Ike's Wee Wee - Cultural References

Cultural References

Part of the episode revolves around the practice of religious male circumcision in Judaism, and the related ceremony called the brit milah or bris, and the boys' misunderstanding of the tradition (to which they refer as "circumstition"). The boys believe that circumcision entails the cutting off of one's penis, which they refer to by the childish colloquial term "wee wee", except for Cartman, who insists on calling it "fireman". Cannabis is also referred to by various names, including weed, grass, pot, and marijuana, in which Mr. Mackey constantly pronounces the letter j as /dʒ/ (as in jam), which makes Kyle mispronounce the drug as "marry-Jew wanna".

Drug use is often portrayed in conjunction with the hippie subculture, through hippie characters such as the two teenagers that give LSD to Mackey, and the woman that he befriends and eventually marries. Jimbo and Cartman both use the term hippie pejoratively. During their argument, Jimbo tells Mackey that he should just go to a Grateful Dead concert. On two occasions, the episode shows people watching Teletubbies while high on marijuana or in rehab. Teletubbies is a British children's television show that started in 1997. In his drug prevention speech, Mackey claims that LSD was made famous by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, former members of The Beatles. Both Lennon and McCartney are known to have experimented with the drug.

While walking home, Mr. Mackey drunkenly sings the 1983 Pat Benatar song "Love Is a Battlefield". During Ike's supposed funeral, a bagpipe player starts playing the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila". At the funerals, the priest uses the phrase "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust", from the Anglican burial service. When the townspeople start to harass Mackey, one of them shouts "Now we see what you and Homer Simpson have in common... Dope!" This references the famous catchphrase from The Simpsons, "D'oh!", which sounds similar to the word dope, meaning illicit drugs. At Kyle's house, Kyle's parents offers the boys a dish called "GaHekgafuga", which is not a real dish. When Mackey is India, he is captured by members of The A-Team, and driven away in their van. The A-Team is a 1980s action adventure TV series. Mackey is taken to rehabilitation to the Betty Ford Clinic, which is based on a real-life hospital.

A common plot device is referenced, where a shoulder angel (represents conscience) and a shoulder devil (representing temptation) appear near a character. This concept is spoofed in the episode, as both the devil and the angel suggest to Mackey that he should drink the beer. When Stan tells Kyle what he thinks a bris means, a dolly zoom is used, which is an unsettling filmmaking effect often used to show that a character is undergoing a major realization. The hallucinogenic effects of certain drugs are portrayed by different means. When inhaling cannabis, the alley that Mr. Mackey is in suddenly turns very colorful. After taking LSD, Mr. Mackey's head inflates like a giant balloon, and then literally detaches from his body, and floats away.

In the scene when the boys are talking to Chef, he leaves without answering the boys' sexual question, angrily saying, "Dammit, children, why do I always have to be the one to explain all this stuff to you. Ask your parents for once!" This is in reference to Chef's tendency to give advice to the boys. While the children are trying to think of what is the most important thing for a man, Cartman says "Ham?", to which Stan angrily replies, "No, not ham, you fat fuck!". This exchange was used verbatim between the same characters in The Spirit of Christmas, the 1995 short film that was the precursor to South Park.