History YMMV / TheNakedGun

** The repeated torment Nordberg (played by UsefulNotes/OJSimpson) suffers is either this or becomes [[HilariousInHindsight even funnier]], depending on your viewpoint. Especially the line that he "wouldn't hurt a fly" spoken by his on-screen wife. In the network TV version, Frank, after unknowingly shutting down Nordberg's life support system and not noticing where the rushing hospital staff are headed, says "Just be glad you're not that guy's wife."

* VindicatedByHistory: The joke about the Hubble Space Telescope being listed among the world's biggest disasters in ''2½'' was because its main mirror had a small flaw. But it was also built for refurbishment, so corrective optics were added to compensate. It worked out so well, that even in 2023 NASA is looking for ways to further extend its mission.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Quentin Hapsburg says he plans to hunt rhino in Botswana and moments later gets killed by a lion. It would have been a great example of LaserGuidedKarma if he had been killed by a rhino instead.

-->"If you don't love me, you might as well pull that trigger, because without you, I wouldn't want to live anyway."

** In the first movie, Frank stops a mind controlled Reggie Jackson from assassinating the Queen by dropping a fat woman on him from an upper balcony in the baseball stadium. This has actually happened several times since the movie came out, with far less comedic results, [[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fan-who-died-in-fall-at-atlanta-braves-game-identified/#:~:text=Gregory%20K.%20Murrey%2C%2060%2C%20of%20Alpharetta%2C%20Georgia%20died,Yankees%20slugger%20Alex%20Rodriguez%20as%20a%20pinch%20hitter. one of them even occurring]] during the 7th inning, much like in the movie.

** Frank checking the Angels' pitcher for items used to doctor the ball, after MLB announced a crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances in June 2021, which includes umpires checking pitchers as they leave the mound.

'''Frank:''' I'm Lt. Frank Drebin! Police Squad! And don't ever let me catch you guys in America! ''(the window shutter hits Frank in the face and he loses his balance, falling out the window)''

** Drebin's "Nothing to see here! Please disperse!" speech in ''1'' has become a common reference when a real-life event is considered to be downplayed by media or governments. Like in 2020, after CNN was mocked by Trump supporters for describing the Kenosha Riots as "fiery but mostly peaceful".

** A film with a plot that revolves around the attempted assassination of Queen Elizabeth II instantly places it anytime before her actual death on September 2022.

** A film with a plot that revolves around the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria instantly places it anytime before her actual death on September 2022.
*** The was Queen ''Elizabeth II'', Due to her frailty in her later years, she wouldn't have been on an overseas visit after 2015. Had it been Queen Victoria, who died in 1901, she never travelled outside of Europe and largely withdrew from public appearances after the death of her husband Prince Albert.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with the lady who sings the hilariously depressing blues number in the second film. There's an urban legend that it's Colleen "Vitamin C" Fitzpatrick in heavy makeup; actually, she's another performer also named Colleen Fitzpatrick.

* ValuesResonance: ''2½'' is all about the coal, oil, and nuclear lobbies controlling interests in Washington, not allowing renewable energy to take a foothold. This struggle is ''still'' going on today, except nuclear energy no longer having large political power it once had due to public fears and said coal and oil lobby's roles in its stagnation. Although part of it loops back around into ValuesDissonance due to people realizing nuclear power is a much cleaner fuel source than given credit for, especially in a time where GlobalWarming is at its most threatening.

** Nuclear energy being shown as villain in ''2½'' would be seen as a continuation of misinformation (some of them being backed by fossil fuel companies as an added irony) resulting from fear on Three Miles Island and Chernobyl (former being well-contained and latter being result of Soviet mismanagement). Today, nuclear energy is seen by many in the scientific community as the ''best'' way (that is currently available) to produce energy with little impact on the environment.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets:
** The Beirut council seen in the first film is a practical who's who of AcceptablePoliticalTargets of 1980s America--communists, Islamists, military dictators.
** The second film has the coal, oil, and nuclear lobbies in Washington...and then US President UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush.

** The arrangement of "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" from ''33 1/3''. So good that an instrumental is also heard in the end credits.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Frank's proposal of marriage to Jane in ''2 1/2'', which included his acceptance of support to reduce ozone layer reduction became this with the ozone layer finally being regenerating during that tail-end of TurnOfTheMillennium thanks to activism and measures aimed at limiting ozone-damaging chemicals--not to mention the increased availability of safer alternatives.

** The mass FacePalm from ''33 1/3'', frequently used in Internet review shows and as a forum reaction to perceived EpicFail or TooDumbToLive moments.

--->'''Muammar al-Qaddafi:''' Hey, who are you?
--->'''Frank:''' I'm Lt. Frank Drebin! Police Squad! And don't ever let me catch you guys in America! ''(the window shutter hits Frank in the face and he loses his balance, falling out the window)''

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Hooray for L.A." in ''Naked Gun 33 1/3'', obviously a parody of "Hooray for Hollywood".
* TearJerker:

--> "If you don't love me, you might as well pull that trigger, because without you, I wouldn't want to live anyway."

*** One of the pictures in the "Hall of Failures" (in the Blues Club in 2 1/2) was of Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts who lost to George H. W. Bush in a landslide.

** Nuclear Energy interest (KABOOM) among the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive representatives of American Energy Firms]] was relevant during the time when opposition to nuclear energy were prominent among enviromental consciousness along with increased fear after two prominent nuclear meltdowns (Chernobyl and Three Mile Island) before declining after 90's.
** In ''The Naked Gun 2 1/2'', a bar put the Hubble Space Telescope, which had been launched with a flawed reflector mirror, with the ''Hindenberg'' and the ''Titanic'' as one of the biggest disasters in human history. Corrective optics installed in 1993 fixed the problem, and it's now considered one of the [[VindicatedByHistory most successful satellites ever launched]].
** [[https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Naked-Gun-33a-The-Final-Insult-Blu-ray/49315/#Review One review]] for ''33 1/3'' noted that the movie's March 1994 release "turned out to be just in time" given three months later O.J. Simpson was arrested accused of murder and Anna Nicole Smith married an octogenarian billionaire, thus the movie was the last time either weren't OvershadowedByControversy in a way that makes such a wacky comedy "look tame by comparison".

** Nuclear energy being shown as villain in ''2 1/2'' would be seen as a continuation of misinformation (some of them being backed by fossil fuel companies as an added irony) resulting from fear on Three Miles Island and Chernobyl (former being well-contained and latter being result of Soviet mismanagement). Today, nuclear energy is seen by many in the scientific community as the ''best'' way (that is currently available) to produce energy with little impact on the environment.
* ValuesResonance: ''2 1/2'' is all about the coal, oil, and nuclear lobbies controlling interests in Washington, not allowing renewable energy to take a foothold. This struggle is ''still'' going on today, except nuclear energy no longer having large political power it once had due to public fears and said coal and oil lobby's roles in its stagnation. Although part of it loops back around into ValuesDissonance due to people realizing nuclear power is a much cleaner fuel source than given credit for, especially in a time where GlobalWarming is at its most threatening.
** "Mommy Court" in ''33 1/3'' is a court that actually has mommies with their kids running it, but these days it looks more like a working mother's ''dream job'', as more and more families need ''both'' parents working, while dealing with the incredibly high (and still escalating) cost of care for their young children.
* VindicatedByHistory: The joke about the Hubble Space Telescope being listed among the world's biggest disasters in ''2 1/2'' was because its main mirror had a small flaw. But it was also built for refurbishment, so corrective optics were added to compensate. It worked out so well, that even in 2023 NASA is looking for ways to further extend its mission.