History WesternAnimation / CowAndChicken

* AnAesop: Parodied. Starting halfway through Season Two ("Buffalo Gals", specifically), an episode would end with a character, usually Red Guy, announcing, "There's a moral to this story...", and most of the time, those so-called morals were pretty irrelevant to the actual story. These "morals" became more frequent towards the end of Season Three, to the point that almost every other episode ended with these moments.

* ComicBookAdaptation: ''Cow and Chicken'' comic stories were featured in ''Cartoon Network Presents'', ''Cartoon Network Starring'', ''Cartoon Cartoons'', and ''Cartoon Network Block Party''.

* PunchClockVillain: One episode has Chicken take karate classes to get back at a bully. When he arrives to fight him, Chicken discovers that the bully only beats him up on weekdays. He helps the poor on weekends.

* ThreeShorts: Every episode consisted of two ''Cow and Chicken'' shorts and one ''WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel'' short before ''I Am Weasel'' became its own show.

* HereWeGoAgain: Subverted in "Tongue Sandwich". After Cow's tongue returns to her mouth, Chicken's wattle tries to escape after coming to life and detaching himself from Chicken, but Chicken steps on him before he can get away.

** In order to keep the joke, the Latin-American Spanish dub made the GratuitousSpanish {{Catchphrase}} into a GratuitousEnglish one.

* {{Catchphrase}}:

* ChaosArchitecture: Although the exterior of Cow and Chicken's house remains pretty consistent [[note]]with the exception of the "No Smoking" pilot, and a couple of Season One episodes[[/note]], the interior, on the other hand, almost never has any kind of consistency to it at all: a certain layout may stick around for an episode or two, before being changed again a few episodes later. And this went on for the entire run of the series.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Not only that, but it can also do an about face, depending on the writer, ''and'', depending on the medium. In some cases, Cow is shown to be incredibly naive and somewhat simple-minded, while Chicken is a [[OnlySaneMan straight man having to put up with his sister's childishness as well as the rest of people in his life]] - this is more common on the series; other times, it is Cow who is highly intelligent and thinks before she acts, while Chicken is more of a KnowNothingKnowItAll - this is especially common in the old ''Cartoon Network Starring'' and ''Cartoon Cartoons'' comic books.

* CircusEpisode: "The Great Pantzini" has Cow and Chicken sent to the Red Guy's circus to be performers.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Cattle don't flaunt large udders or produce milk unless they are given hormones. Cow, despite being a 7 year old calf, does both. The implications would be deeply unpleasant if this weren't the kind of show that prides itself on making a total lack of sense.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%%* WidgetSeries: WHAT THE HELL?! Series.

* OffModel: Happens on occasion. The animation for "Field Trip to Folsom Prison", "The Girl's Bathroom", and both parts of "The Ugliest Weenie" from S1, as well as "Dream Date Chicken", "Sumo Cow", and "Yard Sale" from S2 look significantly different from the other episodes.

Sometimes, television shows have deep and meaningful character backgrounds. Sometimes, opening credits are cumbersome vehicles for an origin story. When creating ''Cow and Chicken'', former ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' animator Creator/DavidFeiss approached the ontological problem of the titular characters' existence in the show's opening song as follows:

* RearEndWriting: In a bumper for Cartoon Network, Chicken is attempting to brand Cow with a branding iron, but instead brands Red Guy by accident. Leaving the Cartoon Network logo branded on Red Guy's butt cheek. As is part and parcel for the character indulging in DemographicallyInappropriateHumor, Red Guy seems to ''really'' enjoy it.

* UnusualEuphemism: In "Chicken In The Bathroom", Cow, Mom and Dad churn out a endless supply while informing Chicken of the mass PottyEmergency he is causing. Quite a few of those euphemisms sound less like needing to use the bathroom and more like needing to do [[ADateWithRosiePalms something else]], which is par for the course on this show.

* WidgetSeries: WHAT THE HELL?! Series.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: ''Nobody'' in the whole show is safe from slapstick regardless of their gender.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_butt Pork butts]] are an actual meal, although they don't resemble a human buttocks as they do in the show. In fact, it's a part of a pig's ''shoulder'', rather than its rump.

* LargeHam: The Red Guy. [[ChewingTheScenery All the scenery he eats]] goes straight to his butt.

* WorldOfHam: Literally and figuratively. Not only is there an abundance of melodramatic acting, with [[NoIndoorVoice characters randomly screaming for no reason]], but meat byproducts are a running theme.