Line #32 ShoutOut/Leverage


1	''Series/{{Leverage}}'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/MissionImpossible'', with a little bit of ''Series/TheATeam'', ''Series/{{Stingray 1985}}'' and ''Series/VengeanceUnlimited'' thrown in. The series is so full of {{Shout Out}}s, it's practically ReferenceOverdosed. Here are some examples:
2	* In the pilot episode Hardison has Parker posing as IT say "[[Series/TheITCrowd have you tried turning it on and off?]]".
3	* Hardison's "[[Series/TheATeam I love it when a plan comes together]]."
4	* In the "Cross my Heart Job", Hardison, undercover as a tower operator, uses the callsign "Leverage Airlines [[Franchise/StarTrek 1701]]" when radioing the team's walkie-talkies.
5	* The team's aliases have a tendency to reference ''Series/DoctorWho''; given that Hardison presumably arranges all their fake [=IDs=] and is canonically a fan, this is almost certainly no coincidence even in-universe.
6	** In "The Mile High Job," Nate and Sophie's cover [=IDs=] are [[Creator/TomBaker Tom]] and [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures Sarah Jane]] [[Creator/TomBaker Baker]]. Nate also mentions having ID on him for Creator/PeterDavison or Sylvester [=McCoy=].
7	** In "The Twelve Step Job," Nate uses the Tom Baker ID again, while Parker (the young blonde one) is Rose.
8	** Eliot and Hardison get into a police precinct as detectives [[Creator/StevenMoffat Moffat]] and [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] in "The Three Card Monte Job".
9	** The ''Series/DoctorWho'' references continue! In "The Frame-Up Job," Sophie introduces herself and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut Ster]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon ling]] as Agents [[Creator/DavidTennant Tennant]] and [[Creator/MattSmith Smith]].
10	** The scene in "The Long Goodbye Job" with the body bags is eerily reminiscent of a scene in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon Day of the Moon]]", including an ActorAllusion thanks to Creator/MarkSheppard's presence.
11	** In "The White Rabbit Job", one of Sophie's aliases is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink Sally Sparrow]].
12	** One more ''Series/DoctorWho'' reference is the name of the law firm the client worked at in "The 10 Li'l Grifters Job": [[Creator/PaulMcGann McGann]], [[Creator/SylvesterMcCoy McCoy]] and [[Creator/ColinBaker Baker]].
13	** In "The Radio Job," the ''Series/DoctorWho'' opening theme plays when Parker speculates that Nate's dad may have traveled back in time to 1962. Immediately afterwards, Parker asks Hardison about his bow tie, and he replies "It's a bow tie. Bow ties are cool".
14	** And for one last time in "The Long Goodbye Job", Parker's alias is Tennant and Nate's is [[Creator/TomBaker Baker]].
15	* Hardison misses the beginning of the job in "The Mile High Job" because he's been up all night playing ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' - and cries "for the horde!" when he meets an employee of the evil corporation of the week who's also a fan.
16	* And a ShoutOut [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]] in "The Snow Job", where Nate calls his con "[[Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss Glengarry Glen]]''[[DoomyDoomsOfDoom death]]''".
17	* In "The Beantown Bailout Job", Hardison gets an opportunity to say "[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Come with me if you want to live.]]"
18	* Also in "Beantown Bailout," Hardison and Parker identify themselves as "[[Film/TheDeparted Troopers Costello and Costigan]]" of the Massachusetts State Police.
19	* Also also in "BB," the [[StringTheory cork board]] the team puts together includes, for no apparent reason, a picture of [[Series/MyNameIsEarl Earl J. Hickey]].
20	* In "The Bank Shot Job" Parker and Hardison's aliases are Agents [[Creator/ElmoreLeonard Elmore and Leonard]].
21	* The premise of the film production the crew steals in "The Stork Job" sounds a bit like ''Film/DogSoldiers''.
22	* In "The Wedding Job" Hardison and Parker's aliases are [[Film/TheGodfather Agent Thomas and Agent Hagen.]]
23	* Invoked in "The Three Days of the Hunter Job"; [[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 "I control the horizontal, I control the vertical."]] And [[spoiler:[[Film/TheShining all work and no play makes Monica a dull girl]]!]]
24	** Also, Hardison calls the fake underground bunker system [[Film/TheCore "Project Destiny".]]
25	*** [[spoiler: The soldier interrogating Hardison has the name "Kyle Abbot," the name of a Batman/Batwoman villain.]]
26	* In "The Two-Horse Job", Parker's disdain for horses stems from an incident that happened in [[Series/MyNameIsEarl Camden, IL]] (Beth Riesgraf is Jason Lee's baby-mama, and has made a few appearances on the show).
27	* In "The Two Live Crew Job", Creator/WilWheaton guest-stars. His hacker handle is "[=Cha0s=]", and [[ActorAllusion the CIA calls him]] "The Kobayashi Maru". Before you start [[CelebrityParadox raising questions]], just assume that Wesley Crusher was not played by Wheaton in the ''Leverage'' universe. Or even better, never existed at all.
28	** Alternately, if you accept the tie-in novel ''The Con Job'' as canon, Wheaton and [=Cha0s=] both exist, independently of each other.
29	* In "The Juror #6 Job", the bad guys' jury-monitoring setup strongly resembles the one in ''Film/RunawayJury''.
30	* In The "Order 23 Job" Hardison and Eliot are Officers Michaels and Crichton. (Creator/MichaelCrichton is well known for his medical thrillers and helping create ''Series/{{ER}}''; he also wrote ''Literature/TheAndromedaStrain'', about a virulent disease that traps the main characters in a medical facility...)
31	** In that same episode, Hardison sets up a system with Eliot of referencing the odd-numbered ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies when things are going well and the even-numbered ones when things are going poorly. When the job inevitably goes sideways, Hardison has the hospital PA page "Dr. [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Ralph O. Khan]]." Eliot later uses a similar system to get Hardison's attention by paging "Kirk Picard" in "The Cross My Heart Job."
32	* In "The Reunion Job", Parker claims to have overheard a bunch of ladies saying that Drake [=McIntyre=] (who Nate was impersonating) was [[Music/{{Drake}} "the best they ever had"]].
33	* In "The Inside Job", Parker gets into trouble when she tries to break into a building with a "Steranko" security system.[[note]]Jim Steranko, a comic artist, was perhaps most famous for his "ComicBook/NickFury: Agent of SHIELD" work. Nick Fury was a counter-intelligence expert, so "Steranko" is an apropos name for a security system. Steranko was also an '''EscapeArtist''' before working in comics, so giving his name to an escape-proof system is a bit of intentional irony; [[http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/07/leverage-303-inside-job-post-game.html "That's meta three levels deep."]][[/note]] Also, Sophie and Hardison give the aliases [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Emily Peel and Jonathan Steed]] when pretending to be auditors. And we're introduced to [[Creator/CaryGrant Archie Leach]] - "the greatest thief of all time".
34	** The security chief in "The Inside Job," portrayed as a ruthless killer, is named [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Mr. Voorhees.]]
35	** Archie Leach is also Creator/JohnCleese's character in ''Film/AFishCalledWanda''.
36	* From the same episode, we see a [[BrainBleach rather large, unshaved]] man in a ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' cosplay getup, which is a reference to the infamous "Sailor Bubba", a security staffer at "Anime Central", a UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}-based convention.
37	* In "The Gone Fishin' Job" Hardison and Eliot use the aliases [[Film/{{Jaws}} Brody and Quint.]]
38	** Eliot also tells Hardison [[Film/LeathalWeapon "We're gonna get bloody on this one."]]
39	* In "The Boost Job" Hardison readies an EMP device that makes the same noise as a [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} proton pack]]. He then lampshades it by adding "this chick is toast", which is Creator/BillMurray's line when the team confronts Gozer. Later in the episode, when Hardison and Parker enter a chop shop and find that it's a much bigger operation than they expected, he remarks "We're [[Film/{{Jaws}} gonna need a bigger boat]]".
40	** The mark's car is [[ICallItVera named "Veronica."]] When the mark first uses the name in Nate's presence, Nate (in character for the con), snarks back, "So [[BettyAndVeronica Betty was the fast one]]. Who knew?"
41	** The shot inside the engine when Nate ignites Hardison's mix could be lifted straight from ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'', they're so similar.
42	* In "The Gone Fishin' Job," Eliot tells Hardison, [[Film/LethalWeapon "We're gonna get bloody on this one."]] In the same episode, Hardison is heard saying, "[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} Science: it works]]." Their entire plot in that episode is an homage to the 1958 Creator/SidneyPoitier-Creator/TonyCurtis film ''TheDefiantOnes'', in which two prisoners, one white and one black, have to escape from prison and evade those trying to recapture them while handcuffed together.
43	* "The Studio Job" has Alex repeatedly using the word [[Series/AmericanIdol "pitchy"]] regarding Eliot's singing, to Eliot's annoyance. Eliot says [[Film/ThePrincessBride "I don't even think that word means what you think it means." ]]
44	* In "The Rashomon Job", Hardison's flashback ends with him making a perfect Creator/EddieMurphy grin.
45	* Also in "The Rashomon Job," Sophie's safehouse address is on [[Creator/WarrenEllis Warren Road in Ellis County.]]
46	* Hardison generally talks about his van [[Film/CoolHandLuke Lucille]] in terms of just how innocent or well-built she is. Too bad he doesn't know a pretty blonde who could wash it for him.
47	** Lucille could also be a reference to legendary blues guitarist Music/BBKing. King played an all black Gibson [=ES-335=] (and later a signature model made to his specifications) called Lucille.
48	** Speaking of Lucille, once she's destroyed Hardison names her replacement [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment Lucille 2(.0).]]
49	** Just before he blows Lucille 1 up, Hardison tells her that "[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan I have been, and always shall be, your friend.]]
50	* Parker's name is confirmed by WordOfGod to be a ShoutOut to the character from Donald Westlake's novels (under the pen name of Richard Stark), a damn good thief in ''his'' own rights.
51	* In "The Rashomon Job", Hardison says "absatively, posilutely", dating back at least as far as ''TheGrinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat'' (1982) but more likely a reference to ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1988).
52	* In "The Morning After Job," during the briefing Nate asks "who" [[TheCon the mark]] "is gonna call" when he gets into trouble - Parker immediately comes back with "Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}!"
53	-->'''Eliot:''' "''Again?''"
54	* In "The Ho Ho Ho Job," the mall manager talks about losing customers to [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 Twin Pines]].
55	** In the same episode, Eliot receives a "[[Film/KillBill Hanzo sword]]" as a Christmas present[[note]]This one might be a different shout out, as Hanzo was a real swordsmith from Japan, and getting one of his swords is indeed a very big deal - could be the film, could be real life, or could be both[[/note]].
56	** Also, Chaos calls himself TheGrinch and derisively refers to the heroes as "the Franchise/{{Justice League\|of America}}".
57	** It's set at Christmas and an important plot point involves [[Film/DieHard cutting the power mains]].
58	** Nathan and Sophie manage to get access to an office building by pulling an "Edward Albee," which involves [[Theatre/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf pretending to be a married couple and yelling at one another]].
59	** Chaos' fingers reaching out of the grate resembles a similar shot at the end of [[Film/TheThirdMan The Third Man]]
60	* Eliot's setpiece in "The Big Bang Job" contains shoutouts to many things, but especially Film/ShootEmUp - [[ImprobableAimingSkills shooting Mooks]] [[BulletDodge while dodging bullets]] while sliding on his knees across the floor on an oil slick. [[Film/TheMatrix In]] BulletTime. Also perhaps shades of Equilibrium and GunKata, given his TranquilFury.
61	* "The San Lorenzo Job" appears to be a whole-episode shout out to ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat For President]]''.
62	** According to WordOfGod it's inspired by a ''Literature/TheSaint'' story but he wouldn't say which one. More than one commenter on Creator/JohnRogers' blog thinks he's talking about "The Wonderful War".
63	** The name of the country itself may be a reference to ''Literature/CatsCradle''.
64	** Sophie plays a beautiful first lady to a populist president. When she [[spoiler:fakes her own assassination]], the people are so heartbroken that they build a little shrine to her and put her on their money. At the end, she [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral shows up at the shrine unseen]] and says [[Theatre/{{Evita}} "Don't cry for me, San Lorenzo."]]
65	* A number of staff shout-outs:
66	** The team frequently runs into "Glen-Reeder" safes - named after the show's "Wonder Twin" writers Melissa Glenn and Jessica Rieder.
67	** The building on the docks in the "Three Strikes Job" is called Kirsch Industries, after writer's assistant and occasional episode writer Rebecca Kirsch.
68	** You can see candidate posters in the background of the campaign office in "The Jailhouse Job" for writers Scott Veach (who's running for city council), Charlotte Boylan (who's running for Congress), and Geoffrey Thorne (who's running for county sheriff).
69	* Eric Stoltz's character in "The Long Way Down Job" is named [[Franchise/GreenLantern Alan Scott]].
70	* "The 10 L'il Grifters Job" includes shout-outs to all manner of detective stories:
71	** The title is a reference to Creator/AgathaChristie's "Ten Little Indians," and the story plays out much like a classic Christie story.
72	** Nate is dressed up as Creator/ElleryQueen - which also serves as an ActorAllusion, since in [[Series/ElleryQueen the TV series]] Queen was played by Timothy Hutton's father Jim. Nate is also trapped in a room, and requires everyone else to do the legwork; this makes the story a ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' style mystery, but with Hutton as Wolfe, rather than his {{Sidekick}} Archie Goodwin (whom Hutton played in ''Series/ANeroWolfeMystery'').
73	** Sophie is [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Irene Adler.]]
74	** Hardison is [[Literature/TheHardyBoys either Frank or Joe Hardy]], but thinks he's Literature/EncyclopediaBrown.
75	** Parker is Franchise/NancyDrew.
76	** Eliot is Charlie Siringo, a real-life PinkertonDetective. A more subtle reference than most of the others -- Pinkertons became nationally famous for protecting then President-Elect UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and later being hired by the U.S. Government when the Department of Justice didn't have the ability to pull off a huge investigation, after originally working mostly for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the railroad corporations]].
77	*** Eliot ''himself'' is practically a shout-out to the Literature/{{Spenser}} novels.
78	** Two of the suspects are dressed as Series/{{Mannix}} and [[Literature/BleakHouse Inspector Bucket]].
79	** Background characters are dressed as Franchise/SherlockHolmes himself, ComicStrip/DickTracy, Literature/CharlieChan, [[Series/MiamiVice Crockett and Tubbs]], [[Series/TheAvengers1960s John Steed and Emma Peel]], Series/{{Columbo}}, [[Series/MagnumPI Magnum]], {{Baretta}}, [[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]], Literature/HerculePoirot, Literature/MissMarple and Series/{{Kojak}}.
80	** Unrelated to detectives, Sophie and Nate introduce themselves as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yma_Sumac Yma Sumac]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Gordon Dexter Gordon]], the former an exotic lounge vocalist in the 50's and the latter a tenor jazz saxophonist in the 60's.
81	* In "The 15 Minutes Job," Hardison rants about the use of CGI in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels.
82	** Also in "The 15 Minutes Job," Parker (in character as a HoneyTrap girl) asks if [[TheCon the mark]] is "one of those oligarch internet kids [[Film/TheSocialNetwork like in that movie.]]"
83	* As they enter a disorganized evidence room, Hardison asks Parker if she thinks they'll find [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk the Ark of the Covenant]].
84	* In the "Cross My Heart Job", in order to get Hardison's attention, Eliot has the airport page for a "[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Kirk]] [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Picard]]", which is also a CallBack to "The Order 23 Job," in which Hardison pages "[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Dr. Ralph O'Khan]]" to let Eliot know he's in danger.
85	** The heart of the title is stolen by a wealthy, greedy, isolated old man. Nate gives him [[Film/CitizenKane a snow globe]] instead.
86	*** Could also be a double shout out to something [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas a tad more recent]] given it has a wealthy greedy isolated old man with a love of snow globes, which in itself was a shout out to the first shout out.
87	** Also in that episode, Hardison calls the improvised computer system he's forced to use "stone knives and bearskins", referencing Spock's complaint about 1930 electronics tech in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever The City on the Edge of Forever]]".
88	* When threatening Mayor Culpepper in the "Maltese Falcon Job", Nate refers to Hardison as "Mr. Joshua," the name of Gary Busey's character in the first ''Film/LethalWeapon''.
89	* The jerkass frat boy -- sorry, "Dustman" -- in charge of a CIA torture experiment in "The Experimental Job" is named Zilgram, possibly a portmanteau of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_study Zimbardo]] and Milgram. Parker later has fun with an "actual" [[JustFollowingOrders Milgram experiment]] (girl loves her electricity). Sophie and the lesbian FairCop in the same episode might be a reference to ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles''.
90	* If the title didn't make it obvious, "The Office Job" is one big reference to ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', complete with TalkingHeads interviews.
91	** From the same episode, Gunter Hanzig (the documentary director) is clearly meant to be a take on Creator/WernerHerzog.
92	* In "The Radio Job"
93	** Invoked with Elliot's [[Film/DieHard John McClane]] impersonation, including [[CurseCutShort "Yippie-ki-yay]][[HardCut , m--"]]. His entire dialogue with the FBI outside is almost copy pasted from the interactions between John [=McClane=] and Sgt. Al Powell, including the agents naming him Cowboy, and Elliot explaining how he's just a "fly in the ointment, pal."
94	** A SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme during Parker's daydream sequence with Nate's father and the TimeMachine.
95	*** Also doubles as an JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime reference, with Parker asking "Where? Don't you mean ''when''?" prior to the daydream sequence, and Nate's father travelling to 1962 rather than 1963.
96	---> Parker (pointing to Hardison's neck): "What is that?" \
97	Hardison: "It's a bow tie. Bowties are cool."
98	** Foreshadowing shout-out: Parker and Hardison spend a great deal of their time in this episode in a [[SecretGovernmentWarehouse warehouse]] [[Series/{{Warehouse 13}} full of strange and wonderful inventions]], they later use to stage a major con. Guess who the villain turns out to be? [[spoiler: Victor Dubenich, also known as Artie Nielsen from ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}''.]]
99	* In "The Gold Job", while following clues the Leverage team has planted, one of the marks talks about ciphers and how they sometimes use they text of a well-known document, such as [[Film/NationalTreasure the Declaration of Independence]].
100	** In the same episode, Hardison interacts with a computer named [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]].
101	** Sort of a visual shout out- the donuts the crew is eating in Portland in Hardison's van are obviously Voodoo Donuts-er-donuts. It's a shop local to Portland with lots of oddball donuts with toppings like fruit loops and cap'n crunch.
102	* In "The Last Dam Job", the gang's new headquarters is explicitly compared to the [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batcave]], and Eliot seems to quite like the idea of having an "[[BatSignal Eliot Signal]]".
103	** Quinn quotes ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' to Eliot, who grins and responds "I love that movie!"
104	** Dubenich, also known as Artie Nielsen from ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}},'' invites his men to break down a door by saying "Knock Knock," a phrase associated with Claudia Donovan's entrance to Warehouse 13.
105	* [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/JohnRogers one of the extras in "The Blue Line Job" was cast due to his resemblance to the [[Film/SlapShot Hanson brothers]]. Also, the client's father's name (Craig Marko) is a shoutout to [[ComicBook/XMen The Juggernaut]].
106	* "The First Contact Job" has several references to ScienceFiction series and films:
107	** Eliot's pseudonym is [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Willie Riker]], which [[TheCon the mark]] fails to recognize despite having a Will Riker action figure on his desk. According to WordOfGod, these were unintentional {{Actor Allusion}}s, since the references were written into the episode before Creator/JonathanFrakes was attached to direct it.
108	** Parker quotes several lines from ''Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial''.
109	** Yet another ''Series/DoctorWho'' reference: One of the reporters at Kanack's press conference is wearing the eleventh Doctor's costume.
110	** Parker and Hardison pose as two of TheMenInBlack, complete with Parker imitating Creator/TommyLeeJones and Hardison saying [[Film/MenInBlack "We make this look good"]].
111	*** The soundtrack while they play these characters also references Men In Black's main theme
112	** Eliot's fight in the mark's lab while trying not to break the valuables contained therein was a shout-out to similar sequences in Creator/JackieChan's films.
113	** The episode also has a shout out to real life. When Sophie holds up the sheet with all the numbers while posing as a code-breaker, one sequence is circled and "woah" written on it in red marker. This refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal the Wow! signal]], likewise circled and noted in red pen.
114	* "The French Connection Job" has three characters with the last names [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christie_Rampone Rampone]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobin_Heath Heath]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Wambach Wambach]], though the latter is Sophie's alias. All three are stars for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_women%27s_national_soccer_team United States women's national soccer team]]. In addition, the villain is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lampard Lampard]], and three goons of the French truffle smuggler are named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Evra Patrice]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Nasri Samir]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Henry Thierry]]. The episode's writer, Paul Guyot, is a big soccer fan.
115	* Another ''Series/DoctorWho'' reference in "The Broken Wing Job"; Parker says her pain meds make everything go "wibbly-wobbly".
116	** In the same episode, one of the couples who frequents the bar is compared to Sid Vicious of the Music/SexPistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
117	* Parker in "The Rundown Job" (I think) wears an ''Film/AeonFlux'' (the movie version) style SpyCatSuit
118	* In "The Carnival Job", the mark's daughter suggests [[Manga/CatShitOne Botasky and Perky]] as the codenames for her and Eliot.
119	* Sophie's alias in "The Low Low Price Job" is [[Film/JurassicPark Dr. Ellie Satler]].
120	** Sophie also gets a bunch of actors to wear Value More uniform and pose as fake workers, much like an Creator/ImprovEverywhere mission only with more malice.
121	* The entire episode "The White Rabbit Job" is one long shout out to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'': the mark's name is Charles Dodgson, his second in command is named Mr. Carroll, and one of his employees (the one who hires the Leverage team) is named [[GenderFlip Alex]] Liddell.
122	** ''Film/TheMatrix'': Hardison makes his dream world using CGI screens; Dodgson is dosed with red (woozy) and blue (knock-out) patches and is convinced he's in a dream when Sophie makes a shiny metal ball float (Neo sees a boy bend a shiny metal spoon and other kids make toys float).
123	** ''Film/{{Inception}}'': The team is pretending to hack into Dodgson's brain and change his personality at the behest of someone else; Dodgson had issues with his greedy, hard-ass dad; Sophie [[spoiler: claimed to have done the "impossible con" but actually lied, the opposite of Cobb who claimed inception was impossible but had done it to his own wife]]; [[spoiler: Dodgson is "haunted" by the death of his cousin to the point where he's destroying his career, his life, and the lives of everyone around him]].
124	*** A few of the shots are very ''Inception''-esque--like the shot of the staircase from the top, very much like the 'Penrose steps' shot in ''Inception''.
125	*** The plot of ''Inception'' was to convince a man to split up his family's business; the plot of "The White Rabbit Job" is to convince a man to keep running it.
126	*** Eliot yelling at Hardison about his lack of research --> Dom yelling at Arthur about his lack of resarch.
127	** ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'': Sophie poses as a "guided dream therapist" who appears in Dodgson's "dreams" to help him with his problems; towards the end [[spoiler: the dreamworld con collapses and Dodgson has no idea what's real or fake]].
128	** Dodgson makes an appearance dressed like Creator/SteveJobs -- blue jeans, black turtleneck with rolled-up sleeves, headset microphone, and PermaStubble.
129	** As noted, one of Sophie's aliases is [[Series/DoctorWho Sally Sparrow]].
130	* The very last ShoutOut in the series comes when Hardison outlines his plans for the future: "''Leverage International''" (which is obviously inspired by Franchise/{{Batman}}, Inc.)
131	** Keeping in style, one last ''Series/DoctorWho'' reference: Parker's alias is Detective [[Creator/DavidTennant Tennant]].
132	* Way back in the pilot, in a FreezeFrameBonus, when they're breaking into Pierson's server room, it shows the screen of the skimmer Hardison used to crack the code. The first seven numbers are [[JennysNumber 8675309]].
133	* The PhonyPsychic in ''The Future Job'' is named Dalton Rand - his surname is a reference to the infamous psychic (who later became a notorious skeptic and debunker of phony psychics) James Randi.
134	* Hardison, playing a vintner for a con in "The Corkscrew Job", christens himself ''[[Literature/TheGreatGatsby The Grape Gatsby]]''.
135	* Elliot's line [[DoesNotLikeGuns about guns]] in "The Big Bang Job" strongly resembles [[ExactWords the line]] used by Mathew Quigley in ''Film/QuigleyDownUnder''
136	* The Long Goodbye Job gives off this ''Film/SuckerPunch'', ''Film/FightClub'', and ''Film/{{Inception}}'' vibe where you really have to THINK about what you're watching, what they're saying, and where you are in The Plan/Heist.
137	* Just before he blows up the first Lucille, Hardison says, "[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan I am, and forever shall be, your friend.]]"
138	* In "The Grave Danger Job," the mark has two sons named [[Creator/GideonEmery Gideon and Emery]].
139	* Eliot quotes the mantra of Leverage's [[TransAtlanticEquivalent British counterpart]] ''Series/{{Hustle}}'' in Series 5's "The Gimme A K Street Job", when he says to Nate that "You can't cheat an honest man."
140	* In "The Gimmie A K Street Job", Sophie is pretending to be a politician, lobbying for money. She hires a temporary assistant, and at one point yells out her door for her: [[Series/TheWestWing "Ginger!"]]
141
142	!!Novels
143	* ''The Con Job'', being set at [[FanConvention San Diego Comic-Con]], is chock-full of references:
144	** The mark's alias is Lorenzo Patronus, and they lampshade that he clearly took the name from ''Literature/HarryPotter''.
145	** Hardison's fake ID for the job is [[ComicBook/LukeCage Carl Lucas]].
146	** Parker's is [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Diana Prince]].
147	** Eliot's is Creator/WarrenEllis, and they actually have him impersonate Ellis as part of the con.
148	** Sophie's is [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Jess Drew]], which Nate criticizes as being too much of a PunnyName for an artists' agent.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke "Just Drew"]][[/note]]
149	** Nate's is [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Jeffrey Mace]].
150	** They use their fake FBI credentials to steal a booth from some small-time crooks selling illegally copied [=DVDs=], including {{hentai}} and, just to make them even more despicable, ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill''. Eliot threatens them with an [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Anduril]] replica when they try to attack Parker.
151	** At one point, they see the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501st_Legion 501st Legion]], and Hardison compares it to WarReenactors. Later Nate has a tender moment when he sees a father and son dressed as [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker]], which reminds him of his own son.
152	** Sophie describes Eliot's atrocious first attempt at an Essex accent as sounding like Creator/DickVanDyke in ''Film/MaryPoppins''.
153	** They also name-drop or have cameos by other famous names in comics, like Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby. Hardison mentons Creator/{{Herge}} and Creator/FrankMiller as artists whose work sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars. All the artists whose pieces are in the auction (except Simon Curtiss) are real people. Rich Johnston, comics critic and writer, plays a small but important part near the end.
154	** Sophie browses a ''Webcomic/DorkTower'' comic, and remembers reading ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' as a child. She once borrowed Hardison's copy of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', which she called "a soap opera for boys".
155	** Parker covers for her acrobatic infiltration by wearing a red wig, which combined with her black clothing, makes everyone think she's a ComicBook/BlackWidow cosplayer.
156	** Hardison has a bit where [[MrExposition he explains manga to the rest of the crew]]. Later on, Nate has an opportunity to explain UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996 to Sophie when they're both at the comic art auction.
157	** When declaring his geek cred to [=Cha0s=], Hardison mentions having a complete run of ''ComicBook/SpideySuperStories'' and winning a ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' pro tournament.
158	** Hardison and Parker go to an exclusive party with the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', and apparently Creator/WilWheaton and [=Cha0s=] [[CelebrityParadox both exist in the Leverage universe]].
159	** When [=Cha0s=] is fighting Eliot in a {{LARP}} battle, he tries to get Eliot to say "OnlyAFleshWound."
160	** When the gang have [=Cha0s=] cornered and figure out his plan, he says "[[Franchise/ScoobyDoo And I would have gotten away with it too]], if not for [[YouMeddlingKids you darn kids]]."
161	** Creator/NathanFillion and Creator/DannyPudi are mentioned as the judges of the Cosplay Masquerade, and Kaja and Creator/PhilFoglio are the [=MCs=].
162	** Eliot and Parker wear Stormtrooper and Slave Leia costumes at one point, and he gets past some con-goers trying to take their photos by doing a JediMindTrick. "This is not the Leia you're looking for."
163	** Both Hardison and Patronus make remarks implying they're fans of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''.

Context ShoutOut / Leverage