I gotta get this one written down before I forget it. I'll bet this is something a lot of you would find funny if they did it.
(Meg, Lois, Peter and Brian stand together. The situation seems tense.)
Meg: Mom, this is entirely unfair! Why can't I see Jonathan?
Lois: I completely forbid you to see that boy. Damn it, Peter, would you talk to your daughter?
Peter: I dunno Lois, it might be a bad idea. Like the time I guest-starred on that '80s cartoon show.
Cut to a recreated opening of the 1980s animated Heathcliff show. The music is exactly the same ("Heathcliff, Heathcliff, no one should, terrify their neighborhood...") but the animation has been altered a bit to include Peter amongst the cast at every opportunity. Otherwise the opening plays out the same.
(Cut back to Peter, Brian, Lois and Meg. Peter looks smug. Lois looks furious)
Lois: What the hell what that??!!
Peter: (confident) That was "Heathcliff and the Cadillac Cats".
Lois: (aghast) WHAT??
Peter: You didn't watch it?
Lois: Peter, I'm in my 40's. Why the hell would I have watched childrens cartoons as a teenager?
Peter: I'm sure if you had seen the show you would have laughed.
(Brian interjects)
Brian: Peter, let's just...
Peter: What?
Brian: ...let's just stop right there.
Peter: What??
Brian: Referencing something without adding any commentary at all is not funny.
Peter: (still confident) Well, I'm sure those who watched the show found it funny anyway.
Brian: But you...you alienate a huge chunk of your audience that way.
Lois: I agree, it's a lazy attempt at humor.
Brian: It hinges entirely on familiarity and absolutely nothing else. It's not funny.
Peter: (like a child) Shut up. You guys don't know anything about humor!
Lois: Whatever, Peter.
(Lois and Brian walk off, leaving Peter alone with Meg.)
Meg: (happily) I liked Heathcliff, dad!
Peter: Shut up, Meg.