
The Brain's "second chicken" theory is a parody of the " second shooter" conspiracy theory in the Assassination of John F. The Ted Koppel parody character here is named "Ted Foppel" instead of the usual " Fred Foppel.". The opening sequence to Punchline was first used in the Tiny Toons Spring Break Special, then later used in a few Pinky and the Brain episodes. In this first parody of Nightline, Ted Foppel holds a discussion on the age-old question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" with his special guests Chicken Boo, Pinky and the Brain, the Goodfeathers, and Runt. The Warner siblings make a cameo at the very end, where they were at the Water Tower and Dot shouts to “turn off that lights!” to end the episode. Katey Cupcake and Almond Rocha are parodies of Katie Couric and Al Roker, who, at the time, co-hosted the Christmas in Rockefeller Center specials on NBC. Rockyfellow Center is a spoof of Rockefeller Center. Slappy, at some point in the second part of this segment, references the Hanna-Barbera character Huckleberry Hound, whose show was the first animated TV program to ever win an Emmy Award. The World's Oldest Woman makes a cameo. When they went to meet the CEO, they are briefly the size of normal squirrels. Oddly, when Slappy & Skippy first appear they are at their normal sizes. This is the final Slappy Squirrel cartoon. Written by Nick DuBois, Kevin Hopps, Randy Rogel and Tom Ruegger. Slappy's tree is chosen as the Christmas tree to stand in Rockyfellow Center in New York City. However, on some listings such as Hulu, Magic Time/The Brain's Apprentice is the final episode to use the "We pay tons of income tax" line. Scratchansniff, say hi to Hello Nurse!" lines. This is also the final episode to use the "We pay tons of income tax" and "Meet Ralph and Dr. This is the final episode to use the regular Animaniacs intro in the original series. Scratchansniff, say hi to Hello Nurse!" is dubbed over "meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe". As a result, the line "We pay tons of income tax" is dubbed over "While Bill Clinton plays the sax".
In addition, the "Citizen Kaney" line animation is shown over Yakko saying "Candy cane-y." Although the Kids' WB!-era lyrics of the theme song are heard, the animations from season 1 are shown.