Rick and Morty Co-Creator Reveals One of the Series’ Surprise Troubles

Rick and Morty season 6 will be returning to Adult Swim in just a couple more weeks, so the co-creator behind the series has opened up about the surprising trouble the show has when it comes to telling its own inside jokes. As fans have seen through the first five seasons of its run so far, Rick and Morty has a cynical edge that takes shots and many pop culture elements. But at the same time, the series has also built up its own distinct library of potential references and memorable jokes that fans have taken to whole new levels outside of the series itself.

Speaking during a press event about the upcoming sixth season of the series, Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland was asked about how the series approaches telling its own inside jokes when approaching the comedy for a new season. Given the many jokes that the series could reference for a laugh, Roiland explained that outside of a few small references to some of the biggest moments, the team largely wants to avoid it so the comedy can remain as well crafted as it possibly can. 

“I feel like the smartest angle is to always try to just stay true to what you think is funny,” Roiland began. “…[W]e don’t ever want to be like, ‘Bazinga.’ We never want to do that kind of sh-t. The jokes always need to feel like well-crafted jokes and not just references…That’s going to turn people off.” But some things just might be too notable to ignore and almost have to be referenced as Roiland stated, “There [is] the occasional reference now because we have…we’ll have an acknowledgement of Rick turned himself into a pickle…Just little things here and there that we’ve done.”

But at the end of the day, Roiland explained that Rick and Morty‘s team focuses on the comedy writing itself more so than the kind of jokes, “But by and large, we stay away from that stuff,” Roiland continued. “I think it’s just write the show the way we’ve always, make the comedy the way it always has been and just really well crafted and funny jokes and dialogue and stuff…It’s definitely not, I mean, there’s a lot of thought that goes into that stuff, that’s for sure, all the way up until the show airs it feels like.”

How do you feel about Rick and Morty‘s approach to inside jokes? Which kind of gags would you want to see make a comeback? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!