Pitch the Devil hinders Santa during his delivery of presents on Christmas Eve.
Beginning of the episode
Opening host segment
Yukon Cornelius is a character from the 1964 movie, "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Servo probably meant "Hermey" (another character) rather than "Herbie".
A fractured parody of O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi."
Movie Begins
Christmas song plus violent imagery equals FUNNY!
Perennial MST fave Joe Don "Mitchell" Baker gets a nod here. See episode 0512 for a tour-de-force of Joe Don.
A (somewhat tenuous) link from Adolf Hitler to his ally Benito Mussolini by way of the name "Adolfo."
Reference to episode 0102, "The Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy," also a Mexican import. Also produced for American audiences by K. Gordon Murray. The Robot costume also appears in "Santa Claus."
El Santo, El Enmascarado De Plata (The Silver-Masked) was the star of a series of Mexican films. The cult hero was a combination wrestler and superhero.
Another dig at the film's import status. "La Cucaracha" is a well known Mexican melody whose origins are not completely fleshed out, though the tune is most commonly associated with Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), ratified by the US, Canada and Mexico in 1992, subsequently approved by the legislative bodies of those three countries went into effect January 1, 1994, 8 days after this episode originally aired.
The design above Santa's doorway does bear a striking resemblance to part of the Air Force insignia.
Wladziu Valentino Liberace was a flamboyant pianist, most popular in the 1950s. Liberace was known for his extravagant and delightfully gaudy attire and piano decorating scheme.
"Cram schools" are a unique fixture in the Japanese educational system which focus on "cramming" information for high school or college entrance exams into students' heads.
Parrots the type of exchange between General Burkhalter (Leon Askin) and Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) in 1965-71 TV series Hogan's Heroes, set in a Nazi POW camp.
Carmen Miranda was a Portuguese-Brazilian samba singer and motion picture star who is best know for being draped in fruit
A misquoted line from the similar-sounding song "Munchkinland" from the film "The Wizard of Oz" (it was, in fact, the Wicked Witch who began to twitch).
Chucky is the red-haired doll from a series of horror movies. Keith Magnuson was a hockey player for Chicago Blackhawks.
Mike is imitating the music used in the 1930s "Our Gang"/"Little Rascals" series of comedy films about the adventures of a gang of poor children.
Here Mike refers to the grandson of J. Paul Getty, Sr. (the founder of Getty Oil) who was kidnapped and held for ransom. When his grandfather refused to pay the ransom, the kidnappers cut off his ear and mailed it to a newspaper in Rome.
Erik and Lyle Menedez were arrested in 1990 following the brutal murders of their parents in 1989.
In Monty Python's Life of Brian the caracters played by the Pythons are at the back of the crowd during the "Sermon on the Mount" and the proclomation: "Blessed are the peacemakers" is heard as "Blessed are the Cheesmakers".
Gallagher is a stand-up comedian who often wears striped shirts and smashes fruit on stands in front of him.
Woah Nellie! Mike is there a echo in here?
Ron Reagan Jr. is, of course, the son of ex-president Ronald Reagan.
Final host segment
Originally "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum," spoken by Roddy Piper in the 1988 film "They Live."