MacGyver in popular culture

MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics,[1] technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans.[2] MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools, he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape.[1] This also led to the verb 'to MacGyver' or 'to MacGyver-ize' (the latter being introduced by Gregory Shockley in his training manuscripts published for the Boy Scouts of America). 'MacGyverism' was first used by Joanne Remmings (played by Pamela Bowen) in the third episode of Season 2. When MacGyver introduces himself to her, she uses the term in a manner that suggests other people had used it before:[3]

"Oh I've heard about you! You're the guy who does the whatchamacallits, you know, MacGyverisms; turns one thing into another?"

• On Stargate SG-1, in the pilot episode "Children of the Gods", Samantha Carter says, "it took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth".[4] One of the people she says it to is Colonel Jack O'Neill who is played by Richard Dean Anderson, the actor who portrayed MacGyver.
• In the 1998 movie Half Baked, they describe a type of pothead called a "MacGyver smoker", who can make a bong out of an avocado, ice-pick, and a snorkel.
• In the episode of A Gifted Man (2012) entitled "In Case Of Letting Go", Dr. Zeke Barnes explains that he can "MacGyver" a splint for a friend's broken hand using duct tape and a plastic knife.
• In the role-playing game Mage: The Ascension, techno-mages use the term "to MacGyver", when performing obviously magical feats with technological gadgets, or reinforce their doings with pseudo-scientific explanation.

• The Ja Rule song "How Many Wanna" from the soundtrack of the 1999 film Light It Up samples the MacGyver theme song.[5]
• Japanese pro wrestler Yuji Yasuraoka used the MacGyver theme song as his entrance theme.

• The series is referenced in many episodes of The Simpsons, primarily detailing Marge Simpson's sisters Patty and Selma's obsession with the show and their crush on the titular character. The sisters' regular viewing of the show is an unalterable element of their daily schedule to the point of death as demonstrated in the episode "Black Widower". The episode featured a fictional scene of MacGyver where he downplays his role in saving a village ("Don't thank me. Thank the moon's gravitational pull").[6] In "A Star is Burns", Homer tricks Jay Sherman into insulting MacGyver in front of Patty and Selma; Sherman ends up being hung from the rain gutter by his underpants, and Bart asks "You badmouthed MacGyver, didn't you?"[7] In "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson after he admits he thought MacGyver was stupid. Anderson gains an appreciation of the series after using a MacGyver-style technique to escape, before returning to let the sisters know how he did it and then demanding they tie him up so he can try to escape again. The sisters eventually grow tired of his increasingly demanding escape requests, and end up forcing Anderson to run after submitting him to one of their boring holiday slideshows.[8]
• In the season one episode "Brian: Portrait of a Dog" of Family Guy, Peter writes a letter to Richard Dean Anderson asking him to save his dog using the enclosed items from the envelope: a rubber band, a paper clip and a straw. Anderson puts these together and hits himself in the eye with the rubber band.
• The New Zealand sporting skit show Pulp Sport had a running gag called "McIvor" in which the MacGyver theme is played, and a prank involving Sky TV sports presenter Steven McIvor is played out. This gag, instead, now targets TV3 sports news presenter Hamish McKay (dubbed "McKay-ver").
• G4 aired a small series of MacGyver parodies about a young corporate cubicle worker known as MacGunner. He would construct ridiculous items out of cubicle materials, such as several dozen markers hooked end to end in order to reach over to his arch-enemy's cubicle and type a scathing email to the boss.
• In the bonus footage to Stargate SG-1, "Inside SG-1," a prank is played on Richard Dean Anderson where he is berated for not being able to figure out how to use "belt buckles, shoelaces, and a piece of gum" get them out of a situation despite having played MacGyver for 7 years.[9]
• In the 2003 song "MacGyver" by the British band Million Dead, MacGyver is described as a symbol of the "Scottish Enlightenment" whose rationality is unable to save him after he is severely beaten by a youth gang.
• Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure features an episode where Lawrence tries to track down his childhood hero, MacGyver, in various locations that were used in the show.
• In the episode "Nature's Game Show" of My Name is Earl, Joy uses her knowledge from the episodes seen on MacGyver to create her own invention with various objects, while the theme song of the series is played in the background.[10]
• The XKCD webcomic #444 from August 2, 2008, "Macgyver Gets Lazy", portrays MacGyver providing an elaborate, MacGyver-like explanation for the act of simply shooting a guard with a handgun.[11]
• The Lego character of Jack Stone has similarities to MacGyver, as he uses inspiration to turn ordinary vehicles and objects into new things in order to solve solutions. Also, he has a similar appearance.

• W. Heath Robinson