6 Of the Funniest Moments in Rick and Morty
It seems hard to believe that Rick and Morty is turning seven this year, or that it’s now into its fifth season on Adult Swim. Yet even after all of this time, this show about a drunken, nihilistic scientist and his socially awkward grandson remains as great as ever. Able to oscillate between deconstructing beloved fictional tropes and genuinely heartfelt moments, Rick and Morty is truly a cartoon for the ages. Furthermore, despite what some people might say, you don’t need a high IQ to understand it. Rather, you don’t need a high IQ to understand its humor.
I’m RJ Writing Ink with the Game of Nerds, and I’m giving you my picks for the funniest moments on Rick and Morty thus far. If you don’t agree with any of them, then feel free to say so; just don’t be a Rick about it.
Rick and Morty Forever 100 Years, Pilot
One of the series funniest moments comes within the closing minutes of the pilot episode. After getting busted for pulling Morty out of school, Rick looks set to get thrown out of the Smith house. He manages to avert this, though, by making it seem like spending time with him is making Morty smarter. However, soon as they leave, Rick reveals that his boost in intelligence is only due to seeds Rick had Morty smuggle inside his cavity. And once the effect wears off, Morty devolves into a drooling mess while Rick rants about how he plans to use Morty for all sort of crazy adventures.
This one moment pretty much set the tone for the entire series and how Justin Roiland would be playing Rick and Morty. Rick drags his family members on insane adventures and not care about the consequences, while Morty is powerless to the whims of his grandpa. What makes this scene so hilarious is that much of Rick’s ranting was the result of Justin Roiland’s improv, which becomes a hallmark of the series. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Rick Dance, Ricksy Business
This scene is one that’s a lot funnier in hindsight. In the Season One finale to the show, Rick throws a massive party at the Smith family’s house that ends up getting the whole house sent to another dimension. Following a harrowing ordeal, Morty returns with crystals that he thinks will help get everyone home. Instead, Rick uses them to get high and do this insane dance.
What makes this funny in hindsight actually has nothing to do with the show. If you play Fortnite or watch someone play Fortnite, then you’ll know that Rick is one of the latest pop culture characters to get added to the game. And the Rick Dance is one of the emotes that he comes with.
X Gon Give it to Ya, Something Ricked This Way Comes
Revenge can just be so satisfying sometimes. After Summer gets fired from her part-time job working for the actual Devil, she wants payback, and Rick is more than happy to help. One workout montage and steroid session later, the two are super jacked and proceed to beat the snot out of the Devil.
On its own, seeing these two bonding and getting buffed over for the sake of revenge would be awesome on its own. However, what cinches this scene is the fact that the whole thing plays to “X Gon Give it to Ya” by the late DMX. And the stinger sees the two continuing their violent spree of justice, beating up Neo-Nazi’s, bullies, Westboro Baptists, and animal abusers. X Gon Give it to Ya!
Rattlestar Ricklactica, the Whole Episode
Sometimes a show doesn’t need do something groundbreaking or revolutionary to be entertaining. Sometimes, all a show needs to do is take a premise so stupid that it’s funny and then see how far they can take it. And this this episode of Rick and Morty proves that Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s team can take a stupid premise very far.
While they’re out traveling in space, Morty disobeys Rick and steps outside the spaceship, which leads to him to being bit by a snake in an astronaut suit. After he kills it, Morty feels so bad that he replaces the dead snake with one from a pet store. However, this only makes things worse when the snakes invent time travel and start sending assassin’s back to kill him, forcing Rick to use time-travel to basically manipulate the snakes into destroying themselves.
This episode contains the absolute dumbest premise possible (alien snakes), and manages to use it for laughs from start to finish. From seeing snakes have their own society, yet still be dumb enough to respond to first contact by biting someone, to the convoluted parody of the Terminator films, this episode makes no sense. It’s dumb, it knows its dumb, and makes it work so well. This is easily one of the best episodes the show’s done, and I love it.
Pickle Rick, Pickle Rick
You probably saw this one coming. It’s Pickle Rick! It’s something so dumb that it shouldn’t work, yet Rick and Morty not only managed to do so, but won an Emmy for it in the process.
The basic premise behind this whole episode is that Rick turns himself into a pickle. That’s it. The man who’s capable of destroying entire world’s with his science, and he turns himself into something as mundane as a pickle. The stupidity of it is hilarious enough, but it’s then that we learn why he turned himself into a pickle: to get out of a family therapy session. Rick would rather turn himself into a pickle instead of sit through something that he sees as beneath him. The lengths that he’s willing to go in order to get out of something he doesn’t like are hilarious, and very fitting for Rick Sanchez.
Szechuan Sauce, The Rick-Shank Redemption
Years from now, when Rick and Morty decides to stop sharing stories with us and fans are left to debate about its impact on our culture, this moment’s going to come up. After breaking himself out of prison, rescuing his grandkids, and taking down the Galactic government, the Season Three premiere ends with Morty’s parents divorcing, much to everyone (and no one’s) surprise. As soon as the others leave, though, Rick reveals that he orchestrated the collapse of the government and Jerry being thrown out simply because they crossed him. As a result, he usurps Jerry’s role as the head of the Smith family house and keeping his family underneath his toxic thumb. However, his monologue then devolves into an insane rant about he wants to get his hands on this Szechuan Sauce that McDonald’s made to promote Mulan back in the 90’s.
Of all the things that Rick and Morty may be remembered for, this will likely be the biggest. After hearing Rick say that he loved the Szechuan sauce on the show, the topic went viral. Fans wouldn’t stop asking McDonald’s to bring back the Szechuan sauce for them to try, which they ultimately did, with disastrous results.
How many shows do you know that are capable of making a fast-food chain bring back a promotional sauce from two decades ago and making national news? The fact that Rick and Morty managed to do just that means that the show will go down in pop culture lore. Rick and Morty forever!
Do you like my picks? What moments from Rick and Morty make you burst with laughter?
Click here to see the first episode of Season 5 on the Adult Swim channel on YouTube.
