I noticed it myself a long time ago but didn’t know that it was a named phenomenon. I’m grateful to the Dope for making me feel a little less alone in this respect. 
I don’t remember him being shirtless in Iron Man.
The Simpsons are always mocking the Fox network.
I saw The Langoliers the other day, and I realized I had seen Steven King in at least a couple of movies based on his work. Does that happen often?
I think he’s in most, if not all, of them. If anyone has any hard facts on this, please feel free to correct (or agree with) me.
Quite a few of them, at least. Off the top of my head: Creepshow is obvious, because he was a whole segment. He also showed up as a truck driver in Creepshow 2. He was a caretaker in Sleepwalkers, and the minister at Gage’s funeral in Pet Sematary. And I’m sure there were others, but they’re not springing to mind just now.
Several others. (Note how most of them have as alternate titles “Stephen King’s …”)
In Maximum Overdrive, an ATM machine calls him an asshole.
I don’t think there was a single episode of NYPD Blue when someone didn’t use the word “absolutely.”
Practically every early episode of Garfield and Friends has a reference to the Klopman Diamond. Writer Mark Evanier has stated it comes from an old joke (“It comes with a curse.” “What is it?” “Mrs. Klopman.”), but the real reason he kept using the name because he thought it sounded funny. The poor playing of the Cleveland Indians became the running gag later in the show’s run.
Every episode of the kids show Higglytown Heroes has a yard gnome in it somewhere. No idea why.
Can someone please tell me the origin of “The irony, it burns!”?
In the same vein, in a great many but I don’t think all, the aliens from the first episode of South Park appear in cameos in other episodes.
As far as I’ve been able to find out, it’s a perversion of “The light! It burns!”
The word “Thoroughly” is also something of a fantasy - or at least Terry Prattchett - trope. It’s usually very menacing. It’s referenced in Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, where the bad guy rides away saying something like “Hurt them . . . thoroughly!”
Thank you so much!
This set me off on a search as to the origin of *that * line. Yes, I know it was used in a Simpsons episode, but it sounds too familiar - I’m thinking it’s got to be from a movie/book/TV show.
The black-and-white stripe pattern of Beetlejuice’s suit appears somewhere in every film directed by Tim Burton. Or at least I’m pretty sure it’s in every one; there might be an exception or two. If there is, I can’t remember it though.
Re: The Wilhelm:
. . . and then you’ve got me, who has known about it for a decade and seen dozens of movies that use it, but has never noticed it while watching one. So it might not haunt you after all. I picked up on the Goofy Holler being everywhere at a very young age, but as far as screams go, Wilhelm is pretty bland and unremarkable.
I used to have a Banker’s Lamp, and I saw it in a movie (Stephen King’s Langloiers). Then I saw it in another movie, then another, then some tv shows. Sorry I don’t remember offhand which other movies or shows they were but this lamp has been in at least 10 movies. Is there some significance to this?
Although it probably isn’t intentional, most of Steven Spielberg’s film have a at-first reluctant father who eventually comes to terms with his children. This is probably more of a motif than a running gag.