The poem read by the teacher is "Tell Me A Story," by Robert Penn Warren, from the collection "Selected Poems 1923-1975."
The title, "The Great War and Modern Memory," shares its name with Paul Fussell's award-winning 1975 study of how the British experience on the Western Front during the first World War subsequently affected literature.
The Purcell's hometown of West Finger is a fictionalized version of West Fork, Arkansas.
The TV show Detective Hays is being interviewed for in 2015 is called "True Criminal."
Freddy Burns says "Dude, watch the leather man" to Frankie Boyle as he gets in his car. This is a reference to Matthew McConaughey's line in Dazed and Confused (1993). McConaughey is an executive producer for season three.