In a lot of ways a show that is unlike most of its competition, even though Rick and Morty debuted all the way back in 2013 the series has only aired thirty-one episodes so far. Despite the relatively paltry amount of Rick and Morty episodes that have been produced, the show has still managed to become one of the most talked-about series on the internet.
Even though Rick and Morty has amassed an extremely healthy fan base over the years, many of the series’ fans don’t actually know all that much about the series. While that is perfectly fine, it still is a crying shame as the series is pretty fascinating. With that in mind, it is time to take a look at this list of 15 little-known facts about Rick and Morty.
15 Canadian Content
For most modern cartoon TV shows, it makes perfect sense for those involved to work on character design and figure out the stories but let foreign production companies do the animating heavy work.
No exception to that trend, Rick and Morty still went down a somewhat different route as they chose to have a Canadian company named Bardel Entertainment complete the animation.
14 Rick’s Trademark Burping Wasn’t Planned
While working on a short film that was a precursor to Rick and Morty, series co-creator and voice contributor Justin Roiland burped in the middle of delivering a line. Amused by the moment, he went on to force himself to burp while he recorded many other lines of dialogue for that character. Happy with the results, he has continued the practice off and on since he began voicing Rick.
13 British Background
Even though Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland were both born and raised in America, the show they created together actually has strong roots in British humor. This is the case because Harmon revealed that for him, the show’s humor was heavily influenced by British TV shows like Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
12 The Show’s Pilot Was Written Very Quickly
Largely due to the fact that each episode of Rick and Morty is densely packed with story, references, jokes, and set up for future moments, the show’s writers tend to work on them for a long time. On the other hand, when Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland wrote the script for the show’s pilot they completed it in only six hours.
11 Fight For Your Choices
In perhaps an animated television first, Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland voices the show’s two main characters. Since that is an extremely unusual choice, it isn’t surprising that Adult Swim wasn’t on board with that idea at first in part because of how undefined Morty’s character was at the time. Undeterred, Dan Harmon sent the network detailed character outlines for Morty and they agreed to let Roiland play him and Rick.
10 That Song is a lot Older Than People Think
Let’s face facts, even though there is no denying that there is something catchy about the Rick and Morty song “Get Schwifty”, the tune is ridiculous. As it turns out, the reason for that is Justin Roiland wrote that song when he was still a child and he realized it was bad so he thought it would be funny to have the tune save the world.
9 One of the Show’s Most Popular Episodes Was Inspired By Something Surprising
During the episode “Total Rickall”, Rick and Morty’s main characters struggle to figure out what is real and fake as their home is infested with a slew of outrageous new characters. As it turns out, that episode was written because Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland were amazed when Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s main character suddenly had a sister that everyone just accepted.
8 Stealing From Himself
Quite possibly the most disturbing character ever seen during a Rick and Morty episode, King Jellybean wasn’t on the show for long but he certainly made his mark. Surprisingly enough, this so-called King wasn’t created for Rick and Morty as Justin Roiland developed the character for another show he created named Unbelievable Tales.
7 Unorthodox Episode Premiere
As many fans no doubt remember, Rick and Morty’s third season premiere episode was released without any warning or promotion on April Fool’s Day, to the delight of the show’s followers. What most fans don’t know, however, is that three days before the first season episode “Rixty Minutes” premiered on Adult Swim it was released in 109 15 second clips over Instagram.
6 Not As Random As Many Viewers Think
Even though Rick and Morty is a show that is chocked full of strange characters, Bird Person stands out as exceptionally weird. After all, he is one of the main character’s best friends and everything about him seems odd for the show. What many fans don’t realize is that Bird Person actually is a parody of The Hawk from Buck Rogers.
5 Classic Vehicle
Almost always the most pathetic Rick and Morty character, there is no doubt that Jerry Smith can’t catch a break most of the time. Perhaps that is why the show modeled the vehicle he drives after Clark Griswold’s Wagon Queen Family Truckster from Vacation. After all, things rarely worked out for that movie’s main character.
4 Apocalyptic Endings
While it is abundantly clear that the people who run Rick and Morty aren’t afraid to end episodes on a sour note, most fans don’t realize how far they almost took things. As it turns out, series co-creator Justin Roiland originally wanted to have the Earth be destroyed during each and every episode of the show.
3 Big Name Audition
Even though Jerry Smith is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite Rick and Morty character at first, once you see several episodes of the show it becomes obvious how hilarious he truly is. Voiced by the always great Chris Parnell, if Bryan Cranston had his way that wouldn’t be the case as the Breaking Bad actor auditioned for the role.
2 The Network Was Right This Time
Typically when fans learn of instances in which TV networks force creators to make major changes to their show, it comes across like a negative thing. On the other end of the spectrum, Adult Swim insisting that Rick and Morty be a half-hour show, instead of each episode lasting eleven minutes as Justin Roiland wanted, was brilliant.
1 Shared Universe
Far from the first animated sci-fi show of its kind, Rick and Morty owes a debt of gratitude to shows like Futurama that came before it. As some fans have hypothesized, the two shows might have a lot more in common than the genre they share. After all, Futurama’s Planet Express ship has been seen in the background of more than one R&M episode which implies they exist in a shared universe.
Sources: mentalfloss.com, factinate.com, babbletop.com