The actress that plays Laura, Eric's date, also plays Nicki, Malcom's forbidden girlfriend in later episodes such as Forbidden Girlfriend.
The plot of this episode partly resembles the plot of White Noise (1985) a novel by Don DeLillo, which was later made into a movie, White Noise (2022).
Hal and Dewey lose the old couch on the way to the dump which leads to everyone having to evacuate but in later episodes the couch is back.
During the flashback scenes with Francis and Eric (3:27-3:45) showing how they got into trouble, the intro to "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan is played.