The creator and director of the series, Graham Linehan, appears in Messy Joe's as one of the mariachi band members.
On his 'Lonely Faces' ad, Moss' likes are computers, Masters of the Universe, Tek Wars (which is also Father Ted Crilly's specialist subject when he partakes in a quiz in the programme Father Ted, also created by Graham Linnehan), Magic The Darkening and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His dislikes are football, most telly, non-computer things and the countryside.
Oliver Chris's character, Daniel, comes in and asks Jen a series of trivia questions. His character, Ricky, on The Office (2001) was known for being good at trivia, having appeared on the quiz show Blockbusters (1983) and winning the Wernham Hogg office quiz night.
Jen foreshadowed what Daniel will do at the restaurant. She tells Moss she's hoping that if he likes the food, he won't beat her to death with a shoe. At the kid's restaurant the Clown starts laughing at Daniel (for losing his streak on "Who wants to be a Millionaire"), at which point he loses it and ends up beating the Clown with the clown shoe. He also accidentally hits Jen in the face with the shoe when confronted by Roy.
Messy Joe's scenes were shot in Texas Lone Star, a now-closed Tex-Mex restaurant that existed in Turnham Green, Chiswick, west London. The actual shooting must have occurred shortly before or after its closing down in late 2005. Apart from extra props, most of the decoration was the premise's own. The accompanying external shots of Jen and Roy waving a cab were actually shot half a mile further south, across Chiswick High Road, on Devonshire Road, where both W4 Bathrooms's (reflected) and the London Zu gift shop's facades (also now closed) can be seen.