In Popular Culture
Worthington made numerous appearances over the years on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In one particularly memorable appearance, Worthington appeared with "Spot," in this instance a goose which ruined host Johnny Carson's suit. Worthington also appeared as a car dealer in the 1973 film Save the Tiger
In 1974, the television series Emergency! featured an episode in which the paramedic stars of the show rescue a car salesman who is trapped inside a car with a tiger during a commercial shoot.
The "My Dog Spot" ads were spoofed at the start of the animated film Dirty Duck; a car dealer shoots his dog at one point. Worthington's ads were also parodied in Marty Feldman's 1977 comedy feature film The Last Remake of Beau Geste. A desert battle scene is interrupted by Ed McMahon announcing a "commercial break." Following is a "commercial" by "Honest Hakkim" (played by Avery Schreiber), a used camel salesman who gave specifics about the deals he was offering on particular camels in the same manner that Worthington would tout specific cars in his ads. The ad in the movie ended with Hakkim promising to "stand upon my fez 'til my face is such a mess" and then singing "See Hakkim, see Hakkim, see Hakkim" to the same cadence as was used to sing "Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal" in Worthington's advertisements.
The 1988 movie Beetlejuice features a parody of Worthington's late-night commercials.
Worthington and his commercials made brief appearances throughout the movie Into the Night. A Worthington commercial also appears in the original Gone in 60 Seconds. A short excerpt from one of Worthington's radio ads is featured at the end of Robert Calvert's track "Phase Locked Loop," from the album Lucky Leif and the Longships. And in fried green tomatoes 2 and also in memento.
Cal Worthington and his dog "Spot" was referred to as Loud Kiddington and his dog Fetch in a parody skit from the animated show Histeria! telling the story of Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants, which Hannibal rented from Kiddington.
The Blizzard Entertainment game World of Warcraft features a character named "Kall Worthaton" selling car-like "trikes."
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