One of the show's running gags is Maxwell's fondness for Kaye Ballard. Ballard established herself as a musical comedian in the 1940s, capable of playing broad physical comedy as well as stand-up dialogue routines, and had a successful career as a stage, film, and television actress and as a recording artist.
'Michael' (Andrew Levitas) is an underpants model for an unidentified brand. In the early 1990s, Premium Fashion house Calvin Klein managed to increase profitability mainly through the success of its highly popular underwear and fragrance lines. A series of print ads for a new type of men's underwear called 'boxer briefs', featuring Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Sabato Jr., became a pop culture phenomenon.