Favorite obscure little references

[tkts]

Joss & Co. clearly loved slipping in lots of obscure little jokes and references, many of which you could probably watch the series a dozen times before noticing.

Two of my favorites, which I have to admit I didn't catch myself until I saw them pointed out, are:

-- Mrs. Czolgosz, the joke that takes 2 1/2 years to get from setup to punchline. (Anya talks in Season 4's "Superstar" about wishing an unfaithful man was "ugly, or a dog, or in love with President McKinley." Then Halfrek tells her in Season 7's "Lessons," "You were the single-most hard-core vengeance demon on the roster, and everybody knew it. Do I have to mention Mrs. Czolgosz?" (Leon Czolgosz was the name of the man who assassinated William McKinley.)

-- The Social Services office in "Gone." As the social worker is talking to her boss and insisting she's not crazy, invisible Buffy whistles a jaunty little tune as she heads out the door. If you listen closely, you can tell that it's a slightly off-key version of the chorus from "Going Through the Motions."

[zeppo]

I never noticed the whistling. That's so great! I'll have to rewatch it tonight.

[tkts]

I think I first saw the whistling one in a list of trivia on tv.com.

The Czolgosz one was inserted into the script for Jane Espenson, but even she didn't catch it. I actually wonder if anyone has ever caught the joke without hearing it pointed out. (There must be some fan, somewhere, who went on a Buffy-watching binge at the same time as they were taking an American history class...)

[Scarygothgirl]

I know it's a fairly obvious one but I love that Cecile is Halfrek, it's so funny seeing how awkward Halfrek and Spike are in Older and Far Away!

[bthomas]

Xander in The Puppet Show: " Does anybody else feel like they've been Keyser Soze'd?"

[The Girl In Question]

This is my favorite obscure reference I love to point out to people.

Anya (buffy season 4): You could have, like, a world with no shrimp. Or with, you know, nothing but shrimp.

Illyria (Angel season 5): I traveled all of them as I pleased. I walked worlds of smoke and half-truths, intangible. Worlds of torment and of unnamable beauty. Opaline towers as high as small moons. Glaciers that rippled with insensate lust. And one world with nothing but shrimp. I tired of that one quickly.

I just really love shrimp

[Scarygothgirl]

I love all the random references to the world with no shrimp!

[outofphase]

So do I, they're amazing.

Ok so here's one that i've got no proof to base this on, but here it goes:
Buffy wears a shirt in s2 that has this cat on it and willow wears a different shirt in s3 that has the same cat on it. There's a costume shop here in the OC that's logo is that cat. But I also remember when I was nine I had a sticker of that cat. so maybe I'm just crazy. anyways this is the cat in question: