Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird may not have won any of the five Oscars it was nominated for, but it did receive a different, equally-major honour this year. No, I'm not talking about its big win at the Golden Globes: I mean Lady Bird getting its very own reference on an NBC sitcom.
The revival of Will & Grace has brought our beloved characters into 2018, which means plenty of up-to-the-minute pop culture jokes. Season 1, episode 15, "One Job," revealed just how closely Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) are following buzzy award season movies, because they directly name-checked Saoirse Ronan's character.
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For those who have seen Lady Bird (and honestly, if not, get on it), the opening scene of the sitcom episodes starts similarly to how Lady Bird begins. Will and Grace are in the car, driving to "Vermont" — or, rather, to what Will thinks is Vermont. Instead, Grace informs him that she has lied to him in order for Will to accompany her while she visits her not-so-amazing family in Schenectady, New York.
Will couldn't be less thrilled about the whole thing, and attempts to make an escape — just as Ronan's Christine does in the film. That's when Grace drops the line that proves Lady Bird is here to stay:
"You're not going anywhere, Lady Bird."
Will & Grace isn't the only time we've seen Lady Bird pop up in the zeitgeist. Plenty of people have fallen in love with Gerwig's ode to Sacramento and mother/daughter relationships, as evidenced by the number of memes spun off from the film.
For example, here is a cat dressed up like Ronan's titular character.
I've been thinking about this for 3 weeks straight pic.twitter.com/19qcgOOzS6
— christina (@ladybiird) March 19, 2018
Here's a dog embodying the star's very anarchist pink hair in the film's poster:
the lady bird we all needed: pic.twitter.com/yJrLceRhkG
— Judson Collier (@JudsonCollier) March 19, 2018
And, perhaps best of all, here's what Lady Bird would be like if everyone in it was screaming.
I now present to you, the Lady Bird trailer, but I scream every word... pic.twitter.com/4W0BfwTZz9
— toni (@chalametweekes) January 26, 2018
Will & Grace, of course, takes Lady Bird off the internet and into our TV screens — which proves that it is as mainstream as ever. This special little film has officially achieved icon status.