When Steve is dressed as a cowboy, this pays homage to the film "Midnight Cowboy." Steve is Jon Buck and Roger is dressed as Ratso.
The squirrel characters pay homage to the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
Newspaper Headline: "Trans Fats Banned In NYC, Fat Trannies Still OK"
During the scene where Steve and Roger are about to leave for New York, Steve is dressed like Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye and Roger is dressed like Marlo Thomas' character in the show That Girl. Both stories involve the character moving to New York.
When Francine hangs up with Toshi she says "Muchos Gracias" and hangs up. "Muchos Gracias" is Spanish and Francine knows Toshi is Japanese just as she insulted Toshi's mother in "Weiner of Our Discontent" by pretending she wasn't speaking English.