The toolbox that Mike is using has the word Binford printed on it. Binford is the sponsor of Tool Time from the show Home Improvement, Tim Allen's previous sit-com.
Joe (Jay Leno) makes a crack about sitting through six Santa Clause movies and Mike responds that they only made three. Tim Allen starred in the three Santa Clause movies.
It is mentioned that Mike used to have an Impala and sold it so they could get a larger apartment. Tim Allen actually owned a smaller Chevrolet, a Corvair, in real life. On Tim's First Car (1998), this was a similar plot point in that Jill bought Tim a Corvair.
When Chuck Larabee (Jonathan Adams) asks Mike if the car came with any extras, Mike replied "Yea, a cardboard box, a Tonight Show mug, and a guy!" This is an obvious reference to the fact Jay Leno (Joe the Mechanic) hosted The Tonight Show from 1992-2009.
Joe (Jay Leno) asks Kyle (Christoph Sanders) to leave his garage after Kyle says that David Letterman is hilarious. Letterman and Leno famously competed for host of the Tonight Show following Johnny Carson's retirement.