Referenced By / Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Being the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer fame gets referenced often by other works.

For references to the 1964 stop-motion special by Rankin/Bass Productions, see this page.

---

Examples:

Advertising

• A 1990 commercial for Duracell batteries features Rudolph and his red nose being powered by the then-new Duracell battery.
• A 2009 Verizon commercial features an AT&T smartphone on the Island of Misfit toys. When the others ask why it's there, it produces a map showing its limited 3G coverage compared to Verizon.
• One Nickmas short parodies the 1960s special.
• Rudolph makes an appearance alongside Santa in a Planters Christmas commercial starring Mr. Peanut. Both are watching Mr. Peanut's home videos from a projector.
• In a 2007 Aflac commercial, Rudolph catches a cold and worried that he won't be able to help Santa on Christmas Eve. Rudolph's friends (Clarice, Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, Charlie-In-The-Box, and Bumble) all take care of his illness with Rudolph thinking of a replacement encase he doesn't recover. He imagines The Aflac Duck to take his place but ends up helping out Santa after recovering from his illness.

Anime & Manga

• Tony Tony Chopper from One Piece is a shapeshifting reindeer who is bullied for his blue nose.
• In Aggretsuko by Sanrio, a group of female reindeer make appearances in both Christmas specials, the reindeer are depicted with red noses like Rudolph.
• In episode 82 of Black Clover, Charmy eats a mushroom which causes her to have a drug-fueled dream. During the "Seven Faces Of Charmy" sections, we see Charmy dressed up as Santa Claus (Santa Charmy) while the sheep cooks' are both dressed as Rudolph. After she wakes up, she's seen wearing her Santa outfit and her sheep are still dressed as Rudolph.
• In the Season 4 episode Food Wars! titled "Your Best Side", Anne's Embarrassing Old Photo depicted her wearing an ugly Christmas Sweater of Rudolph.

Comic Strips

• In a Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin is dressed as an onion for the school play, he describes his costume as "Jabba The Hutt meets Rudolph the reindeer.
• Mother Goose and Grimm:
  • "I see how he got the red nose."◊
  • "But do we recall the most famous reindeer of all?"◊
  • Ralph meets Rudolph in a bar.◊
• Off the Mark has referenced the song a lot. For example...
  • Rudolph's pickup line.
  • Rudolph was, however, welcome to join in all the Polar Bear Games.
  • "I told you not to hold in your sneezes..."
  • Rudolph fights Toucan Sam in an epic battle to determine just whose nose to follow.
  • "You can't sue for trademark infringement every time another reindeer catches a cold!"◊
  • Rudolph gets downsized.◊
  • Rudolph goes down in History.◊
  • Introducing Rudolph's kids◊ - Left Blinker and Right Blinker.
  • Santa discovers just WHY Rudolph's nose is red◊.

Film — Animated

• Monsters, Inc.: The Yeti Mike and Sulley meet after they've been exiled by Waternoose is based on the Abominable Snow Monster from the TV special.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas:
  • After Jack Skellington visits Christmas Town for the first time, he decides to take couple of Christmas decorations and other Christmas related things back to his home in Halloween Town to study about the holiday. At one point, Jack is seen reading numerous Christmas stories and books during his bedtime. One of the books is about "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (implied to be the original Robert L. May story).
  • Jack's ghost dog Zero has a glowing nose, which he uses to guide Jack's sleigh when a thick fog covers Halloweentown.
  • Near the end of the film, Santa forgives Jack by giving all of Halloween Town a Christmas gift (which is snow). While Santa's reindeer are only seen as silhouettes and shadows, there are nine seen pulling his sleigh, with one of them presumably being Rudolph, though his nose doesn't glow.
• The Polar Express: A statue of Rudolph (complete with a glowing red nose) is briefly seen when The Polar Express Train arrives at the North Pole.

Film — Live Action

• Elf: Buddy talks to a snowman based on Sam from the TV special. The general aesthetic for the North Pole, such as the Elf Attire and Stop-Motion Animals, is based on this Special, too.
• In the 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas! film, the Grinch disguises his dog Max as Rudolph in order for his Santa Claus act to work better. He also sarcastically tells Max "What are you laughing at, Rudolph?" as Max is laughs at The Grinch's motorized sleigh running out of gas as Grinch is almost finished stealing everything, and having to pull it back up Mount Crumpit. Rudolph, along with Santa and his eight reindeer, also make a cameo appearance before the Grinch enacts his plan.
• Rudolph appears in Fred Claus as one of Santa's reindeer, however he isn't depicted with a red nose and his nose doesn't glow.
• In the 1980 horror film Christmas Evil (aka Terror in Toyland and You Better Watch Out). A Rudolph towel is among Harry's Christmas decorations dedicated to anything related to Santa Claus hanging on his bedroom wall. The towel features illustrations depicting scenes from the original book using Denver Gillen's illustrations.
• The 2006 Horror Comedy Two Front Teeth features a brief animated sequence where Rudolph caused the crash of Flight 1225. Hermey is also mentioned on the movie's official synopsis on DVD. Midway through the film, Rudolph's red nose becomes a MacGuffin where his nose is used to weaken zombie elves. At one point in the movie, a snowman that resembles Sam the Snowman and inspired by the Rankin/Bass version is also seen being played on a TV screen. Famously discussed on RedLetterMedia's "Best of the Worst" in 2018.
• During the opening title sequence of the 2021 crime/action film Black Widow by Marvel Studios. A brief clip of Rudolph helping Santa delivering presents is seen, which is actually from the 1948 adaptation by Max Fleischer. The title sequence also shows footage from the 1935 Ub Iwerks cartoon Mary's Little Lamb (part of the Comi Color Cartoons series).

Literature

• In Wicked Good, Rory wears Rudolph-themed pajama bottoms.
• For Enid Blyton's Noddy series, two reindeer show up in the Christmas book Noddy Meets Father Christmas where they pull Santa Claus's (known as Father Christmas in the UK) sleigh around Toyland. While Rudolph's name isn't mentioned, one reindeer has a big red nose. The same reindeer with a red nose is also seen in the Christmas Special for Noddy's Toyland Adventures.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who:
  • In the webisode "Songtaran Carols", Strax mentions that Rudolph's red nose made it easy to find and punch him in the dark.
  • Rudolph appears in the Christmas special "Last Christmas".
• Full House:
  • In "Our Very First Christmas", the Tanner family are stranded at an airport on Christmas Eve due to a snowstorm, which causes Stephanie to worry that Santa won't be able to find her. D.J. tries to cheer Stephanie up by telling her that Santa will find her because Rudolph has a radar in his red nose, to which Stephanie says "All these years, I thought it was just a headlight." When she explains it to Danny, he tells her that red-nose radar doesn't always work in heavy snow, which upsets her.
  • In "Aftershocks", D.J. is cast as Mrs. Claus in her school play when she discovers that she has a zit on her nose. Upon seeing this, Kimmy tells her that she can always switch parts and play Rudolph.
• Home Improvement: A Christmas episode has a Dream Sequence done in Stop Motion, in which Al appears as Sam the Snowman.
• Mad TV has a parody of Rankin/Bass special called "Raging Rudolph" about an angry Rudolph trying to kill Santa. There's a sequel skit called "The Reinfather".
• Saturday Night Live had a 2001 TV Funhouse sketch called "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas". Sam the Snowman is depressed over 9/11 and terror alerts and feels like narrating Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer isn't important this year ^note  The sketch came out two months after 9/11.. Sam, along with Rudolph and Hermey, leave Christmas Town to visit Ground Zero. Rudolph is seen checking out a boy who is giving blood. The nurse later picks Rudolph to give blood from his red nose which makes him lightheaded.
• That '70s Show: In one Christmas episode, Kelso dreams he's in the TV special and meets Rudolph.
• In Episode 5 of Hawkeye, Yelena Belova is talking to Kate Bishop about how much she loves American Christmas. Such as the trees, the presents, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer whom she refers as "the super-powered reindeer".

Professional Wrestling

• The intro to TNA's Christmas-themed wrestling match Silent Night, Bloody Night from December 20, 2007. Features the announcer warning the viewers that they will witness violence and brutality so severe. That it would make Rudolph's own red nose turn black and blue.
  • Near the end of the program, Kurt Angle ends up putting on the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Costume" after losing the "Grab the Reindeer" match to AJ Styles. As Kurt Angle (now in the Rudolph costume) gets scolded by Eric Young for refusing to put on the Rudolph costume. Audience members are heard mockingly singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to Kurt Angle.

Music

• Joe Diffie's "Leroy the Redneck Reindeer" is about Rudolph's redneck cousin Leroy. One Christmas, Rudolph called in sick and got his cousin to replace him.
• Within Temptation's "Gothic Christmas" is a comedic Christmas Song with a verse involving Rudolph changing his name to "Ragnagord" ("cause 'Rudolph' just sounds really lame"). His nose begins glowing black and he decides to become an evil reindeer overlord as well.
• Rudolph is mentioned during Natalie Cole's cover of "Jingle Bells". In the beginning, Santa's Reindeer are present as she's preparing to perform the song. However, she notices that Rudolph isn't present and asks where he's at before she begins singing.
• Rudolph is frequently mentioned in Dolly Parton and Jimmy Fallon's Christmas duet song "Almost Too Early For Christmas". The song was performed on the 2022 NBC Christmas special Dolly Parton's Magic Mountain Christmas held in Dollywood. ^note  Beginning in 2013, the park has an indoor section dedicated to the 1964 Christmas special where guests can meet Rudolph, Clarice, Yukon Cornelius, and Bumble during the Christmas season.

Video Games

• Rudolph is mentioned in the tutorial for Army of Two.
• In Guild Wars Nightfall, there is a reindeer named Rudy whose nose begins to glow red when the player approaches presents.
• Rudolph himself appears as an event antagonist in Grimms Notes.
• Reindeer enemies based on Rudolph named "Rabid Roodolph" appear in the "Christmas Grotto" stage for the Battletoads Arcade game.
• In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Rudolph appears on a Christmas themed letter sent by the player's mother.
• Library of Ruina introduces us to the Reindeer mercenary team, who all have helmets with reindeer antlers on them, led by the conspicously-named Rudolph. His birthday is also confirmed to be on Christmas' Eve.

Web Video

• CollegeHumor created a stopmotion sketch called "Rudolph the Regular Reindeer", which shows what would happen if Rudolph had a regular nose instead of his blinking red one. In the sketch, when Mrs. Donner gives birth to Rudolph, the doctor has Rudolph's red nose replaced with a regular black one. At the end of the sketch, Sam the Snowman sings a modified version of Rudolph's song, where the reindeer at first praised Rudolph for being just like them, but later berated him for not being able to help guide them through the fog. Notably Santa Claus who tells him "Rudolph, you can't help! Christmas is ruined!" before running off to cry due to his inability to deliver presents on Christmas Eve.
• Build-A-Bear Workshop's defunct forum site known as "Bearville" used to have an online talk show called "The Chloe Show" hosted by Chloe Rocks in the "Bearville News Network building" which interviewed real life celebrities. During the Christmas season of 2010, they decided to release plushies of Rudolph, Clarice, Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, and Bumble. To promote this, Chloe gave an online interview with both Rudolph and Clarice. During the special's 50th anniversary in 2014, they brought back Rudolph and Clarice plushies (which actually interacted with each other).
• Dr. Monster: Rudolph is shown playing as a DJ in Christmas Is Cancelled.
• SuperMarioLogan: Rudolph appears in "Cody's Happy Hanukkah", where Judy (who has no idea how to properly celebrate Hanukkah) refers to him as "Jewdolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and sings a modified version of his song.
  Judy: Jewdolph with your wallet so tight, won't you manage my finances tonight?
• On December 2020, Flash-Gitz Animation made a Christmas animated parody of the Rankin-Bass special titled "Poor Rudolph" where Rudolph is depicted with a cancerous tumor on his face and is disfigured. Donner reveals to Santa that his red nose only glows when he feels pain.
  • A follow up animation was released a year later called "Rudolph finally gets to smash", where Rudolph tries befriending the other reindeer in the reindeer games similar to the original special. The only difference is that after his red nose is revealed, Clarice alongside the other reindeer are horrified. After Clarice tells him that she "Wants him to fill her up with red-nosed mutant babies", Rudolph gets overjoyed with the duo attempting to mate until Clarice's father interferes with Rudolph and his daughter.
• Rifftrax:
  • In Christmas with Rifftrax: Santa's Village of Madness which covers three Christmas short films ^note  Santa's Enchanted Village, Santa Claus and his Helpers, and Santa's Magic Kingdom respectively. by K. Gordon Murray (Distributor of Santa Claus for the United States) which reuses footage from the 1959 Santa Claus movie. One of the crew exclaims "Put away that indecent Rudolph fanfic please!" during the opening of the 1966 short Santa's Magic Kingdom.
  • The Rifftrax crew riffed on the 1948 animated short by Max Fleischer during the 2009 Christmas season. A live riff on the short was included for the 2010 live show Rifftrax Live: Christmas Shorts-stravaganza! among other Christmas animated shorts.

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: In "Holly Jolly Jimmy", Sam the Snowman makes a surprise cameo during the musical sequence. Furthermore, Jimmy outfits his Robot Dog Goddard with a glowing red tracking beacon on his nose.
• In the Drawn Together episode "N.R.A.y RAY", Bambi sends out a group of deer to get revenge over being hunted. Two of the deer who attack the main characters are Rudolph and Clarice. Rudolph ends up getting shot in the nose during the fight.
• Evil Con Carne: The episode "Christmas Con Carne" features Rupert the Green-Nosed Reindeer.
• Family Guy:
  • In "And the Wiener Is...", the family watches a TV show where Rudolph is told by a doctor that his glowing nose is due to a malignant tumor and that he's going to die.
  • A cutaway from "Papa Has a Rollin' Son" features Rudolph the Uncircumcised Reindeer.
    Santa: Look, Rudolph, it's not me, all right. It's Dasher. He's been complaining, and he is the one who has to look at it all night.
    Rudolph: I don't know. Mrs. Claus says it'll decrease my sensitivity.
    Santa: I-I'm sorry, why are you talking to my wife about this?
• Hey Arnold!: In "Cool Jerk", when Harold gets hit in the nose by a basketball, Helga calls him "Rudolph".
• Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen stars Rudolph's cousin Rusty. Rudolph's name is never said, though he does appear in person.
• In the Johnny Bravo episode, "T'was the Night", Johnny questioned why there were only eight reindeer instead of nine? Then we cut to a scene where Rudolph was trying to evade The Grinch's henchmen.
  Henchman #1: You heard The Grinch. Don't let that reindeer escape!
  [Rudolph then uses his nose as a laser blaster]
  Rudolph: I gotta get to Santa!
• MAD: In "FROST", the toys from Toy Story wind up on the Island of Misfit Toys, where they meet King Moonracer, as well as Charlie-in-the-Box, A Dolly For Sue, the Train With Square Wheels, and LEGO Hank Azaria. They soon find an old Commodore 64 computer that counts down to Christmas Day, and the Misfit Toys sing a parody of "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year". When Santa arrives to collect the Misfit Toys, he gets eaten by the Bumble, and Yukon Cornelius uses the Commodore computer to count down how long it takes a Bumble to poop.
• Olive, the Other Reindeer:
  • The title and Mondegreen Gag are inspired by a mondegreen of the lyric "All of the other reindeer".
  • When Olive meets Santa's reindeer, she asks about Rudolph, and is told he's just an urban legend.
• Robbie from Robbie the Reindeer is supposed to be Rudolph's son, but Rudolph is never outright mentioned. It's a Running Gag that no one can say Rudolph's name or sing the song about him (due to copyright issues). However, a portrait of Rudolph is briefly seen in the special.
• Phineas and Ferb: In the Special Edition Title for the Christmas Special, one shot shows the kids standing around a giant tree as a Yeti places the star on the top.
• Robot Chicken:
  • In a sketch from "President Evil", the Spotted Elephant and A Dolly For Sue make cameo appearances as two of the little girl's toys when the little girl's father destroys her doll for saying she hates him for making her go to bed when she doesn't want to.
  • Rudolph appears in "A Very Dragon Ball Z Christmas", where he battles a mutant Mrs. Claus by shooting lasers from his nose.
  • A sketch from "A Robot Chicken Christmas" is a parody of Unsolved Mysteries, where Santa is revealed to be a drug dealer who got murdered. Hermey and Blitzen give their sides of the story.
  • A sketch from "Robot Chicken's Half-Assed Christmas Special" has Hermey leaving Santa's workshop to become a dentist, then a baker, then a millionaire. He fails at all of his endeavors, forcing him to return and beg Santa for his old job. Santa allows Hermey to return to his job making toys before having him executed for leaving it before.
  • A sketch from "Snoopy Camino Lindo in: Quick and Dirty Squirrel Shot" features a parody of "The Island of Misfit Toys" called The Island of Recalled Toys. Such inhabitants include the pregnant Midge doll, the Buzz Lightyear cup with a suggestively placed straw, the Rad Repeatin' Tarzan doll, and an Elmo doll with Tourettes syndrome.
• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town: Rudolph makes a cameo appearance when Santa's reindeer are introduced, although he's not mentioned by name. The narrator says that he's Another Story for Another Time.
• Rudolph makes a non-speaking appearance twice in another Rankin/Bass Christmas Special from 1977 called Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. He's first seen beginning another Christmas Eve journey with Santa while an aged donkey looks on. During the ending of the special, Rudolph alongside Santa, Mrs. Claus, two elves, and the other reindeer are looking at a small nativity of the birth of Jesus with a small figure of Nestor.
• The Simpsons:
  • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" ends with the family singing the song, with Bart and Lisa making impudent comments between verses.
  • The chalkboard gag for "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" is "Rudolph's red nose is not alcohol-related."
• SpongeBob SquarePants: In "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", when the citizens of Bikini Bottom are turned into jerks from eating Plankton's Jerktonium-laced fruitcake, among them is a caroler who wants to sing "Randolph the Red-Nosed Seahorse".
• TaleSpin: In "A Jolly Molly Christmas", when Baloo radios Louie (who is disguised as Santa Claus) that he is about to make it snow for Molly, Louie tells him, "Santa hears you loud and clear, Rudolph!"
• Thomas & Friends: In "James Goes Buzz Buzz", when the Vicar thanks James for returning his bees, upon seeing his red nose, he tells him, "It's a pity it's not Christmas, then we could call you 'James the Red-nosed Engine'."
• Rudolph makes a silent non-speaking cameo appearance in the The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Christmas Episode Billy & Mandy Save Christmas. While a depressed Billy is staying at the North Pole to comfort Mrs. Claus, he encounters Rudolph and decides to unscrew his red nose to put in a new red nose like a light bulb. Also, when Santa is turned into a vampire, his victim was an elf who wanted to be a dentist.
• Tiny Toon Adventures: In "It's A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special", during the opening rehearsal, Buster and Babs sled by a parody of Sam the Snowman. Also in the special, Plucky's sketch, "Plucky the Red-Beaked Reinduck" gets rewritten as ''Urkel the Red-Nosed Reindude".
• Rudolph is a minor character in the French/Canadian series The Secret World of Santa Claus (originally known as ''Le monde secret du Pere Noel') with the episode "Rudolph Is Missing" being entirely focused on him. In the episode, Rudolph catches a cold after falling into a lake that isn't completely frozen. As a result, his nose stops glowing until he fully recovers. Gruzzlebeard tells Rudolph to deliver a present to a far away location to prove Santa doesn't have to use more advance technology to deliver presents. Unlike other depictions of Rudolph, his fur color is blue/gray instead of brown.
• Hilda: In the Christmas Episode of Season 2 titled "The Yule Lads". Rudolph and Hermey are seen on Hilda's TV while her mother is sleeping.
• One episode of the Dilbert animated series features Rudolph, Santa and other holiday icons starting up a fight. During the fight, Rudolph is seen getting attacked by the Easter Bunny.
• In the Season 5 Big Mouth episode "A Very Big Mouth Christmas", Rudolph is seen watching a group of elves having an orgy inside Santa's Toy shop, after one of the elves discover about sex from accidentally walking into Santa and Mrs Claus having sex in Santa's bedroom. He is seen outside the toy shop masturbating with his red nose beginning to glow as he's close to orgasm. Rudolph is later seen talking to Santa that he should have taught his elves (who are adults) about sex earlier in life. Before Rudolph leaves, he tells Santa that he's going to cover a gingerbread house with his "frosting".
• The Solar Opposites Holiday Special A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special involves Korvo, Terry, Yumyulack, and Jesse using the Ready Player One device to go into better Holidays movies to get back into the Christmas spirit. The reason they lost their Christmas spirit is due to watching "Jingle All the Way" and realizing that the film sucked so much that they lost their Christmas spirit. They travel through a couple Holidays classics such as It's a Wonderful Life and the Rankin-Bass Rudolph special. When they are in the Rudolph special (all dressed as the titular reindeer), they encounter Clarice (with a slightly different design by wearing a red bow around her neck) who not only likes Rudolphs' red-nose. But starts mating with Terry with the red nose of his Rudolph costume beginning to glow during the mating process.
• In the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! episode "The Super Special Gift", an unnamed reindeer with a large, red and shiny nose (which is as large as his torso because of copyright reasons) leads Santa Claus's sleigh.

Other

• Rudolph makes an appearance in a Chuck E. Cheese's Holiday Show from 1993. Chuckie and his friends also sing the song in both the 1983, 1993, and 1989 Holiday shows. The 1995 Christmas Show also featured the Max Fleischer Cartoon playing in the background. During the Pizza Time Theatre days, Chuck E and his friends performed the song.
• Chuck E Cheese's then rival Showbiz Pizza Place created a special Christmas show for The Rock-afire Explosion in 1984 that featured an animatronic Santa Claus. While Rudolph doesn't make an appearance, Santa mentions him as he's arriving to the show. Before the end of the first show, Rudolph (off-screen) sends a signal to Santa (via jingling his bell collar) that it's time to leave.
• The Twitter game Poorly Explain a Film's Plot laconizes the film to "An abused child learns that people only respect you when you have something they want."

---