Shout Out / Courage the Cowardly Dog

• To Sweeney Todd, in the form of Muriel's "crazy barber" nephew Fred. The horror is negated somewhat by his cheerful rhyming and the fact that in the end, he's mostly harmless.
• Also, stock footage of King Ghidorah, a recurring nemesis of Godzilla, appears several times throughout the series.
• The ending to the original short features Courage holding open the iris out to comment "This shouldn't happen to a dog!". The iris then closes on Courage's nose, causing him to yelp in pain. This gag is a reference to the classic Bugs Bunny short "Hare Ribbin'". Which is further played with in the sequels. "This still shouldn't happen to a dog!"
• Also, there are figurines of Dilworth's short The Dirdy Birdy in the house.
• The twin raccoons from "Campsite of Terror" have the same design as Avery, a character from Ace & Avery, a segment on Big Bag which Dilworth worked on prior.
• Nedd from Noodles & Nedd (a series of Sesame Street segments by Dilworth) often appears, most commonly as a framed picture in the Bagge house lounge room.
• The word "Dil" often appears, referring to Dilworth.
• The episode "The Mask" contains a few overall elements and themes of gritty exploitation and noir, especially the violently abusive gang leader boyfriend.
  • Mad Dog's defeat is rather similar to that of Sykes from Oliver & Company, being too caught up in his fight with The Hero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until it's too late, the crash itself happening offscreen.
• Benton Tarantella.
  • And his partner, Von Volkheim.
• An episode where Courage, Muriel, and Eustace are brought 1000 years into the future, where everyone is a banana, as a kind of inverted Shout-Out.
• "Wait! I sense a disturbance in the Force!"
• In "The Ride of the Valkyries", a rather dim-witted bird is called the Norwegian Blue.
  • One scene also has a poster in the background featuring The Powerpuff Girls.
• The entire episode "The Demon in the Mattress" was one to The Exorcist.
• A lot of things the Snowman has said or done are a Shout-Out to Sean Connery and James Bond.
• Muriel picking up playing the sitar after an early episode may be a shoutout to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and how Captain Picard picked up playing an alien flute after "The Inner Light".
• The episode "Serpent of Evil River" features a serpent named Carmen who loves opera music. Guess what opera music they used to attract the serpent?...
• One episode is titled "Courage vs. Mecha-Courage". Just take a guess what that's a shout-out to.
• In "The Duck Brothers" they have a pretty blatant shout-out to The Three Stooges.
  • Several times during the same episode, you can hear 'NUMBER 8!' faintly in the soundtrack and at the end of the episode. We wonder why. They also sound like Ringo Starr.
• The way Robot Randy talks is pretty similar to Christopher Walken.
• In "King Ramses' Curse", Courage at one point turns into a sinking ship, which is accompanied by a familiar flute theme.
• At one point in "Little Muriel," Muriel repeatedly chants "I want an easter egg!" recalling a little terror in the Bugs Bunny short "Easter Yeggs."
  • At the end of "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City", Bushwit falls and gets trapped inside a tuba in a similar manner to Giovanni Jones in the short "Long-Haired Hare". Also, there's the episode title itself.
• The titular hunchback from "The Hunchback of Nowhere" entertains himself by ringing bells, similar to what Quasimodo did for a living.
• In "Tulip's Worm", the way Tulip (a giant blue-skinned girl, might we add) picks up Courage and looks at him is lifted straight out of Fantastic Planet.
• The scene in "Remembrance of Courage Past" where Courage screams into the Veterinarian's stethoscope references the Tom and Jerry short Mouse Trouble, where Jerry does the same thing to Tom.
• The Stitch Sisters, villainous Conjoined Twins in a stark black outfit, strongly resemble the similar villains from The City of Lost Children, a film whose aesthetic is very similar to Courage's.

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