After accidentally getting hit by Peter's car, Brian begins wondering what the point of life is if it just goes away in the blink of an eye, and becomes a crooner for Frank Sinatra, Jr.'s club, where he becomes famous for his singing and drinking. Meanwhile, Meg makes friends with a girl who mistakes Meg for a lesbian, and Meg decides to go along with it so she can have friends for once in her life.
"Brian Sings And Swings" contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Frank Sinatra’s “mother” Mia Farrow spanks him at the club in front of other people watching.
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: In one cutaway gag, Peter pretends to be a Chasidic Jew to get off work and invokes this stereotype.Peter: Good morning, Hebrews and Shebrews! What a glorious Jewish day! Hey, how about all those coupons in the Sunday paper, huh? Lot of good deals there. You know, I went into a store last week and they wanted 800 bucks for a TV, but I us'd them down to 500. (gets kicked in the groin)
- Ambiguously Brown: Stewie worries that if Brian dies, he'll have to start hanging out with Dwayne Johnson "again". Then a movie trailer starts where Don LaFontaine ponders what his racial background is. note Don LaFontaine: One's a baby. And the other's... black. I think. Or at least... part black... Or... Hispanic. You know, I think there might possibly be some Filipino in there, yeah, possibly some Filipino. I mean... I mean if he's black, it's definitely... diluted. I mean... one of his parents must be white. And what the hell is Jessica Alba for that matter? If I were 40 years younger, I'd plow that 'til next July.
- Anachronism Stew: The Thomas Edison cutaway has Edison owning central heating, watching The Office (US) on television, and blasting Jimi Hendrix on his stereo, all things more than a hundred years ahead of their creation.
- Brick Joke: Peter calling Frank Jr.'s "mother", Mia Farrow. Later, Mia Farrow appears at the end to spank Frank Jr.
- Butch Lesbian:
- Meg disguises herself as one, prompting this hilarious reaction from Chris: "Mom, why is the Cable Guy here?".
- Four other members of Sarah's club who identify as "Super Huge Mega Lesbians" are this.
- Despair Event Horizon: Brian comes dangerously close to crossing it in this episode, after coming to the realization that life can be taken away so suddenly and his drinking spirals out of control.Brian: I don't know what went wrong. I was just trying to live for the moment, you know? Because life can end so abruptly, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
- Driven to Suicide: Meg's Sunshine Bear would rather commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a truck than be Meg's friend.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: At the episode's end, Frank Sinatra Jr being spanked by his stepmother Mia Farrow for "hanging out with a baby and a dog" is Played for Laughs.
- Ear Ache: When Stewie's ear is severed from a hungry deer and no one notices, he replaces it with a Mr. Potato Head ear.Lois: Oh, Brian, this is inexcusable!Peter: Yeah! What if something had happened to Stewie?Stewie: Oh, and my ear's in a cup, so I guess that doesn't count.[...]Stewie: Yeah, uh, don't worry. I don't need to go to the hospital or anything. I'll just use this Mr. Potato Head piece.
- Engrish: The infomercial that Stewie and Sinatra watch has an Asian man speaking this way.Asian Guy: Herro. How come I rich and you not? How come you not sell real estate like I do? How come I sleep with your wife while you at work? Then I pee in your toilet and don't flush? And sometimes, I open the back part and I pee there so that next time you flush, pee come out? Why? 'Cause I smart. I smart, you stupid. Call now.
- Expy: The "Jew" that briefly replaces Brian in the New Rat Pack is based on Jerry Lewis, a reference to Lewis's work with Dean Martin.
- Freudian Slip: When Meg introduces herself to Sarah's lesbian club.Meg: Hey, gays— Guys! Girls!
[The lesbians look at each other confused] - Fun with Acronyms: The poster welcoming Meg into the Lesbian Alliance also says “See You Next Tuesday,” an innuendo for Country Matters.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot:
- When Lois practices kissing on Meg's "girlfriend" Sarah, Chris falls out of the closet trying to videotape what's going on.
- Later, Quagmire comes out of the closet and asks Meg and Sarah to sign some release forms.
- Again towards the end, Quagmire is disappointed that there was no "girl-on-girl action" going on between Meg and Sarah and he showed up from hiding with a full video recording crew.
- Incompatible Orientation: Sarah, who is openly a lesbian, crushes on Meg who is straight.
- Jury Duty: In one cutaway gag, Peter attempts to get out of jury duty by pretending to be racist, but unfortunately, the jury is all monochromatic (also white people).Peter: Awful lotta honkies in here.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Sarah, due to her long hair and more feminine looking appearance than Meg.
- Manchild: When Peter spits out his jambalaya in his hand and demands that Lois take it in hers, she keeps telling him to put it in his napkin, to which he has none of.
- Mistaken for Gay: Meg's lab partner Sarah believes her to be gay and invites her to her special club. Meg just goes along with it for the attention until the end.
- No Bisexuals: Sarah is devastated that Meg was pretending to be gay just to have friends and she is choosing to be heterosexual. While Lois is Happily Married to Peter but also enjoys kissing Sarah, nothing is said about Lois' sexuality either, with no mention of the B word in either case. The conversation that follows clinches it:Sarah: You're going to choose to be straight?
Meg: But I thought being gay wasn't a choice.
Sarah: Well, not for guys...
Meg: I—look, it was wrong of me to mislead you. I should go. (Meg leaves, Sarah looks disappointed) - No Hugging, No Kissing: Lois lampshades this, saying to Meg that she'd know that Meg was in a "relationship" with Sarah if she had seen her kiss her girlfriend once in a while.
- Noodle Incident: Meg's teacher shows an episode of the educational science show Nova but he taped over it with a homemade sex tape.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: When Meg visits Sarah, she tells her she has to get something off her chest, to which Sarah excitedly says, "Yes!", and then Meg tells her she needs to open up, to which Sarah says, "Sweet!", and when she reveals that her mother was right, we zoom out to reveal Sarah stripped down to her undies, quickly putting her clothes back on.
- Overly Long Gag: Bruce at the 10 items or less cashier in the supermarket.Bruce: I could definitely use a breath freshener. Oooh, but that's gon' give me eleven items.Cashier: It's fine.Bruce: No, no, rules is rules. Now let's see what I'm 'onna put back. I need the Reynolds Wrap and the bath tissue. I could do without the Triscuits, but they sure are good.Stewie: (sighs)Bruce: 7Up's the only reason I came here in the first place. Y'know what? I'm not gonna need the V8. I'll just buy some tomater juice from the minimart across the street. It's a bit more expensive, but I like helpin' out a small business. I hope you don't mind if I pay you in pennies.
- Also, Peter continuously expressing his distaste for Lois's jambalaya recipe but spitting it into his hand, sticking his tongue out and trying to hand it to Lois.
- Parental Neglect: Despite their concern over Stewie's well-being, both Peter and Lois are too busying chewing out Brian to even notice that the poor kid is missing an ear and they don't even bother to take him to a hospital.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After leaving Stewie behind in a drunken stupor, Stewie calls Brian out.Stewie: Hey, Brian, remember me? I'm the guy you left sitting at the counter at McDonald's with a bag full of burgers! You know, it's funny, I tried to walk home and... A lot of... A lot of hungry deer are out at this time of night. Oh, and here's where the story gets fun. You may have noticed I'm missing an ear! Yeah, managed to pull it out of a deer's mouth and put it in some ice that I got at a 7-Eleven. So, when you're ready to apologize, just talk into this cup!
- Shout-Out:
- Meg watches as Chris' hair and hat is placed on his head, spoofing the scene in The Empire Strikes Back in which Admiral Piett watches Darth Vader’s helmet being lowered over his scarred head, as a sample of "The Imperial March" is played.
- The flashback in which Peter "swam with the bulls" is a combination of the running of the bulls and synchronized swimming. They perform to "Waltz of the Flowers" from the ballet The Nutcracker, which is a reference to the film Caddyshack.
- The imagery in the scene where Brian sits at the bar depressed mimics the cover of Frank Sinatra's album, No One Cares; Frank Sinatra Jr. happens to be performing at that bar.
- The part where Mayor Adam West is singing is a parody of the song “Edelweiss” from the musical The Sound of Music.
- The Sunshine Bear doll is based on Funshine Bear, from the Care Bears.
- Brian says that he has to “live life when you can and live it hard,” which Stewie calls “the Chris Farley method.” The comedian and Saturday Night Live alumnus had extensive drug abuse problems and died of an overdose, not unlike his idol, John Belushi, who was also a SNL castmember.
- Stewie, Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. make up the “New Rat Pack.” Frank Sinatra Sr. was in an all-star group called the Rat Pack.
- When Quagmire attempts to videotape Meg and Sarah for a second time, his production crew is Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank, whose efforts to make an independent film were documented in the 1999 film American Movie.
- When Stewie is left alone in the makeup room he decides to play 52 pickup, which is a card practical joke.
Stewie: This would be so much more fun if there was someone else around, because then they'd say, "I'm not picking up those cards," and I'd say, "You have to. It's 52 pickup," and then they'd say, "Well, what if I just leave them there," and I'd say, "Those are my father's cards. You can't just leave them there. He's gonna be mad." Where am I?- A recurring joke refers to Frank Sinatra Jr.’s mother as actress Mia Farrow who was briefly married to Sinatra Sr. in the 1960s. His mother is actually Nancy Barbato.
- In one cutaway gag, Peter gets mugged by Gene Shalit.
Shalit: Don't... Panic Room! I'm not going to... William Hurt you! I just want your... Tango & Cash! So just... Pay It Forward... and we'll all be... Happy Gilmore!Peter: What? - Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In the last song, Brian sings, "I like the works of Allen Funt..." to which Stewie replies "Or a nicely shaven leg..." in order to avoid a Country Matters situation.
- Sweeps Week Lesbian Kiss: Lois teaches Meg how to kiss her girlfriend by planting a big one on Sarah. Sarah is amused and neither of the three question the kiss again.
- Take That!:
- One cutaway showing John Goodman eating Thanksgiving dinner while his family starves.Son: Please, Daddy.
Goodman I told you when I'm FINISHED you can have what's LEFT!!!!
Son: There won't be any left. There's never any left.
(The wife attempts to take some food but Goodman threatens her with a knife.)
Wife: (frightened) Happy Thanksgiving. - Stewie decides not to buy a button-up jacket because it will make him look like actor/comedian Steve Harvey.
- Brian reads a newspaper headline "Thanks to treatment Magic Johnson down to one AID". note
- One cutaway showing John Goodman eating Thanksgiving dinner while his family starves.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Peter and Lois are not happy with Brian when he comes home hours late, drunk, and without Stewie (who then shows up with his ear having been bitten off).
