This is the only episode in which a tablecloth is used at Café Nervosa. It's on the central table where Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) first meets Bob (Griffin Dunne). The tablecloth hides the fact that Bob is in a wheelchair until his disability becomes relevant.
Actor Griffin Dunne who portrayed Bob in this episode can be heard on Frasier, as Russell, the first caller heard in the pilot episode, The Good Son (1993).
After this episode Frasier never does establish a solid friendship with any other man. He does make an attempt with a faithless boyfriend of Roz's in "The New Friend", but it doesn't last.
The celebrity caller in this episode is Armistead Maupin (Gerard) who "[...] called in for a different reason." When Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) talked about the apprehension of meeting new friends, Gerard was inspired and offered to comb Frasier's hair.
This episode has a very similar plot to the Bill Murray movie What About Bob? (1991). As both feature a prominent psychiatrist who has trouble dealing with an overbearing man named Bob.