Everybody Hates Chris Hid a Stephen King Easter Egg Nobody Saw Coming

Buried in one of the show's episodes is an Easter egg that horror fans would never expect to find in a sitcom about Chris Rock's childhood.

Here is a crossover I did not have on my bingo card: a family sitcom about growing up in 1980s Brooklyn quietly nodding to Stephen King horror. And yet, Everybody Hates Chris has a blink-and-you-miss-it Easter egg that points directly at The Shining. Yes, really.

The setup: what the show is actually doing

Everybody Hates Chris (created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi) follows a teenage Chris Rock, played by Tyler James Williams, trying to survive school, home, and New York City in the 1980s. Adult Chris narrates the chaos in that knowingly wry, memory-lane way — think The Wonder Years, but with Rock's stand-up sensibility baked in. The show is full of bits cribbed from his act, including the very first episode working in the classic 'big piece of chicken' riff about dads and dinner.

Chris's dad, Julius — played to penny-pinching perfection by Terry Crews — works multiple jobs to keep the lights on. The man is blue-collar, frugal, and perpetually exhausted. Which is where the King connection sneaks in.

The Easter egg you catch if you actually look

In the pilot, Julius wears one of his work uniforms with a patch that reads 'Overlook Hotel.' As in, The Overlook Hotel — the setting of The Shining. Fans noticed, the internet did what the internet does, and suddenly we were all debating whether Chris Rock and Stephen King share a universe.

'I work two jobs. One as a driver, and the other is my late, late job.'

That line in the pilot only adds fuel. If Julius has a mystery night shift, is it wild to imagine it was at a certain isolated Colorado hotel with a very bad history?

So... are Chris Rock and Stephen King in the same universe?

• Geography says probably not. Everybody Hates Chris is set in Brooklyn. The Overlook sits in Sidewinder, Colorado (in King's world). Those commutes do not line up.
• Timeline gives you a sliver of wiggle room. The Shining novel was published in 1977 and takes place in the 1970s. Everybody Hates Chris unfolds in the 1980s. If you want to get conspiratorial, Julius could have worked at the Overlook before he settled down with Rochelle in Bed-Stuy, where the pilot starts.
• The boring (and sensible) answer: thrift. Julius pinches every penny. A second-hand work shirt with an Overlook patch fits his character to a T and costs a lot less than buying new. Not spooky, but believable.
• The fun read: sure, maybe Julius and Jack Torrance exchanged a nod on a loading dock one winter. Nobody can prove you wrong. That is the beauty of a good Easter egg.

Where to spot it

If you want to see the patch for yourself, queue up the Everybody Hates Chris pilot and keep an eye on Julius's uniform. The series is streaming on Disney+ right now.

Whether it is a thrift-store gag or a stealthy shared-universe wink, it is exactly the kind of inside-baseball detail this show loves: specific, sly, and way funnier once you notice it.