Drake and Josh

"Josh Nichols: I don't know Drake, all this cheating makes me feel... dirty.

Drake Parker: Well, take a bath when you get home."

Over-the-top Nickelodeon sitcom created by Dan Schneider about two Odd Couple stepbrothers, Drake Parker (Drake Bell) is a popular, conceited, ladies man and dim musician who ends up getting a stepbrother in Josh Nichols (Josh Peck), a goofy, nerdy, affectionate, effeminate, unpopular geek (until Josh Peck lost the weight and became quite handsome that is, although Josh Nichols was still a geek.)

The two barely even knew each other before their parents got married, but ended up being fairly close and balancing each other out. Drake taught Josh how to not be so uptight and Josh tends to bring out a nicer side of Drake. Many episodes are about Drake getting Josh to do something a little outrageous and not be so stiff, and it usually involves a plan to make money or get a girl.

And then there is Drake's horrible sister, Megan (Miranda Cosgrove), who is several years younger and goes out of her way to torment the two whenever possible. She has no excuse for it, while their parents think she is an angel. While there is a certain comic charm about a little girl beating up and outwitting her older brothers, the premise wore very thin after about the fifth episode. The last season saw a reduction in her general mean-spiritedness (more harmless pranks than outright evil torture), but over the course of the series there is only one moment she shows genuine affection towards them.

Like its fellow TeeNick programs, the show is aimed at preteens and young teenagers, but notable for many jokes aimed at adults. Homages to many classic sitcoms, innuendo and Camp are the order of the day in many episodes. If there's a sitcom trope, Drake and Josh have probably covered it.

The show had two TV movies, Go Hollywood (set during the series) is later referenced in its "sequel" via the series' near-end special Really Big Shrimp. About 18 months after the series ended, Merry Christmas Drake and Josh was aired, set about 2 months following the events of the 2nd movie.

Drake Bell is an actual musician who wrote and sang the opening theme song.

The producers and several cast members have gone on to make the show I Carly which is very much in the same vein of comedy.

Despite being the earliest part of the Nick Verse, it wasn't where it originated. Drake Bell helped, but it started in Zoey 101.

This show provides examples of:
"Drake: Okay, that was NOT tight! (to one band member) You were two beats behind the whole song. (to another) You were playing an A minor, not an A7... (to Gary, their drummer) And you? Dude, you're wearing a woman's shirt!
 * Abuse Is Okay-er When It Is Female On Male: Viewers may be appalled by Megan's antics, but the show would be a lot creepier and disturbing if Drake, Josh, and Megan's genders were reversed.
 * Accidental Hug: Often. "HUG ME, BROTHA!"
 * Accidental Kiss: The show is fond of Type I.
 * Accidental Marriage: Josh meets a girl online named Yooka and does a 'Friendship Ceremony' between Yooka and Drake, which they later find out actually was a marriage ceremony.
 * Accidental Pun
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys
 * Annoying Laugh: The main trait of Drake's girlfriend Kelly, which is enough grounds for him to break up with her. Things get complicated when Kelly is actually the daughter of his nemesis teacher Mrs. Hayfer.
 * Arson Murder and Jaywalking: In The Storm:

Gary: It's called a blouse."

"Josh: Stupid Schneiders!"
 * As Himself: Tony Hawk in Go Hollywood and Gary Coleman in The Gary Grill.
 * Aw Look They Really Do Love Each Other: As antagonistic as she could be to Drake and Josh, Megan's multiple Pet the Dog moments show she actually cares about her brothers, such as when she saves them from counterfeiters, won't let anyone else hurt them, and kisses them when they defend her to her cheating boyfriend.
 * Badly Battered Babysitter: Mainly Josh in Two Idiots and a Baby; the brothers in Sheep Thrills.
 * Big Bad: The criminals in Go Hollywood.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Drake and Josh become incredibly protective of Megan in "Megan's First Kiss" when she gets her first boyfriend, who then cheats on her.
 * Billing Displacement: In airings of the Christmas Special, Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor (Carly and Spencer from I Carly) are emphasized more. Some commercials will actually say "Starring Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor", even though Jerry Trainor is at most an Ascended Extra.
 * Biting the Hand Humor: When the brothers are stranded in the tree house, they can't contact their parents due to them having dinner with the Schneiders.

"Josh: It could be explosives!
 * Bland Name Product: This show is famous for this concept. This show replaces "Apple Inc." with "Pear Inc.", "iPod" with "iBot", "Ghost Busters" with "Ghost Monsters", "Nintendo DS" with "Pintendo GS", "Harry Houdini" with "Henry Doheny", "Chuck E. Cheese's" with "Chuck E. Cheddar's" and "Gamecube" with "Gamesphere". Also, Drake and Josh drink "Mountain Fizz", "Dr.Fizz" and "Mocha-Cola". The list is endless.
 * Book Dumb: Drake Parker.
 * Book Ends: The Series Finale ends with the two title characters fighting over a piece a shrimp, a reference to one of the earliest skits the duo performed together on The Amanda Show.
 * Bottle Episode: The Storm involved scenes within the Parker-Nichols household, with a lot of cameos and continuity characters stranded inside.
 * Bread Eggs Breaded Eggs: Drake and Josh ponder what the secretive Megan could possibly be planning.

Drake: Or poison!

Josh: (horrified) Explosive poison..."

"Josh: Thanks, Drake for saving my butt.
 * Brick Joke: Josh begins one episode by trying to make an egg disappear, in the process ruining Drake's chances with a cheerleader. Then at the end of the episode,
 * Bucket Booby Trap: Providing the page quote.
 * Butt Monkey: Josh and his dad Walter. To a lesser extent, Craig and Eric.
 * Can't Get Away With Nuthin: Pretty well balanced out with the two boys actually sliding a few things past their parents. But quite often it is Josh who bears the brunt of any punishment.
 * This was a plot point of one episode. Josh laments that Drake gets away with everything and that he gets away with nothing early on.
 * The Cameo: Fonzie as the judge in the Christmas episode, with Kimbo Slice as Josh's fellow prison-mate Bludge.
 * Family Feud host John O'Hurley is Josh's attending physician.
 * Gary Coleman as the entrepreneur of the Gary Coleman Grill, a Parody of the George Foreman Grill.
 * Addie Singer is Megan's friend and partner-in-crime in www.meganparker.com, which redirects to iCarly.com.
 * Francis Poncherello plays a police officer who gives a driving ticket to Josh.
 * Dan Schneider and his wife Lisa Lillien in the Christmas special as the brothers are browsing TV channels.
 * The Cast Showoff: Drake Bell. It's as if the audience needs to be constantly reminded that Drake Bell has a music career.
 * Cassandra Truth: Audrey and Walter are nigh oblivious about Megan's regular torment of her brothers.
 * Believe Me, Brother. Drake's girlfriend Susan is continuously hitting on Josh while framing up Josh for hitting on her. It was due to an accidental camera recording on Drake's band project that Drake learns the truth.
 * Same with Eric Punches Drake. Eric plays along the rumors that he punched Drake for insulting his sister (instead of just accidentally), elevating him to cool guy status. Feeling abandoned, his Heterosexual Life Partner Craig reveals Eric's weak point for Drake to exploit.
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Megan always pulls this toward her brothers.
 * Chew Toy: Walter. He's treated like crap by Drake, mocked by everyone, and his own step-daughter doesn't even acknowledge his existence as her father.
 * Clip Show: Somewhat of an interesting episode where they appear on Dr. Phyllis' show (an obvious Doctor Phil Expy) after they've been fighting. They show their Crowning Moment of Funny and their Crowning Moment of Heartwarming moments without it seeming too Clip Show.
 * Christmas Special: Merry Christmas Drake & Josh
 * Criminal Doppelganger: An episode had Josh be repeatedly mistaken for a wanted criminal after playing one in a dramatization on TV, whose name was the "Theater Thug". This results in him getting beaten up and arrested repeatedly, to the point where he's in the same theater AS THE ACTUAL THEATER THUG and is beaten up and arrested while the real guy makes off with the theater's money.
 * Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: The entire plot of The Bet. Drake and Josh bet that whoever caves in from eating junk food and playing video games respectively must dye his hair pink. Megan secretly suggested to each of them to sabotage the other in order to win. In their sadistic attempt for the other to cave in, Josh sets up their room into a Willy Wonka-style candy land while Drake plays Josh's Gamesphere right before his eyes. It ended up both of them caving in and losing the bet.
 * Crap Saccharine World: The expys and celebrity parodies encountered by the main characters are usually bizarre or just... evil.
 * Disappeared Dad: Drake and Megan's birth father.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Megan Parker.
 * Diagonal Cut
 * Did You Think I Can't Feel
 * Directed By Cast Member: Drake Bell directed the first part of Really Big Shrimp, while Josh Peck directed the episode Battle of Panthatar.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Drake and Josh inflict this upon themselves in Megan's Revenge, which is actually a part of Megan's Paranoia Gambit scheme.
 * Officer Gilbert sabotages Drake and Josh in every way to make sure they obtain as many tickets as possible and ultimately end up in jail.
 * The Ditz: Drake's friend Trevor, as emphasized in Dune Buggy and The Wedding.
 * Do It Yourself Theme Tune: Drake Bell sings the theme song.
 * Double Standard: Drake has a mild version of this in an episode. After breaking up with his usual Girl of the Week Tori, Drake prides himself for having the opportunity to get numbers from multiple girls. But when he sees Tori going on dates with different boys, he thinks that it is absolutely wrong. While Tori never directly said that Drake had a double standard, it is quite obvious to the viewer.
 * Downer Ending: Peruvian Puff Pepper, The Wedding (hilariously) and Tree House.
 * Driving Test
 * Earpiece Conversation: Josh feeds information to Drake through an earpiece in a Quiz Bowl-esque contest to impress a smart girl.
 * Education Through Pyrotechnics
 * Embarrassing Cover Up: Driver's License gives a hilarious example after Drake pays for Josh's police ticket.

Megan: (comes out of eavesdropping) What's this about?

Josh: (stuttering) I mean... I'm thanking Drake for... (gulps) shaving my butt."

"Craig: Clayton.
 * Enter Stage Window
 * Even Evil Has Standards: When Drake & Josh were arrested for stealing Grill/MP3 hybrids endorsed by Gary Coleman (They had merely been selling them, and had no idea the grills were stolen), they each got a phone call. When Drake made his call, he phoned home & told Megan he was in jail, who laughed it off as a prank, but when Josh phoned seconds later, there was a noticable look of concern on her face when she realised that they really were in jail, and helped the FBI arrest the real theives.
 * There was also the time when Mindy framed Drake for putting their teacher's car in her classroom. Drake was likely going to lose until Megan decided to help. She even said she couldn't stand to see him sad, scared and upset like he was
 * Even Nerds Have Standards:

Eric: Pfft. Nerd."

"Josh: I might have tripped, but this doesn't diminish the impact of this exit!"
 * Failed Attempt At Drama

"Instructor: That's S-P-L-A-T!
 * Fan Girl: Wendy towards Drake in Number One Fan.
 * Fat and Skinny: At first, then Josh Peck lost a lot of weight
 * Fidelity Test
 * Flirty Stepsiblings
 * Fluffy the Terrible: Human version. Ashley Blake's huge bodyguard is named Citrus. He is only there to intimidate the brothers, but he's more like a Gentle Giant as Freight Train. And the end of the episode shows that even he himself hates his bratty boss by placing her back in the trash bin.
 * Foolish Sibling Responsible Sibling: The title characters.
 * Forgotten First Meeting: In one episode Drake And Josh discover that they met when they were nine (rather than in high school as they previously thought).
 * Freudian Excuse:
 * Fun With Acronyms: In Helicopter, Drake learns from the instructor that in skydiving, you must Squat, Pray, Leap, "Aaaaaah!", and Touchdown!
 * Fun With Acronyms: In Helicopter, Drake learns from the instructor that in skydiving, you must Squat, Pray, Leap, "Aaaaaah!", and Touchdown!

Drake: (confused) That spells splat!

Instructor: Oh, man..."

"Grammy: Back in my day, I used to go out with band players.
 * Generation Xerox: Walter is an awkward and usually clumsy man, clearly inherited by his son Josh.
 * The Parkers' "attractiveness" seem to run in the blood. A few episodes deal with men (like Gavin) calling Audrey hot. Corey and Toplin (Thornton's little brother) are two boys who "had a thing" for Megan. And as for Drake Parker...
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Copious amounts of it, being a Dan Schneider show.

Josh: I don't want to think about my grandma going out with dozens of musicians!

Grammy: Then I shouldn't tell you what I did last weekend, but, I will say, it's a good thing I have a new hip.

Josh: Wow, are you being part of Grammies Gone Wild?"

"Drake I think Dad has a problem.
 * Josh's infamous "Never - put your finger - in me - again!" in Merry Christmas Drake & Josh.
 * This was also the first Nickelodeon show to use "Oh my god". There are also a lot of jokes about death and dying, for a kid's show.
 * In an episode where they think their father is cheating on their mom:

Josh I got him that dandruff shampoo.

Drake Not a dandruff problem, a woman problem.

Josh Dad has cramps?"

"Walter: (in a prom dress) You boys are getting in a lot of trouble lately. About time you guys act like a man!
 * A scene features Josh following instructions over a salsa recipe over a radio cooking show. The announcer speaks with a cliche Latin-lover accent.] Cut to Josh holding a pepper in each of his hands.The announcer instructs to "Handle the ingredients as if they were a fine woman" and Josh quickly drops the peppers with an embarrassed expression, saying "Sorry, ma'am!"
 * In Battle of Panthatar, Princess Oblongata's "Robe of Curiosity" anyone?
 * In The storm Josh walks into his and Drake's room, where the four members of Drake's band are. The moment he sees the drummer, Gary, wearing a blouse and with his face and chest all covered in sunblock, he stops what he's saying, halts in place and asks "'Kay, what's all over his face...?" with a disturbed expression.
 * Gilligan Cut: At the end of My Dinner With Bobo, Megan refuses to let the boys out of the closet unless they not only return Bobo to the car dealer, but buys the yellow beetle that she wants with the flowery stickers on the bumper. They refuse. Cut to the boys and Megan driving in it.
 * Another one in Megan's First Kiss, Drake and Josh threaten to rough up Corey after his two-timing nature had been exposed to Megan. Cue scene later in their residence, Megan is seen propping up her brothers who all badly bruised and beaten up, both pummeled down by Corey who happened to be well-versed in martial arts.
 * The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Gender Flip version.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: The Yudonian curse word "Boosha!"
 * Hair Trigger Temper: Crazy Steve
 * Handsome Lech: Drake.
 * Happily Ever After: Josh and Mindy.
 * Heel Face Turn: Officer Gilbert in the Christmas movie when.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Drake and Josh, Craig and Eric.
 * Humor Dissonance: A deliberate In Universe example. In "Josh is Done" Craig and Eric are telling a story about how they were at a pool party once...and one of them accidentally left his socks on! Josh and the other person with him are cracking up at this story.
 * Homage: The sushi scene is copied verbatim from the famous I Love Lucy chocolate scene. Also, The Blues Brothers (which doubles as a particularly amazing Crowning Moment of Awesome for Drake and Josh).
 * Hospital Hottie: Drake takes interest on the student nurses in the hospital, prompting him impersonate a doctor and play the trope as well.
 * Hot Mom: Audrey Parker.
 * Hustling the Mark: In Pool Shark, Megan hustles Drake in a dart game, which triggers Drake to rip-off others in the Premiere upon learning of Josh's innate talent in billiards.
 * Hypocritical Humor: One notable example is in the episode "Dr. Phyllis Show", where Drake and Josh both appear on the said fictional show (a parody of Dr. Phil) as the subjects for "bickering brothers". At one point, Dr. Phyllis scolds Drake and Josh having to resort to physical confrontations as she apparently doesn't seem to tolerate it. However, the boys later get into a physical fight with her for insulting her daughter, Liza Tupper.
 * In Steered Straight, Walter became Audrey's mannequin for a huge girl's prom dress, making him the subject of ridicule throughout the scene.

(Everyone stares at Walter)

Walter: What? It's a prom dress!

Policeman: Yes, ma'am.

Walter: (annoyed) Sir!"

"Drake: Zits?! I can't have zits, I'm Drake!"
 * The "I Love You" Stigma: In a sweet parting moment at the door Mindy tells Josh that she loves him, which causes all sorts of awkwardness between them. Josh talks to Drake about it and implies he might love her back, causing Drake to slap him across the face. Josh and Mindy discuss it later on and realize that they are too young to understand what "I Love You" means and decide to break up so they can better understand their feelings for each other. They get back together in the Grand Finale.
 * Imagine Spot
 * Insane Troll Logic: One of Drake's most definitive traits.

"Drake: Trust me, do you think I know a lot about girls?
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Drake. One episode in particular involved Josh and Mindy working on a project and discovering they have feelings for each other, but after a short time together she breaks up with him because Josh didn't tell Drake about it since he HATES Mindy. After learning about the whole ordeal, Drake is not only supportive of the relationship but actively helps Josh to get her back, saying if he likes the girl it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
 * Karma Houdini: Both Parker siblings. In terms of wrongdoings, Drake is almost never caught (as lampshaded by Josh in Dune Buggy), while Megan is NEVER caught.
 * The theater thug is also this, due to everybody thinking Josh is the theater thug, and beat him up.
 * Kidanova

Josh: More then a young man should!"

""I like repeating words for emphasis. EMPHASIS!""
 * Large Ham: Josh Nichols

"Megan: Wow. Hollywood evil. I like that."
 * Laser Guided Amnesia
 * Least Rhymable Word
 * Local Hangout: The Premiere, the movie theater where Josh works.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Drake. Josh even lampshaded this when they were on the Dr. Phyllis Show.
 * Mean Character Nice Actor: This seems to be largely the source of Megan's popularity with the production, as Miranda Cosgrove is a very charming young actress and everyone has remained close friends after the show has ended.
 * Missing Mom: Josh's birth mother.
 * Mistaken for Cheating: The plot of The Affair.
 * Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, subverted in the episode Josh Runs Into Oprah, when Josh tells Drake that he has crossed this by leaving him to have an involuntary chemical bath...but then Drake gets the rest of the people at the Premiere to throw Josh a surprise party to make it up to him. Which it does.
 * Name and Name
 * Nerds Are Sexy: At least one, in Drake's opinion, anyway.
 * There are also plenty of fangirls who feel this way about Josh.
 * New Job Episode
 * Nice Character Mean Actor: The eponymous child actress in the episode Little Diva, Ashley Blake.

""That squirrel had it coming!""
 * No Fourth Wall: A repeated mishap causes an exasperated Drake or Josh to shrug directly in front of the camera.
 * No Guy Wants an Amazon: Drake has to deal with a girl he is dating who is actually pretty tough and can out-fight him.
 * Noodle Incident:
 * The Pinecone Incident:

"Drake: So my foot's totally stuck in there right? I'm freaking out, the dog's having a seizure, I still have half a pie left."
 * Also:

"Josh: I don't trust you with animals after what you did to that dolphin.
 * There was also an incident mentioned in the Treehouse episode:

Drake: I just wanted a ride."

"Drake: Okay, how much allowance do Mom and Dad give you?"
 * No Respect Guy: Josh. Most especially, Walter.
 * Nothing Is Scarier: Megan's Revenge
 * Official Couple: Josh and Mindy.
 * One Dialogue Two Conversations: Peggy Sherman is talking about Walter's "secret" (an offer to be a top network's weather forecaster) being kept from his family, while the boys misunderstood it to be her desire for married men and destroying their family.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Megan may torment Drake & Josh, taking great pride in making them miserable... But she also doesn't want other people making her brothers miserable.
 * Only Sane Man: Believe it or not, Megan and Mindy. Both have a share of cunning, extremely snarky, and dangerously Genre Savvy. They can basically outprank anyone with convoluted schemes.
 * Paranoia Gambit: In Megan's Revenge, Drake and Josh are freaking out because they think they killed Megan's hamster (it later turns out that he was just stunned), and Megan claims that she's not mad and isn't going to do anything to them... and then doesn't. However, they're so guarded against the revenge that they just know is coming that they can't sleep, turn down a double date because they're afraid the girls have been sent by Megan, and generally ruin their own lives in fear.
 * Pac Man Fever: Helen's Groove Machine is Dance Dance Revolution built into the TV like a home console. The most glaring part is that there are 3 dance pads and Josh joins in with Helen and Drake whereas the screen only has room for 2 players. Their dancing is also more choreographed and the footwork barely matches the on-screen directions.
 * Parody: Josh avoids watching Susanna Louisiana. And expect the movie titles in the Premiere Galleria as a spoof on very famous movies (The Empress Strikes Back, A Walk To Forget, Finding Texas, Titanium, 101 Dull Martians etc.) The movies are later seen in the video shop in an iCarly episode.
 * "Inside-Out Burger" is a parody of the burger chain In-N-Out Burger.
 * Porn Stache: Josh grows one in episode to "be cool". The Running Gag in said episode is how everyone else despises it: From Drake to even Mindy (who refuses to kiss her mustached boyfriend Josh). And when Mindy connives with Megan to shave off the mustache...
 * Rashomon Style: Foam Finger. Drake and Josh recount their first fight differently on who is the instigator.
 * Rearrange the Song: In "Really Big Shrimp", Drake gets a record deal and records his song for the producers. They change it to a very overprocessed electronic song, and Drake and Josh are very bothered by this.
 * Recurring Extra: Gavin the mullet guy and Crazy Steve showed up more often as their popularity rose.
 * Recursive Canon. The shared universe of I Carly, Zoey 101 and Victorious appears to indicate that Drake and Josh is a tv show in that shared universe. On top of that, the Celebrity Paradox and Literary Agent Hypothesis suggests that Crazy Steve and and Megan were played by different actors in the 'in-universe' version of Drake and Josh, and not Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor. It has since been made official that it is actually a Shared Universe, and we aren't quite sure what the status of the in-universe Drake And Josh is all about.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni: Drake does things without thinking, and is cool and collected, while Josh plans things, but is clumsy and often loud.
 * Refuge in Audacity: How Megan gets away with everything.
 * Reunion Show: The Christmas Special, as stated 18 months after the show ended (but occurred 2 months after Really Big Shrimp), reuniting the cast for one last spin. One could tell a lot of the actors were getting too old for the roles but it was class of them to do the movie anyway.
 * Ruritania: Drake ends up accidentally marrying a girl from the country of 'Yudonia'.
 * Running Gag: Gavin's "I got it"; Josh repeating words for emphasis (emphasis!); Drake mixing up Craig and Eric; Ms. Hayfer hating Drake; Josh being mocked for his big head; Drake and Josh's slowly escalating fighting... the list goes on and on...
 * Sadist Teacher: Drake is the sole brunt of Mrs. Hayfer's hatred.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Helen
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: Both brothers, when they were stranded in Mrs. Hayfer's bathroom by her Rottweiler. The neighbors mistook them for "screaming girls" so they called for pet control (who also ends up stranded and using the same trope).
 * Schedule Slip: Drake Bell's December 2005 car accident caused production of the fourth season to be postponed for three months, with three episodes short before hand.
 * Second Verse Curse: The theme I Find A Way has a full version. The one in the opening credits is only the minute-long version.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Is it that obvious?
 * Shared Universe: The I Carly episode "iStart a Fan War" featured a brief crossover with Craig and Eric from this show, along with other characters from this show and Zoey 101 as well, canonizing hints in the past.
 * Shell Shocked Senior: Josh's Great Grandpa has World War II delusions, even talking to Patton on his shoe.
 * Shout Out: The duo's last names (Parker and Nichols) are two intersecting streets in Massachusetts.
 * The bakery beside The Premiere is named Schneider's Bakery, based on Dan Schneider's own TV production company.
 * Belleview High School is based from Bellevue High School in Washington.
 * The hippie costume Josh wears as a disguise refers to the character Antoine from All That. He even says "What it is" in the same fashion.
 * In "Helen's Surgery" it is revealed that Helen was on the show Happy Times, a shout out to Happy Days, What's Happening and Good Times.
 * In Really Big Shrimp, one of the "Now Showing" movies in the Premiere Galleria is titled Now She's Carly, a blatant call on Miranda's upcoming show I Carly.
 * The last scene in Really Big Shrimp involved Drake and Josh fighting over a shrimp that fell on the floor, which is a deja-vu scene between the same actors in one skit of The Amanda Show.
 * The episode I Love Sushi contains a scene directly mimicking a similar scene in the I Love Lucy episode Job Switching. The title of the episode is no coincidence.
 * Dan Schneider's wife cooking show titled Hungry Girl is featured on the marquee of the movie theater.
 * The Show Goes Hollywood: The TV movie Drake & Josh Go Hollywood.
 * Show Within a Show: Drew and Jerry is a straight spoof on the eponymous characters, right down to their traits.
 * A Simple Plan
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Countless times, most notably with Josh and Mindy.
 * Standardized Sitcom Housing
 * Status Quo Is God: Drake will never have a girlfriend for more then an episode (unless one counts Carly, but even then only for two), despite multiple episodes dedicated to him trying to learn how to woo a particular girl he likes.
 * On the other hand, Josh's status as the Chew Toy / Butt Monkey / Cosmic Plaything was gradually dropped as Josh Peck himself lost a lot of weight and they couldn't use the same "fat people are funny" gag. And he eventually got a hot girlfriend and was in general not too much different then Drake.
 * Surveillance As the Plot Demands: Megan has spy cameras and microphones everywhere.
 * The Teaser: Each episode opens with a minute-long No Fourth Wall skit of Drake and Josh conversing with the audience in separate locations of their residence, which may or may not be related to the main plot of the episode. Said skit also highlights the Sibling Yin Yang aspect between the brothers.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: The episode Blues Brothers features Drake entering a talent show with his band, with it becoming apparent in the episode they intend to perform "Find A Way". Doubles as an Actor Allusion, since Drake Parker writes the song in the show, which Drake Bell wrote & performed to serve as the theme song for Drake & Josh in real life.
 * Title Drop: Played around with in the Christmas special, where Josh addresses themselves as "Josh and Drake" in a signed letter to their parole officer, only to have Drake interrupt by saying that it sounds weird "the other way." Josh begrudgingly changes it to the title proper.
 * The Teaser
 * Those Two Guys: Craig and Eric.
 * Tsundere: Mindy Crenshaw, although it is most evident before she and Josh hook up and after they decide to see other people. They do end up getting back together in the finale.
 * Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys: Megan in the later seasons.
 * Lampshaded in the Student Teacher episode.

"Drake: What a dumb idea for a show."
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: In Pilot, Josh wears a woman's dress as "Miss Nancy" in order to give sound advice in a school paper column.
 * Who Would Want to Watch Us: When Drew and Jerry were casted in a television show "about two brothers" (clearly spoofing the show itself), Drake and Josh mock the premise.


 * Wimp Fight: Whenever the eponymous duo get int a fight.
 * With Friends Like These: The eponymous duo.
 * Xanatos Gambit: Megan is extremely skilled at these. Whenever Drake and Josh seem to succeed in getting revenge on Megan, the complexity of her plans reverses the tide.
 * In Peruvian Puff Pepper, Megan orders the eponymous condiment for her salsa which she will enter in a salsa-making contest where Drake and Josh are one of her rival competitors. This pepper "ensures" her victory in the contest. The stepbrothers manage to steal the pepper from her, much to her anger for being unable to retrieve it from her denying brothers. When the brothers had used the pepper for their salsa and won the contest, Megan tricks them to reveal the "secret ingredient" of their salsa. It is then revealed that the pepper had adverse side effects and is illegal, thus disqualifying the brothers' salsa. Since Megan is the second-placer, she gets the first prize plasma TV instead.
 * In Alien Invasion, Drake and Josh manages to trick Megan in the majority of the episode that she had seen "real" aliens. They go as far as dressing up into alien costumes just to get revenge on Megan. However, as the brothers do a victory dance, a REAL alien shows up behind Drake and Josh, terrifying the brothers even more. It turns out the alien is one of Megan's friends who helped her reverse the prank.
 * You Say Tomato: Walter constantly mispronouncing "touché" and "capice" was made into a running gag.