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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.
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)
Season 1
In the leg no. 9 (Colombia - Panama) Matías & Tamara (Argentina team) fall to a typical bus known as "Diablo Rojo" where you can see a picture of Sonic the Hedgehog.
Season 2
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 the 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.[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.
Asian Games 2010
During 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.
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.
E3
An interview conducted for E3 (Youtube)
El Chavo Animado
In the episode "Un buen recado" El Chavo, Quico & Ñoño can be seen playing an adaption of Super Mario Bros. but using Super Mario World stats and the box for saving items In the Game El Chavo, Quico & Ñoño can be seen with stache (and the last one with a cap resenbing Wario) insted of Mario caracters also and Goombas with Señor Barriga's heads too; when Ñoño reaches the flagpole he makes it fall due his weight.
Fish Hooks
In the episode "Fish Out of Water," Oscar and Bea become trapped under a cabinet by a large cat. It is at this point that Oscar tells Bea that he is a "plumber" and she is a "princess." He goes on to say that their situation is like being in a giant videogame where the plumber is trying to get to the princess, but a "giant monkey" always gets in the way by throwing barrels. This is most likely a reference to the relationship between Mario and Princess Peach, as she is usually kidnapped by Bowser (or another villain), and Mario must travel through multiple levels to save her. In addition, the part about the giant monkey throwing barrels could be a reference to Donkey Kong.
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.
Full House
In one of the episodes in season 2, Stephanie Tanner asks her teacher if she can play Super Mario Bros. on the Game Boy.
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.
GoTV
GoTV, a service that lets people watch shows on their cell phones, had a series of shows about the New Super Mario Bros. They showed one weekly for four weeks.
- May 15, 2006 - Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto
- May 22, 2006 - Review of the New Super Mario Bros.
- May 29, 2006 - Interview with Mario
- June 5, 2006 - Nintendo DS Lite preview
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 incidently 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!"
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?"
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.
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 3-second countdown sound effect can be heard during the transformation, just like the one that is used in the Mario Kart series. The first time he used this form was in Beyond the R/Surpass Them All.
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 moustache on a poster of the main character, Phil, so he starts wearing a fake moustache. 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.
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.
Shake It Up!
In the episode "Give it Up!", one of the students in Cece and Rocky's school said "Cheap, cheap!". This refers to the Cheep-Cheep's noise.
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 Wierd
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 & Luigi" look.
- In "The Codpiece Topology", Sheldon's mother sends him his Nintendo 64 along with Super Mario 64. He is seen playing it in a poorly encoded emulator complete with sound effects from the game
- 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. Raj wins.
- 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: NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and Wii, along with Super Mario Bros., Mario Galaxy, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and three Legend of Zelda games. Sheldon also mentions that "outside, evil lurks, probably playing Donkey Kong on my classic Nintendo."
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.
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:
- a) Sonic The Hedgehog
- b) Mario
- c) Pokémon
- d) Pac-Man
The answer was obviously Mario, but the contestant 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.