While Edward Scissorhands wasn't a gigantic hit in 1990, its memorable title character alone made it ripe for parodies — often of the "Edward [fill-in-the-blank-with-an-unusual-item]hands" variety — almost immediately, and the film's enduring popularity has resulted in further references down the decades.
Live-Action TV
- I Love the Nineties covered this film in the 1990 episode.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: In the Laserblast episode, the ill-fated alien fugitive wearing the titular laser on his arm inspires the riff "Edward CDplayerhands".
- In the Seinfeld Season 5 episode "The Barber", Seinfeld and Kramer witness an argument between Jerry's barber Enzo and his nephew Gino regarding this movie; it's Enzo's favorite but Gino finds it too implausible. Kramer would rather have shoehorn hands, himself. Later a confrontation between the two at Jerry's apartment is derailed when they realize Jerry's watching it on TV.
Magazines
- MAD parodied the film in 1991 as "Deadwood Scissorham".
Real Life
- Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein was so keen on recutting movies during his Miramax days that he was nicknamed "Harvey Scissorhands" by detractors.
Web Video
- Epic Rap Battles of History: In "Freddy Krueger vs Wolverine", the former is referred to as "Only half of Edward Scissorhands" at one point.
Western Animation
- Animaniacs did a short featuring the perpetually silent and hapless Mr. Skullhead as "Skullhead Boneyhands", whose integration into suburbia goes awry when a dog buries him. Referencing the then-recently-ended real life relationship of Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, the Kim parody is upset: "And I was gonna marry him!"
- Bob's Burgers:
- In the Season 3 Halloween Episode "Full Bars", Louise dresses up as Edward Scissorhands.
- In "Thankshoarding", Gene's response to seeing the nervous Teddy's razor-marred face is "You look like you've been attacked by an Edward Scissorhands!"
- The Critic had a cutaway gag for Edward Plungerhands ("Please kill me."). A poster for this one would appear in another episode, "L.A. Jay".
- Family Guy: In "Lois Comes Out of Her Shell", Edward appears in a cutaway gag as a babysitter. After assuring the parents that he'll take good care of their infant, he quickly returns to inform them of its death. Johnny Depp reprised his role as Edward.
- The Simpsons
- The series turns one movie reference into another: In "Cape Feare", one of several fake-out scares Bart receives early on has Ned Flanders jumping in front of him with a razor-fingered glove snarling "Say your prayers, Bart..." only to brighten up with "...because the schools can't force you like they should!" He's actually using the glove to trim the hedges into a dinosaur topiary.
- Another episode is titled "Homer Scissorhands". In this episode, Homer gets a job as a hairdresser after styling Patty and Selma's hair with garden shears.
- Tiny Toon Adventures: In "The Return of Batduck", Plucky Duck tries a few failed ploys to get past Ralph the security guard so he can get to the Batman Returns set to convince Tim Burton to cast him as the title character. One is to claim he's "Edward Hedgeclipperhands" in an appropriate costume, only for Ralph to challenge him to a game of rock-paper-scissors...with a boulder landing on Plucky as a result.
