15 Animation Innovations from the Last 30 Years of Pop Culture History

15 Pop Culture Nuggets About ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Star Frankie Muniz on his 40th Birthday

Michael McKean Confirms That Spinal Tap is Done

27 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 5, 2025

‘Abbott Elementary’ Creator Quinta Brunson Is Doing What The Real Public School System Couldn’t

32 Pop Culture Trivia Nuggets That Don’t Really Need Dipping Sauce But If You Must Go With the Hot Mustard

Tasty facts to make your brain’s taste buds dance

32 Pop Culture Trivia Nuggets That Don’t Really Need Dipping Sauce But If You Must Go With the Hot Mustard

October 20, 2025 Add Cracked to Google

In our experience, the only thing that pairs perfectly with pop-culture facts is more pop-culture facts. Feel free to try them alongside a ton of other tasty treats, but we have a feeling that after all that experimenting, you’ll be back for more.

Why fill up on anything but the best?

32

The West Wing

The West Wing predicted the 2008 presidential election. A nonwhite Democratic legislator defeated an old-school Republican senator in fiction in 2006. Reality followed suit two years later. CRACKED.COM

31

Raw

SOME of THE GROSS VET SCENES IN RAW WERE REAL. The horse collapsing really happened as the filmmakers got permission to film one of the animals being sedated, and the hand up the cow's ass was also very real (and done under veterinary supervision). CRACKED.COM

30

Marvin Marvin

GRACKED A YOUTUBER'S FAILED SITCOM MARVIN MARVIN Nickelodeon thought Lucas Cruikshank's insufferable act warranted his own sitcom. Terrible writing and acting aside, the alien among us premise was a rip-off of Mork and Mindy, and 2 other Nick shows, Invader Zim and The Journey of Allen Strange.

29

Kenan & Kel

GRACKED KENAN THOMPSON & KEL MITCHELL Kel said that Kenan yearned for a solo career, and distanced himself from their Nickelodeon image. Не said, Kenan does not want to be seen with me in any form of media, or even have my name mentioned around him. They didn't speak for years.

28

Toy Story 2

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen wept at Jessie's backstory scene... ...when they first watched Toy Story 2, even though they both knew the whole script. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

The Princess Bride

CRACKED.COM THE PRINCESS BRIDE Wallace Shawn was inconceivably worried. Shawn's agent decided to tell him that he only got the role of Vizzini because Danny DeVito was unavailable. This got into Shawn's head, and he feared to be fired whenever he did a bad take. — Source

26

Independence Day

You might have seen some of Independence Day's sets in other movies. Independence Day Crimson Tide They used the submarine interior from Crimson Tide and the stealth bomber interior from Broken Arrow. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Dirty Dancing

Behind-the-scenes feuds Dirty Dancing Patrick Swayze vs Jennifer Grey Swayze, a classically trained dancer, found Grey childish and unprofessional, and was often annoyed at her (particularly when she messed up a take). CRACKED.COM

24

Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve's last role was eerily prophetic. Reeve's last film before his accident follows a police officer who is paralyzed after being shot in the line of duty. Reeve visited a spinal cord trauma unit to prepare for the role, and famously commented it could happen to anyone. Above Suspicion CRACKED — Source

23

Forrest Gump

FORREST GUMP FORREST SAYS JENNY DIED ON A SATURDAY BUT HER GRAVESTONE SAYS 22 MARCH 1482, A 5 MONDAY CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Blade Runner

When Tyrell lowers the shades in his office in Blade Runner, no shades were actually lowered. The set didn't have shades, so they had to build a rig that would gradually lower a filter over their light sources. They then added the shades as a visual effect later on. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Roseanne

ROSEANNE Becky CRACKED.COM LECY GORANSON SARAH CHALKE The two actresses leapfrogged each other for a while, even swapping out from episode to episode in the 8th season. — Source

20

Pat Sajak

In 1969, Pat Sajak cut off Nixon to play Christmas music. Nixon made a very long pause in a Christmas speech to the troops in Vietnam, so Sajak cut off the broadcast and put on some music. When Nixon resumed talking, Sajak just left the music on, thinking soldiers would rather listen to that than the President. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Alanis Morissette

Wrong Lyrics Alanis Morissette Ironic The song talks about different situations, but none of them are actually ironic. They're mostly tragic (An old man turned ninety- eight / He won the lottery and died the next day), but there's no irony. CRACKED — Alanis Morisette/YouTube
Genius Lyrics

18

Come One, Come All

ALL TIME LOW and Lutherville- Timonium, Maryland Their song Come One, Come All is a diss track to a local radio DJ. About the town, they say, There's a mile gone for every minute passed when I'm stuck in this town. And, I don't need no medication. I just need one more vacation. And make it last. CRACKED — Paul Keeling/Shutterstock
Hopeless Records/YouTube

17

Super Mario Bros. 2

L M Originally, Mario and Luigi were identical twins When Luigi was introduced in Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. his character was just the same as Mario, but green. L The Luigi we all love exists only because of the Super Mario Bros. 2 U.S. release, which was actually a reskin of an Arabian-inspired game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. Luigi was redesigned to replace the tall, lightfooted Mama character from the original Japanese title. GRACKED.COM — Spoiler: 29 Video Game Features With Just Bonkers Backstories

16

Reiki

The youngest person to publish in a medical journal was 11 years old. Emily Rosa published her school science project demonstrating that Reiki (a type of alternative med- icine) practitioners could not detect the alleged life force under experimental conditions. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Time

15

Tom and Jerry: Cowboy Up!

June on HBOMAX June 19 Tom and Jerry: cowboy Up! 13 Tom and Jerry episodes in the 1960s were made in Prague, at half the cost of the Hanna-Barbera animation team in the U.S. CRACKED.COM — Sources: Entertales, Cartoon Research

27 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 5, 2025

29 Movie Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Thursday, December 4, 2025

27 Movie Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Wednesday, December 3, 2025

29 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Tuesday, December 2, 2025

15 Facts About New Space Discoveries In Case We All Need To Move There Someday

27 Movie Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Saturday, November 29, 2025

14

Sam Raimi

Easter Eggs Evil Dead Sam Raimi puts his Oldsmobile in every film he makes. Spider-Man CRACKED.COM — More: 6 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Movies

13

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson made about $90 million for playing The Joker BATMAN (1989) Nicholson was the top pick to play the supervillain. His 1980s hefty fee started at $10 million, but he agreed to 'only' make $6 million for a percentage of the profits (including character merchandise). CRACKED.COM — Source: ScreenRant

12

Game of Thrones

GAME OF THRONES CRACKED.COM After Lord Arryn expresses his fears about leaving his fortress, Littlefinger reminds him of the many ways he could die in his own home. People die at their dinner tables, they die in their beds, they die squatting over their chamber pots. Joffrey died at his wedding feast, Shae died in bed, and Tywin died sitting on the privy. — More: 6 Brilliant Clues Hidden In The Background Of TV Shows

11

Charles Dance

Charles Dance thinks a lot of his movies are, literally, just junk. I've done some appalling films. Junk is absolutely the right word. You do what you can with the stuff you're given. It's a misconception that actors make choices. For all but the most privileged few, the only choice is to work or not to work, he said in 1999. CRACKED COM — Source

10

Batman Begins

BATMAN BEGINS BE CRACKED.COM In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) Liam Neeson plays Ra's al Ghul. Created as an Arab character by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams in 1971's Batman #232, his name is Arabic for head of the demon. — Source: batman.fandom

9

Al Pacino

CRACKED.COM Al Pacino takes parts in bad movies to make them better. When you've been a respected actor for as long as Pacino, you need to find new challenges - and for him, it's to try to make sucky movies less sucky. I'm starting to want to do films that aren't really very good and try to make them better, he has said. — Source: 14 Random Facts That Show We Have a Lot Left to Learn About the World

8

Magic 8 Balls

7

Dave Chappelle

COMEDY DEL NERD Dave Chappelle says that Key & Peele hurt his feelings with their show. Peabody Award Peabody Aw Peab Peabod Awa He says that they took a format he'd come up with, and claimed that it was Created by Key & Peele- Put some respect on my name, he said. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

South Park

EASTER EGGSTRA South Park The sound clip of Captain Picard. In the Something You Can Do with Your Finger episode, Randy freaks out and smashes a glass cabinet, yelling No! Noooo! It's the same audio from Star Trek: First Contact where Captain Picard yells it before smashing glass. CRACKED.COM — Source video

5

Night at the Museum

Crystal the monkey NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM CRACKED.co Ben Stiller said Crystal, and specifically her insistence on being constantly fed, gummed up the works on set, because everybody stops for the monkey... it all becomes about this monkey paste. — Source: Belfast Telegraph

4

The Stand

easter eggstra meanings and references The DOCTOR, SLEEP Stand THE STAND novelby the author of THE SHINING STEPHEN KING At the end of the movie, Dan tells Abra to keep shining on because the world needs people who stand. It's a reference to Stephen King's The Stand, a novel about the fight between good and evil forces. GRACKED.COM — Looper

3

Wendy’s Fan Art

WENDYS wants you to roleplay as a burger FEAST of LEGENDS Queen Wendy of Freshtovia invites you to throw your 12-sided die and win the battle against frozen beef of the Clown Republic. God help us, this one inspired fan art. — Gigazine

2

Six Flags

BATMAN: THE RIDE The Dark Knight is the inspiration for this thrilling inverted roller coaster ride. In other words, Six Flags painted this bad boy bl

1

Iron Man 2

Mickey Rourke spent some time in a Russian prison for Iron Man 2. Without telling anyone, Rourke took a plane to Moscow and paid a prison an exte — More: 5 Actors That Got Into Character In The Dumbest Ways Imaginable

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Comedy

This Two-Season Comedy From Two Decades Ago Is Somehow In The Reboot Rumor Mill

Movies & TV

Daniel Craig Interview Sparks a Whole New Wave of Muppets Outrage

Trivia & Jokes

34 of the Funniest Tweets from Thursday, December 4, 2025

Comedy

‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Say That Elon Musk Is Turning Into Mac’s Mom

Trivia & Jokes

31 Movie Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 5, 2025

Movies & TV

Reminder: This Isn’t The First Time Matt Rife Ruined Christmas For Kids

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

Jimmy Fallon’s Brain Rot Interview with Sydney Sweeney Might Be Rock Bottom for Pop Culture

2

‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Say That Elon Musk Is Turning Into Mac’s Mom

3

26 Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Thursday, December 4, 2025

4

15 Random Facts to Put Brain Cells into Full Throttle

5

Theo Von Says He Stopped Taking Anti-Depressants Before Disastrous Netflix Set

I agree to the Terms of Service

Add me to the weekly newsletter

Add me to the daily newsletter

I am AWESOME