This is a list of references to Pokémon in popular culture, instances where television shows, music and video clips, or other non-Pokémon media explicitly mention the Pokémon franchise (or a specific Pokémon). This includes only notable references, where they must either refer to specific details of the Pokémon franchise, or else play an important role in the work making the reference. The following list is divided by the medium of the work, then sorted alphabetically by the name of the work making the reference.

References that simply mention the Pokémon franchise, use a Pokémon catchphrase, or have a Pokémon character or item briefly appear in the background or as a visual gag are listed separately on the list of background references to Pokémon. They are also distinct from parodies, which are listed separately on the list of Pokémon parodies. This list also excludes mere resemblances between character designs, non-fiction shows mentioning the existence of Pokémon, or news shows discussing Pokémon-related news, as well as game show questions about Pokémon.

Series/Movie Episode Details Image

30 Rock Stride of Pride Pokémon is a recurring theme in this episode with one of Jack's girlfriends. When referring to Jack's polygamy, she said that it was like Pokémon the way Jack had "gotta catch 'em all". Jack pluralizes Pokémon as "Pokémons" only to have her correct him. Jack brings up Pokémon numerous times throughout the episode in reference to his girlfriend, including referring to a text message he got as being "Pokémon'd". At the end of the episode, Liz writes a letter on her laptop, and also refers to "Pokémons" and her life as "little creatures running around".

Ai Mai Mi: Surgical Friends You're No Friend of Mine! During the next episode preview, Torijiro talks about how the author in her high school days was ambushed by kids throwing leaves and Poké Balls at her, yelling "Don't let her get away!" and "Weaken and catch her!"

American Dad! Multiple episodes In Buck, Wild, Steve is upset about being seated at the kids' table, pointing out that the kids are playing with Pokémon cards and they are not very good. He yells at one of the kids for "wasting his Charizard". In Shark?!, when Roger notices that Steve left his Bulbasaur, he says he might as well go battle an army of Jigglypuffs. In Brave N00B World, Principal Lewis explained he got 50 cats because he thought they were Pokémon, thus captured every one he could find, and got arrested when he made them battle.

Attention Please To the sky!! At the time of departure... The All Nippon Airways 747 Pokémon Jet, can be seen behind the Japan Airlines flight conducting an emergency landing. Plusle and Minun can be seen on the body of the aircraft, while Pikachu can be seen on the tail fin.

The Autocrats Itse valtiaat – Kuningasmusikaali During this special musical episode, Mauri Pekkarinen sings a song called Politiikan Pokémon . In one of the chorus verses, Mauri describes himself as "the Pikachu of Jyväskylä". This song, along with the other songs from this special, were later collected and published on a music CD titled 200 apinaa – Paavo kuninkaaksi .

Animation Domination High-Def Scientifically Accurate: Pokémon and Pikachu Gets Pokémon Rabies The first episode spoofs Pokémon, referring to kids being thrown into the wilderness alone, as well as some of the kinds of Pokémon such as "a pile of gears" (presumably a Klink) and "a [EXPLETIVE] ice cream cone" (presumably Vanillite). The second feature Ash's Pikachu catching "PokéRabies" after fighting a rabid dog, leading to Pikachu having to be put down.

Are We There Yet? The Bad Dream Episode After Nick says "You can't make a sequel for everything", Kevin says "They should've told that to the Pokémon people thirteen movies ago!" and then names all Pokémon movies up to M13, including Mewtwo Returns.

Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge Second arc Several of the Nonet Bakugan's abilities are named after moves from the Pokémon franchise, for example Ventus Worton has the ability "Air Cutter".

Barakamon Guys from Tokyo Naru hands Kousuke a Poké Ball-like capsule containing shieldbugs. Kousuke, who hates insects, immediately screams and yells "Argh! Monster ball!" and throws the capsule just like Poké Balls are thrown.

The Big Bang Theory The Cooper/Kripke Inversion and The Perspiration Implementation In the first episode, even after being taken off his joint checking account with his wife until he learned the value of money, Howard Wolowitz still spent his lunch's allowance on Pokémon cards. In the second, when Sheldon asks a woman out at a bar, he says "I choose you," which he claims Ash did to Pikachu. He specifically mentions that he is referencing Pokémon.

Big Mouth Ejaculation When Andrew tells the hormone monster that Nick looks really upset, he replies "Fucking forget about that little Pikachu and dance with a girl!"

Black Episode 5 The teacher asks one student if he drew a Pikachu.

Black Books He's Leaving Home When Fran tells Bernard that he knows nothing about the modern culture, she lists a few examples of things he doesn't know, one of which is Pokémon. Bernard quickly interrupts her by saying that it's pronounced "Pac-Man".

Camp Camp A Camp Camp Christmas, or Whatever When the campers are opening up their Christmas presents, Nerris is seen playing with "Tapámon" cards, and a squared-out Poké Ball design can be seen on the back.

Chronicles of the Going Home Club Ultimate Decision / A Magnificent Training Camp / Starry Sky Imagination / Mankind's Greatest Invention is Air Conditioning ...and the dead freedom that results There are two references in this episode. First, before the opening, Sakura's suggesting ideas for things to do in a training camp, and she says "We could also carefully breed the best IVs, then train our EVs and form dueling parties." Later, the girls are talking about ultimate decisions when deciding between two things. During this, Sakura at one point says "Should your starter be a fire type or a water type?" while the screen shows images of a generic lizard and turtle. Botan then chimes in, saying "Yeah, no one goes for grass."

Close Enough Prank War Bridgette and Emily are walking at night, when a silhouette of a man behind them says "I'm going to catch you, I'm going to catch you." The man gets closer, revealing himself, holding his cellphone, and then asks if anyone seen a Poliwrath, to which Emily replies that nobody plays that game anymore.

Daybreak Josh vs. the Apocalypse: Part 2 After arguing which one is better, Pokémon Trading Card Game or Magic: The Gathering, Josh and Eli proceed to blindfold play the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. Absolutely the Worst! Nendou's Father Near the end of the episode, in order to stop Nendou's deceased father's spirit from following him, Kusuo Saiki detaches his soul from his body. He then proceeds to talk to the audience, saying "Now, boys and girls watching at home. Here's a question for you. I went from being a psychic to a ghost. Do you know what happens when a ghost-type fights a ghost-type in that world-famous video game? The answer is..." He then stops and performs an uppercut on Nendou's father, sending him into the sky, and then finishes his sentence by saying "...it's super effective!"

Emmerdale N/A Sandy Thomas plays an orange DSi, a sound effect from a Pokémon Ranger game is heard and he cries out in annoyance "Every time I get to the big boss Raikou on level 3, I need Gabby, only a child can work this wretched thing", much to his son Ashley's annoyance.

Family Guy Three Directors, Baby Stewie At the end of the second story of Three Directors, Stewie says that Peter died chasing a Pokémon on the street, referencing reports of deaths of players playing Pokémon GO. In Baby Stewie, Brian tries to revert the changes to Stewie's DNA using his own machine, and one of the results is "Stewiechu".

Fillmore! Test of the Tested A cheerleading coach says that her team, while in a human pyramid, is "as strong as a Geodude using its Harden attack".

The Flash Honey, I Shrunk Team Flash When Cisco is thinking of random numbers for Cecile to guess, he then thinks "Bulbasaur". Cecile questions what a Bulbasaur is and Cisco said he wouldn't be thinking about Pokémon at a time like this. When Cecile then asks why Cisco is still thinking about Bulbasaur, Cisco says that he's the cutest one of all.

Fresh Off the Boat Where are the Giggles? Several Pikachu plush toys could be seen in Deidre's toy room.

George Lopez George Drives The Batmobile After Benny passes out George tells Angie that in the eight hours it would take for her to wake they could take her to Mexico, put her in a Pikachu costume with a note saying beat me I have candy. Shortly after George says Pikachu a couple times while swinging his arms as if he was hitting a piñata with a bat.

Good Vibes The Grass is Always Greener When Mondo sees Woody's room for the first time, he comments on all the awards for competitions he has. Woody admits that many of them were purchased on eBay by his parents. Mondo then asks how much they spent on the "lame Pokémon tournament participant ribbon", a gold ribbon with a Pikachu on it, to which Woody claims that he won on his own.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san Like a Close Encounter of the Third Kind and Great Conspiracy X Nyaruko summons her pets Shanta and Nephren-Car from a Poké Ball-esque object, during which she says 「君に決めた！」 Kimi ni kimeta! ("I choose you!")[7][8]

The Good Cop (Israel) Season 1, Episode 1 Pikachu plush in the background at 13:47.

Himouto! Umaru-chan N/A During the opening of the series, Umaru walks to a table that has her signature hoodie and three Poké Balls, and interacts with the hoodie. In addition, in the episode Umaru and her rival, after being told not to play with a cat souvenir, Umaru plays with it the next day alongside her hamster toys, calling it "Pocket Hamsters GK". She makes them battle, and during the battle, she starts by shouting "A wild Hamsaburou has appeared!" She then proceeds to summon the cat souvenir, shouting "Metal Nyankos! I choose you!" She makes the cat bob its head, saying that it makes Hamsaburou's defense fall while a health bar on the side of the screen drops by about half. She then reaches for a capsule to use to catch Hamsaburou, but trips and knocks the cat off the table, breaking it. Later, while trying to rebuild it, she remakes the head from scratch, but can't remember its face, and gives it a face similar to that of Pikachu's, with a voice shouting "Pukka!" Lastly, in between scenes, the room from the opening's reference appears, with a logo underneath it very similar to Pokémon's Japanese logo. Taihei walks up to a sleeping Umaru and tells her in a dialogue box "Umaru, starting today, you're a trainer!", to which she responds "Ugh, just five more minutes."

House M.D Perils of Paranoia While having a discussion with his diagnostic team, House says, "Which is why Arceus created a universe with three states of matter and 300 solid or liquid poisons that could cause his symptoms", upon which Taub asks, "Arceus?" House then suggests he look it up.

Highschool DxD I Get a Familiar! The familiar master, Zatouji (parody of Satoshi) is a parody of Ash Ketchum. He uses the phrase "Gotta catch 'em all" many times.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Chiitan Introducing the segment, John Oliver mentions Japan as "the country that gave us Pokémon", and a Jigglypuff appears on-screen. Oliver says, to the audience, to throw a Poké Ball at it (in the style of Pokémon GO), and the on-screen Poké Ball does so, albeit too hard, resulting in the Jigglypuff exploding and spraying blood everywhere. Worth noting is the fact that, when it shows up, the Jigglypuff sings with its voice from Super Smash Bros. Later on in the segment, a Porygon plush makes a cameo.

Love Alarm Episode 1 There is a Pichu sticker on the cash register of the convenient store that Kim Jo-jo works at.

Lucky Star Base of the Sun and Pandora's Box In Base of the Sun, Kagami asks Konata if she has any talents besides making faces. Konata replies by stating that she can name every Pok *** n. In Pandora's Box, Konata states that Kinkaku-ji is gold, but Ginkaku-ji isn't silver, referencing both the Bell and Brass Towers, and Pokémon Gold and Silver. She also wonders if they're like Po * émon, and "if they have a Sapphire and Ruby or something".

MAD Multiple Episodes Several MAD sketches have included references to Pokémon. These include notably "Grey's In Anime" where a character wearing a Ash like that use a Pikachu-like character as a defribilator as well as a sketch in the episode Cliffordfield / Big Time Rushmore which features a skit about rejected Pokémon and "Pokémon Park" (a Pokémon-based spoof of Jurassic Park). Other sketches have included "Big League Pika-Chew" (in which Pikachu-based gum appears). "Pokémon of Interest" (a crossover with Person of Interest), and "Pokémonsters, Inc." (a crossover with Monsters, Inc.). Other sketches have used Pokémon to spoof other modern culture trend: "PokéHarmony" spoofing the dating website eHarmony, "The less you know", spoofing The more you know with alleged Pokémon facts, and "Psyduck" spoofing Psych using the titular Pokémon.

MADtv Season 5, Episode 16 In the "Reality Check" sketch, Belma Button mentions that she took her kids to Pokémon: The First Movie, chastising the Japanese for sending it to America. Tovah says, "Who drew it? Stevie Wonder?" and Belma says it sounds like the name of a homosexual Jamaican adult film.

My Family Pain in the Class After finding out that his mother Susan Harper (Zoë Wanamaker) has invited the parents of his school bully round to solve his bullying problem, Michael (Gabriel Thomson) says 'goodbye' to some of his possessions, including his Pokémon cards, commenting that he only had 212 left to collect * .

The Norm Show Artie Comes to Town The first scene is a parody of Pokémon, as a boy named Tommy thought he was Ash. The skit featured actors dressed as Squirtle, Pikachu, Butterfree, Charmander, and Meowth. It features a Pokémon battle between Norm and Tommy.

Paper Towns N/A In the scene where Quentin, Ben, and Radar are scared while in an abandoned gas station looking for clues to where Margo can be, they wonder what they should do to calm themselves down. Quentin suggest that they sing a song — the first one that comes into their head. Ben then starts to sing the Pokémon Theme; Radar and Quentin join him as they together conquer their fear.

Rick and Morty Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri Rick tosses a couple of capsules that look like Poké Balls, and two creatures pop out and attack each other.[9]

Robot Chicken Multiple Episodes Several skits in Robot Chicken have parodied Pokémon. Notable skits include "Poké Ball High Life" showing Ash's Pikachu's party life in a Poké Ball, "The Greatest Pokémon Generation" showing former Pokémon fans in their old age and "Timely Michael Vick Joke" in which Ash and Pikachu must battle Michael Vick and his Rottweiler, and "Bloopers", in which an outtake from the Pokémon anime is shown. Other sketches appear in the episodes The Hobbit: There and Bennigan's where Ash plays tennis with Pikachu's Poké Ball to punish his Pokémon for urinating on his rug, Freshly Baked: The Robot Chicken Santa Claus Pot Cookie Freakout Special: Special Edition where Santa Claus' elves mention Pokémon toys in a musical number titled "Toys Through The Years", Strummy Strummy Sad Sad where the elderly Pokémon Day Care owner is shown to film the Pokémon breeding, and 3 2 1 2 333, 222, 3...66? which features Ash and Pikachu battling Henry Kissinger and a "Happy Monday" where Ash's Greninja is shown to have changed quite a bit after going its separate ways with its former trainer, attempting unsuccessfully to hit on a female coworker. In What Can You Tell Me About Butt Rashes?, after Pikachu is horribly injured, Ash reveals his newest Pokémon, Glinda, Good Witch of the North from The Wizard of Oz, and she is used to fight a Blastoise. IN "Sundancer Craig in: 30% of the Way To Crying", Detective Pikachu tells Tim to kill John Lennon.

Saturday Night Live Multiple Episodes In the "Pokémon Parents" skit of the Jennifer Aniston / Sting episode, a boy trades his holographic Charizard for weaker cards like Metapod and Diglett. Mewtwo and the first movie are also mentioned. In the "Hardball" skit (John McCain / The White Stripes), Harry Belafonte refers to Pokémon as a slave trade wheel describing the unfair treatment of blacks. Finally, in "The Abacus Conundrum" skit of the Robert De Niro / Diddy-Dirty Money episode, a fake book is shown called "The Pokémon Directive" with a Pikachu on its cover.

See Spot Run N/A James tells Gordon Smith that he had a nightmare of a Charizard trying to burn him, in resemblance to Ash's Charizard. James also tells him what a Pokémon is, as some people may not understand.

Searching N/A There were many instances of Pokémon referenced throughout the film. The first, David shows Margot on Facetime his Pokemon t-shirt. The second time was when an online user asked Margot what her favorite Pokémon was, and she responded by saying Uxie, as it could erase memories; erase the memory of her mother's death. Margot also always has a Poké Ball keychain with her.

Servant × Service Don't Panic, Make a Scene, or Throw Away Your Job Hasebe joins a discussion on anime with his coworkers accompanied by a montage of games he has played, including "Pokimon", a distorted Pikachu and Bulbasaur, and a Poké Ball sound effect.

Strip Mall N/A In several episodes, an adult movie parody called Pokémemon is used as an on-going plot device. The lead actress of the film is seen dressed similar to Misty's original design, and her role's name is Fisty, a further play on the character.

Supermansion Virtual Reality Bites When American Ranger asks Cooch if she believes in God, she replies that she "believes in all of them. God, sasquatch, leprechauns, all the Pokémons--".

Teekyu Evolution with Senpai Marimo exclaims "Let's go catch them all!" while she, Kanae, and Nasuno hold tennis balls like Poké Balls and wear hats similar to Ash's. Yuri exasperatedly responds "Is this Poké ** n?!"

Teenage Kicks Sex Kate (Abigail Cruttenden) wants to have sex with Vernon (Ade Edmondson). Vernon lies about David's (Jonathon Chan-Pensley) room being his and apologises to her about the Pokémon duvet.

Transformers Animated (Japanese dub) Garbage In, Garbage Out The episode's Japanese broadcast eyecatch is an homage to Who's That Pokémon?, with Wreck-Gar being the silhouetted character.[10]

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo Episode 13 Si-ho's hospital roommate has a Gengar plush sitting on the windowsill.