Shout Out / Dan Vs.

• Dan has a poster of The Ramones in his apartment. (Though, sometime in the second season, it's replaced by a poster for a fictional band with a suspiciously similar logo.)
• Chris and Elise have Space Invaders lampshades in their room.
• After Chris runs over a road runner in "New Mexico", Dan is pretty sure that it's THE Road Runner. Also, there's also a blue screen of death on the librarian's computer in the beginning.
• When Dan is puppeteering an unconscious Chris to buy explosives, he says "I've got some 'sploding to do!"
• The comic book store in "Canada" has posters of Spider-Man and Scott Pilgrim in the window.
  • Dan explains his thing about arson by simply claiming that fire is "The Cleanser", in reference to a particularly funny chalkboard gag from The Simpsons.
• In "The Beach", while looking for the free toy in his cereal, Dan asks "What's in the box! What's in the bo-ox!". Also, the theme and the attacking of Dan's boat when they release the aquarium shark into the ocean is pretty much a homage to Jaws.
• A similar version of Quincy Jones' Ironside (1967) plays during Elise's fight with the android in "Technology".
  • Puppet versions of Dan and Chris are named "Dean" and "Moose", respectively.
• In "The Fancy Restaurant", a family named Dufresne is kidnapped, which is a reference to a Mitch Hedberg routine.
• In "The Family Camping Trip", Dan mentions Slasher Cats and Eek! The Murderer as movies featured at the horror festival.
• In "The Gym", Chris and Elise's "Come work out with us, Dan" is eerily similar to a certain pair of twins who said "Come play with us, Danny."
• "Burgerphile" has two employees named Mac and Carl, likely references to real-life fast food franchises McDonald's and Carl's, Jr.
  • Hortense's Burgerphile uniform is very similar to that of Hooters waitresses, save for the oversized burger-shaped hat.
  • Jeff states that employees are to toss out the burgers when they get that 'rancid rainbow', which my be a reference to an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
• In "The Lemonade Stand Gang", Dan quotes "inconceivable!".
• In "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theatre", Dan sneaks around a theatre while wearing a cape and white mask covering only part of his face. The mask also has a large nose, referencing Cyrano de Bergerac.
• In "Baseball", Dan and Chris disguise themselves as bat boys to elude security, but Dan actually dresses in a mask and cape.

  Dan: I'm Batboy!

• "The Salvation Armed Forces" has one to The Professional.

  Dan: Gather the troops. We attack in two hours.

  Crunchy: What troops?

  Dan: EVVV-REEE-OOOOONNNNEEE!

• In "The Magician", as Dan plots how to break into the Magic Manor, he refers to the building as the Sanctum Sanctorum.
• In "The Monster Under the Bed", Chris makes reference to a monster called Ugrigoth of the DeviantArt.
  • When we finally get a good look at the monster under the bed, it's drawn in an imitation of Mike Mignola's art style.
• In "Golf", the pet store is called Bennie and the Pets.
• In "The Gym", Chris claims the new diet he's on consists of "food that food eats".
• In "The Dinosaur", the government has a crate that contains "someone who shouldn't exist, he's half spider, half man, and he fights crime."
  • "SHOOT HER! SHOOT HER!" (of course you couldn't expect an episode with a dinosaur to not have some sort of reference like that).
  • After the feed on the TVs behind Elise cuts out in "The Dinosaur", the "Breaking News" logo is written in a distinctive font.
  • The missing dog poster handed by the small boy. Not only does the dog look suspiciously like Reksio, it's even named Rex.
• In "The Telemarketer", after Dan breaks into Chris and Elise's living room, he starts watching The Haunting Hour on their TV.
• An instrumental song that sounds a lot like "Eye of the Tiger" shows up in training montages, both in "Dancing" and "The Mechanic".
• In "Gigundo-Mart", Dan calls Chris Bulkhead.
  • In reference to the great deals the store has, there's this one:
    Chris: ...Psychiatric help... five cents, the doctor is in...
• In "Anger Management", the meditation chant is "Ba weep granna weep nini bong."
  • Chris' anger management workbook is called "We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes".
• In "The Mummy", one of the Neanderthal models at the museum is clearly Fred Flintstone with a beard.
• In "The Mechanic", when Dan has to fight in a robot made from his car, he mentions all the B-grade movies involved with giant robots was actual training.
  • Possibly unintentional but one of Dan's main weapons in the robot battle was his unit's torn-off arm, similar to Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.
• In "The Family Cruise", Dan uses the phrase "Make it so, Number Two."
• In "Summer Camp", after Dan and Chris escape from the gate, one of the boys calls "Avenge me, boys! Avenge me!"
• The entirety of "Ye Olde Shakespeare Dinner Theatre" is one big Shout-Out to Shakespeare.
• In "The Bank", Chris wears a clown costume that resembles a similar one used by Grimm in Quick Change, albeit with patterns swapped on the coat and pants.