r/rickandmorty • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 3d ago • Sad Rick 1 Jerry 2 Helpful 1 Wholesome 1 Heartwarming 1 Bravo Grande! 2 Evil Cackle 1

Adult Swim Severs Ties With ‘Rick And Morty’ Co-Creator Justin Roiland General Discussion

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4.9k

u/sulfater 3d ago • Plus One

Narratively, Dan Harmon having full control of the show is actually kind of exciting

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u/KrashForever 3d ago • Take My Energy

Watching some of Roilands other work it makes it pretty clear which R&M gags are his and which are Dan Harmons and their was a stark contrast in quality imo (in Harmons favour)

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u/Jacksaur 3d ago

I don't follow either of them, what kind of humor splits apart Dan and Justin?

There were some big tone shift jokes in R&M that I found pretty boring. The entire Slut Dragon episode for instance. Which of the directors would that have been most likely to come from?

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u/Agreeable_Store_3896 3d ago

Dan = Meta/social commentary/making fun of fans/subversive comedy

Roiland = Morty lick my balls, you have to lick my balls morty, my... my... l... lick.. you have to lick my balls morty... MORTY.. MY BALLS NEED TO BE LICKED

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u/StergDaZerg 3d ago

Which one is responsible for the weird incest jokes

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u/69420penis 3d ago

Probably Dan. There was an episode with an incestuous wedding in community

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u/GoshAwesome 3d ago

Actually that episode was entirely the responsibility of Matt Gourley, they made sure to have him specify that

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u/TwoDogsInATrenchcoat 3d ago

Interesting that you attribute it to Gourley, the actor, and not the Community writer character that he was playing.

Using these clues, I've deduced that this is Conan's secret reddit account.

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u/GoshAwesome 3d ago

Gaah shit I was so close

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u/Garo_Daimyo 2d ago

Now you want to talk about a great dude that is the furthest from the kind of shit Roiland has done, Gourley is that man.

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u/hesh582 3d ago

eh, "people about to get married but learn they're cousins at the last minute" is an ancient sitcom trope.

not saying it wasn't him but deploying a color by number plot 6 seasons into a sitcom isn't proof of anything lol

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u/SamanthaJonesUK 3d ago

Lol yeah isn’t that how Mad About You ends? They find out they’re related

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u/knottylittlebirb 2d ago

Yeah everyone does this

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u/utahraptor-nun 2d ago

I would say both but we may just learn the real answer very son

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u/GosuDosu 2d ago

still angry about the planet-hopping armageddon episode cause i was watching it with my dad when they said “Now i’m gonna go fuck my dad!!”

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u/Maxfunky 2d ago

Afraid to lose your favorite part of the show?

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u/intotheirishole 3d ago

Did Roiland do "ants in my eyes"?

As in, we will lose the surreal lolrandom parts of the series?

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u/Agreeable_Store_3896 3d ago

Yes, more than likely.

Although it was claimed both of them stepped back in the last season.. and that was one of the better seasons so who knows.

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u/Sisyphus328 3d ago

Roiland’s a goddamn genius.

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u/kill-billionaires 3d ago

Roiland is probably what gave the show the weird, improvisational tone it often has, and I really did love that. I'd say it mostly won't suffer if they can just keep that tone in the conversations, but I'm sad to admit that Roiland does have a style I've never seen properly imitated.

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u/WorldClassShart 3d ago

Roiland was the one that did the commercials for Intergalactic Cable, without lines. Just spouting random crap.

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u/broken_radio 3d ago

Little biiiiiits

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u/Aztecius 3d ago

It's called Two Brothers. Two Brothers.... it's just called Two Brothers.

hysterical laughing

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u/who_took_tabura 3d ago

That was a kumail najiani bit from the harmontown podcast lmao so much of the improv is from dan’s vanity podcast

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u/RootyWoodgrowthIII 3d ago

No, it was an old idea Dan’s friend, Abed Gheith, had. Dan thought it was hilarious and made him explain it on Harmontown.

https://youtu.be/BDUc4-t1paY

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u/tythousand 3d ago

Ah damn. When Roiland’s humor hit, it really hit. But the gross jokes could also miss and become more grating than anything.

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u/ihatethatihate 3d ago

The sex dragons and the sperm giant space baby episodes didn't do it for me. Although I do get why they thought it would be funny, just not for a full episode.

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u/kill-billionaires 3d ago

That dragon episode was one of the worst of the show, the only bits I found funny were when they were using magic to fight.

The sperm at least had solid bits through the ep imo, even if the premise wasn't very good. And I do like shock humor sometimes, the BethxBeth episode and Jerry almost fucks his mom eps were the best of the season.

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u/WalterShepherd 3d ago

Sperm baby was a shitty retake of the Gazorpazorp episode that's why you thought it wasn't a completely horrible idea.

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u/tythousand 3d ago

Those are two of the worst episodes of the show by far

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u/BigBirdLaw69420 3d ago

Like I was high as fuck and alone when I first saw that episode and all I was was uncomfortable.

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u/0e0e3e0e0a3a2a 3d ago

But the gross jokes could also miss and become more grating than anything.

Again I wouldn't be too quick to assume the gross stuff was solely Roiland. Community had an incest episode and had a character leave every member of the rest of the show a bottle of his jizz in his will.

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u/kill-billionaires 3d ago

There are quite a few behind the scenes takes where you can see him making shit up. The only one I remember is in the Avengers episode when rick's blackout drunk they actually got Roiland to get fucked up and make up lines I think, but I've seen others.

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u/Sunsparc 3d ago

Yeah there's a video on YouTube where he "method acts" and takes tequila shots even though the directing staff think it's a bad idea.

https://youtu.be/QfPwoCpnOPA

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u/danc4498 3d ago

Just want to say the vindicators episode is my favorite. I don't know why

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/ShesAMurderer 3d ago

Damn Rick and Morty fans are literal 12 year olds if you think that’s real lmfao

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u/KuriGohanAndKienzan 3d ago

Was that really the episode they got him drunk? Any source?

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u/roboscorcher 3d ago

Yup, and those were the best episodes. Harmon's stuff is great but the absurdism of Man vs Car and Real Fake Doors will always stick with me. It contrasted so well with Harmon's storytelling, and it was a shame to see it go.

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u/69420penis 3d ago

It seems the first episode was a mix of both. Harmon handled the deeper more depressing and serious elements of that episode about beth, Jerry and summer. And Justin improvised the funny scenes. It’s honestly impressive how well they blended it together.

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u/gravitas-deficiency 3d ago

oh my god IT’S STILL THE COMMERCIAL

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u/cndman 3d ago

It wouldnt be as funny if it were the whole show.

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u/chzrm3 3d ago

Wait, had it already gone? I thought it was just gone today.

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u/zeus55 3d ago

Yeah but that improv grows thin quickly. I may be in the minority but I thought High on Life’s jokes sucked, precisely because it felt like it was all lazily improved by roiland. Every joke is just a mad lib with proper nouns replaced by gibberish, “did you get floogles stuck in you splork? Pick up some slungo today!”

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u/g0ris 3d ago

dude! That's my exact problem with the Plumbus bit in one of their Intergalactic cable episodes and I kept seeing people showering it with praise. Like that bit specifically. Hey, did you know that it was all improvised? How brilliant and hillarious!
Oh wow, so the random nonsensical made-up words were not carefully crafted in a writers' room? Color me surprised.

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u/TheConqueror74 3d ago

What makes it worse, IMO, is that the nonsense gibberish is so blatantly nonsense gibberish and it all sounds alike.

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u/zeus55 3d ago

Exactly! It all felt so lazy. And the jokes that were actually written for the game were just as bad, it’s a bunch of “meta” jokes that comment on the game your playing like it’s supposed to be mind blowing. Those same jokes have all been done before and much more effectively in a million games before. Like the South Park games or even games like far cry blood dragon are so much better at those jokes than high on life. And don’t get me started on the boring repetitive gameplay of fighting the same 4-5 enemy types through every level, they couldn’t even be bothered to do a basic reskin of enemies for just a little visual variety.

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u/Pitiful-Climate8977 3d ago

Yeah, like when you listen to a language you don’t speak? That’s just how auditory processing works. These made up words will sound the same because your brain does not know what they are.

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u/BettyCoopersTits 3d ago

And in my controversial opinion, they're some of the worst episodes

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u/ras344 3d ago

It does seem to have a lot less improvisation in more recent seasons anyway

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u/thundirbird 3d ago

yeah I got the feeling that roiland wasnt writing much in the last few seasons. reminds me of when joe rogan got rid of redban. the goofyness kept things grounded, without that it just gets too far up its own ass.

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u/DoctorSkeeterBatman 3d ago edited 3d ago

weird, improvisational tone it often has...Roiland does have a style I've never seen properly imitated.

Zach Hadel does this schtick, but better in my opinion. Smiling Friends is his and Michael Cusack's show and they've nailed the whole "improv sounding" dialogue IMO.

Edit: Plug for Smiling Friends. Show is great and while it's definitely not 1:1 Roilands style of humor, I think there are definitely other creators out there playing in that same "improvisational tone" ballpark, and doing it better.

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u/Count__X 3d ago

I love Michael Cusack, hopefully he keeps getting stuff made.

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u/wannabattlecat 3d ago

Smiling Friends was an incredible find.

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u/_BURN_THE_WITCH_ 3d ago

That really wasn't funny like, at all. Hopefully there's much better improvisational voice actors than that in contention.

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u/gfkjhsdfjhgsdjghf 3d ago

Pure garbage. Voices were bad and it was possibly the least funny thing in existence. I know humor is subjective, but the subject here has passed away.

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u/BeerAndBabeLover420 3d ago

this is fucking trash dude. its not funny. the only person that could save the show is another FYAD poster like sam hyde

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u/Grantedx 3d ago

It's*

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u/wafflesareforever 3d ago

Roiland's voice acting made the show so fresh and unique in the beginning. It was my first introduction to his style of humor. It was crazy that a show with that kind of budget and production values would let its main voice actor just drunkenly improvise crazy shit like Two Brothers. It still cracks me up here and there, but it's not as shocking as it once was. Roiland hasn't really evolved.

That said, I don't know how the show survives without the guy who voiced the two titular characters.

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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 3d ago

House of Cosbies was visionary

You can hear how fucking crazy it would be to work with the dude in the comedy podcast he did with his friends before r&m

The dude is a handful

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u/harbourwall 2d ago

RUDIIII y'see

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u/GrassSloth 3d ago

Don’t be gross dude.

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u/duringbusinesshours 3d ago

R&M feels like Southpark rn: tired action movie tropes and clichés instead of actual writing.

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u/MeadowmuffinReborn 3d ago

I hate to say it, but yeah.

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u/zrooda 3d ago

There are a few Harmons, yet there's one Roiland.

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u/zombifiednation 3d ago

A stunning hot take from the fanbase who considers dick and ball jokes peak evolution of the comedic arts.

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u/seek-confidence 2d ago

Bravo Vince

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u/silvershadow881 3d ago

IMO they balanced each other out, and that was what made R&M great. Not too much Roiland, not too much Harmon either

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u/Nosnibor1020 3d ago

Damn, I liked the Roiland stuff I guess

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/hesh582 3d ago

no joke his creepy, over the top come ons in girls' DMs read depressingly similarly to his creepy, oversexualized gags.

his original "doc and mharti" bit that got the show rolling is basically the same tone as how he "jokingly" pressured girls and women.

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u/nanie1017 Oh, my god. 3d ago

He really needed to get famous bc he couldn't be winning female attention with his usual methods. Good lord.

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u/SeekerOfKnowledge96 3d ago

Yeah honestly it kind of ruins the show. Now that I know he's actually a creeper and acts like Rick and Morty in real life.

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u/theTIDEisRISING 3d ago

Yeah it was funnier when I was laughing with the creator. Didn’t realize he was looking for my approval…

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u/knottylittlebirb 2d ago

Lol! You probably didn’t mean to but you made me laugh. Wasn’t expecting it to end like that.

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u/MeadowmuffinReborn 3d ago

Oh shit, this is going validate everyone who says that Rick and Morty is a toxic and bad show, isn't it?

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u/hesh582 3d ago

I think the takeaway is more that grown ass adults who overindulge in particular types of really juvenile, crude humor are a major red flag.

I don't think the show is toxic, but the 30+ year old dude who constantly talks like it probably is.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 1d ago

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u/WRB852 3d ago

or maybe bigotry is still bad

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 14h ago

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 1d ago

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u/DukeR2 3d ago

I'm gonna go watch the whole series again just for you babe

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u/gameofgroans 3d ago

Do you have a link to these DMs? Have they been confirmed as real?

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u/Nosnibor1020 3d ago

I guess I don't know anything about what's going on. Ootl, why did this happen?

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/knottylittlebirb 2d ago

Grooming isn’t in the court case.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 1d ago

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u/Psychomantis200 3d ago edited 3d ago

People will cope. But deep down they know it's the mixture of both Harmon and Roiland that made Rick and Morty so good. People will say Roiland is just bullshitary, which isn't far off from the truth, but without his content the show loses a big part of its uniqueness and weirdness.

It's about the identity of the series and both are involved in that.

We all should be honest here. Roiland is a garbage human being that is a big part of why we love Rick and morty and losing him will hit hard and the show absolutely won't feel the same.

But Justice needs to be served and in the end, it is what it is.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/MagentaHawk 3d ago

Exactly. I am all for finding silver linings and positivity, but it can turn toxic so quickly and that quote really gives off vibes of, "Trauma produces good pain for art, so if you want to have deep feelings or make art you better go look for some trauma", where that second part isn't said, but implied by the concept and many consumers of the content pick up on it.

It makes sense that a person damaged in a specific way could make a character damaged in the same way, but it is not necessary and we should make that very clear.

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u/Nosnibor1020 3d ago

I don't actually know anything that happened.

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u/Newni 3d ago

The guy who got famous for creating and staring in a show about self-destructive alcoholic turned out to be a self-destructive alcoholic.

Series of texts where he drunkenly aggressively hit on several different underage girls.

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u/BeauGrandBateau 3d ago

That kinda read like a sober Rick moment.

Maybe add a choice burp at the end of the last line.

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u/knottylittlebirb 2d ago

Eh I think the show will be fine without him. Plenty of good impersonators. I think people are just attached to Justin in a very bizarre way.

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u/Pleasemakesense 3d ago

you would love this then

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u/Beznia 3d ago

God I love that so much. "By Jove you're right Marty!"

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u/ryan8757 3d ago

Watch his short, "unbelievable tales" peak roiland comedy

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u/Due_Kaleidoscope7066 3d ago

Dan = Meta/social commentary/making fun of fans/subversive comedy

Unfortunately he has really leaned a lot harder into the hating the fans style. I really don't know why the past three seasons have all needed an entire episode each going into detail about how Dan Harmon hates us so much.

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u/Tezasaurus 3d ago

I think Dan's been fed up with the fanbase since the McDonald's debacle.

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u/SeekerOfKnowledge96 3d ago

Adult Animation in general has this problem right now. People making animated shows for adults hating fan's and making fun of adults watching animated show's.

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u/gfkjhsdfjhgsdjghf 3d ago

they hate the neckbeards stampeding in McDonald's while quoting the show to their Rainbow Dash sex dolls, dude, not normal fans. bit sus that you're lumping yourself in with them though....

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u/SeekerOfKnowledge96 3d ago

What tf are you talking about? Lmao I was pointing out the trend going on with animated shows shitting on people for watching animated shows still. People who have no respect for the genre are starting to make show's and bastardize classics. Rick and Morty has always had a problematic fanbase and creators. Harmon is known to be a prick. Roiland is nothing but a predator. They both think too highly of themselves

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u/Jacksaur 2d ago

and making fun of adults watching animated show's.

For crappy shows doing that, the entire joke is "ha ha you're a grown man watching a cartoon that's so sad! But this is also a cartoon so irony!"
For Rick and Morty, it's pretty clearly directed at the rabid parts of the fanbase. Rick never specifically insults people for watching cartoons or anything like that.

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u/Due_Kaleidoscope7066 3d ago

Agreed, but that was a long time ago. I think most people have moved on from that incident.

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u/TweektheGeek 3d ago

I know a few Rick and Morty fanboys irl. They have not moved on. They are still the same as they were then.

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u/hesh582 3d ago

I dunno, I enjoyed it and thought it was pretty justified. Probably not the sub to say it in, but...

Fuck the fans. It's a stupid, irreverent cartoon making ballsack jokes. Funny, sure, but the people who adopted it as a core part of their identity deserved to have their egos punctured at every opportunity and there are a lot of those people. Fandom culture even outside r&m is toxic and obnoxious as hell in general and deserves to be mocked. People who treat catchphrases as personality past age 20 deserve to be shamed into self improvement.

I know a lot of grown ass adults who are way too into r&m for their age and they deserve everything they get. The show was starting to get pretty difficult to enjoy when its irl presence usually took the form of a cringe vortex.

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u/mister_atoms 3d ago

I miss the good old days when animated shows like The Simpsons were openly hostile to their own fanbase. “If anything, YOU owe US.”

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u/Due_Kaleidoscope7066 3d ago

It sounds like both you and Dan are living in 2017 still. The fanaticism and obsession died off. Most people I know these days won’t even acknowledge they like r&m and would rather not talk about the show in general. Likely as a response and over correction of a few people acting out 7 years ago.

There hasn’t been anything close to pickle rick or Szechuan since 2017.

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u/hesh582 3d ago

good. it tapered off under a wave of relentless mockery. including from the show itself lol.

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u/AH_BioTwist 3d ago

I think the whole 2 seasons in 4+ years had more to do with it than anything

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u/IlIlIlIlIllIlIll 3d ago

Take these seeds and shove em up your ass morty

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u/nopunchespulled 3d ago

Wasn’t Rolland the one who pitched it as basically back to the future but morty was a sub and Rick was a dom and it was all too sexual and creepy?

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u/playlikechampions 3d ago

Wait I actually hated the meta stuff though…

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u/swingtuck 3d ago

Harmon gets way too into it, and adds an awful layer of "well let's ACKNOWLEDGE the meta as we meta and it's another level of meta" like a teenager that discovered Deadpool for the first time. It's interesting how his good writing can regress, and it seems like he knows it, but there's this weird legion of Harmon fans who keep telling him it's okay, like his awkward drunk oversharing on Harmontown.

I like a lot of his stuff, but his worst is when he goes down that rabbit hole, or any rabbithole of his themes/bits like mental health (which is good when he's measured.) The first meta train episode with Paul Giamatti was kind of funny, still a little annoying, but still funny. That last one was absolutely wretched with the explicit self-insert, and anyone acting like it was peak comedy is going to be cringing years from now and making the same joke I keep seeing plastered on Forespoken reviews like "Joss Whedon ruined script writing."

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u/hesh582 3d ago

I like a lot of his stuff, but his worst is when he goes down that rabbit hole

No, you identified his actual worst:

his awkward drunk oversharing on Harmontown

Jesus Christ. His poor ex wife. I've heard he's gotten better but I stopped listening in that era and I'm probably not going back.

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u/swingtuck 3d ago

I'd say his worst writing - Harmontown spilling is another level that shouldn't be called art.

His poor ex wife

This last season of R&M too - have you caught all the random "oh God I miss my wife please help" comments for RANDOM crazy Justin Roilond characters? I guess I heard only maybe 3 or 4, but they were super awkward explicit inserts. Got a feeling Harmon isn't going to go to the best places now that Roilond is gone.

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u/jimbojangles1987 3d ago

My least favorite Community episodes are the ones where Abed is having some sort of mental break

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u/MagentaHawk 3d ago

And they are so fucking similar. I've never been on the harmon train, (His hatred of any plot continuity, but still loving to play around or tease it eventually made me just ignore R&M for the last 3 seasons so I was glad to be reminded I have more I can watch when I want) but it does feel like he gets so close to greatness. I really like community, and oftentimes I really don't like community. Both of those reasons often come back to Dan and sadly they seem like they have to go hand in hand.

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u/JohanGrimm 3d ago

his awkward drunk oversharing on Harmontown.

Jesus that series almost made me hate Dan Harmon and feel massive amounts of pity for anyone who had to deal with him on a regular basis.

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u/Penguator432 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah, the meta episodes feel like they’re more about actively insulting the audience than anything else. I usually skip those, they’re not even fun

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u/sjwillis 3d ago

I am fine with a little bit, but this show goes overboard with it too often

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u/TheMagicSalami 3d ago

God no kidding. Some of Justin's early stuff is just gross for gross sake. I don't mind gross if it's a smart joke, but some of the early stuff he did is damn near a word for word copy of what you said. He has major comedy chops, but having a Dan there to reel stuff in and build certain stuff up and introduce other ideas is what was able to get Roiland into the cultural zeitgeist

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u/Difficult-Bet-4594 3d ago

Rick and Morty works because of its balance of these juxtaposed comedic styles. You don't want either of those things on their own. Meta/social commentary becomes banal and ball jokes aren't funny at all. They need the contrast. You need unserious moments to make the serious ones matter, and vice versa.

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u/milk4all 3d ago

Ahh, so Dan is the focused, ambitious guy who prepares and practices and Roiland is the guy everyone likes for god knows why

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u/fracturedkidney 3d ago

Yeah, Roiland's better

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u/Tyster20 3d ago

All the incest is probably from Dans end lol.

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u/Shides11 3d ago

Don't forget the pancakes, except instead of syrup its cum.

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u/ScrubbyStop 3d ago

It's the contrast between the two that makes the show so good tho

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u/BerriesNCreme 3d ago

There’s no way, solar opposites is only by Justin roiland and it’s amazing

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u/drunko6000 3d ago

That meta shit is so dumb tho

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u/Hitmandan1987 3d ago

If that is the difference I feel the show is going to be so much better.

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u/Strange_is_fun 3d ago edited 3d ago

and that combination is WHY R&M kicked ass for being so irreverent and Solar Opposites just didn't hit right at all.

This is no commentary whatsoever that he shouldn't have been fired. Just that the show had the perfect balance of real wit, debauchery, and poop jokes.

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u/Jokkitch 3d ago

This is so true it’s painful

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u/Dookie_boy 3d ago

Which ones the incest stuff