The plot of this episode concerns Pierce's family corporation, the moist-towelette company called "Hawthorne Wipes." Chevy Chase, the actor who plays Hawthorne, in real life also has a family fortune derived from a personal sanitation product. Chase, whose real name is Cornelius Crane Chase, is the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, who was heir to the Crane Plumbing company, which manufactures and distributes plumbing fixtures and products (most notably, toilets for home and commercial markets) in North America. Pierce's father, who appears in the present for the first time in this episode, is also named Cornelius. (His father had appeared previously in a home movie circa 1956 played by a different actor.)
Larry Cedar, who plays Pierce's father, Cornelius, in this episode, is actually 12 years younger than Chevy Chase, who plays Pierce.
Pierce's full name is revealed to be Piercinald Anastasia Hawthorne.
When Abed shows the group the "Pocket Full of Hawthornes" music video, the artist is called "Urbana Champaign." These are the two towns in which the University of Illinois is located.
Britta keeps referring to the "Edible Complex" instead of the "Oedipus Complex" (also known as the Oedipal complex). In Private Charles Lamb (1974), Hawkeye Pierce defined the Edible Complex as "where a boy liked his mother's cooking better than eating out."