This episode begins with a nearly identical gag as the last scene of Homer Loves Flanders (1994), where the family inherits money from a recently deceased relative but has to spend the night in a haunted house. The design of the haunted houses are identical.
The Captain finishes his phone call by saying "Call me later, Ishmael," which refers to the first line from Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael."
Krusty's airplane, "I'm-on-a-rolla-Gay," is a spoof of the Enola Gay B-29 airplane that dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city Hiroshima in World War II.
Many of the writers were big fans of Bob Newhart and everybody wanted to see him record his lines. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein decided to shut down production so that the whole writing staff could go to the recording studio. The episode was recorded in a big room so everyone had to be really quiet. It took Newhart two and a half minutes to record his first take, and, as no one was allowed to laugh during that time, there was an "explosion" of laughter in the room when he finished.
John Swartzwelder is seen attending Krusty's "funeral." He appears with a Kermit the Frog puppet on his hand.