Trivia / Only Murders in the Building

• Acting for Two: Jayne Houdyshell plays Bunny Folger and provides the voice of Bunny's pet parrot Mrs. Gambolini.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Oscar has an Iconic Outfit tie dye hoodie, a criminal history and has a significant relationship with a character played by Selena Gomez, similar to one of her famous ex.
• All-Star Cast:
  • Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as the leads, with supporting roles played by Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, and Tina Fey, Jane Lynch, and several appearances by Sting As Himself. Season Two adds Shirley Maclaine, Cara Delevingne, and Amy Schumer (also As Herself), and Season Three adds Paul Rudd, Meryl Streep, Linda Emond, Ashley Park, and Matthew Broderick (As Himself).
  • The Japanese dub does the same by featuring many well-know veteran Anime voice actors, including Michio Hazama (Charles), Kōichi Yamadera (Oliver), Megumi Hayashibara (Mabel), Keiko Toda (Jan), Yoshito Yasuhara (Teddy), Kazuhiro Yamaji (Sting), Yūya Uchida (Tim), Yūichi Nakamura (Oscar), Mitsuki Saiga (Alice), Masako Katsuki (Amy), Shinichirou Kamio (Sam), Yoshino Ohtori (Leonora) and others.
• Approval of God: Some real life true crime podcasters are fans of the show, including Rabia Chaudry whose efforts to exonerate her friend Adnan Syed led to the creation of Serial.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Detective Williams' participation in Season 3 was conceived very late into production and it wasn't certain if Da'Vine Joy Randolph would be available. However, Randolph was so keen to work with Meryl Streep — especially after finding out that she'd get to handcuff Streep — that she cleared her schedule on short notice to fly to New York and shoot her scenes.
• California Doubling: Scenes depicting Bayport on Long Island were actually shot in the Rockaways.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Adina Verson auditioned for Cinda Canning. She didn't get the role, but the producers liked her so much they created Poppy White, so she could be on the show.
• Creator's Oddball: This is Steve Martin's first-ever regular series gig. (As an actor. He was a regular writer on The Smothers Brothers, and a creator/producer on the long-forgotten 80s series Domestic Life and George Burns Comedy Week.)
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor:
  • Theo Dimas is played by James Caverly, who's deaf.
  • Paulette, one of the podcast's fans, is played by Tony winner Ali Stroker who uses a wheelchair.
• Dueling Works: With The Afterparty, another comedic murder mystery with a cast of well-regarded comics released on Apple TV+ a few months after this series.
• Fan Community Nickname:
  • “Randos” seem to be the name that’s flying around due to Charles and Oliver referring to the three of them as such after they learn the word from Mabel.
  • More tongue in cheek, but some people suggested OnlyFans as a nickname.
  • Ever since Season 2, Arconiacs has been gaining traction, taking inspiration from the name of the titular building.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Season 3 has several characters insist Charles can't sing, despite Steve Martin having a good singing voice^note Musically, Martin is primarily known as an instrumentalist but does occaionally sing on his albums and on stage.
• Lying Creator: The producers only realized in hindsight that posting a photo of Paul Rudd arm-in-arm with the cast could be considered a massive spoiler. Luckily, they were able to play it off as a celebrity fan coming by for a set visit (which was also true).
• Permanent Placeholder: The ethereal vocals heard in the series' theme were created by composer Siddhartha Khosla using his own voice and a number of Mellotron effects to give an idea of what he wanted the soundtrack to be. The producers heard them, loved them, and told him to not touch them any further.
• Real-Life Relative: Steve Martin's wife Anne Stringfield plays Cindy, one of Cinda Canning's assistants.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • The Camp Gay Howard Morris is played by openly gay Michael Cyril Creighton.
  • Charles' stunt double Sazz Pataki is a lesbian played by lesbian Jane Lynch.
  • Mabel dates Alice Banks, an artist played by Cara Delevingne who is pansexual in real life.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: The main theme and the overall soundtrack include a bassoon anchoring the melody. Composer Siddhartha Khosla hadn't known that Jan, a professional bassoonist, would be revealed as Season 1's killer but his decision gave the show an opportunity to subtly hint at their ultimate identity.
• Spoiled by the Cast List: A lot of viewers quickly sussed out Season 1's culprit from the way the cast was listed in the opening credits. To avert this in Season 2, only the three leads are credited in the opening, while the rest are listed in the end credits to better obfuscate who has a prominent role in the plot.
• Those Two Actors:
  • This is the sixth time Steve Martin and Martin Short have acted in a project together (seven if one counts Martin being interviewed by Short's character Jiminy Glick).
  • Likewise, in the Japanese dub, this is yet another work when we hear both Kōichi Yamadera (Oliver) and Megumi Hayashibara (Mabel) working together in the same place.
• Underage Casting: Mandy Gonzalez, who plays Mabel's mother Silvia, is only fourteen years older than Selena Gomez in real life. This actually is a case of Reality Subtext as Gomez's actual mother is only 16 years older than her.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Steve Martin's original concept was that three older men would come together over a shared interest in mysteries but would only solve murders that happen in their building because they don't have the energy to go outside.
  • Cinda Canning was written with Tina Fey in mind. But, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fey's participation wasn't a sure thing so other actors were tested, including Adina Verson, who was cast as Poppy White on the strength of her Cinda Canning audition.
• Word of God: According to show runner John Hoffman, Charles' dad was arrested because he assaulted Rose Cooper's abusive husband.

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