Films - Animated
- The Oogie Boogie Man from The Nightmare Before Christmas was inspired by Cab Calloway — complete with his villain song having near-direct recreations of parts of the Cab Calloway/Fleischer toon The Old Man of the Mountain.
- Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog was inspired by Cab Calloway and his villain song incorporates his call and response style.
Films - Live-Action
- Danny Elfman, who did the music for the aforementioned Nightmare Before Christmas, performed a Calloway-inspired number in the ultra-weird Forbidden Zone
- Jeeves and Wooster memorably included a cover
of "Minnie the Moocher." "Hoo-de hoo-de hoo, sir..." - Sports Night: In the second season episode "Louise Revisited", Dana goes out with a guy who happens to have the same name as Cab Calloway, and though he's not related, that doesn't stop her co-workers (particularly Natalie) from singing "Minnie the Moocher" to her.
Music
- Most of the swing bands out during the swing revival of the 1990's took at least one turn homaging Cab. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy did a cover of Minnie the Moocher, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers did a music video much like the old Fleisher cartoons Cab appeared in, complete with the lead singer doing Cab's dance moves at the beginning.
- Voltaire is a big Cab Calloway fan, and many of the songs from his album Ooky Spooky are an homage to Cab's style.
- A fairly early Shout-Out is in the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess; the character of Sportin' Life is based on Calloway, so much so that Calloway was asked to play it in the 1952 revival.
- Cuphead:
- King Dice took strong inspiration from Calloway, down to the "hi-de-ho" catchphrase and his hands in his bossfight mimicking Calloway's dance moves. Confirmed by the creators.◊
- Mr. Wheezy and his expressions are designed to bring Cab Calloway and his collaborations with Max and Dave Fleischer during the Golden Age of Animation, like Minnie the Moocher, to mind.
- King Dice took strong inspiration from Calloway, down to the "hi-de-ho" catchphrase and his hands in his bossfight mimicking Calloway's dance moves. Confirmed by the creators.
- One of the rooster caricatures in the Merrie Melodies cartoon "Swooner Crooner" is a black rooster resembling Calloway, who sings "Blues in the Night" with a "HI-DE-HIIIIIIIII!"
- Quite a few WB cartoons had Calloway references, but you're not likely to see them as they often were Blackface gags that the studio has long since retired (except for the aforementioned "Swooner Crooner").
- In the episode of Family Guy where Peter has bad breath, he sings along to "Minnie the Moocher" on the car radio to the displeasure of Meg.
