While this episode is largely a parody of the documentary mini-series Wild, Wild Country, Ra-Shabard's early career running a Los Angeles health food restaurant strongly resembles the career of Father Yod as depicted in the documentary feature The Source Family (2012).
The symbol of the cult was the four 4-pointed stars like the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they dressed in the colors of the team.
Helen Mirren, who acts as the host for this series, previously narrated Children of God (1994), a very real documentary about a cult that used religious rhetoric and sex orgies to control its members.