List of references in live-action television
It has been requested that this article be rewritten and expanded to include more information.
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 Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), 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.
¡Se vale!
During a broadcast of the program, one participant used a motley of Bowser.
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 in 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).[1] One of the sponsors of this season (as well as the first) is Nintendo.
America's Funniest Home Videos
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.
Angel
The episode "You're Welcome" has Spike playing a game heavy implied to be Donkey Kong ("Gorilla with barrels! Stupid plumber!") on, oddly, an Xbox.
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 Nintendo 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 25/11/2010 a Level Clear sound from Super Mario Bros. was heard.
Bones
The episode, "The Gamer in the Grease," features a fictitious arcade game entitled Punky Pong where the player plays an explorer battling a Donkey Kong-inspired giant gorilla.
Boy Meets World
In one episode, Mr. Feenie talks about how technology is wasted and mentions how it's used to play Super Mario Bros., namely to beat King Koopa and rescue the Princess.
BrainSurge
In one of the episodes, Jeff 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 that is similar to Mario's (one notable difference being a "V" being on the cap as opposed to Mario's "M"), with purple mushrooms in the background.
In another episode, Jeff asks the question of how many slices of the pizza the ninja made on Luigi's pizza.
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.
El Diario de Daniela
Martín, Daniela's best friend, can be seen playing Super Mario 64 in a black N64 with the Atomic Purple Controller in his bedroom. For unknown reasons, later in the soap opera the N64 was replaced with a SNES and some cartridges can be seen too.
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."
Drake & Josh
In the episode "The Bet", several implications are made that the game that Josh is playing is a Super Mario Bros.-like level, most notably Drake's telling Josh to "Jump the mushroom." Josh was most likely playing Super Mario World, because if the player has an item in their Item Holder, and if the player grabs a Mushroom, it will replace the item. Another possibility is that the "mushroom" that Drake was talking about is a Goomba. Later in the episode Josh gets a GameSphere (which is a spoof of the GameCube). Also, Megan said "Take that red turtle shell!", which was most likely a reference to a Red Koopa Troopa. She also had a Pintendo GS (a spoof of a Nintendo DS). Josh is also seen playing a Game Boy Advance SP.
Family Game Night
In the Guess Who intro game in one of the episodes of The Hub's game show, a team guessed that Mario was originally called Jumpman. Todd Newton, the show's host, said that he appeared in over 200 games, and used Mario's Italian accent for the right answer. One of the prizes on the show is a Wii which is furnished by Nintendo.
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.
Frontline
In the episode The Souffle 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. This 'something' is the main theme of Super Mario Land. Mike is seen playing Super Mario Land later in the episode.
In episode 5, The Seige, a boy is seen playing the same Game Boy. Mike notices him and says "Hey, is that Super Mario? Hey watch out for those things." It is to be noted that the sounds coming from the Game Boy were from Super Mario Bros., not Super Mario Land or any other Game Boy game. He couldn't have been playing Super Mario Bros. Deluxe because that wasn't compatable with the original Game Boy.
Full House
In one of the episodes in season 3, Stephanie Tanner tells her therapist she wants to play Super Mario Bros..
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.
George Lopez
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!"
Glee
In the eighteenth episode of season one, Puck mistakenly states the Star Worlds are what make Super Mario World so amazing.
Good Morning America
A March 1, 2010 segment compared Barack Obama to Mario. The same segment used music from Super Mario Brothers and sound effects from Donkey Kong.
Gene Simmons Family Jewels
In the episode "Geeks Will Inherit the Earth" Gene and Nick go to Comic-Con, and among the characters Boo Mario can be seen.
Hangin with Mr. Cooper
In one episode, the boys can be seen playing an underground level of Super Mario World.
Hasta el Hoyo (Mexico)
In one episode, a question asked was "Which of the following characters isn't an enemy of Mario?", giving the answers of Bowser, Tatanga, Wario and Kirby.
Hazme reír y serás millonario
The team of Facundo did a sketch of Mario and other characters in some games, which received no tomato throwing.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show
In one episode, Wayne can be seen playing as Princess Peach on Luigi Raceway in Mario Kart 64.
How I Met Your Mother
In the episode Desperation Day, Marshall is playing Dr. Mario on his old Game Boy. 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. Ted flips out and the two begin to play. Strangely, they were playing on a Nintendo Entertainment System.
iCarly
In the episode, "iPie", the man who works at Mr. Galini's pie shop is named Mario. Strangely enough, he has an Italian accent and loudly shouts "Mama mia!" the same way Mario and Luigi say it in the video games, when the pie recipes are found in Mr. Galini's computer hard drive.
In another episode called "iRocked the Vote", Spencer plays a tune on his banjo toward the end of the episode that sounds remarkably similar to the theme from Super Mario Bros.
This happens again in the very beginning of another episode called "iSell Penny Tees."
Jetix Latin America
Under the sponsorship of Nintendo, a special "X-Cam" was made for Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. However, these segments were about Xtreme sports. Obviously, this one ended without the "Do it under supevision & with the proper equipment" advice.
Kamen Rider W
In some of the episodes, when Kamen Rider Accel was transforming to its Trial form, the signature countdown sound effect can be heard during the transformation, just like the Pre-Race Countdown Timer from the Mario Kart series.
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."
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.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
In a 1983 episode, a boy teaches Mr. 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.
Modern Family
In the episode "Moon Landing", some one 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. Also, in the episode "Run for Your Wife", 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.
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.
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.
Puppy Bowl VII
During a "Kiss-Cam" moment a dog is seen with a Mario Pinball Land toy.
Regular Show
In the episode "Ello Gov'nor" Rigby wants to watch a horror movie but Mordecai wants to watch a movie called Shy Guy.
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."
Rosanne
In the episode "The Back Story", Rosanne 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 Rosanne was just pressing random buttons. When Dan asks Rosanne 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.
Sabado Gigante
In Sabado Gigante, there is a short character who dresses as Mario on the show.
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 more inappropriate things. However, it says that it's two-player, which is not correct. The sketch can be viewed at NBC.com.
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.
Super Why!
In one episode, two pigs can be seen wearing clothes very similar to Mario and Luigi.
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 Big Bang Theory
- In "The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation", Rajesh calls Howard's new mustache a "Mario and Luigi" look.
- In "The Codpiece Topology", Sheldon's mother sends him his Nintendo 64 along with Super Mario 64. He is later seen playing it in a poorly encoded emulator complete with sound effects from the game.[1][2]
- In "The Gorilla Experiment", Raj and Sheldon are playing Mario Kart Wii with the Wii Wheel. Raj is shown playing with Yoshi on a kart and Sheldon playing as Mario on a bike in Mario Circuit.[3]
- In "The Bozeman Reaction", Leonard's and Sheldon's apartment is robbed. Several consoles and games are mentioned as being stolen. The following are Mario-related: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.[4] Sheldon also mentions that "outside, evil lurks, probably playing Donkey Kong on my classic Nintendo."[5]
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, along side the caption "Donkey Gone". This part of the episode can be viewed here.
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 Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
In the 1991 episode "Love at First Fight", when Kayla Samuels asked Will if "He had ever memorized too many things at once that his head was going to bust?" he responded, "No, but I once got up to the third level of Super Mario Bros., and yo it was hectic up there!".
The Middle
In one episode, Brick is hit with a beer bottle on accident. He says he wants to use the new Super Mario Band-Aids.
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.
Tosh.0
In a Season 3 episode called "Hurdle Fail Girls," Daniel Tosh 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.
In another Season 1 episode called "Nintendo 64 Kid," Daniel 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 flag at the end, then runs into the door of the castle.
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!"
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Australia)
In one episode, the host 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.
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. During one episode, a videogame 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."
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.
