I want to add that I also felt like there was a nod to this in The Simpsons episode A Star is Burns that had Hans Moleman, who typically is cast as an old, weak and simply naive character suffering constant humorous misfortunte such as his attempt to move his house by car which was thrawted by Homer's impatience and resulted in it's destruction but also the claim that "drinking made him look like this and he's only 31 years old." Anyway in this episode Hans Moleman presents an old timey silent short called Man Getting Hit By Football which plays out as expected. There is the silent music, the same concise setup and obviously a predictable enough ending. The Simpsons has plenty of nods to the silent era in it's episodes and this one was no exception.
