Even My Name is Earl has a bit o’ gamer in it

Forget for a minute that the kids in the show get an Xbox in the most recent episode. There’s a far more subtle moment in NBC’s My Name is Earl episode titled “My Name is Alias.”

Although the name might suggest otherwise, this episode is not really a parody of the former TV series Alias, this one is more a giant nod to 24, complete with secret agent stuff, a fight scene and a loudly ka-chung-ing bomb.

During a few flashbacks through Darnell “Crabman” Turner’s secret agent career, there’s a quick scene in a jungle where a man is beating an oversized drum. Then another man peeks in through the trees and says, “There’s about to be a Donkey Kong killscreen in the game tent, if you’re interested.”

That moment is a direct parody of a scene in the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007), when professional/competitive arcade gamer Brian Kuh is watching Steven Wiebe’s attempt at breaking the Donkey Kong arcade game record, then goes around the arcade to quietly let everyone know that a kill screen is eminent saying at least one time, “There’s a potential Donkey Kong killscreen coming up, if anyone is interested.”

The moment in the Earl episode starts at about the 10:50 mark in the full-length video. Here’s the segment (after all the crappy Hulu ads, of course):

And as luck has it, here’s a clip from King of Kong that starts with Kuh:

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