Version 2.42, October 2005.
Compiled by www.mansionsite.com, 2001-2005
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This is a list of references to SCTV in the TV series Maniac Mansion, organized by Maniac Mansion episode number. The Maniac Mansion episode numbers are those found at www.mansionsite.com and the SCTV episode numbers are those found in the book SCTV: Behind the Scenes, by Dave Thomas (McLelland & Stewart, 1996).
Click on the episode name in the index of references below or scroll down for more details.
References which recur throughout the series (Tri-state area, Idella, "Dad? What?")
1-1. "The 10th Anniversary Special" (Maison de boeuf, Ulysses)
1-3. "Trapped Like Rats" (Monster Chiller Horror Theatre)
1-4. "Love Thy Neighbour" ("They laughed at me in...")
1-6. "The Sandman Cometh" (Juul Haalmeyer)
1-8. "Bring Me Harry Orca" (Acrylic)
1-13. "Hawaii Blues" (Customs)
1-18. "Turner: The Boss" (Harry not in dream)
1-22. "The Cliffhanger" (Emmy, Tina's purse)
2-2. "The New Look" ("... and some men," Age 38)
2-3. "Late Night Harry" (Audrey LaMoye)
2-5. "Man and Machine" (Nobel speech, Godspell)
2-10. "Lenny...One Amour Time" (Godspell)
2-11. "Lenny...One Amour Time (Part 2)" (St. Ian, Practical joke)
2-13. "Buried by the Mob" (Hudgie DeRubertis, Profuse sweating)
2-16. "Ike's Got It Bad...Real Bad" (Marcello Sebastiano, Towering Inferno)
2-17. "Turnernator Too" (Happy Hour)
3-2. "Raging Lenny" ("I must say")
3-4. "The Prince's Broad" (Age 38)
3-7. "Ike's New Buddy" (Central Tech)
3-13. "Atoms Gone Wild" (Albert Einstein/Sid Dithers)
3-15. "Tina and the Teardrops" (Live television)
3-17. "Freddie Had a Little Lamb" (Dr. Schekter)
Acknowledgements
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References which recur throughout the series
Tri-state area
Cedar Springs is in the tri-state area. This is at least partially a reference to the tri-city area, built around Melonville, in which SCTV is based.
Idella
The character Idella Muckle Orca is based on the character Idella Voudry, which Mary Charlotte Wilcox played on SCTV.
"Dad? What?"
Turner often bugs Fred by repeatedly asking "Dad?" even after Fred has answered "What?" several times. The same joke is used by Cynthia (Andrea Martin), who annoys Cecil (Joe Flaherty) by calling him even after he's already answered her several times, in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Murder is Bad for Your Health" (SCTV Show # 40 Series II).
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1-1. "The 10th Anniversary Special"
Maison de boeuf
Fred's father tells an anecdote about eating at the Maison de boeuf in Paris. This a French translation of, and probably a reference to, the restaurant House of Beef, whose grand opening is featured in "3-D House of Beef" (SCTV Show #93 Cycle I).
Ulysses
Casey quotes the last passage of the novel Ulysses by James Joyce to Fred and his parents. The very same quote is used by Mrs. Bloom (Andrea Martin) in "Perspective '77: with Lou Jaffee's Northern Ireland Report" (SCTV Show #10 Series I).
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1-3. "Trapped Like Rats"
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre
Harry is watching an actual episode of the SCTV show "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" starring Joe Flaherty as Count Floyd.
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1-4. "Love Thy Neighbour"
"They laughed at me in..."
In Casey's dream, she is a mad scientist listing all the European cities in which "they" laughed at her. Fred, her assistant, pointedly reminds her of the ones she forgot. The same joke is used by Dr. Tongue (John Candy) and Woody Tobias Jr. (Eugene Levy) on more than one occasion on SCTV, for instance in "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre: Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Stewardesses" (SCTV Show #84 Cycle I). The joke originated with the Chicago Second City stage troupe.
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1-6. "The Sandman Cometh"
Juul Haalmeyer
The bad TV remake of Gone with the Wind stars Juul Haalmeyer as Red Butler. Haalmeyer is the former costume designer for SCTV who often appeared on the show with a very bad dance troupe, the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers.
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1-8. "Bring Me Harry Orca"
Acrylic
A mobster remarks, about a present he's gotten for his boss for getting out of prison, "I sure hope he likes acrylic." The same joke is used by Ed Grimley (Martin Short) in "The Fella Who Couldn't Wait for Christmas" (SCTV Show #111 Cycle IV).
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1-13. "Hawaii Blues"
Customs
Ike dreams he's being grilled by customs agents while trying to smuggle a bad report card to Hawaii, via Turkey. A very similar scene occurs on SCTV, in "Midnight Express Special" (SCTV Show #71 Series III).
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1-18. "Turner: The Boss"
Harry not in dream
When Turner wakes up, he tells his family who are standing around him that they were in his dream, except for Harry who wasn't there. The same joke is used by Lola Heatherton (Catherine O'Hara) in "Lola Wraparound - Part 4: Dream Sequence" (SCTV Show # 86 Cycle I).
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1-22. "The Cliffhanger"
Emmy
There is an Emmy award in the background of the scene in which Idella and Harry are discussing moving out of the mansion. The award is real, and it belongs to Mary Charlotte Wilcox who won it in 1982-83 in the category of "Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program" for "The Energy Ball/Sweeps Week" episode (SCTV Show #115 Cycle V).
Tina's purse
Tina, who has been overeating, has her purse emptied by Eugene Levy and an astonishing amount of junk food falls out. The same thing happens to Elizabeth Taylor (Catherine O'Hara) in "Awards Show" (SCTV Show #99 Cycle III).
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2-2. "The New Look"
"... and some men"
Harry says that Fred should change his mind, because it's a woman's prerogative... and some men. Feminist talkshow host Libby Wolfson (Andrea Martin) adds those three words to the ends of some of her sentences to make them more inclusive in the "I'm Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and no Guy's Gonna Tell Me It Ain't" episode (SCTV Show #89 Cycle II).
Age 38
Fred claims to be 38 years old. Joe Flaherty's character Floyd Robertson on SCTV is typically described as a 38-year-old newscaster, for instance on "SCTV News: Rollerskating" (SCTV Show #64 Series III).
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2-3. "Late Night Harry"
Audrey LaMoye
On the Lanny Reese show, Deborah Theaker plays elderly actress Audrey LaMoye who walks onto the stage extremely slowly. Irving Cohen (Martin Short) makes a similarly slow entrance in "The William B. Show" (SCTV Show #114 Cycle V).
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2-5. "Man and Machine"
Nobel speech
In Fred's nightmare about the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Switzerland, he gives a speech full of weak but location-specific one-liners. Bob Hope (Dave Thomas) gives a similar speech at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Sweden in "The Nobel" (SCTV Show #86 Cycle I).
Godspell
Fred ends his Nobel speech by blurting out that he was in Godspell when he was younger. The Toronto cast of Godspell in 1972-73 (at the Royal Alex and then Bayview theatres) included future SCTV and Second City stars Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Jayne Eastwood, Gilda Radner, Gerry Salzberg, Derek McGrath and Dave Thomas. When the Second City held auditions in the Spring of 1973 for its Toronto cast, many of these Godspell stars moved over to the Second City right away.
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2-10. "Lenny...One Amour Time"
Godspell
Fred tells Teri that he sometimes ends his speeches by saying he was in Godspell when he was younger. For explanation see 2-5. "Man and Machine".
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2-11. "Lenny...One Amour Time (Part 2)"
St. Ian
Lenny meets St. Ian (Joe Flaherty) at the Canadian Entrance to the Pearly Gates. St. Ian looks and acts very similar to Gord (Joe Flaherty) in "Garth and Gord and Fiona and Alice" (SCTV Show #106 Cycle IV).
Practical Joke
Lenny plays an old practical joke on Saint Ian (Joe Flaherty) at the Canadian Entrance to the Pearly Gates: He knocks on the door and then hides when Saint Ian answers. On SCTV this joke is played on Philip Marks (Joe Flaherty), also in a Canadian context, in "Canadian Gaffes" (SCTV Cinemax Show #16).
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2-13. "Buried by the Mob"
Hudgie DeRubertis
Dave Thomas' character is named Hudgie DeRubertis. That name was used by Joe Flaherty on the Second City stage as well as on SCTV, notably in episodes of "Mel's Rock Pile" such as "Mel's Rock Pile: with Roy Orbison 'Pretty Woman'" (SCTV Show #85 Cycle I).
Profuse sweating
Hudgie DeRubertis can't stop sweating buckets. Dave Thomas plays a similarly sweaty character named William Morris in several SCTV sketches, notably in "Pitchman" (SCTV Cinemax Show #6).
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2-16. "Ike's Got It Bad...Real Bad"
Marcello Sebastiano
Fred mentions that his experiment was not perfected by Dr. Marcello Sebastiano. Marcello Sebastiano is a stereotypical Italian character played by Tony Rosato on SCTV.
Towering Inferno
In Fred and Harry's imitation duel, Fred imitates Charlton Heston in Towering Inferno. This is actually an imitation of Joe Flaherty's impression of Charlton Heston in "Towering Inferno" (SCTV Show #110 Cycle IV).
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2-17. "Turnernator Too"
Happy Hour
Turner is watching an episode of "Happy Hour," starring John Hemphill as Happy Marsden, a recurring SCTV show. The differences in this new version of "Happy Hour" are that David Flaherty has replaced Michael Short as the bartender, Sammy the Goose in on vacation, Happy has switched from drinking beer to tangerine juice, and instead of sports the bartender is watching an episode of Maniac Mansion, "Trapped Like Rats" (1-3).
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3-2. "Raging Lenny"
"I must say"
When Lenny learns that Teri will be doing a kissing scene with Martin Short, he's disappointed and says "I used to think he was pretty decent, I must say." "I must say" is the catchphrase of Martin Short's character Ed Grimley on SCTV.
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3-4. "The Prince's Broad"
Age 38
Fred claims to be 38 years old. For explanation see 2-2. "The New Look".
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3-7. "Ike's New Buddy"
Central Tech
Ike's exchange buddy goes to Central Tech, a very tough school. Central Tech is a real high school in Toronto, and is the school that the dancers sometimes claim to go to when speaking with Rockin' Mel, for instance in "SCTV Boogie: with Mel Slirrop" (SCTV Show #20 Series I) and "Mel's Rock Pile II: with Jerome Slirrop" (SCTV Show # 75 Series III).
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3-13. "Atoms Gone Wild"
Albert Einstein/Sid Dithers
Eugene Levy plays the voice of Albert Einstein and uses the voice of Sid Dithers, a character he played on SCTV.
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3-15. "Tina and the Teardrops"
Live television
As prop malfunctions plague the televised talent show, the announcer (John Hemphill) attempts to salvage the situation by saying, "beauty of live television." The same joke was used by Maureen Wallace (Catherine O'Hara) in "Awards Show" (SCTV Show #99 Cycle III).
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3-17. Freddie Had a Little Lamb
Dr. Schekter
Fred mutates himself into Dr. Schekter. This is a reference both to Dr. Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, which this episode is a parody of, and to the Dr. Pepper ad parody on SCTV, "Dr. Schekter Commercial" (SCTV Show #85 Cycle I).
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to David Weems and Avi Phillips for their assistance. Also invaluable were the searchable SCTV Guide at www.sctvguide.ca and the following books:
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