of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stephen Colbert travels back in time to the 1990s to retrieve his old jokes during the Bill Clinton presidency, due to President Clinton speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Right before Stephen arrives, a younger version of himself, with a Game Boy, says, "Okay, Mario, it's time to save Peach on my new Game Boy."
 * In the April 28, 2017 episode, Stephen talks about Google's Kitty Hawk Flyer, a flying car. He goes on to say that he would "literally do anything to avoid the Lincoln Tunnel." Jon Baptiste, Stephen's bandleader, then plays a part of the Mario underground theme.
 * In the October 7, 2017 episode, the show runs a satirical advertisement for "Supreme Genetics," a DNA test for white supremacists. The ad says that the product can confirm that testers are related to "Wario, the evil Mario."
 * In the March 9, 2018 episode, Stephen's animated cold open ("exclusive footage from the video game panel") satirizes President Donald Trump's meeting with top video game executives to discuss the effect of video games on real-life violence. While waiting for Trump to arrive, Mario says that he takes responsibility if kids start throwing turtles, eating magic mushrooms, or using "offensive Italian stereotypes." President Trump arrives, jumping over Mario and heading straight for Princess Peach's dressing room. After Peach asks Trump how he got into the dressing room, Trump loses a life.
 * On August 5th, 2019, a similar cold open aired after after the 2019 El Paso Shooting and the 2019 Dayton Shooting. Trump loses a life after saying that the Dayton shooting occurred in Toledo (a reference to a comment he made earlier, in which he misidentified the location of the Dayton shooting as Toledo).
 * On May 6th, 2020, Colbert questioned if the Cuomo brothers (CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and New York State governor Andrew Cuomo) could be "more Italian" than the Mario brothers.

The Mash Report
In an episode broadcast on 7 December, 2018, the host Nish Kumar says that he resembles an "Indian Super Mario" when he grew a mustache.

The Middle
In the episode: "The Scratch"; Brick is hit with a beer bottle by accident. He says he wants to use the new Super Mario Band-Aids.

The Politician
In October Surprise, in the background at an arcade, two people are playing Mario Kart Arcade GP DX.

The Red Green Show
The "Adventures with Bill" segment from the episode where the lodge members attempt at converting their excess grapes into wine features Bill and his comrades trying to fix a roof. During their capers, Bill begins to climb up a ladderway not unlike the girders of Donkey Kong and Dalton ends up knocking several metal canisters down the staircase, resulting in a Donkey Kong parody as Bill climbs to the roof. As he sees this, Red exclaims, "Hey! Super Mario Brothers!"

The Sarah Silverman Program
In one episode, a commercial for a fictitious video game entitled Cookie Party: The Video Game is shown, which features a Mario-inspired level.

The Sopranos
In one episode, AJ is seen playing Mario Kart 64 with his son.

The Suite Life on Deck
In the episode, "My, oh Maya," Zack wears a green undershirt and blue overalls, similar to Luigi's typical attire.

In the episode "Stealing Home," after Mrs. Wong calls Barb "mom jeans", Barb tells Billy and Nora, "O.K., now it's on like Donkey Wong", making Mrs. Wong's name similar to Donkey Kong's.

In the series finale "The Thunder Games," a villain called the Gamer forces the family to act out a game with a plot similar to Super Mario Bros., with each member (except the mother) wearing costumes based on Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Bowser.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
During the December 7, 2016 broadcast, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, comes down to Jimmy Fallon's studio for the debut of the Nintendo Switch and plays Super Mario Run with Jimmy. Also, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto performs the Super Mario Bros. theme with The Roots.

The Voice (Australia)
In the second season's Blind Auditions, coach Joel Madden says "It is on like Donkey Kong" when commenting on Lyric McFarland's performance.

The Weakest Link
In the Children in Need 2017 Special, Anne Robinson asked the question to Giles: "In video game characters, what is the first name of the younger twin brother of Super Mario?" Giles answered Lorenzo instead of Luigi.

The Wiggles
During a commercial promotion for the Starlight Children's Foundation Video Month with the actors from the children's musical group, The Wiggles, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is seen being played on the television.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes
In a January 29, 2012 sketch, Mario and Luigi are interviewed about their reaction to Atari's bankruptcy. The Bros. talk about how the entire community is upset about the development, with Pac-Man swallowing a bottle of pills, Frogger throwing himself in front of traffic and the Pitfall! guy falling into a pit. When asked if Donkey Kong crushed himself with a barrel over the news, they tell the anchor he had actually became hooked on Oxycontin. Mario postulates that the reason for Atari's misfortune was that modern audiences only want violent games, and a distressed Luigi says "old fashioned" guys like them are in trouble, repeatedly punching a question block and asking "Why? Why? Why?" until his brother snaps him out of it. Mario says they can just go back to fixing toilets if the game business doesn't work out, but Luigi states that he doesn't want to go back to fixing toilets, as his hands are too delicate. Mario huffs about Luigi fancying himself "too good for fixing toilets anymore" and asks why his hands are delicate anyway. Luigi then says he uses them to caress the princess. Mario becomes enraged about Luigi "sleeping with [his] princess" and threatens to hurl a fireball in his face, punning that "this is Wario".

In a March 25, 2014 sketch, a fake video game called the "Super Ford Bros." was shown, referencing Toronto's notorious Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug Ford. Mario sound effects were used, and the music playing when Doug comes on screen to revive his brother is very reminiscent of the invincibility theme. A sequel was later created, and the original was included as one of the best sketches of 2014 in the year-end special.

In the episode "Brothers", when Jack, Kevin, and Randall are in the car ready to leave on a camping trip, Kevin tries to bring his Game Boy, but Jack takes it saying "There's no Mario in the wild."

Today
On the September 10, 2015 broadcast, the hosts of the show play Super Mario Maker in honor of the game's release.

Todo de Todo
The end credits from the first season features a cartoon parody of an underwater level from Super Mario Bros., while the song is a parody of the ground theme from the same game.

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters
In some episodes, the Go-Busters use the Lio Blaster to attack. Before unleashing their finishing strike, the Lio Blaster will announce "It's time for Buster!" or "It's time for Final Buster!" in order to charge and while it does, the countdown sound effect can be heard just like in the Mario Kart series. When the blaster is fully charged, the rangers pull the trigger on the green light to finish the attack.

Tosh.0
In a Season 2 episode called "Prom Girl," Daniel Tosh shows a video of an individual unsuccessfully attempting to recreate a Mario level involving jumping over obstacles by stacking up multiple plastic containers, and then jumping from one to another. He responds to the video by asking "How do you die on the first level of Super Mario Brothers?" and saying that all you have to do is "...get the flag and get in the...castle." He then claims that he "could do that level in my sleep." Following this, a brief video shows Tosh dressed up as Mario, running through World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. After collecting a Mega Mushroom, jumping into a Warp Pipe and collecting some coins, he successfully makes it through the level and grabs the Goal Pole at the end, then runs into the door of the Castle.

In a Season 3 episode called "Hurdle Fail Girls," Daniel interviews two girls who appeared in an online video falling multiple times while attempting to jump hurdles. During the "Web Redemption" later in the episode, he introduces them to "celebrity trainer Donkey Kong" (who is really just a man dressed up in a gorilla suit) who, as Daniel puts it, is going to help them with their hurdling. "Donkey Kong" does this by rolling many barrels at the two girls, who must attempt to jump over them, armed with nothing more than an "oversized mallet" that Daniel had given them to hold. While they are jumping, music and sound effects from Donkey Kong play in the background, and words appear on the screen, giving them 100 points for each barrel they successfully jump. At the end, the words "YOU WIN!!!" flash on the screen.

At the beginning of a Season 4 episode called "Juggalo Kid," Daniel mentions Princess Peach and Mario Kart.

Trivia no Izumi
Super Mario Sunshine and the Nintendo GameCube was shown at the start of one of the pieces of trivia about the Love Tester.

TV's TV
The 46th "episode" of this Japanese late-night broadcast is gameplay footage of Super Mario Bros.. The player is shown going through World 1-1, and later dying to Fake Bowser in World 5-4. A split second of the footage can also be seen in the 100th and final "episode".

Two and a Half Men
In the episode "People Who Love Peepholes", a Donkey Kong arcade machine is seen in Walden's house. Later, as they are about to leave, Walden asks Bridget if he can play a little Donkey Kong with Alan before they go.

In the episode "Weekend in Bangkok With Two Olympic Gymnasts", Charlie takes Jake to the video store to rent the then-new Final Fantasy game. In some scenes in the video store, one can see Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Mario Power Tennis for the Nintendo GameCube in the background.

Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
In one episode, Gaz is seen trying to help his brother Munch know what is real and what is not real, at one point, Munch says "Not even the Super Mario Brothers?" and Gaz replies "Well okay, that's real!"

Uploaded
Throughout this TV series, Mario has been occasionally mentioned, sometimes shown.

VH1 Commercials

 * In one commercial for VH1 Latin America, the VH1 logo can be seen on a Donkey Kong stage jumping barrels.
 * In another commercial, Mario appears jumping a Piranha Plant coming out of a Warp Pipe while spinning on a phonograph.

Victorious
In the episode "Stage Fighting", Robbie wears a shirt with the 25m level design from Donkey Kong. It reads "My game is classic".

White Collar
In the season 2 episode, "Need to Know", Neal Caffrey makes fun of a photo of Peter Burke with a mustache, claiming he looked like Mario and even mimicking the plumber's jump and voice.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Australia)
In one episode, host Eddie McGuire asked the contestant the following: "Which series of games feature the bad guy Bowser?". The possible answers were Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Pokémon and Pac-Man. The contestant incorrectly answered Sonic the Hedgehog.

In a later episode, another contestant was asked, "How many brothers make up Nintendo's 'Mario Bros'?" The possible answers were 2, 3, 4 or 5. The contestant correctly answered 2.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Hot Seat (Australia)
In 2014 season episode 36, host Eddie McGuire asked Sera Blair the following: "In Nintendo's classic Mario Bros. game series, what is Mario's occupation?" The possible answers were Plumber, Gondolier, Greengrocer and Pilot. Sera Blair correctly answered Plumber.

In 2015 season episode 11, host Eddie McGuire asked Stewart Hendrie and Aisling O'Connor the following: "Which series of video games features a hero called Link?" The possible answers were Prince of Persia, The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers. Stewart Hendrie passed the question and Aisling O'Connor incorrectly answered Street Fighter.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (United Kingdom)
In series 31 episode 3, host Jeremy Clarkson asked Chris Best the following: "In the 'Super Mario Bros' game franchise, what is the name of Mario's brother?". The possible answers were Leonardo, Lorenzo, Luigi and Larry. Chris Best correctly answered Luigi.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (United States)
In one episode, host Meredith Vieira asked the contestant the following: "In the video game "Donkey Kong", the hero now known as Mario was originally called what?" The possible answers were Climbman, Runman, Jumpman, and Smashman. The contestant correctly answered Jumpman.

Wer wird Millionär? (Germany)
In series 21 episode 17, host Günther Jauch asked the contestant a question to which the possible answers were Super Mario Kart, Angry Birds, Minecraft and League of Legends. The contestant correctly answered Minecraft.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?
In one of the games, Wayne Brady had to make up a song based on a random person's profession. A video game reviewer from The Daily Radar was chosen. Both Mario and Donkey Kong were mentioned.

Winter Wipeout
In the second episode of Winter Wipeout, a contestant made it halfway through the course before being faced with an obstacle called the "Yule Log Jam." Before taking on this obstacle, she remarked: "This looks like Super Mario Bros."

World Of Dance
In the second season of World Of Dance, namely episode 11, "The Duels Part 3", hip hop dance crew Funkywunks' dance routine involved one of the members briefly jumping up with his fist upwards, referencing Mario's famous jumping animation. When being judged, Derek Hough said that, "he liked the moment where one of the members jumped up Super Mario style." Hip hop dance group performed a routine to the remix of "Push Me To The Edge".

WWE Raw
On the Halloween 2011 broadcast, The Bella Twins dressed as female versions of the Mario Bros. while also holding a Princess Peach plush.

You're Skitting Me
Throughout many episodes of the Australian sketch comedy You're Skitting Me, Mario and Luigi can be seen having many comical disputes over various situations. The Bros. (Hayden McKertish as Mario and Rowan Hills as Luigi) own a plumbing company. During parts of the skit, 8-bit music similar to the Super Mario Bros. 3 overworld theme can be heard in the background.

In one episode, Mario and Luigi's non-canon agent Tracy Murray (played by Cosmo Renfree) says that after thirty years, the Mario Bros. are losing their touch. The "phones aren't ringing anymore" in the plumbing company, and Tracey says that the whole plumbing thing in a complete waste of their talent. He suggests that they need a new look in order to "get with the times" and to "get back into the game". Luigi is all for the idea, saying that it could be their big chance. But Mario is unsure, as he thinks their plumbing career is going well enough. Luigi suddenly gets mad at Mario, saying that he "wants to smash his head on to a Brick", and he's "not even looking for a Power-Up". Mario finally gives in, and says that it is worth giving a go. Agent Tracey then says that he'll get some fashion consultants in and bring in some stylists to do something with their hair. But first and foremost, he wants to get rid of their "ridiculous mustaches". He brings out some razor blades and places them on the desk. Mario, crossing his arms and shaking his head, is strongly against the idea. But Luigi says that they have to if they want to get with the times. Mario still refuses, and this leads Luigi into picking up the razor blade off the desk, and pointing it towards Mario's face. He says softy but firmly, "You shave your mustache". Mario then replies with "I no shave my mustache!". The dispute between them goes on for another few minutes, and agent Tracey tells them to stop arguing.

The next scene of the episode interviews the actors of the show and asks for their opinions of the last skit. They discuss whether Mario should shave his mustache or not. Some of the opinions given by the actors are "it's the only thing keeping him going" (Molly Daniels), "what is Mario without the mustache?" (Cosmo Renfree), "it's the reason I like him" (Jake Fehily) and "I think the mustache should shave off Mario" (Cosmo Renfree).