Actor Allusion / Last Man Standing (2011)

• To Tim Allen:
  • In "Last Halloween Standing", Mike passes by a trick-or-treater dressed as Buzz Lightyear.
    Mike: Those are the wrong wings.
  • Bill McKenzie (Richard Karn a.k.a. Al ) asks Mike how his three boys are doing. Mike reminds him he has three girls despite Bill distinctly remembering three boys. He also uses the phrase "I don't think so, Mike".
  • On "Private Coach" Mike says "Never give up, never surrender!" He also does the hand gesture.
  • In "College Girl," when Mike notices Jon's (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) car, Jon mentions that it was souped up for "more power." Not only does Mike do the grunt, but he remarks that "That kid was raised well."
  • Later when Jon Baker (JTT, again) is serving them at his restaurant, he tells them how business is doing in "Ryan vs. Jon Baker", Mike says, "I'm proud of you, son. Can I call you son? That just feels right."
  • On a Christmas episode, when it's suggested that Mike take over for Ed as Santa:
    Mike: Me? In a Santa suit? I don't think so!
  • Ed has a Toy Story poster in his basement.
  • The episode "Helen Potts" is chock full of allusions to Home Improvement, most of which were shoehorned into the first act following the opening titles. Patricia Richardson plays the titular character whose ex-husband loved tools and was always breaking things worse when he tried to fix anything. Chuck appears for a scene as an homage to Wilson, including a similar hat, his face mostly obscured by the fence, and having a weird tale from his travels. Helen's son even comes by the end to pick her up for lunch, and it's JTT. Mike makes similar quick comments about him being familiar. There's even a scene transition that uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to the Home Improvement theme.
  • In "Halloween", Mandy mentions that Toy Story freaks her out because one of the characters sounds like her dad.
  • In "Gift of the Wise Man", Mandy and Eve change their family's Christmas newsletter to say Mike joined a biker gang. Mike is amused by this.
  • In "Tanks for the Memories", Vanessa, after seeing Mike obsess over Helen Potts' husband's tank collection, tells her that it's "like they married the same man".
  • In several episodes, Mike's toolbox is shown with a Binford logo on it.
  • "The Fixer": When Ryan sees the amount of tools Mike brought to fix his sink, he says they should call Mike "The Tool Man."
  • In "The Bride of Prankenstein," Mike says he knows all about Santa's naughty and nice list, just don't ask him how.
  • In "Heavy Meddle", Mike mentions "a weird dude on the other side of the fence who's always giving him advice" while holding a hand over his mouth and nose.
  • In "Baked Sale," Mike mentions that he'd like to have a superhero movie made about him, preferably an animated one. Tim Allen also starred in a live action superhero movie, Zoom Academy For Superheroes, which is another allusion. It was not successful, preferring an animated one would be a good thing.
  • During a time skip in the season nine premiere, in which Mike goes without shaving, at one point he says that with his beard he could easily pass for Santa Claus.
  • "Dual Time":
    • Mike and Vanessa hire a repair man to fix their garbage disposal. The repair man happens to be Tim Taylor, leading to a number of references.
    • Tim references Wilson, but Mike initially thinks he's talking about the volleyball in Cast Away. When Tim says he loves Tom Hanks, Mike remarks that he considers Hanks to be "the second-best guy in some of those films."

• To other cast members:
  • The girls watch Paranormal Activity 2 in a season one episode. Molly Ephraim, who plays Mandy Baxter, played Ali in the film.
  • Nancy Travis gets one in "Ping-Pong" when Eve reads Vanessa's copy of The Feminine Mystique and sees that she wrote "Mrs. Tom Selleck" all over it. Travis co-starred with Selleck in Three Men and a Baby and Three Men and a Little Lady; their characters married in the latter.
  • Bill Engvall guest stars as the new church minister in "The Marriage Doctor". Travis previously played Engvall's wife in The Bill Engvall Show.
  • The ironic last line that Molly Ephraim (Mandy #1) had in the season 6 final episode, "This is my house!"

• To guest stars:
  • In "Mike and the Mechanics", Joe (Jay Leno), reveals he once dreamed of having a career as a stand up comedian before becoming a talk show host.
  • In "Outdoor Woman", Mike's ex-girlfriend Billie (Reba McEntire) praises Eve's music, leading to this exchange:
    Mike: I'm just trying to let her know how difficult it is to get in the music business.
    Billie: Well, some people pull it off and with a voice like Eve's, I think she's got a pretty good shot at it. But what do I know about the music business?

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