Rick and Morty is a show that wears its pop culture references on its stained, lab coat sleeve. After all, every single episode title is a play on a film, book, or movie title, and the show’s very premise comes from a Back To The Future spoof that co-creator Justin Roiland previously worked on. Some of these references are outright mentioned in the show – like in “Look Who’s Purging Now” – but the greatest reward for eagle-eyed and sharp-eared fans comes from the most obscure Rick and Morty references.
Whether they’re allusions to other characters, paraphrases of memorable lines, visual spoofs, or little cameos lurking in the background, every episode is rich with references that probably went over your head. Do the writers do it to make you feel stupid? Well, this is a show with Rick Sanchez in it, so… yes, probably *cue belch noise*. To make you feel a little smarter than the average Morty, here’s a handy explainer to the show’s deepest cuts.
1. One Of The Candidates In ‘Tales from the Citadel’ Parodies A Political Meme
- Reference: Rick Guilt Rick’s appearance
- Season: 3
- Episode: 7
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.
2. Jemaine Clement Uses His ‘Flight of the Conchords’ Bowie Impression In ‘Mortynight Run’
- Reference: The “Goodbye Moonmen” song
- Season: 2
- Episode: 2
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.
3. The ‘Needful Things’ Shop Pays Homage To A Lesser-Known Stephen King Novel
- Reference: A mysterious shopkeeper who runs a “Needful Things” shop that sells odd items for an odd price
- Season: 1
- Episode: 9
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.
4. ‘The Rickshank Redemption’ Paraphrases A Famous Line From Cult Movie ‘Dune’
- Reference: “He who controls the pants controls the galaxy!”
- Season: 3
- Episode: 1
This line – 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.”
5. The Time Cop Looks A Lot Like Stephen King’s Langoliers
- Reference: The Time Cop’s head
- Season: 2
- Episode: 1
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.
6. Gazorpians Are Heavily Inspired By Cult Film ‘Zardoz’
- Reference: The setup of Gazorpian society (and the giant head that gives out sex robots)
- Season: 1
- Episode: 7
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.
7. The Council Of Ricks Are Likely Inspired By The Fantastic Four’s ‘Council of Reed Richards’
- Reference: The “Council of Ricks”
- Season: 1
- Episode: 10
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.
8. Doc and Marhti Make An Appearance In ‘Big Trouble in Little Sanchez’
- Reference: The terrible drawing of Rick with the caption, “HELP ME MORTY AND SUMMER.”
- Season: 2
- Episode: 7
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.
9. ‘Lawnmower Dog’ Is A Shout-Out To Roiland’s Failed Cartoon Network Show
- Reference: A world in which humans are subservient to dogs
- Season: 1
- Episode: 2
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.