 " Rosebud " was written by John Swartzwelder and was the first episode to be executive produced by David Mirkin , who was the show runner for the fifth and sixth seasons of the show . Directed by Wes Archer , supervising director David Silverman describes the episode as " one of the more challenging ones " to direct . The Ramones ( Joey Ramone , Johnny Ramone , C. J. Ramone and Marky Ramone ) guest star in the episode as themselves . The episode is largely a parody of the 1941 film Citizen Kane and the title references Charles Foster Kane 's dying word " Rosebud " . The episode also contains references to The Wizard of Oz , Planet of the Apes , actor George Burns , Charles Lindbergh , and Adolf Hitler . 
