History WesternAnimation / CloseEnough

** "Sauceface" and "Man Up" are essentially {{Whole Plot Reference}}s to ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' and ''Film/DieHard'' respectively.

* MurderousMannequin: The Forever 23 store mannequins of "Clap Like This" act like regular mannequins by day and party all night when the store's closed. For them there's only the carefree life, which sounds great to the miserable new store employee Bridgette. Being forcibly turned into a mannequin in the store that [[SuperMultiPurposeRoom doubles as an operating theater]] is a little less up her alley. Worse, because she's uncooperative, the mannequins sthreaten to use her for spare parts after turning her into one.

* BoyMeetsGhoul: Bridgette hooks up with the ghost of a french aristocrat who haunts a sofa Josh and Alex found on the sidewalk.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The show has the same creator and much of the same staff as ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. Both series have a very similar art style and carry the same MundaneMadeAwesome set-up, but whereas ''Regular Show'' focused on anthropomorphic, 20-something slackers who slowly mature and figure out their identities over the course of the series, ''Close Enough'' follows a mostly human cast who are navigating their early 30s and dealing with married life, parenthood, and general adulthood. It's also a lot more frantic and less laid-back in tone compared to ''Regular Show''.

** "Sauceface" and "Man Up" are essentially {{Whole PlotReference}}s to ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' and ''Film/DieHard'' respectively.

** There are numerous references to Quintel's previous series ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': for example, the park house is put up for sale on "The Perfect House", Josh and Emily's kitchen wallpaper have silhouettes of Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, Benson, and Pops; there's a [[SubliminalSeduction backmasked message]] in "Skate Dad" urging the viewer to buy ''Regular Show'' [=DVDs=] (on the shot of the demonic skateboard), "Cool Moms" has one of the little girls in the arm wrestling gym wearing an "I'm Eggscellent" trucker cap, and a set of condoms seen in "The Canine Guy" have Mordecai's face on them.

* RuderAndCruder: ''Close Enough'' is raunchier than ''Regular Show''. Justified, since ''Close Enough'' is an actual adult cartoon rather than a kids' cartoon [[DemographicallyInappropriateHumour with questionable jokes meant for adults]].

** Heck even the way they cause wacky adventures is completely opposite, for Modecai and Rigby their troubles were because they were constantly trying to get out of work or slacking off, where as Josh and Emily's troubles tend to be because they take on more work then they can handle.

Originally scheduled to air in 2018 as part of a new adult animation block on Creator/{{TBS}}, it [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment fell into limbo]] after production on companion show Creator/LouisCK's ''The Cops'' was cancelled due to C.K. being outed for sexual misconduct[[note]]though ''Final Space'' ended up airing anyway, a short-lived and mostly forgotten series ''Tarantula!'' also aired, but didn't get renewed for another season; and ''American Dad'' is still on TBS[[/note]]. ''Close Enough'' would premiere two years later through Creator/HBOMax on July 9, 2020. On August 6, Quintel announced that [[https://twitter.com/JGQuintel/status/1291409920823156736 a second season has been greenlit]], which released on February 25th, 2021. [[https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us/media-release/hbo-max/hbo-max-orders-three-adult-animated-series-clone-high-velma-and-fired-mars-picks-two Two more seasons]] would be announced on February 10th. International distribution via Creator/{{Netflix}} began on September 14 2020.

** In "Birth Daze", Sardini the magician throws a magic ball at Josh and Emily that briefly grows spikes just like the ''Film/Phantasm'' series.

* MurderousMannequin: The Forever 23 store mannequins of "Clap Like This" act like regular mannequins by day and party all night when the store's closed. For them there's only the carefree life, which sounds great to the miserable new store employee Bridgette. Being forcibly turned into a mannequin in the store that [[SuperMultiPurposeRoom doubles as an operating theater]] is a little less up her alley. Worse, because she's uncooperative, the mannequins threaten to use her for spare parts after turning her into one.

* AnthropomorphicAnimals: Dog Guy and his fellow mutants in "The Canine Guy".

* PrimalScene: Alex, Bridgette, and Candice catch Josh and Emily "Doing their taxes" in the car, leading to the above PregnancyScare

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Josh in the [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual]] sense to Rigby. Where Rigby was kind of a jerk who spent most of his time trying to get out of work so he could play, Josh on the other hand is a very nice - if only a little lazy and naieve - who doesn't mind adding to his workload if he thinks it's for a good reason. It probably helps that Josh is older with a wife and kid where Rigby was young and full of insecurities. Emily likewise, is similar for Mordecai, being in a stable relationship, while Mordecai was always trying to find a girl, and less willing to put up with Josh's antics than Mordecai was for Rigby.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Josh in the [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual]] sense to Rigby. Where Rigby was kind of a jerk who spent most of his time trying to get out of work so he could play, Josh on the other hand is a very nice - if kind of lazy and naieve - who doesn't mind adding to his workload if he thinks it's for a good reason. It probably helps that Josh is older with a wife and kid where Rigby was young and full of insecurities. Emily likewise, is similar for Mordecai, being in a stable relationship, while Mordecai was always trying to find a girl, and less willing to put up with Josh's antics than Mordecai was for Rigby.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Josh in the [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual]] sense to Mordecai. Where Mordecai was kind of a jerk who spent most of his time trying to get out of work so he could play, Josh on the other hand is a very nice - if kinda dumb guy - who doesn't mind adding to his workload if he thinks it's for a good reason. It probably helps that Josh is older with a wife and kid where Mordecai was young and full of insecurities.

* SuprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The thing about muscles is that you can't just get them and stop. Once you have them you have to work to maintain them otherwise you lose them. Though it happens far quicker than in reality once Josh stops working to keep his muscles he loses his new mass.

* AnAesop: "Logan's Run'd" offers one: Growing old isn't ''all'' bad, and part of being an adult is having your tastes shift and not having to keep up with the crowd as you would in your youth.

* ParentalNeglect: Josh and Emily are both specifically trying ''not'' to do this to Candice, but the plot of many episodes explore how hard it can be to juggle parenting with their personal aspirations.
* ParentsAsPeople: Both Josh and Emily fall into this category. They are both flawed individuals, but there is no denying that they really are trying to do their best for Candice.

* StatusQuoIsGod