 Chief Wiggum's order during the suspect line-up to "send in the clowns" is an allusion to the Stephen Sondheim song "Send in the Clowns" from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. The Sondheim musical took its name from Mozart's Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, which is the theme tune to Sideshow Bob's show. The close up shot of Krusty's face behind bars in the beginning of act two is a reference of the closing credit motif of the British television series The Prisoner from the 1960s. The background music in that scene resembles the theme of the television series Mission: Impossible at one point. The line "The Day the Laughter Died", shown during the newscast, is a reference to the Andrew Dice Clay album released the previous month. Sideshow Bob is reading The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas to the studio audience. The song "Ev 'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by Cole Porter is featured in the episode. Following Sideshow Bob's arrest, he mutters: "I would 've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for these meddling kids.", which is a reference to a catchphrase from Hanna-Barbera's animated television show Scooby-Doo.
