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Rocky: Bullwinkle, that's a team of girls! What kind of games can you play with girls? Bullwinkle: Wow, this really is a kid's show. Parcheesi, of course!
Billy: Are you a genie that grants wishes, while doing imitations only my dad gets?
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
A joke on a children's TV show that children of the appropriate age would never get, but which their parents would. Serves as a way to keep the adults awake. Usually takes the form of an homage, but sometimes a Double Entendre. See also Parent Service.
Popularized by Sesame Street, with characters like Sherlock Hemlock and the Count, and thus most common on educational shows. Surprisingly, the barely intelligible Cookie Monster seems to get the most Parental Bonus lines, at least in recent history: "Me undergo sea-change," etc.
Of course, a badly done Parental Bonus will entertain neither the kids nor the adults, and may terrify adults in fear that their children get it..
Golden Age animated shorts, especially those from Fleischer Studios and Warner Bros., often had material which would be considered Parental Bonus today (if people still got the references), as they were intended for all audiences (see Animation Age Ghetto). As a result, many cartoons had numerous double entendres and pseudo-cameos which were expected to go over the younger viewers' heads.
These jokes also give the shows rerun value years later when the original viewers are old enough to get the jokes that once went over their heads.
Examples:
Live Action TV
- Speaking of Sesame Street, try to think of a Muppet production that doesn't include these. We'll wait.
- The Ghostwriter episode "Am I Blue?" was an homage to Star Trek fandom. Another episode had flashback scenes that resembled 1930s film noir.
- The absolute king of this trope was Square One TV, which had an average of a Parental Bonus a minute. Sketches parodied everything from Max Headroom to Pac Man, and the musical numbers were always a style spoof (like the country-western "Nine, Nine, Nine" or the glam-rock "Angle Dance"). Each episode ended with a mystery called "Mathnet," an elaborate (and sometimes disturbingly true-to-form) parody of Dragnet, where agent Kate Monday (later Jonas Quinn'd into Pat Tuesday) flashed her calculator as a badge. In one "Mathnet" sequence, we hear a voice over an airport intercom: "Will Miss Amelia Earhart please come to the front? Miss Earhart, we have your luggage."
- Not to mention the music video that started with some teenage girls noticing that their friend's relationship must've gotten serious as they saw a "diagram" in her purse... That one might actually qualify as Getting Crap Past The Radar.
- The Electric Company was full of these, most notably "Easy Reader" and "Fargo North: Decoder".
- Beakmans World delights in old-school Parental Bonus references, which most frequently pop up in the Beakmania introduction, where every dance referenced by Beakman is an actual dance.
- In Hannah Montana, the father (played by Billy Ray Cyrus) is often heard saying things like, "Oh, my achy-breaky back!" He and other characters also frequently mock his former mullet hairstyle.
- In The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Revenge of The Slitheen" Maria's divorced mother asks her ex-husband if she can have the double bed size duvet as he won't need it having a single bed. Her mannerisms and delivery of this line is enough to make older viewers think she's making fun of his sex life.
- Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. Penned by Tony Robinson, better known as Baldrick, it's often been described as 'Blackadder for kids'. This troper would not mind at all if someone said it topped Edmund and his scurvy antics. *ducks* Seriously, though. The insults and the word play and the crazy songs ... it's a bundle full of awesome.
- One of the reasons Barney and other children's shows of that nature are so insufferable to adults is their near utter lack of such things.
- Doctor Who, "Love and Monsters". A man and an animated concrete slab containing a talking head have a "bit of a love life". Figure that out for yourself.
- As RTD put it, it was "good old-fashioned British smut".
Film
- If you think really hard, there is a parental bonus in the theme that the villains in the Home Alone film series use for their names. "Wet Bandits"? "Sticky Bandits"?
- Used in all of the Shrek films. For example, in the first one, Shrek sees Lord Farquaad's towering castle and remarks, "Do you think he's compensating for something?"
- There are many references to University of Notre Dame in the movie as a handful of the people that produced the movie were "Domers", Notre Dame graduates. The biggest example being the shape of the castle, exactly like that of the Hesburg Library. Another reference is "Du Lac" The University's Name is University of Notre Dame du Lac, our lady of the lake. The Student guide/disciplinary manual is called Du Lac. A third reference is the "Farquad" There are many quads on the ND campus, and there is a dorm that is in the middle of nowhere, on a "Far quad". You can see the famous golden dome of the university on the back of Shrek's vest.
- Farquaad was used as a way of getting as close as possible to f*ckwad.
- More relevantly, Shrek 2 has literally dozens of movie and TV refs, only a handful of which are going to be known to the kids. The refs go back as far as the original B&W "Frankenstein". This troper had to explain a lot of the older refs to people in their forties and fifties, so forget kids getting them.
- Disney's Aladdin, thanks largely to the comedic genius of Robin Williams, works on every level humanly imaginable. Specific example: as the Genie is being tricked into getting Aladdin out of the cave, he gets very angry at Aladdin. Kids laugh because of his sarcastic tone and the ruse working; parents laugh because the speech is almost directly lifted from Taxi Driver. Kids are also unlikely to recognize the Genie's imitation of William F. Buckley in another scene.
- There's also in this tropers opinion a moment during the song "Never had a friend like me". During the song the Genie uses his magic to make a group of harem girls appear. Normally this would be (somewhat) harmless but when you consider both the way the girls were acting towards Aladdin and how Al himself reacted it seemed like one of the girls (the one in the middle to be exact) was giving Al a freaking lap dance. In addition the way Aladdin's hands are positioned it looks like he's groping the girl's ass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd07uvkTeKo
 , the scene in question is in 1:45-1:53. Could be viewed as Parent Service.
- This troper has also had "A Whole New World" explained to her as one long double entendre. This has totally changed the way she listens to that song.
- There's also a specific comment by Genie during "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" during the beginning of the scene where the infamous 40 Thieves rob the palace. When the stampeding elephants come towards the wedding which causes the ground to shake, Genie jokingly comments "I thought the earth shaking didn't start until the Honeymoon" you can guess what that means
- In Hercules, Herc and Megara see the play Oedipus Rex. Hercules only had one thing to say about that: "And I thought I had issues."
- Also a Basic Instinct reference. Megara talks about having weak ankles, uncrosses and recrosses her legs, and says,"o you have a problem with this?... weak ankles, I mean."
- And then there was the
flasher sundial salesman...
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit; two words: "patty cake".
- This one is a subversion. They actually play patty cake
- In Ratatouille , during Linguini's flabergasted attempt to reveal his secret to Colette, the moment that he says that he has a "...tiny, little..." she takes a split-second glance downwards.
- The Cat in the Hat movie attempted this, with questionable results. Apparently, the writers' idea of Parental Bonuses are almost PG-13 level double entendres.
- Blazing Saddles has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it joke when Mongo first appears. A Mexican shouts "Mongo! Santa Maria!" Mongo Santamaria was a famous jazz musician. A lot of adults don't even catch this.
- At the end of Toy Story 2, Buzz is having a hard time talking to Jesse. She kisses him on the cheek, and his fold-out wings pop out. Does this remind you of anything?
Western Animation
- Between The Lions often bases musical numbers on songs well outside the experience of its target audience, such as a song about the importance of breakfast to the tune of "Roadhouse Blues".
- The Sam And Max episode "Christmas Bloody Christmas" featured Sam and Max entering a prison shower room. Max sees a bar of soap on the ground, and bends over to pick it up, with a sign saying "Do not open until Xmas" over his rear-end.
- The Recess episode "The Library Kid" featured the gang cornering said Library Kid in the Philosophy section, with Gretchen calling out "Head her towards the existentialists; there's no exit over there," a reference to Sartre's play. The actual opening look like a elementary school version of Hogan's Heroes.
- The Veggie Tales videos are chock full of the Homage type of Parental Bonus. For instance, "Josh and the Big Wall" features peas with French accents taunting Joshua from atop a wall. References to Madam Bovary, Gilligans Island and The Grapes Of Wrath are just as likely to go over the heads of younger viewers..
- Likewise, the episode of The Powerpuff Girls titled "Los Dos Mojos" included its own Holy Grail reference:
Mojo Jojo: That's all just well enough, because in reality there is only room enough in this world for one Mojo Jojo. One shall be the number of Mojo Jojos in the world, and the number of Mojo Jojos in the world shall be one. Two Mojo Jojos is too many, and three is right out!
- Another episode referred to The Big Lebowski, when Professor Utonium laments a rug that "really tied the room together".
- PPG did an entire episode of Beatles references, "Meet the Beat Alls", which got an Emmy nomination.
- And in the movie, references to naughty words were stuck in, including an elongated sigh of 'Fffff...'
- In the episode "Super Friends" the girls invite their new neighbor, a girl their age named Robin, over to their house, and they introduce her to Professor Utonium:
Bubbles: He made us in his laboratory by accident!
Professor: Well, what can I say?
Robin: Don't worry, Professor. I was an accident, too!
[Cue surprised look on the Professor's face]
- The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy did an entire episode parodying God Emperor of Dune, the fourth book in Frank Herbert's Dune series, with Mandy as the God Emperor, Grim as Moneo Atreides, and Billy as the frequently-cloned-and-replaced Duncan Idaho. Another episode featured a nod to the classic black-and-white Walt Disney short, The Skeleton Dance. Yet a third parodies the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Billy plays Seymour, bringing victims to the singing, brain-eating alien who stands in for Audrey Two. They also had a geriatric Dracula, who was quite obviously suppose to be Blacula. They also had an episode entitled "The Prank Call of Cthulhu."
- Another episode obviously references the Hellraiser movies with "Pinhead" who has bowling pins sticking out of his head and a rubik's cube look-a-like summoning him.
- Chowder. Just...Chowder.
- Both Animaniacs and Eek the Cat have done parodies of Apocalypse Now. In the Animaniacs one, the Colonel Kurtz character was an out-of-control director, portayed in No Celebrities Were Harmed style as Jerry Lewis.
- Animaniacs also had an episode where the Warners were out to buy their psychiatrist, Dr. Scratchansnif, a birthday present. One asks about buying a Freudian slip from a store called Oedipus Rex, and another remarks, "Nah, his mother wouldn't like it."
- Animaniacs was also famous for hiding vulgar jokes. At the beginning of the song Wakko's America, the Warner Siblings are playing a Jeopardy-style game show, wherein Wakko is asked how much he wants to wager on the daily double. He responds, "I'll blow the wad," eliciting surprised looks from Yakko and Dot.
- A running gag was Yakko lampshading a Double Entendre by implying it was enough to get the show cancelled.
Teacher: Do you know how to conjugate?
Yakko: Me? I've never even kissed a girl!
Teacher: Okay, I'll conjugate with you.
Yakko: (to camera) Goodnight, everybody!
or
The Warners open up a bust of Freud like a Pez dispenser.
Dr. Scratchensniff: Stop playing with my bust!
Yakko: ...Goodnight, everybody!
- This troper's best remembered Yakko Lampshading has to be during "Baloney And Friends" where Yakko expresses a preference for chasing after the just-exited "cute girls" (the "Princess of Props".)
Baloney: What "cute girls"? Yakko, I don't know what you mean!
Yakko: (to camera) There's a shocker!
- And let's not forget how The Brain spoke exactly like Orson Welles.
- Two words: "Yes, always."
- Not so much a parental bonus, but Maurice LaMarche (The Brain's voice actor) sent up the same famous Frozen Peas recording session in an episode of the Critic, throwing in fish stick advertisements into a videotaped living will. "They're even better when you're DEAD!"
- One episode of Pinky And The Brain was done entirely as a parody of The Third Man.
- There was actually a lot of No Celebrities Were Harmed - style casting in the show, ranging from the obvious (The Goodfeathers) to the easy-to-miss (Katie Kaboom's dad spoke like Jimmy Stewart).
- The Warners parodied a World War 2 "good citizenship" film, where ladies donated their nylon pantyhose to be made into parachutes. Who came to pick up the huge barrel of nylons? J. Edgar Hoover.
- One that surprisingly slipped past the censors:
Yakko: (dressed as a detective) Dot, look for prints.
Dot: (now carrying the musician Prince) I found Prince!
Yakko: No, no, no. Fingerprints.
Dot: (a beat) I don't think so.
- Then there was the time the Warners met Beethoven:
Beethoven: I am Ludwig von Beethoven! Vorld famous composer und pianist!
Yakko: (startled) You're a WHAT?
Beethoven: A PIANIST!
Yakko: *smooch* ...Good night everybody!
Beethoven: (confused) But that is vat I am! A pianist!
Yakko: I think we heard enough out of you.
[Yakko literally washes Beethoven's mouth with soap]
- Two words: Hello Nurse
- Rocky And Bullwinkle did this constantly, as did Jay Ward's other animated series, Hoppity Hooper and George Of The Jungle, and Ken Snyder's Roger Ramjet. At times it seems like more of the jokes are for the parents than for the kids.
- Rugrats's popularity peak can be traced to its frequent use of the Parental Bonus.
- In the Time Travel episode of The Fairly Oddparents, after the Fairies In Black erased everyone's memories of events, the main characters were requested not to interfere in "the re-election of President McGovern". The show as a whole was saturated with an ever-increasing amount of Parental Bonus. The very first occasion would have to be way back when it was still an Oh Yeah cartoon:
Timmy: Oh magic eight-ball, will Mom and Dad come home early? "Titanic! Director's cut?!" They'll be there all night!
- Rocko's Modern Life was thickly saturated with these; the creators throttled things down considerably for Spongebob Squarepants. However, the latter's popularity put it on the Media Watchdog radar and as a result, it was subject to more controversy.
- Any episode of The Tick. The show doesn't quite make sense when you watch it as a kid, but things such as the "Ottoman Empire" (a bunch of goons obsessed with furniture) work out for older audiences.
- Spongebob Squarepants, as mentioned earlier, is a particular user of this trope, culminating in The Movie ending with Spongebob defeating Plankton with The Power Of Rock. The song? A parody of Twisted Sister's I Wanna Rock.
- Kim Possible was fond of this, too. In one episode, Ron announces "the first rule of chess club is: you do not talk about chess club."
- In another...
Dr. Drakken: Your Nana is one bad grand-mother--
Kim Possible: Shut your mouth!
Dr. Drakken: I'm just talking about Nana.
Sadly, Kim did not answer "I can dig it."
- The exchange was, however, played out in full in a Shaft parody episode of Dexter's Laboratory between Dee Dee and a friend.
- And in yet another:
Seņor Senior Sr.: Junior, this is not a party! This is not a disco! This is not... fooling around!
- And then there was this:
Kim Possible: Payback is the sich!
- Yin Yang Yo has several, not the least of which is Yang saying "Ah, pellets!" in place of stronger language.
- Dylan the rabbit from The Magic Roundabout was (at least in the UK Gag Dub) portrayed as an Erudite Stoner, and often said things that might have been about drugs. This gets a lot more blatant in The Movie.
- Justice League is full of these.
Flash: Yep. Fastest man alive.
Hawkgirl: Which might explain why you can't get a date.
Flash: Yeah... hey, what's THAT supposed to mean?
or
(after Hawkgirl attacks a villain with a whip) Hawkman: You always were good with that thing!
- Interestingly, Hawkgirl seems to me involved in a lot of these. Including this editor's favourite:
(While joking about Flash probably not having a chance with Fire): I hear she's, y'know... (Insert significant glance toward Fire, who is chatting with Ice.) ...Brazilian.
- Possibly the most blatant example occurs in the episode where Flash and Luthor switch bodies. Tala, who had been trying to seduce Lex for a while, leads him (actually Flash) into the bedroom to "rest". Shortly after the door closes, we hear him happily chirp "Hey, that's not restful."
- How about in the episode Epilogue? That was a pretty impressive one.
Amanda Waller: Bruce's DNA was easy enough to obtain. He left it all over town.
Amanda Waller: Not remotely what I meant!
- Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers had a Cargo Cult episode with a tribe of kiwi birds. The tribe's chief, for no apparent reason whatsoever, spoke in nothing but Ed Sullivan mannerisms.
- The Lion King's Triumph of the Will-inspired imagery goes (one hopes) right over the kiddies' heads.
- My Life As A Teenage Robot was full of various pop culture references, such as a group of villains named the Lonely Hearts Club Band... with a leader named Pepper. There was also this exchange, which goes past Parental Bonus into Viewers Are Geniuses territory:
Literature
- A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels feature numerous plot devices to get the characters to travel in space and time and even into their own bodies, most of which are based on real scientific concepts. This makes reading them as a kid and as an adult two very different experiences.
Video Games
- General Pepper from the Star Fox series. Think about it. If you don't get it, here's another clue for you all: in the Star Fox comic in Nintendo Power, Fara asks why Pepper didn't do something. His answer? "I was only a sergeant then..."
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