In popular culture
In film and television
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"Spanish Flea" has been used in a variety of film and television soundtracks. [14] It was one of two Alpert songs in a 1966 animated cartoon by John Hubley, A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature.
The song was used by Mazda in TV commercials during the 1970's to advertise their GLC model, "Its a great little car"
The tune has been featured in four episodes of The Simpsons : "The Otto Show" (with Homer singing the original lyrics), "Team Homer", "Natural Born Kissers", and "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday". [15]
In the fingerprint scene in Rosewood's home in Beverly Hills Cop II , Eddie Murphy (playing Axel Foley) and Judge Reinhold (playing Billy Rosewood) improvised the idea of humming the tune. When Taggart (John Ashton) asks what the tune is, Rosewood replies, "The Dating Game!".
In the 1996 film Striptease , the song is played inside a laundromat while Erin Grant (Demi Moore) and her daughter Angela (Rumer Willis) take all the clothes out of the dryer machine. [16]
In the 1997 film Perdita Durango , the two main characters happily groove to the song while abducting two teenagers.
In an episode of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer , Vic Reeves plays the song through a prosthetic arm.
In the Philippine Noontime show It's Showtime on ABS-CBN, this song was constantly played for taking a picture of a person's face with a frame called "Face Dance". Soon after the "Face Dance" game became a regular staple on the network's out-of town shows.
In American Pie 2 , the band camp counselor plays the song on his trumpet, not knowing that the trumpet had just been inserted into Jason Biggs' character's anus.
In the 2000 film The Dish , it plays at 12:03 before showing a ball preparation at the town hall.
In the 2001 film ‘’Ocean’s Eleven’’, the song plays as ambient background music while Bernie Mac negotiates the purchase a van from a used car dealership. [17]
The Nickelodeon TV series The Fairly OddParents uses the song in many episodes such as episode 4b season 1 “Apartnership”.
In an episode of Supernatural , the song is played when a pair of demons call Crowley (the King of Hell) from a hunter's trap.
In the 2013 film White House Down , the ringtone can be heard repetitively in the film on the character of Richard Jenkins' mobile cell phone.
The song has been heard on The Weather Channel's Local on the 8s time by time between 1999 and 2013.
In the 2019 film Joker , the song plays with the Indian-head test pattern when the broadcast of Live with Murray Franklin gets cut off after the Joker shoots Franklin. In the DVD credits, the song is credited to Ray Davies and His Button Down Brass. [18]
In the 2023 HBO miniseries Love & Death in the episode "Encounters", it was performed by the character Pat on his trumpet at the dinner table.
In podcasts
"Spanish Flea" acts as the opening and closing music to the Fangraphs audio podcast. The song is also used as the closing music for the soccer podcast Low Limit Futbol, hosted by Joe Uccello and Roberto Rojas. It is used as background music for the ad-reads on the 'We Hate Movies' podcast. It is also used as the closing theme for Chris & Andi Porter's 'One Millionth Podcast', although it is sung by the siblings themselves - a different way every time. It also appears in the jingle that precedes the ‘Three by Three’ segment by John C. Dvorak during the “No Agenda” podcast.
