"Charles Jones is a figment of my imagination," says Charlie Chan in what appears to be an homage to animation legend Chuck Jones (1912-2002). Charles "Chuck" Jones produced and directed many of the fondly remembered Warner Bros. cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Pepé Le Pew, and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Post-Warner Bros. Jones produced a new series of Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM as well as the beloved television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). Creators from competing companies, such as Hanna-Barbera, nonetheless held Jones in high esteem as an icon of the art of animation.
Boo Blew was an homage to Oakland A's pitching legend Vida Blue. Blue played Major League Baseball between 1969 and 1986, most memorably as a pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, which won three consecutive World Series championships between 1972 and 1974. Interestingly, that first World Series was won only a month after this episode was broadcast.