Trivia / Rocko's Modern Life

• Acting for Two: The show had so many characters, but only five main cast members: Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, Doug Lawrence, Charlie Adler, and Linda Wallem.
  • Charlie Adler does the voices for Ed, Bev, and Mr. Dupette (Mr. Bighead's boss at Conglom-O and Rocko's boss when Rocko worked at the large comic book store, Super Lot-O-Comics). Lampshaded in one episode where Bev calls for her husband and snarks "What, am I talking to myself here??"
  • Then there is Tom Kenny voicing both Heffer and Peaches in "To Heck and Back" and "Heff in a Handbasket."
• Adored by the Network: In the early-mid 2000's you couldn't go a single day on Nicktoons without seeing this show at least 5 or 6 times a day. But after the 2009 rebrand, it aired only during the wee-hours in the morning before being removed entirely in 2011. The adoration returned but this time on NickRewind, where it has aired since September 5, 2011, the same day it left Nicktoons, where it's one of the most frequently aired shows, often starting off the block airing 3-4 times.
• Banned Episode: Despite the myriad of adult jokes that slipped through the cracks — some of which did end up getting edited in reruns, Rocko's Modern Life only banned three episodes for content:
  • "Leap Frogs," on the grounds of very sexual content. The episode centered on Bev Bighead trying to seduce Rocko while her husband is at work, as she feels that she's not being loved by Ed.
  • "Heff in a Handbasket": This episode was banned following complaints of the premise, which saw Heffer selling his soul to Peaches (the show's take on The Devil) and trying to win it back on a game show.
  • "Jet Scream": This episode didn't have any problems when it aired back in the 1990s, but when it reran on Nicktoons TV in the 2000s, it became one of many television shows that had to be banned and/or censored for sensitive material following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 (in this case, it's because of scenes mocking airport security, Heffer being scared of flying, and the airplane nearly flying into a building). When the show aired on The 90s Are All That (the retro Nickelodeon block), the episode returned uncut and uncensored.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: Unlike several other Nickelodeon animated shows during this time, it's mostly averted, though "No Pain, No Gain" had Richard Simmons guest-star as an aerobics instructor, and "The Big Question"/"The Big Answer" had Kevin Meaney as Widow Hutchinson.
• Creator Breakdown: Shortly after the first season aired, creator Joe Murray's first wife committed suicide. Murray had only planned to do one season, but when given the option, decided to do the other three, and for some time blamed himself for not being there for her as a result. "Wacky Deli" is partially inspired by his failed efforts to get out of his contract with Nickelodeon so that he could have some time to grieve. The result was his complete lack of involvement in the fourth and final season, after which he took some time away from the animation industry to get his personal life back together.
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Charlie Adler as Bev Bighead and Gladys the Hippo Lady. Adler's voice for Gladys the Hippo Lady (before she gets mad and yells, "How DARE you!") would later be used as the voice of Cow on Cow and Chicken. On the other hand, this is regularly averted in foreign dubs, when both characters are voiced by women.
  • Tom Kenny voiced a few incidental/one-off female characters. It would be obvious because they'd sound very much like a higher-toned SpongeBob SquarePants. And Special Guest Kevin Meaney voiced Widow Hutchinson in "The Big Question"/"The Big Answer".
  • Linda Wallem has voiced some small boy characters on the show, most notably Rocko's sentient appendix Pinky.
  • A retroactive case with Joe Murray voicing Rachel (née Ralph) Bighead as of Static Cling, where she comes out as a trans woman.
• Descended Creator: Mr. Lawrence was both one of the show's writers and Filburt. He actually got the job through a fluke. They had been having difficulty casting an actor. Mr. Lawrence had only done the voice while pitching jokes, but the writers liked it and suggested he audition. He eventually recorded a tape, but he left his name off it so that Joe Murray could remain impartial.
• Development Gag: Joe Murray's only condition for doing the Musical Episode "Zanzibar" was that Rocko wouldn't sing, as he felt it was wrong for the character. This is why he's devolves into awkward mumbling whenever he's expected to by the other characters.
• Executive Meddling: The many edits done to episodes that once aired uncut (including the ban on the episode "Leap Frogs.")
• Fake Nationality: Carloz Alazraqui is an American of Argentinian descent, and voices an Australian character.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: At least, before Shout! Factory picked up the rights; even the aforementioned "banned" episodes ("Leap Frogs," "Jet Scream," and "Heff in a Handbasket") are present and accounted for. That said the only way to get "Hut Sut Raw", "The Good, The Bad, and the Wallaby", "Road Rashed", and "Wacky Delly" uncut is through the German DVD set.
• Kids' Meal Toy:
  • In Fall 1994, Hardee's released a set of eight race cars based on this series, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats (1991), and Doug, with each franchise having two characters. The toys based on this series depicted Rocko on the Suck-O-Matic vacuum cleaner (from "A Sucker For the Suck-O-Matic") and Spunky on a dog dish.
  • In Summer 1997, Dairy Queen released a set of four Nicktoons beach toys, which were based on this series, Rugrats (1991), Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Hey Arnold!. The Rocko's Modern Life toy was a ring toss game.
• Out of Order:
  • In "Who's For Dinner?", the fact that Heffer's family are wolves is supposed to be a big revelation. But that episode originally aired after "Bedfellows"^note the one where Heffer moves in with Rocko after his dad announces that he's been laid off and the family sold Heffer's room to make ends meet, where they play a semi-major role.
  • On Netflix, the episode containing "Carnival Knowledge" and "Sand in Your Navel" was the first episode when really it's the episode containing "A Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" and "Canned".
  • All seasons but 2 were broadcast out of order during the show's initial run on Nickelodeon; although in most cases the show was aired in production order during reruns, the DVD releases of seasons 1, 3 and 4 kept the original broadcast sequence.
  • The final episode was actually the second-to-last to air, only because the actual second-to-last episode was the Thanksgiving special, "Turkey Time," which was withheld so it could air on Thanksgiving proper.
• Playing Against Type: In the Japanese dub, the titular protagonist is voiced by Koichi Tochika, who is normally known for voicing either Hot-Blooded badasses (like Junpei Todoroki) or the resident Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy (like Neji Hyuga), compared with the mild-mannered, timid Rocko.
• Real-Life Relative: The daytime talk show host Nosey is voiced by Tom Kenny's wife, Jill Talley.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The conflict between Filbert and Heffer over the cheese in the season 3 episode "Wacky Delly" was inspired by a similar conflict between the crew for the season 1 episode "A Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic". The writers wanted a banana to fly by the screen, but an executive wanted it to be a slice of cheese because he thought cheese was funnier.
• Same Content, Different Rating:
  • The show was given a TV-Y rating when the TV ratings were introduced in 1997. When the show returned to Nickelodeon for Superstuffed Nicksgiving Weekend, the show was re-rated TV-Y7 despite not only having no changes in content, but keeping the original rating on Nicktoons Network at the time.
  • On NickRewind, it is given a TV-G rating (which is actually the closest it's going to get to an adult rating, as TV-G means it's meant for families and some TV-G rated shows do have risque content that's too strong for TV-Y and TV-Y7, but not strong enough for the PG and above)
• Star-Making Role: For both Carlos Alazraqui and Tom Kenny, who were unknowns when cast. Alazraqui has noted he told Kenny about the audition, so he has jokingly suggested he's entitled to a percentage of Kenny's paychecks on other projects.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: The Static Cling special was on the backburner thanks to, among other factors, Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie not doing well in the ratings. Thankfully it was picked up by Netflix for a summer 2019 release.
• Throw It In!: Ad-libbing was highly encouraged. The actors even recorded on a folly stage to make their performances feel more theatrical. A rather famous one is Tom Kenny as Crappy Jack rambling about Davy Jones's locker, then mentioning "Peter Tork's locker, and Micky Dolenz's locker, too! all The Monkees had lockers!"
• Voiced Differently in the Dub:
  • In the original English dub, Rocko is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui. However, in the European Portuguese dub, he is voiced by a woman. This is averted in the aforementioned dub of the Static Cling special since he is voiced by a man there.
  • This also happens to Heffer since he is voiced by Tom Kenny in the original English version, whereas in the Greek dub, he is voiced by a woman.
  • Rocko's voice in the Norwegian dub almost makes him sound slightly angry as well as making him sound much older.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The B-52s were not the first choice to do the theme music. Joe Murray originally wanted Alan Silvestri to do the theme music but Nickelodeon felt that he wasn't a good composer for animation. His second choice, Danny Elfman (known for doing the music for The Simpsons and various works of Tim Burton), was also turned down by Nickelodeon.
  • Joe Murray originally intended for Rocko be yellow, but Nickelodeon insisted that he be recolored a beige-ish color in order to appease the wishes of a toymaker that ultimately never produced any Rocko merchandise. This necessitated (further) alteration of the "Trash-O-Madness" pilot. While otherwise proud of the series, Murray claims that he has always hated Rocko's new color.
  • Mrs. Bighead also had blue hair in the original pilot.
  • Sniz and Fondue (the same series that later appeared on KaBlam!) was up against this show to become the fourth Nicktoon.
  • Rocko was originally going to have an older sister named Magdalena who he would occasionally visit whenever he needed advice and was a narcoleptic.
• Write Who You Know:
  • Joe Murray based the Bigheads on an older couple who lived next door to him as a kid. The wife was a smoker, resulting in a raspy voice, and often flirted with the younger men who lived in the neighborhood. Bev's hairdo was inspired by Murray's own mother.
  • And, not surprisingly, Ralph/Rachel Bighead was pretty much an Author Avatar for Murray himself. It actually took a bit of arm-twisting for him to voice the character, as he hates acting, but the rest of the crew insisted, if only because they thought it'd be funny to hear their otherwise monotoned boss raise his voice.
  • Tom Kenny's voice for Heffer was an imitation of his nephew, whose voice was breaking at the time and would regularly tell incredibly silly stories where he would end up laughing himself.
  • The character of Heffer was based on a childhood friend of Murray's, while his eating habits were based on Murray's own struggles with binge eating as a teen.
• Working Title:
  • The cartoon started as an unpublished comic book called Travis which was Rocko's original name.
  • The cartoon's working title prior to its release was The Rocko Show.

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