As random as the reference may have seemed at the time, the politician already had some one-sided history with “Murphy Brown.” The politically savvy show often spoke about current events, and as English admitted in a Lose Angeles Times piece in 2013, the show had been making the gaffe-happy politician the butt of the joke before the speech happened. “Quayle was a heartbeat away from the presidency, and so I decided to include a Dan Quayle joke in every episode of ‘Murphy Brown,’” the showrunner explained. “Murphy Brown” had actually gotten the first laugh, and it got the last laugh, too.

When the sitcom returned in the fall, it was with an episode that called out Quayle personally, playing a portion of his speech on television (a choice that made sense in the show, as Murphy herself was somewhat famous) while harried, sleepless new mom Murphy watched from home. “Look at me, am I glamorous?” Murphy asked, referencing Quayle’s follow-up statement while gesturing to pajamas she’d been wearing for days. The best quips came from Murphy herself right after the character found out she’d been caught in the political crossfire, but the show also made a sweet gesture by having its own fictional program, “FYI,” respond with a spotlight on real single moms.