Rick and Morty generally isn’t very subtle with its references. Almost every episode is named after a famous movie, TV show, or book title with either “Rick” or “Morty” inserted, the show’s concept is based on a spoof animation co-creator Justin Roiland made parodying Back To The Future, and quite often the show directly states and criticizes the piece of media they are referencing as was the case with “Look Who’s Purging Now” (Season 2, Episode 9) when Summer says in reference to the entire episode’s premise: “Like the movie The Purge?… That movie sucked.”
Not every reference, however, is that blatant. In the first three seasons alone, there are plenty of references that touch upon more esoteric pieces of pop culture knowledge like classic Tabletop RPG games, dated political memes, and Hulk Hogan movies from the 1990s. Now, these jokes don’t necessarily need deep knowledge to be funny, but Ranker voters believed these jokes were ever-so-slightly better when you understand the reference.
1. One Of The Candidates In ‘Tales from the Citadel’ Parodies A Political Meme
Photo: Cartoon Network
The black suit and distinctive gray facial hair of political candidate Rick Guilt Rick mirrors that of eccentric and real-life political candidate Jimmy McMillan. McMillan ran for state gubernatorial election in New York in November 2010 under the slogan, “The Rent Is Too Damn High,” which was also the name of the political party he founded. He quickly become a meme.
- Season: 3
- Episode: 7
2. Jemaine Clement Uses His ‘Flight of the Conchords’ Bowie Impression In ‘Mortynight Run’
Photo: Cartoon Network
In “Mortynight Run,” the psychedelic space cloud dubbed, “Fart” sings a very Bowie-esque song composed and performed by Flight of the Conchords’s Jemaine Clement. The song is pretty much the same Bowie impression the actor does for FOTC’s “Bowies In Space,” which is likely why he voices the character.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 2
3. The ‘Needful Things’ Shop Pays Homage To A Lesser-Known Stephen King Novel
Photo: Cartoon Network
The shop’s name in this Rick and Morty episode makes this an obvious catch but, being a fairly forgotten Stephen King tale, most would be forgiven for not thinking there was anything to catch in the first place. King’s novel Needful Things centers around a shopkeeper who sells their wares in exchange for deeds carried out by the buyers. In Rick and Morty‘s version, the shopkeeper is the Devil, and Rick attempts to run him out of business.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 9
4. ‘The Rickshank Redemption’ Paraphrases A Famous Line From ‘Dune’
Photo: Cartoon Network
“He who controls the pants controls the galaxy!” – shouted by a off-screen character in the first episode of Season 3 – is a clear spoof of this one from David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of surreal sci-fi epic, Dune: “He who controls the spice, controls the universe.”
- Season: 3
- Episode: 1
5. The Time Cops Look Very Similar To Stephen King’s Langoliers
Photo: Cartoon Network
In “A Rickle In Time,” the Time Cop – with its large, venus fly trap-esque head – looks like a replica of the Langoliers from the Stephen King novella of the same name. Thematically there’s a link too, as both the episode and King story are about the dangers of messing with the natural flow of time.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 1
6. Gazorpians Are Are Reminiscent Of The Sci-Fi Cult Film ‘Zardoz’
Photo: Cartoon Network
The whole subplot involving a dominant and submissive society on a barren planet that issues bizarre punishments for law-breaking comes straight from the 1974 sci-fi movie Zardoz. If that weren’t enough of a clue, the huge, stone, sexbot-delivering head is a carbon copy of the one in the film.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 7
7. The Council Of Ricks Are Heavily-Influenced By The Fantastic Four’s ‘Council of Reed Richards’
Photo: Cartoon Network
The Council is comprised of different versions of Rick from across the multiverse. This is likely a nod to a similar idea in Marvel comics, in which the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards (one of the biggest brains in Marvel) has his very own “Interdimensional Council of Reeds” filled with his multiverse doppelgängers.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 10
8. Doc and Marhti Appear In ‘Big Trouble in Little Sanchez’
Photo: Cartoon Network
The poorly sketched version of Rick that Summer holds up in “Big Trouble In Little Sanchez” is not meant to poke fun at Summer’s drawing abilities. The sketch of Rick looks just like the titular character’s ancestral form (“Doc”) from Roiland’s The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, the low budget show on which Rick and Morty is based.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 7
9. ‘Lawnmower Dog’ Is A Shout-Out To Roiland’s Cartoon Network Show
Photo: Cartoon Network
The entire premise of the episode is lifted from a show called Dog World creator Justin Roiland successfully pitched to Cartoon Network in 2012. The network ended up dropping the project. The theme music for Rick and Morty was also recycled from Dog World.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 2
10. The Premise Of ‘Total Rickall’ Is Very Reminiscent Of Adult Swim’s ‘Too Many Cooks’
Photo: Cartoon Network
The whole plot of “Total Rickall” is remarkably similar to another [adult swim] property, Too Many Cooks. The 2014 short is structured like a standard TV sitcom with a dark comic twist. It forcibly traps far too many different characters from far too many different genres together in one house and eventually leads to a violent conclusion, much like “Total Rickall” does.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 4
11. There’s An Appearance From A Classic Adult Swim Character In ‘M. Night Shaym-Aliens!’
Photo: Cartoon Network
Ignignokt leads the pixelated Mooninite creatures, characters from the classic [adult swim] show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The silhouette of the little green character can be seen in a stasis tube in the third simulation
- Season: 1
- Episode: 4
12. The Pilot References An Obscure ’90s Hulk Hogan Movie
Photo: Cartoon Network
High school bully (and self-professed rich kid) Frank Palicky takes a fatal tumble after being frozen by Rick in the pilot episode. At home, Summer tearfully informs the rest of the family, “Frank Palicky was frozen today!” which is unmistakably reminiscent of the one Christopher Lloyd delivers in the cheesy, Hulk Hogan-starring 1991 movie, Suburban Commando. Thanks to YouTube’s Nostalgia Critic, the line is also a meme.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 1
13. The Vampires In ‘Big Trouble in Little Sanchez’ Wear Symbols From Vampire: The Masquerade
Photo: Cartoon Network
Having ignored the vampires-invading-high-school plot line that was the whole impetus for Rick becoming a teenager in the first place, we return to this abandoned story after the episode’s credits. During the scene, large ankhs can be seen hanging around the necks of the vampire worshipers that are straight out of the tabletop RPG, Vampire: The Masquerade.
- Season: 2
- Episode: 7
14. The Robot Suits In ‘The Ricks Must Be Crazy’ Were Directly Inspired By ‘DOTA’
Photo: Cartoon Network
Brent Tumbles, the prop designer for Rick and Morty, explained in a blog post that the mini mechs Rick and Zeep battle each other with took direct inspiration from the online multiplayer game, DOTA.
“Rick’s suit is a variation on the dog mech and I wanted Zeep’s to be inspired by a character in DOTA called ‘Timbersaw,'” Tumbles said.
- Season: 2
- Epiosde: 6
15. The Interdimensional Cable Episodes Reference One Of Roiland’s Old Projects
Photo: Cartoon Network
Among Justin Roiland’s other previous works is House of Cosbys, an animated sitcom in which the main character, Mitchell Reynolds, builds a cloning machine to duplicate Bill Cosby, his favorite comedian. The show featured a bunch of Bill Cosby clones glued to a TV that was tuned in exclusively to alien TV networks filled with bizarre programs. Sounds familiar, right?
- Season: 1
- Episode: 8