Overall, and as pointed out specifically by many fans, the show is full of references, both intentional and not, to OneyPlays, to the point that the two could almost be considered sister shows, thanks to Zach Hadel injecting his own iconic brand of humor into both.
Several characters throughout the series use the word "iconic" to describe things that are otherwise mundane or not something which would typically be described as such. Zach himself has a penchant for using "iconic" regularly in OneyPlays in the same fashion.
Glep's speech is identical to "Wingon," a language made up as a joke on OneyPlays.
Word of God from Hadel and Cusack at San Diego Comic Con 2022 stated that Glep's wife is named Marge Simpson, a blatant reference to the famous housewife of The Simpsons fame. So far, this has only been limited to behind the scenes in Smiling Friends'Universe Bible.
Mr. Boss is based off of John McAfee, according to the same interview.
Glep watches on his tablet one of Cusack's old YouTube skits as his Straw Atheist character, Lucas the Magnificent.
In the scene where a Bliblie screams at Desmond after stabbing a fellow Bliblie, one of the dead Bliblies in the background is doing the "Family GuyDeath Pose".
The strange, but considerably more benevolent, dancing alien seems like a shout out to JUDY from Twin Peaks.
"Mr. Frog":
The press photo of two neckbeards at Frog Con 2016 invokes the posing and expressions of the Two Soyjaks Pointing meme.
Several parodies from movie posters to classical artwork can be seen at Mr. Frog Studios and in Mr. Frog's mansion.
Frogfather and Mr Frog at the entrance to Mr. Frog's in-house theater.
A marble statue in a hallway of Mr. Frog's mansion is reminiscent of Michelangelo's David, only its wearing shorts and carrying an animal's pelt.
A mint condition Mr. Frog Funko Pop! is located on a table in front of the above mentioned Attack of the 50 Foot Mr. Frog poster.
Glep's spitting on the ground in disgust (and related violent hilarity from the producers) is taken from the AI Dungeon episodes, regarding a reaction that both the boys and the dungeon itself had at several points.
A worm can be seen in Mr. Frog's beautiful animal sanctuary, a fulfilment of Zach's promise to add one he made in OneyPlays' first video on Worms: Reloaded.
Mr. Frog's fan meet-up is held at "Globglo's Books", making clear connections to the Globglogabgolab.
In the montage showing Mr. Frog's success after getting his show back, the last image shows him in a pose similar to Jeb Bush in the "Jeb Wins" meme.
"Shrimp's Odyssey":
The episode's title could be a reference to Worm Odyssey, a fake game Zach made up as a joke on OneyPlays. The fact that the episode has a Running Gag about eating worms further hints at this.
Shrimp's voice is the exact some voice that David Firth, his voice actor uses for the titular character of his Jerry Jackson animation series.
Shrimp's room is decorated with Fortnite figurines and various Funko Pops (including one of the aforementioned Mr. Frog) It also has a poster of Ash and Pikachu.
Shrimp's favorite game, Mouse Quest, is a reference to Rat Simulator, which has been featured on OneyPlays.
When Pim goes to the cafe to find Shrimpina, the customer in front of her asks for the Number 15. The customer's order is a reference to the popular "Number 15: Burger King Foot Lettuce" video/meme. For extra points, the character is voiced by the original narrator of the video.
When Shrimp attempts to get a tan and ends up more cooked than anything, an overweight man walks on by and takes a bite out of him. He suspiciously looks and sounds similar to Homer Simpson, right down to using the same hand gesture when scarfing down food. "Mmmm, cooked shrimp."
During Pim's fantasy sequence an elderly Charlie can be seen in the background dressed like Zach from Hellbenders, a cartoon Zach had previously worked on with Chris O'Neill.
"A Silly Halloween Special":
The costumes at the Halloween party reference various pop culture.
The Boss is dressed up as Charlie Brown from Peanuts.
Glep and his wife, Marge, are dressed as Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.
The Forest Demon's demise is similar to an idea for a cartoon Zach pitched on Oney Plays. It involved a mother putting monkey on a table at a children's birthday party and it's eaten in a manner similar to the demon: Getting disembowelled and having its limbs ripped off and eaten like corn on the cob.
Chris: Zach, I'mma be real with you: I would laugh at it, but I don't think 90% of people would."
The demon being mistaken for wearing blackface and Charlie's earlier reservations about wearing face paint for similar reasons is an allusion to a story that Jeff Bandelin related during one episode, in which, as a child, his parents dressed him up as a Smurf; however, due to the high contrast of the admittedly old photo and the darkness of the blue facepaint they used, poor young Jeff instead looks like he is wearing blackface, much to the amusement of Chris and the others. At one point earlier in the episode, Charlie mentions the blackface misconception as his reason for not dressing up for Halloween.
"Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?":
The movies being shown at the cinema alongside Bimblar — Shrimp and Shrew, Spider Adam, and The Carrot Concept — come from drawings Hadel and Cusack drew on The Very Positive Stream.
Bimblar, in of himself, shares a similar name to Bimblor, which was Chris' custom name for Cloud Strife on Oney Plays.
Crazy Cup's phrasing of "doo doo feces" comes from a 2003 interview of Michael Jackson conducted by Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes. This was brought up Chris, Zach, and Tomar's playthrough of Devotion.
Zach: Guys, please go on YouTube and search "Michael Jackson doo doo feces". That's a real- he really said the word "doo doo feces".
On the topic of The Hobbit, Pim's transformation over the course of the episode is reminiscent of Smeagol's transformation into Gollum.
The reveal that Mip was stalking the Princess and the gift he asked Charlie to send her was a bomb is a reference to Ricardo Lopez, otherwise known as the "Björk Stalker". Like the show, the real stalker attempted to mail the singer a bomb to kill her, though it was thankfully intercepted, unlike Mip's. This was once brought up on SleepyCast, a podcast that Hadel occasionally participated in during its run.
"Frowning Friends":
The lyrics to the song DJ Spit shows Charlie and Pim are "Wehehe" repeated over and over. This comes from a poorly made South Park parody called Loud Junk that Zach occasionally mentions on, you guessed it, OneyPlays.
Mr. Boss arguing with a darker version of himself in the mirror could be a slight nod to Norman Osborn’s similar scene in the first SamRaimiSpider-Man film.
The dances that the Frowning Friends do at the end of the episode before getting killed by the Renaissance Men are similar to the dances we see in the iconic dancing scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
"Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back":
Both Charlie and Satan are seen playing Rust on their computers.
The desktop icon for Worms Armageddon can be seen on Satan's PC.
The demon Jeremy's schtick of getting up in people spaces (and Charlie's retaliation to it) started as a hypothetical of a green alien he pitched to Chris and Tomar while they were hunting witches to varying responses.
Zach: Would you like punch him, or would you...? Chris: (Beat) I'd punch him. Zach:(incredulous) Would you really punch an alien? Chris: If he was doing that... Tomar: If all he was doing was that, I'd just- I'd be- I- I'd try to act calm and let him know I'm not a threat. Zach: You're submitting to this aggressive alien.
Jeremy's guttural reaction to getting punched follows the description of a bizarre desire Hadel once expressed during a let's play.
Zach: I'd love to see a fist fight, a YouTube grainy fistfight, 2007, between Jimmy Neutron's dad and an ex-marine. [...] (imitating labored gasps of pain) Like Jimmy Neutron's dad snorting because he's been hit so many times in the lungs.
The man who delivers Satan's food is nearly identical to the petrol station worker from Bushworld Adventures, one of Cusack's previous Adult Swim projects.
Gwimbly himself is a general pastiche of PlayStation/Nintendo 64 era mascot platformers, but the gameplay we briefly see when he visits the game studio shows him fighting in an arena very similar to the final boss of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, with the boss's health meter almost identical to the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy and music that sounds a lot like Banjo-Kazooie.
"Insane Groundbreaking Games" itself sounds like a nod to Epic Games' old 90s name of "Epic Mega-Games", and the CEO talks about "sitting on" IPs and doing nothing with them— an accusation leveled at Tim Sweeney and Epic in regard to the Unreal series that had recently been delisted from all digital storefronts for...no particular reason. The CEO also talks about potentially bringing back Gwimbly as merely a skin in Troglor's game, playing on the omnipresence of crossover skins in Fortnite.
Gwimbly's "iconic victory dance" is a more underwhelming version of the Crash Dance. His design in general seems to be mostly a parody of Crash, but in an art style more similar to that of Spyro.
Gwimbly's pink tail (or whatever it is) brings to mind prolapses being a Running Gag on OneyPlays, specifically how in their Wild Woody playthrough, the titular anthropomorphic pencil's eraser was jokingly mistaken for one.
Troglor, the character Insane Groundbreaking Games wants to replace Gwimbly with, is a pastiche of protagonists of modern FPS games in which A Space Marine Is You, particularly Doom Slayer. His name is also one letter off from Trogdor.
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