Airdate: November 5th, 1993
Opening line: "The rain in Spain-y"- Dot
The Warners have been invited to a party—but first, Dr. Scratchansniff must teach them good manners.
Taming of the Screwy contains examples of:
- Bilingual Bonus: Yakko's short conversation with the Japanese executive. It's a subtle joke about how crowded Tokyo is.
- Brick Joke: When Scratchy says there's bad news, Yakko guesses that Bea Arthur is putting out a swimsuit calendar. Later at the party, Arthur tells Danny DeVito, "I'm putting out a swimsuit calendar."
- The Cameo:
- Slappy, Rita and Runt appear at the party.
- Mr. Director also briefly appears as one of the forms of Dot's pet, and reuses some audio from "Hello, Nice Warners" ("Oh, monster!").
- Digital Destruction: There is a lot of dust on this episode. It is especially noticeable in the below-mentioned Rimshot.
- Early-Bird Cameo: During the long pan down the hallway to Plotz's office, one of the co-workers can be heard saying, "He was a chicken, I tell you. A giant chicken.", which would become one of the catchphrases heard in the "Chicken Boo" segments.
- Food Shove Gag: When Plotz and Scratchansniff are chasing the Warners, they accidentally send food flying everywhere. Steve Urkel asks if anyone's got any cheese right before a large block of it gets shoved in his mouth. He then grins and gives the audience a thumbs-up.
- French Maid Outfit: Hello Nurse wears the stereotypical french maid outfit when teaching the Warner siblings table manners. There really wasn't a reason other than Rule of Sexy.
- "Miss X" Pun: This joke:Dr. Scratchansniff: You're misinterpreting!
Yakko: [with a beauty pageant model] No, this is Miss Interpreting!
Wakko: [also with a model] This is Miss Understanding!
Dot: And I'm misterious. - No Celebrities Were Harmed: We hope you like caricatures of celebrities, because this episode has quite a few of them. Among the celebrities that appear are:
- Robert Patrick (in-character as the T-1000)
- Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon (in-character as Thelma & Louise)
"Finally, we landed!"- Spike Lee
- Annette Bening
- Bea Arthur
- Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, and Michelle Pfeiffer (in-character as Batman, the Penguin, and Catwoman, respectively)
- Mike Myers and Dana Carvey (in-character as Wayne and Garth)
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Billy Crystal (in-character as Mitch Robbins)
- Mel Gibson
- Danny Glover
- Joe Pesci
- Sigourney Weaver (in-character as Ellen Ripley)
- Jack Palance
Palance: Hey, Slappy, ever see one of these? (does a one-armed pushup)Slappy: Save it for the Jack LaLanne story, bubbele.Slappy: Y'know, you remind me of a very mature Jonny Quest."C'mon, you guys. It's time to play truth or dare."- Jaleel White (in-character as Steve Urkel)
"Anybody got any cheese?" - Rimshot: When Scratchansniff asks the Warners how they avoid bad elocution, Yakko replies, "Stay inside during a thunderstorm", followed by a rimshot from Wakko. This footage of Wakko doing the rimshot would be reused in a lot of shorts.
- Rule of Sexy: Pretty much the only explanation as to why Hello Nurse dresses as a French maid to serve the Warners' food.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Despite Scratchensniff successfully training the Warners to behave, the moment they have finished talking to his clients, Mr. Plotz kicks them out of the banquet regardless, because he doesn't trust them not to screw things up for any longer than that brief amount of time. Snubbed and insulted, the Warners return to the banquet and ruin it in their usual Karmic Trickster fashion. In a nutshell, if Mr. Plotz had just let them stay since they were behaving, the entire thing would have gone off without a hitch.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a mangled version of The Taming of the Shrew.
- The plot itself, however, owes a lot to Pygmalion and My Fair Lady. Dot lampshades this in the variable verse in the theme song:Dot: [dressed as Eliza Doolittle] The rain in Spain-ey!
- At one point, Dr. Scratchensniff says he has a headache "THIS BIG", holding his hands far apart. This is a reference to an old Excedrin commercial from the mid-1980s.
- Robert Patrick enters the party in a policeman's uniform, until Ralph tells him it's a Black Tie affair. At which point he liquid-metal-shifts into a tux, as a reference to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis landing at the red carpet in a falling car is a reference to 'Thelma & Louise''.
- Michelle Pfeiffer in her Catwoman costume from Batman Returns. Yakko tells her there's something(or rather, some Thing) in her milk saucer. Michael Keaton also appears in full Bat-costume and Danny DeVito in his Penguin costume, eating whole raw fish, which he spits out in disgust when Bea Arthur says she's putting out a swimsuit catalogue.
- Danny Glover complaining that he's "Too old for this [shit]" at Mel Gibson's antics.
- Spike Lee begging "Please, baby!"—to an actual baby.
- When the dance floor abruptly fills, the force of all the newcomers sends Belle and the Beast flying.
- Spoof Aesop: Yakko says there's a lesson to be learned from this. He doesn't know what it is, but it is apparently worth one billion dollars.
- Supermodel Strut: When Hello Nurse is walking up to the Warner's table dressed in a French Maid Outfit, she does so strutting with an exaggerated sway to her hips.
- The Triple: In "The Taming of the Screwy" when the Warner Siblings are excited about getting to meet famous actors:
- Well, This Is Not That Trope: When Mr. Plotz won't let the Warners stay...Yakko: Well, I know when we're not wanted. I know when we should just—go home! [Beat] Now... is not one of those times.
[They climb back down.] - You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Mr Plotz only invites the Warners because foreign investors want to meet all of the workers at the Warner Bros. studio. The moment they have finished their hellos and impressed the potential clients, Mr. Plotz kicks the Warners out of the banquet, not wanting to deal with them a moment longer than he has to.
Closing Tower Gag: "Gooooooodbye, Nurse!" — The Warners
