History WesternAnimation / RickAndMorty

This bizarre series centers around the misadventures of Morty Smith ([[DescendedCreator originally voiced by Roiland]], Harry Belden from Season 7 onward), a kind-hearted yet troubled young high school student, and Rick Sanchez ([[ActingForTwo also originally voiced by Roiland]], Ian Cardoni from Season 7 onwards), Morty's snarky, morally-unsound and [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] MadScientist grandfather ([[ActingForTwo both voiced by]] [[DescendedCreator Roiland]]). Rick constantly pulls Morty and his family out of their normal lives to go on sci-fi acid trip adventures across the multiverse and help him carry out insane science experiments. Morty's parents think of Rick as a negative influence on their son, but they keep Rick around the house anyway just as long as he sort of keeps Morty in school.

This bizarre series centers around the misadventures of Morty Smith, a kind-hearted yet troubled young high school student, and Rick Sanchez, Morty's snarky, morally-unsound and [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] MadScientist grandfather ([[ActingForTwo both voiced by]] [[DescendedCreator Roiland]]). Rick constantly pulls Morty and his family out of their normal lives to go on sci-fi acid trip adventures across the multiverse and help him carry out insane science experiments. Morty's parents think of Rick as a negative influence on their son, but they keep Rick around the house anyway just as long as he sort of keeps Morty in school.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]] amid charges of domestic abuse. The series was announced to continue without his involvement, with two new actors [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rick-and-morty-season-7-trailer-1235598275/]] to replace him as the voices of the titular characters, and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70-episode order is complete). Season 7 premiered in October 2023, revealing the new voice actors to be Ian Cardoni (as Rick) and Harry Belden (As Morty).

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]] amid charges of domestic abuse. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70-episode order is complete). Season 7 is set to premiere in October 2023.

->''"I wanted you to have a normal life. That's something that you can't have when Rick shows up. Everything real turns fake, everything right is wrong, all you know is that you know nothing and he knows everything. And, well... well, he's not a villain, Summer, but he shouldn't be your hero. [[HumanoidAbomination He's more like a demon or a super fucked up god.]]"''

->''"I wanted you to have a normal life. That's something that you can't have when Rick shows up. Everything real turns fake, everything right is wrong, all you know is that you know nothing and he knows everything. And, well... well, he's not a villain, Summer, but he shouldn't be your hero. He's more like a demon or a super fucked up god."''

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]] amid charges of domestic abuse. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70-episode order is complete). Season 7 is expected to premiere in September 2023.

''Rick and Morty'' is an animated science fiction comedy series created by Creator/JustinRoiland and Creator/DanHarmon for Creator/CartoonNetwork's late-night programming block Creator/AdultSwim. Originally, the series was based on [[Website/{{Channel101}} Channel101's]] ''The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti'', a parody of ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. The first episode was released online on November 27, 2013, and aired on Adult Swim five days later on December 2.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]] amid charges of domestic abuse. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70-episode order is complete). Season 7 is expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he is set to face trial for domestic abuse charges in April of that year. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70-episode order is complete). Season 7 is expected to premiere in late 2023.

'''Rick:''' [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Well t-*URP* too bad, because you'd probably be right.]]

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he is set to face trial for domestic abuse charges in April of that year. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70 episode order is complete). Season 7 is expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70 episode order is complete). Season 7 is expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead (at least until the 70 episode order is complete). Season 7 expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creative lead, with Season 7 expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement, with a new lead voice actor and Dan Harmon as the sole creator, with Season 7 expected to premiere in late 2023.

In January 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement and with a new lead voice actor, with Season 7 expected to premiere in late 2023.

On January 24th, 2023, Adult Swim [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/adult-swim-ends-relationship-justin-roiland-domestic-abuse-charges-1235308995/ cut ties with Justin Roiland]], as he faced trial for domestic abuse charges. The series is set to continue without his involvement and with a new lead voice actor, with Season 7 expected to premiere in late 2023.

->'''Morty:''' Jeez Rick, I, uh, I'm not sure our own trope page is the best idea for the, uh, situation...\\
'''Rick:''' Oh yeah Morty? Wha- What are you trying to say, Morty? You saying what you do on the internet is a more productive use of your time than TV Tropes? Y-You're saying you have better things to do than painstakingly cataloging every trivial storytelling device in every form of fiction ever as a means of studying and analyzing fiction as an entertainment medium? Is that what you're trying to say, Morty?\\

'''Rick:''' [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Well t-*URP* too bad because you'd probably be right.]]

''Rick and Morty'' is an animated science fiction comedy series created by Creator/JustinRoiland and Creator/DanHarmon for Creator/CartoonNetwork's late-night programming block Creator/AdultSwim. Originally, the series was based on [[Website/{{Channel101}} Channel101's]] ''The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti'', a ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' parody.

This bizarre series centers around the misadventures of Morty Smith, a kind-hearted yet troubled young high school student, and Rick Sanchez, Morty's snarky, morally-unsound and [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] MadScientist grandfather (both voiced by [[DescendedCreator Justin Roiland]]). Rick constantly pulls Morty and his family out of their normal lives to go on sci-fi acid trip adventures across the multiverse and help him carry out insane science experiments. Morty's parents think of Rick as a negative influence on their son, but they keep Rick around the house anyway just as long as he sort of keeps Morty in school.

The first episode was released online on November 27, 2013, and aired on Adult Swim five days later, on December 2, 2013.

In May 2018, after months of contract negotiations following the end of the show's third season (and fears of cancellation), the series was announced as being renewed for [[https://deadline.com/2018/05/rick-and-morty-renewed-70-episode-order-creators-dan-harmon-justin-roiland-deal-adult-swim-1202386828/ an unprecedented 70 additional episodes]]. The first five episodes of Season 4 aired from November 10, 2019, to December 15, 2019; after a five-month hiatus, the last five episodes of Season 4 aired from May 3, 2020, to May 31, 2020. Season Five started airing a year later on June 20, 2021. In May 2022, a ten-episode anime adaptation directed by Takashi Sano, who directed the adaptation of ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' as well as two ''Rick and Morty'' shorts, was announced.

The sixth season started to air on September 4th, 2022, and was simulcast in multiple countries.

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[[RickAndMorty/TropesAToD A to D]]
[[RickAndMorty/TropesEToL E to L]]
[[RickAndMorty/TropesMToP M to P]]
[[RickAndMorty/TropesQToV Q to V]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* WeReallyDoCare: In "Ricksy Business", Birdperson questions why Morty cares if he no longer can have adventures with Rick if he thinks Rick is just a huge asshole and notes that, if Morty truly is fed up with Rick's shenanigans, fate has presented him with a way out. Morty realizes that Birdperson is right and that he does still want to go on adventures, and wakes Rick up in time to prevent his parents from seeing the house trashed.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in "The Ricklantis Mixup". The assembly line Ricks and construction worker Ricks and plumber Ricks and so forth on the Citadel of Ricks are working-class rather than slaves, and they're technically living in the present, but they're part of a society half composed of super-geniuses. Having robots handle the unpleasant jobs would make more sense, but of course, it would also undercut the citadel being used as a parody of present-day society.
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Rick is implied to be this, as he wanted a stadium of men who even remotely resembled his father to watch him have sex with Unity. They're heard chanting "Go son go!"
** It becomes clearer and clearer as the series goes on that Beth is this as well; a combination of wanting Rick's love and approval and desperately not wanting him to leave her again makes her willing to put up with way too much from him and very reluctant to put her foot down even when she really needs to. Luckily, she seems to grow past this by the end of Season 3.
** This mindset is deconstructed thoroughly throughout the series and reaches a head in season five's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E7GotronJerrysisRickvangelion Gotron episode]]: Rick is a cynical man with incredibly eccentric interests, which is why his praise is so rare, and people mistake that rarity for value. Conversely, the fact that Jerry is so easy to please is why nobody cares if he is.
* WeirdnessCensor: This happens quite a bit throughout the series (see UnusuallyUninterestingSight)
** None of the people Summer invites to the mutual house party seem at all fazed by the extra-dimensional oddities Rick keeps company with. Nor do they seem to notice the entire house has been suddenly teleported to another world or dimension. (At least one of them is later revealed as an undercover galactic cop, so...)
** In "Pickle Rick", Rick finally shows up to family therapy still in his pickle form, while also wearing his PowerArmor that's partially made up of the body parts of rats. Naturally, his family doesn't find anything weird about this, but Dr. Wong, the therapist, also doesn't act as if this is anything remotely out of the ordinary.[[note]]This could be because she's used to having some pretty "out there" patients, since many of the people that she treats have issues with eating poop, or possibly also because, by this point in the series, Earth was already temporarily part of the Galactic Federation, and after having aliens of all different kinds visiting their planet for months, a guy who's turned himself into a pickle is relatively mundane in comparison.[[/note]]
* WhamEpisode:
** If fan consensus says this, then "Rick Potion #9" is definitely this, given how Rick and Morty abandon ''their'' doomed reality for a ''non-doomed'' one... and take the places of their ''dead'' counterparts.
** The [[SeasonFinale Season 2 Finale]] "The Wedding Squanchers" where Rick allows himself to be taken prisoner while Earth becomes a member of the tyrannical Galactic Federation.
** "The Rickshank Rickdemption" resolves the Season 2 cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Rick successfully escapes from the Galactic prison and destroys both the Galactic Federation and the Council of Ricks. Morty shows Summer the doomed reality of Earth C137 from "Rick Potion #9" and Beth is divorcing Jerry. Rick also says that his PetTheDog moment in "The Wedding Squanchers" was just part of a BatmanGambit and that he doesn't really care about his family, but it's hard to know how seriously to take that. Tammy also rebuilt Birdperson as an evil cyborg.]] It was also unexpectedly aired on AprilFools two years after the last season ended. ''Phew.''
** "The Ricklantis Mixup" ends with [[spoiler:a Morty becoming the President of the initially destroyed Citadel. However, it's revealed that he's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind Evil Morty]] in disguise as he seizes complete control of the station.]]
** "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" confirms something that many fans had suspected for a while: [[spoiler:that Beth is every bit as amoral as Rick himself. As of this episode she finally comes to terms with that, possibly leaving to wreak havoc across the universe while leaving a clone to watch the kids, or also possibly deciding to stay and put real effort into improving herself and being a better mom to her kids.]] Oh, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Rick lost an arm.]] (He got it back.)
** "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort" has a rare dive into Rick's past, and confirms at least part of the [[spoiler:Rickshank Redemption flashback was true. Rick C-137's (AKA our Rick) Beth died young, before she gave birth to Summer and Morty.]]. Rick also has [[spoiler: romantic feelings for Bird Person, and the latter's rejection of them made one of the worst days of Rick's life]].
** "Rickamurai Jack" reveals the actual truth behind Rick's past ''and'' brings [[spoiler:Evil Morty]] back into the storyline. [[spoiler:Morty sees a full-on flashback of his Rick’s past and learns Rick C-137’s “fabricated backstory” from “The Rickshank Redemption” was almost entirely true: his Beth was murdered in childhood, along with Rick’s wife Diane, by a rogue Rick. Rick then became the [[TheDreaded boogeyman of Ricks]] by slaughtering dozens of them (maybe more) on his quest to find his wife’s killer, until the other Ricks call a truce. He helps create the citadel and ends up abandoning it before going to another timeline and adopting the Beth seen in the first half of S1 and her family. Also, the citadel has been “farming” Mortys for years — first by ensuring Beth gets together with Jerry in every timeline (implying they might not even be together otherwise), and then through cloning. The Ricks also built the Central Finite Curve, which is a wall separating the infinite universes where Rick is the smartest thing alive from the rest of the multiverse. Evil Morty kills the majority of Ricks and Mortys, destroys the Citadel ''and'' the CFC and escapes to a new multiverse outside of it using his own portal gun]].
** The next season’s opener, “Solaricks”, builds on this further by revealing the Morty Rick has been hanging out with since day one isn’t just ''any'' Morty; he’s [[spoiler:the grandson of ''the Rick who killed Main Rick’s family''. Rick had been hanging out with them in vague hope their own Rick would show up, but his lines in the final scene seem to indicate he’s actually keeping Morty around out of sentimentality; he reassures Morty isn’t bait because Morty’s original Rick “truly does not give a shit”.]] This particular twist casts many of Rick’s actions and offhand comments from prior episodes in a new light.
* WhamLine:
** From "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind:"
---> '''Morty''': Oh, my God, Rick, look! There's a bunch of people strapped all over that building!
---> '''Rick''': Not people, Morty, '''''Mortys.'''''
** Some occurs with "Rixty Minutes".
*** This argument between Jerry and Beth, regarding Summer's birth:
---->'''Jerry:''' All this time, you've been thinking, "What if that loser Jerry hadn't talked me out of the abortion?"
*** An in-universe one for Summer (but not for the audience, who already knows this):
---->'''Morty''': ''(points to the graves in the backyard)'' That out there? That's my grave!
** Tammy's speech at her wedding reception in the season 2 finale:
--->'''Tammy''': But then I think, y'know, in a lot of ways I'm not a high school senior from the planet Earth. In a lot of ways what I really am is a deep cover agent for the Galactic Federation and you guys are a group of wanted criminals and this entire building is, in a certain sense, surrounded.
** Not a spoken line, but a ''song'' at the end of "The Ricklantis Mix-up." [[spoiler: [[{{Leitmotif}} "For the Damaged Coda"]] begins playing once the newly-elected President Morty has the shadow cabal of Ricks killed, revealing [[EvilCounterpart just who we're]] [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind really dealing with.]]]]
** In “Solaricks” he tells Morty, “We're gonna go [[spoiler:kill your grandpa]]!” This confirms that our Morty [[spoiler:originates from the same Earth as the Rick who killed Rick's family]].
* WhamShot: A '''giant''' one for "The Ricklantis Mix-up". At the end of the episode, [[spoiler:Candidate Morty has finally become President of the Citadel, and he has disposed of some Ricks and Mortys who have disagreed with his rule, even his presidential campaign manager. [[ThrownOutTheAirlock As their bodies are ejected into space]], contents of classified documents that Campaign Manager Morty had are shown to the audience while they are drifting in space: pictures of the Candidate Morty [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind with a familiar eyepatch and a robotic Rick.]] The real Wham? The Rick that gave Campaign Manager Morty the pictures is floating in space too. ''Nobody left alive'' on the Citadel knows who Evil Morty actually is.]]
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: A character on ''[[ShowWithInAShow Pregnant Baby]]'' says this when she decides she doesn't need protection since she's already pregnant.
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: In "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender", Rick gets so blackout drunk that he single-handedly kills the Worldender character threatening the universe and makes matters worse by creating an even bigger threat. He acknowledges that he officially had too much to drink last night.
* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: Inverted. One episode featured a ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}''-themed ship which is designed to hit an iceberg and sink every time it sails. It misses the iceberg completely.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** All the people who had bought cursed items and were waiting to be served when Rick got bored and closed. Enjoy your curses everyone.
** Subverted in "A Rickle in Time." The neighbor that Summer forgot to put a mattress undertakes a nasty fall off his roof and is then forgotten about, until the very end of the episode, which offhandedly reveals that he survived the incident, but is now in a wheelchair.
** In "The Ricklantis Mixup", the ending shows short epilogues for all of the surviving characters except for [[spoiler:Rick J-22, who was last seen still hooked up to a LotusEaterMachine so his brain fluid can be used to make wafer cookies. Since President Morty killed the factory owner, it's unknown what's become of J-22 or any of the other Ricks working there.]]
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Morty sometimes tries to take a stand with his grandpa after the situation inevitably devolves into chaos and horror. In "Rick Potion #9", Rick turns it back on him, rightly comparing Morty's love-potion request to a bid for date rape.
** The entire family pretty much calls out Rick in "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" for [[spoiler:secretly cloning Beth without telling anybody. Even worse, he doesn't even know which Beth is the original or clone, because he deliberately hid that knowledge from himself. Everybody finally accepts what a terrible father figure Rick is.]]
* WhatMeasureIsAMook:
** Rick tells Morty in the pilot episode that it's okay to shoot the spaceport security guards because they're "robots". They aren't, but Rick contemptuously refers to them as such because of his hatred for bureaucracy.
** The last thing the Zigerian leader mentions before mixing the chemicals that destroy the entire warship in a massive explosion is how all of his staff members have families.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: ''Constantly'' abused and exploited for comic effect. Of course, it's not like the series places a great deal of emphasis on human life, either.
* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: Discussed in "Rixty Minutes" after a ''very'' confusing ad for "Turbulent Juice" featuring [[FanService hordes of shirtless men]].
-->'''Morty:''' What in the hell?\\
'''Rick:''' Sex sells, Morty.\\
'''Morty:''' Sex sells ''what''? Is it a movie? Does it clean stuff?
* WholePlotReference:
** Owing to its origins as a parody of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', multiple episodes pastiche sci-fi and speculative fiction works, oftentimes blatantly lampshaded in a very tongue-in-cheek manner.
** "Lawnmower Dog" is one for ''Film/{{Inception}}''. The act of entering someone's dream is even referred to as "Incepting".
--->'''Morty:''' But I-it's been like a whole year! \\
'''Rick:''' It's been six hours. Dreams move one one-hundredth the speed of reality, and dog time is one-seventh human time. So, you know, every day here is like a minute. It's like ''Inception'', Morty, so if it's confusing and stupid, then so is everyone's favorite movie.
** The "Lawnmower Dog" plot itself is a reference to ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'', a movie about a mentally challenged man who gains intelligence through the application of technology, and it turns him toward malevolence.
** "Anatomy Park" is a hybrid of ''Film/FantasticVoyage'' and ''Film/JurassicPark''.
** "Something Ricked This Ways Comes" initially starts as one to ''Literature/NeedfulThings'', down to the storeowner being named Mr. Needful. And then Rick blatantly references ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', Creator/RayBradbury, and ''Series/FridayThe13thTheSeries'' when he comes back with his device that scans and analyzes what each object's JackassGenie twist is gonna be.
** Invoked in-universe by the ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}''-themed cruise ship that Jerry and Beth go on in "Ricksy Business". People can live out their Jack and Rose fantasies by recreating scenes from the movie.
** The main plot reference of "Ricksy Business" itself [[Film/RiskyBusiness is rather obvious]].
** "Raising Gazorpazorp" cribs much of its A-plot from the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Abandoned", in which the crew deal with a fast-growing infant Jem Hadar boy left on their station. Its B-plot is based on the somewhat-comprehensible parts of ''Film/{{Zardoz}}''.
** "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" is this to the Tom Baker era Doctor Who serial The Deadly Assassin, where the president of the Time Lords is assassinated and the Council of Time Lords blames the Doctor. It turns out the killer was [[spoiler: The Master.]]
** The Time Cop in "A Rickle in Time" is a [[Literature/TheLangoliers Langolier]], only with skinny arms and fewer teeth.
** "Look Who's Purging Now" is one for Film/ThePurge, in which society has achieved world peace through a night of wanton cathartic murder. Rick even references the film itself and states that multiple civilizations across the universe have their own Purges under different names.
** "Rickmancing the Stone" serves as one of the ''Film/MadMax'' films, taking place in a post-apocalyptic version of Earth where "Death Stalkers" scrounge for supplies. Summer even kills an [[Film/MadMaxFuryRoad Immortan Joe]] {{Expy}} near the beginning.
** The second half of "Rattlestar Ricklactica" is basically a ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie, but with snakes instead of humans.
** ''Promortyus'' is a clear reference to ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' and the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise in general. The entire plot only works due to Rick and Morty [[TooDumbToLive being stupid enough]] putting their faces right in front of a clearly suspicious egg, allowing themselves to be attacked by facehugging parasites.
* AWildRapperAppears: Parodied in "Total Rickall" when Summer goes into a SugarBowl music video and suddenly a very aggressive rapper who is incredibly out of place shows up and changes the entire tone of the song.
* WildTeenParty: In "Ricksy Business", Summer immediately plans one of these while Jerry and Beth are away. Rick decides to one-up her party idea by inviting hordes of his own "[[InnocentAliens friends]] and [[AmusingAlien acquaintances]]" to his party, and whoever they know. After Morty has a small mishap with one of Rick's inventions while attempting to woo his would-be girlfriend Jessica, the party becomes literally [[RecycledINSPACE "out of this world"]], teleporting the house to another universe entirely. Despite the nonsensical and dangerous events therein, one notably involving a human teen getting [[BlackComedyRape "lucky"]] with a bunch of gargantuan creatures lurking outside the house's perimeter after it had been teleported, the odd mixture of guests find the time to mingle with each other, and have fun, regardless.
* WimpFight: Rick gets into one with the Devil in "Something Ricked This Way Comes".
* WithDueRespect: "Rick, with all due respect--what am I saying? What respect is due?"
* WombLevel: All of Anatomy Park, which exists inside of a homeless man named Reuben. The main attraction of the park happens to be all of Reuben's many diseases.
* WomenDrivers: Invoked in "A Rickle in Time". Jerry was the one driving when he hit a deer, but insists that Beth say she was at the wheel because he was eating rum-raisin ice cream.
* WorldOfSnark: Not every single character introduced on the show is a straight DeadpanSnarker, but they all get their moments. At the very least, the main cast certainly have had at least one good sarcastic comeback. [[ThrowTheDogABone Even Jerry.]]
* WouldHurtAChild:
** In the pilot, Rick freezes a teenager threatening Morty with a knife. This ultimately kills him when he tips over and shatters (although in Rick's defense, Rick didn't intend for this to happen... but he didn't appear to care if it did).
** All of the adventures he takes Morty on can be counted too. He isn't above risking Morty's life or having him be a mule for him.
* WraparoundBackground: Jerry drives through this when he's in a simulation running at low capacity. Rick has the same three people passing behind him as he talks on the phone in the same episode. Neither [[SpottingTheThread notice]], but Rick knew what he was in from the very start, so it's completely beneath him.
* WriterOnBoard:
** In one episode parodying ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Rick makes a point to mention how overrated that film is, which follows Dan Harmon's comments about it in his podcast ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}''.
** In "Look Who's Purging Now," Morty criticizes screenplay gimmicks like the use of HowWeGotHere. Dan Harmon often complains about clichés he hates in screenplays.
** Played with in "Interdimensional Cable 2". When Summer complains about juvenile violence in the media, Morty becomes enraged and rants that people shouldn't have to communicate through the filter of her comfort. It's immediately undercut by Rick implying that Morty is just sexually frustrated.
* YankTheDogsChain:
** Done with Jerry in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens", where he has the perfect day and wins an award right before Rick comes in and reveals that the whole thing has just been one giant simulation. When Jerry tries starting his next day the same way in real life, it stops as soon as it started in the simulation.
--->'''Rick:''' Don't worry about it, Jerry. Who cares if the greatest day of your life was just a simulation running at minimum capacity?
** Also happens to Morty in "Lawnmower Dog" when Rick shows up to reveal the life of luxury he had been living as Snuffles' pet was just part of a dream.
--->'''Rick:''' Right before I incepted you, you crapped yourself. I mean, real bad, Morty. It's a total mess out there, Morty. Of all the things that you thought happened, you crapping yourself is the only real thing.
** In "Edge of Tomorty", Morty uses a death crystal to see [[TheManyDeathsOfYou possible ways he might die]], and sees that there's apparently a future that involves him ending up with Jessica and growing old with her. After an entire episode of [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope going way too far]] in his efforts to make this future happen, he finds out that Jessica wants to be a hospice care worker after leaving school, and the future he saw just had her comforting him when he was old and dying without any kind of special connection to him in particular.
* YearInsideHourOutside:
** The nesting {{Pocket Dimension}}s in "The Ricks Must be Crazy" have time which runs progressively faster the further down you go. A period of months spent three dimensions down equates to a few hours outside. The minutes-long final fight lasts a few seconds for Summer.
** The same thing happens in "Lawnmower Dog" as a spoof of ''Film/{{Inception}}'', where time moves faster the deeper they go in Goldenfold's subconscious. Snuffle's AllJustADream apocalyptic scenario at the end goes on for a year, despite everyone involved only being asleep for six hours, which Rick chalks up to the dream being measured in dog years:
-->'''Rick:''' "And if that doesn't make any sense, then [[TakeThat neither does everyone's favorite movie!]]"
* YouAllLookFamiliar: Both parodied when Jerry fails to notice he keeps passing the same simulated background people and played straight when Rick uses the fact to get large numbers of people to work on the same problem at the same time, thereby freezing the program in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens"!
* YouCanRunButYouCantHide: Parodied in "Lawnmower Dog". Scary Terry keeps saying this as he stalks Rick and Morty. The duo then discusses why they are listening to him, pointing out that since Scary Terry is the villain, he probably wouldn't offer them advice that would actually help them, so they decide to try and hide from him anyway. It turns out to be very effective; Scary Terry spends hours searching for them unsuccessfully before giving up in frustration and going home.
* YouDoNotWantToKnow: After Rick locks down the house in "Total Rickall":
-->'''Beth:''' Dad, why does our house have blast shields?\\
'''Rick:''' Trust me Beth, you don't wanna know [[ParodiedTrope how many answers that question has]].
* YouMonster:
** Morty calls Rick a monster before comparing him to Hitler. He then takes this last part back, saying that at least Hitler cared about Germany.
** Zeep Zanflorp calls Rick a monster after the latter destroys his pocket universe.
* YourMom: Morty discusses his feelings for Jessica with Jerry, and Jerry says that he used to feel that way about a lady named "Your mom"--and then specifies that he's speaking literally and not as an urban diss.
* YoYoPlotPoint: In some episodes, Jerry and Beth's marriage is on the verge of collapse before some event in the episode brings them closer together, rekindling their interest in each other and making them determined to give their marriage another try... until the next episode [[StatusQuoIsGod shoves them back into square one]] and they have to work through their failing marriage all over again. "Rick Potion No. 9" also justifies the trope by having Rick and Morty jump to another dimension, where Jerry and Beth never repaired their marriage as we saw them do earlier in the episode. "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" lampshades their ever-waffling relationship and explains that they're codependent. Given Rick's presence constantly traumatizes them and destabilizes ... reality... pretty justified. Also, they're not really great people and their marriage has a pretty shitty foundation.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Rick occaisionally compliments a member of his family for their ideas or actions. They typically react with entirely appropriate self-hatred.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-L]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: "Get Schwifty" appears on Summer's [=MP3=] player in the Point & Click web game before Season 2 premiered.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The short that the show was based on, "Doc and Mharti," had the title characters having totally different names, was animated much more sloppily, and was a parody of ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''. The short also crossed the line much farther and was much more vulgar than its current incarnation. It also featured [[spoiler: a fairly explicit display of "Mharti" giving "Doc" oral sex.]]
** The first real episode has Rick spend the first several minutes in an incoherent stupor, constantly repeating Morty's name and stumbling around. While Rick continues to be a substance abuser, he's much more of a FunctionalAddict for the rest of the show.
** The first episode has no post-credits [[TheStinger stinger]].
* EarthShatteringKaboom: In "Get Schwifty", the Cromulons destroy planets with a plasma ray when they fail their music contest or refuse to participate.
* EasilyForgiven: In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat", when Morty follows a Death Crystal to find the path in life that results in him dying old by Jessica's side, he ends up single-handedly fighting the military until voluntarily being arrested and using the crystal to talk his way into freedom. News shows are ready to condemn him for what he did, but after hearing him stumble his way to say something for himself, immediately announce that they forgive him and "the reset button has been pressed."
* EEqualsMCHammer:
** Parodied; an equation flies by in the opening credits to establish the sci-fi nature of the show, but it's "3 + 3 = 6".
** In TheStinger of "A Rickle in Time", the testicle-headed 4th dimension aliens find UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein and beat him up, telling him not to mess with time. He mutters that he ''will'' mess with time, and writes the famous equation on a blackboard.
* EinsteinHair: Rick's. In fact, his hairstyle causes the TimePolice to mistake the real Einstein for Rick from just seeing the back of his head. They give Einstein a beat-down and warn him not to mess with time, apparently inspiring him to create his famous E=MC^2 formula out of spite.
* EjectionSeat: Rick's car has a "Passenger Purge" button, which dumps everyone in the backseat out of the bottom of the car. Rick being Rick, it's entirely on him to do this in such a way that the passengers survive the landing.
* EldritchAbomination: In the opening credits, the team is seen fleeing from a Cthulhu-esque creature with a smaller, baby version carried by Summer. It is unknown if this will end up as an episode, and whether or not they [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu stole it]] from him, or the scene is implying [[DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu darker]] subtexts.
* EldritchLocation: Parodied with Cob Planet in "The Wedding Squanchers". Everything is on a cob, down to a molecular level. Rick is terrified of the planet, but it's never explained why.
* EmotionEater:
** The Cromulons in "Get Schwifty" feed on the talent and showmanship of less-evolved lifeforms. {{Subverted}} when we learn that they don't actually feed on this shit, it's just part of their reality television.
** A giant slug-creature at the alien spa in "Rest and Ricklaxation" has a symbiotic relationship with the spa visitors due to this; it genuinely loves swallowing stressed-out creatures and feeding on their negative feelings for 20 minutes, which in turn relieves these people of said stress.
* EnemyWithout:
** The marriage counsellors at Nuptia 4 use a device that manifests the user's unconscious perception of their partner into a living, breathing monster. Jerry's perception of Beth manifests as a giant, Xenomorph-like beast while Beth's perception of Jerry manifests as a pathetic slug-like creature. The two end up working together to escape and cause havoc due to the Smith's codependent relationship.
** Another case comes up when Rick and Morty visit an alien spa in "Rest and Ricklaxation" and undergo mental detoxification, which ''literally'' removes the worst parts of their personalities (or, at least, what they consider to be the worst parts), manifesting them as physical copies of the pair with all their negative traits cranked up to 11. Toxic Rick soon tries to murder his detoxified counterpart.
* EpicMovie: In-Universe. ''Two Brothers'' from "Rixty Minutes" definitely qualifies.
-> "A Mexican armada shows up. With weapons made from Two--tomatoes. And you better bet your bottom dollar that these two brothers know how to handle business. In: Alien Invasion Tomato Monster Mexican Armada Brothers, Who Are Just Regular Brothers, Running In a van from an Asteroid and All Sorts of Things THE MOVIE!"
* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The cold opening of the pilot has a stinking drunk Rick barging into Morty's room in the middle of the night, dragging him off to a flying machine he built out of "stuff in the garage" and revealing he built a bomb and plans to make Morty and his crush the new Adam and Eve after he nukes the world. When Morty stops him, [[BlatantLies he tries to pass it off]] as a SecretTestOfCharacter, then collapses drunk in the dirt.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Most of the human characters (and even some exceptions therein) place their sexual priorities a little too high. To give some perspective, Rick is one of the lightest examples on the show, and he spent almost the entirety of "Auto-Erotic Assimilation" having an orgy involving, among other things, [[NoodleImplements a giraffe, a hang-glider, and a football field covered with redheads]] and the stadium seats filled with [[FreudianExcuse guys that look like Rick's dad]]. This trope is discussed to hilarious length in "Interdimensional Cable 2" when Jerry is approached by alien surgeons who want him to donate his penis to save the life of an important alien political figure, which of course leads to one of the greatest lines in cartoon history:
-->'''Jerry''': "I'm a good person, and I demand that [[ItMakesSenseInContext you put my penis in that man's chest]]."
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Parodied at the end of "Meeseeks and Destroy".
* EveryoneHasStandards: Rick's morality is pretty loose, but occasionally he finds his limits:
** Despite out scamming the Zigerians, Rick was genuinely affected by their mind tricks and especially their imitating Morty. TheStinger shows him still sort of reeling from the deception.
** In "Rick Potion No. 9", Rick calls Morty a little creep for wanting to use a love potion on his crush. He even compares it to roofies. Morty, however, answers back by noting Rick still agreed to make it for him, and the only protest he raised back then was that he considered it a waste of his time and talents.
** In "Look Who's Purging Now," Rick gets excited to see some "purge" carnage, but [[TakeOurWordForIt something off-screen]] disgusts him so much that he regrets watching.
** In "Rickmancing the Stone", Rick repeatedly tries to avoid telling Morty why they're bothering to stick around in the dimension they're visiting...until Morty points out that Rick is about to ''eat cooked human flesh'' in his efforts to do so and asks if it's really worth that. Rick decides that it's not, and just tells Morty what's going on.
* EvilDoppelganger:
** [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Naturally, Evil Rick and Evil Morty]]. While Evil Rick actually turns out to be a subversion since he was just being mind-controlled by Evil Morty[[note]]And "our Rick" is a borderline VillainProtagonist himself sometimes anyway[[/note]], this of course means that the latter plays it even more completely straight than it originally appeared.
** Played with Toxic Rick & Morty, the result of the original Rick and Morty being purged of the "toxic" parts of their psyche, leading to Toxic Rick being a self-aggrandizing, abusive {{Jerkass}}, and Toxic Morty being a self-loathing ball of neuroses and cowardice, while "Healthy" Rick & Morty are far friendlier and more well-adjusted. Because there's no objective measure of what thoughts are toxic or not, however, the purging instead goes by what the person ''thinks'' the toxic parts of themselves are, leading to Toxic Rick & Morty retaining some more positive traits that Healthy Rick & Morty are now missing, such as Toxic Rick retaining his "irrational" attachment to Toxic Morty, and Toxic Morty retaining his moral compass.
* EvilLaugh: Mr. Needful usually has one after saying "you don't pay for anything in this store... not with money". Rick sarcastically joins in.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Rick is deliberately written as an awful person, but to keep him from being an outright VillainProtagonist, the writers give him some redeeming qualities and have said that they want the show to see him become a better person. For his many faults, Rick ''does'' love his family and ''tries'' to connect with them, but he's so fucked up it doesn't really work. What generally drives him to try and do good is ultimately either his family being upset with him for being such a dick, or, worse, when he thinks he's a bad influence (as in "Look Who's Purging Now", when he stuns Morty to stop him killing people.).
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Parodied; before Unity took over an entire unnamed alien civilization and made everyone live in hive-mind bliss, the planet was on the verge of tearing itself apart via an extremely volatile race war based on nipple shapes. Eventually, Morty and Summer conclude that the only problem with the situation is Rick being a terrible influence.
* ExactWords:
** Mr. Needful's microscope lets you see things ''beyond comprehension''. [[StupidityInducingAttack It makes you too dumb to understand anything]]. Unfortunately for him, Rick is too smart to fall for it.
** When Morty asks Rick how many ''people'' Rick invited to the party in "Ricksy Business", Rick claims it's only six. A flying saucer then lands and out pours a few dozen blob-like aliens, which aren't technically people.
** In "The Ricks Must be Crazy", Rick orders his car AI to keep Summer safe. What follows is an escalating series of exact adherence to her commands as she balks at the lengths it will go to protect her. First, it unceremoniously kills people that might be a threat to Summer. When Summer tells it not to kill anyone, it instead uses a precise laser beam to paralyze them from the waist down. When Summer orders it not to physically harm anyone, it resorts to psychologically scarring them. It then secures world peace... resulting in the most disgusting ice cream imaginable.
** In "Mortynight Run", the telepathic entity called Fart remarks that he will cleanse carbon-based lifeforms once he returns through his wormhole. He then remarks on a conversation he had with Morty earlier, that Morty agrees [[ForTheGreaterGood life must be protected, even through sacrifice]] and, sensing Morty's thoughts, notes that he hasn't changed his opinion on that. As it turns out, Fart is correct... [[spoiler:As Morty sacrifices Fart to save life]].
* ExecutiveVeto: In-Universe example. TheStinger of "Anatomy Park" had Rick's ''Pirates of the Pancreas'' ride axed by the Chief "Imagineerian".
* ExistentialHorror: The multiverse, which holds practically infinite numbers of other Ricks and Mortys, and for that matter other Beths, Summers, and Jerrys, is played as such. Imagine that you are just one of a near-infinite number of yourselves, some of which have died anti-climatically, unmourned, and unremembered, while others still are much more successful and well-off than you will ever be. Then there is other stuff, like the alien parasites that can fill your head with FakeMemories and make you believe you've known them your whole life, to the mere concept of Mr. Meeseeks. Safe to say, the show has plenty to choose from when it comes to existential nightmares.
* ExpendableClone:
** Evil Rick (who turns out to be controlled by Evil Morty) tortures hundreds of alternate Mortys to hide in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind".
** In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Rick murders a handful of younger clones of himself. With an axe.
* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Parodied. Rick irreversibly ruins Earth in one universe and travels to a different one. Rick doesn't care at all. Morty on the other hand is horrified. And in the stinger, Cronenberg Morty and Rick (referring to each other as such) come out of a portal in the abandoned world, having mutated everyone in their homeworld into "normal" humans, and abandoned it in the same manner.
* {{Expy}}:
** Rick and Morty are expies of Doc and Marty from ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.
** Scary Terry is basically [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]]. Rick even says that he's a knock-off of some '80s horror film. It is also pointed out that Terry has miniature swords, not knives, on his fingers.
** The Pop-Tart living in the toaster oven [[LawyerFriendlyCameo looks like]] the one featured in current Pop-Tart commercials.
** King Jellybean looks almost identical to the character Crumply Crumplestein in Roiland's previous short "Unbelievable Tales."
* ExoticEyeDesigns: All the characters have somewhat jagged-looking pupils.
* ExoticEquipment: In "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" Jerry can be seen watching alien pornography, which features unusual sex organs.
* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit:
** Thanks to Rick's portal gun, it's very easy for him to casually leap into another dimension if faced with danger - or inconvenience of any kind, really. As such, things only get complicated for him if his portal gun ends up being lost, confiscated or damaged.
** Played for laughs in one of the Adult Swim commercials: Rick is forced to use the portal gun to quickly find a bathroom for Summer, first trying the dog dimension where the toilets are all fire hydrants, then in the chair dimension where the toilets are all inanimate human beings. Eventually, they finally find a normal toilet... but the dimension appears to be a nightmare realm populated by Cenobites.
-->'''Summer:''' ...I'll hold it until we get back to Earth.
-->'''Morty:''' This is why I let Rick put a catheter in me.
* ExtremeDoormat: Downplayed by Morty - he may put up with a ''lot'' of crap from Rick with little to no objection, but he does have his limits, as he shows in the very first episode before any CharacterDevelopment.
* EyeAwaken: Happens with Abradolf Lincler in TheStinger for "Ricksy Business". He even shouts "REVENGE!" right before getting slurped up by some testicle monsters.
* EyepatchOfPower: Evil Morty. And boy, is the [[TheManBehindTheMan "power" element literal]]. He used it as an interface to control [[RoboticReveal Evil "Rick"]]. When he goes into hiding, he simply takes it off to reveal an intact eye [[EyeScream with some wires sticking out]].
* EyeScream: Ants-in-my-eyes-Johnson is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* FakeMemories: The parasites in "Total Rickall" create happy memories in the minds of their victims, taking the form of a non-existent relative or some such, then assume the appearance of the subject of the memories. They breed by repeating this process ad nauseum. It quickly takes a turn for the ridiculous as the parasites assume ever-more implausible forms, such as fictional monsters like Frankenstein's monster, talking animals, and so forth, all of which the family accepts as commonplace because the memories tell them they are.
* FalseCause: In "Get Schwifty", Principal Vagina forms a religion around the Cromulons, ignorant of the true reason behind their appearance. Beth even [[DiscussedTrope discusses it]]. Principal Vagina quickly lets the power go to his head.
* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: It bears noting that since this is an adult show, it doesn't have any compunctions about showing realistic firearms. Though this is subverted with Rick's various energy weapons - while a lot of them have a sort of RaygunGothic aesthetic, Rick's favorite pistol loads like a conventional 21st-century automatic, and when shown, their effects are even ''gorier'' than one could expect from contemporary weapons.
* FanDisservice:
** [[ItMakesSenseInContext Rick wearing BDSM gear]] in the DreamLand in "Lawnmower Dogs".
** A lingerie-clad Summer [[{{Gainaxing}} jiggling her breasts]] and [[IncestantAdmirer hitting on Rick and Morty]] in the same scene.
** In general, anytime we get a FullFrontalAssault from Rick (which is always accompanied by his dick being pixelated out), but especially in "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", where he's not only totally naked, but also drenched in blood from killing his own clones with an axe, and proceeds to spend the rest of the episode like this.
* FantasticRacism:
** {{Implied|Trope}} in "Meeseeks and Destroy", where the giants seem to be very prejudiced towards "tiny people". Given that the villagers' only idea to get money boiled down to breaking into an innocent giant family's castle and stealing from them, this might be justified.
** "Rixty Minutes" features a political ad for a universe where there are men with trunks surgically attached to their faces, which allows them to have sex with both men and women. They're fighting for the right to get married.
** The episode "Auto-Erotic Assimilation" has two instances: Rick spray-painting gang graffiti on a starship bulkhead to make the police think that a certain group of aliens looted it, and the blue-skinned people differentiate race by the shape of their areolas and feel so strongly about it that a pogrom can be declared with no more emotional weight than a food fight.
** Tumblr-like Federation videos mention the Galactic Federation [[BodyHorror "cubifying"]] some humans to make them more efficient. The normal humans find this disgusting and horrifying and go so far as to discriminate against "cubified" humans until the Federation passes laws preventing this.
** The Aliens of the Galactic Federation seem to have disdain towards humans. The humans respond in kind by drawing-and-quartering aliens in School Courtyards and calling it patriotism.
** Rick is racist towards Gear-people. He calls Revolio Clockberg Jr. "Gearhead" instead of his real name, which by itself ''could'' just be Rick being Rick and not caring enough about Revolio to even bother remembering his name, but he also openly calls Gear-people greedy to Revolio's face.
* FantasyKitchenSink:
** In the words of Rick himself, there are "infinite worlds, infinite possibilities". Everything that could have happened in one world but did not has ASSUREDLY already happened, will happen, or is CURRENTLY happening in another world. Naturally, that means that in addition to clones and different versions of every person in existence being very real, there are also various species of sentient and asentient extraterrestrial life (familiar aliens and non-familiar), vampires, wizards, dragons, time travel, and more. Just about everything you could imagine, and more, probably exists somewhere.
** Curiously, in Season 5 regular Earth seems to be one too: among other things, we discover that the oceans are ruled by a Namor-esque character, there are genuine superheroes, and there's a race of humanoid horses living in an underground kingdom.
* FantasticSlur:
** Glip-Glop for Travlorkians. It's like the N-word and C-word had a baby and was raised by all the bad words for Jews. Rick greets an entire saucer of them by calling them this.
** When the dog Snuffles becomes super-intelligent and enslaves the family, he insists they call him Snowball because "Snuffles was my slave name". Technically it's more of an anthropomorphic slur.
** Gearhead's real name is "Revolio Clockberg Jr." He states that Rick calling him "Gearhead" would be like calling a Chinese person "Asia Face".
--->'''Revolio Clockberg Jr''': Calling me "Gearhead" is like calling a Chinese person "Asia Face"!
* FantasticVoyagePlot: The episode "Anatomy Park" is a mixture of this and Jurassic Park.
* FateWorseThanDeath: This is the punishment that the Council of Ricks has in mind for a rogue Rick believed to be responsible for a murder spree.
-->"Earth Rick C-137, the Council of Ricks sentences you to the Machine of Unspeakable Doom, which swaps your conscious and unconscious minds, rendering your fantasies pointless while everything you've known becomes impossible to grasp. Also, every ten seconds, it stabs your balls."
* TheFederation: The series occasionally mentions a Galactic Federation, which Rick is stated to have issues with. According to Bird Person, he and Rick are at war with the Federation and are considered terrorists. [[spoiler: Earth joins at the end of Season 2, but the Federation collapses at the start of Season 3, thanks to Rick.]]
* FictionalCurrency:
** The schmeckle. Twenty-five of them are enough for a boob job or a ride down some ''very'' tall stairs, and a sackful can bail a village out of poverty. According to Dan Harmon during a Reddit AMA, he said a schmeckle is worth roughly 148 USD.
** The flurbo. Three-thousand of them is enough for two humans to spend an entire afternoon at [[SuckECheeses Blips and Chitz!]]
** The blemflarp. The cure to a highly infectious disease that you could call "space AIDS" is worth billions of them.
** The repbul. A plumbus is apparently worth six repbuls.
* FlatEarthAtheist:
** even though he's personally met {{Satan}} and a few demons, Rick is still a HollywoodAtheist. Although "Rickle in Time" gives us the "No atheists in a foxhole" gag, where PrayerIsALastResort is immediately laughed off when things start going the right way.
--> '''Rick #30''': (as he flies through Uncertainty) I'm okay with this. Be good Morty. Be better than me. Bullsh*t. The other collar! I'm not okay with this! I am not okay with this! Oh, sweet Jesus please let me live. Oh, my God I—I've gotta fix this thing, please God in Heaven, please, God, oh Lord, hear my prayers.
-->(fixes device) "Yes! Fuck you God! Not today, bitch."
** And later:
--> '''All Ricks Except Rick #30''': "Please, God, if there's a Hell, please be merciful to me."
--> '''Rick #30''': "Yes I did it! There is no God! In your face. One dot, motherfuckers!"
** "Childrick of Mort" in Season 4 confirms that gods actually exist. To be specific, Rick encounters one who both directly compares himself to Zeus. The god even directly gives Jerry divine powers. Rick calls him out for completely squandering the use of those powers for showing off what great power he has instead of actually curing cancer or doing something useful. He doesn't really care that gods exist, but it's the existence of God that has yet to be proven.
* FlippingTheBird:
** Rick does it frequently.
** In "The Ricks Must be Crazy", Rick taught his PocketDimension that this is the symbol for peace. He thought it was hilarious. Zeep also teaches his PocketDimension their equivalent of FlippingTheBird for the same reason. What makes it especially funny is the fact that is the symbol for peace in Rick's dimension. Rick also had some other language-based fun at their expense.
--->'''Mayor:''' F*** you!\\
'''Rick:''' ''(grabbing the mayor by the collar)'' What did you say to me?!\\
'''Mayor:''' F-f*** you! Y-you told me it means "much obliged"!\\
'''Rick:''' Oh. Right. Uh, b-blow me.\\
'''Mayor:''' No, no, no. Blow ''me.''
* FlyingSaucer:
** Rick's homemade spaceship uses this aesthetic, albeit with wheels and headlights like a normal car.
** The Travlorkians fly one to Rick's party.
* {{Foil}}: Jerry is a foil to Rick. Rick is intelligent while Jerry is ditzy, Rick is brave while Jerry is cowardly (or vice versa), and Rick is reluctant to bond with others while Jerry is quick to bond with others. The only similarities they have are that they're in the same family and they're both insufferably egotistical and miserable.
* ForcedPerspective: In "The Wedding Squanchers," the family's first selection for a new home planet looks very Earth-like from a distance... until Rick tries to get closer and bonks the spaceship into the planet, revealing that it is much closer and much smaller than they realized.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Has [[Foreshadowing/RickAndMorty its own page]].
* ForgottenFirstMeeting: Despite Rick supposedly being away from the family for 20 years, one of Rick's memories and a picture in Birdperson's house show that Rick was secretly visiting Morty (who is now 14) when the latter was an infant. Morty doesn't remember this. This has led to some WildMassGuessing that "our" Rick and "our" Morty aren't natives of the same dimension, and that the baby Morty in these two instances is a different one than the Morty we follow. It's also possible that this ''is'' "our" Morty and Rick did come to meet him personally, but never officially returned into the rest of his family's lives until much later.
* FormulaForTheUnformulable: Rick has worked out mathematical proof that both Morty and Summer are "pieces of shit" and is all too pleased to wheel out the whiteboard to show off his work.
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: With Morty as the Optimist, Rick as the Cynic, Summer as the Realist, Beth as the Apathetic, and Jerry as the Conflicted.
* FreezeFrameBonus:
** When Rick is flipping through the channels in "Rixty Minutes", one channel has ''Series/GameOfThrones'' on, except all the cast members are dwarves. Except for Tyrion who is the sole tall person.
*** In the same episode, Weekend At Dead Cat Lady's House II is rated G.
** "Something Ricked This Way Comes" has an unintentional one where a man is holding a "God hates fags" sign and it changes to "God hates you" for one frame. They changed it to "God hates fags" after the censors approved it, but they accidentally left it in that one frame.
** In "M. Night Shaym-Aliens", there's [[EarlyBirdCameo a brief shot of the back of a Plutonian]] from "Something Ricked This Way Comes" during the anti-gravity sequence.
** In "Close Rick-Counters", [[IntercontinuityCrossover a notebook, a pen,]] [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E7SocietyOfTheBlindEye and a mug with a question mark on it]] can be seen falling out of one of the portals Rick opened.
** "Auto Erotic Assimilation" has the hive-mind Unity create a show just for Rick, which turns out to be Dan Harmon's previous show, ''Series/{{Community}}''. Also serves as a StealthPun.
* FreudianThreat: In "Lawnmower Dog", Snowball threatens to have Jerry neutered. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Jerry assumes he's being threatened with a haircut.]]
* FreudianTrio:
** Morty, the kid who doesn't want to hurt anyone and if anything cares too much (Id)
** Rick, the mad scientist who claims that all love is an illusion (Superego)
** Summer, the middle ground between the two (Ego)
* FromBadToWorse:
** In "Rick Potion #9" Rick tries to cure a virus, which made everyone infected want to have sex with Morty, with a stronger virus mixed with praying mantis DNA. The result turned the infectees into mutated mantis people who still want to have sex with Morty and then bite his head off. And ''then'' Rick attempts to make a cure for both of these viruses (composed of the DNA of a myriad of different animals) which, although effective in making everyone stop being madly in love with Morty, [[PersonAsVerb Cronenbergs]] them into hideous, mutated monsters. Rick and Morty end up just abandoning the world to its fate and settling in an AlternateUniverse where Rick of that dimension succeeded in fixing everything, only to then accidentally kill himself and his dimension's Morty in a lab accident just as the prime duo arrive to replace them.
** The Strawberry Smiggles commercial opens with the cereal's mascot desperately rushing to eat his Smiggles before any kids steal it from him. It doesn't help. [[ImAHumanitarian Oh, BOY does it not help.]]
** In "The Wedding Squanchers", the wedding ends with the reveal of Tammy being a deep-cover agent for the Galactic Federation, and cops from the Federation storming the building. Birdperson is then killed and the Smith family goes on the run. Eventually, Rick turns himself in to spare his family from this life.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
** In "Ricksy Business", Morty tosses a bag of crystal narcotics outside into an environment full of giant testicle monsters. A tentacle immediately scoops the bag up, after which the monster can be seen [[{{Pun}} tripping balls]] in the background.
** In TheStinger for "A Rickle in Time", the two four-dimensional testicle-headed beings (played by comedy duo Series/KeyAndPeele) find each other in the Ice Age, which startles a mammoth.
*** While the two bicker, a small rodent crawls into the creatures' time displacement bubble and ends up being carried with them through ''thousands of years of history'' and meets an unfortunate end when it leaves the time bubble just as it materializes over the sea.
** In "Mortynight Run", when Rick and Morty are at Blips and Chitz playing ''Roy'', you can see an Alien playing pinball with a Mr. Meeseeks next to him. After the alien beats the game, Mr. Meeseeks disappears.
** The Gaussian Girl introduction below takes place during a rowdy party. A thrown beer bottle can be seen flying in the background and smashing into a wall, also in slow motion.
** In "Close Rick-Counters of The Rick Kind", when Rick and Morty arrive in a universe where [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext sentient chairs sit on people using pizzas to order phones]], the chairs can be seen staring in utter shock at our equivalent of two talking chairs walking on the street.
* GasolineDousing: In the episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes", Rick opens up a store called "Curse Purge Plus" which removes the curses put on items by [[{{Satan}} Mr. Needful]] for a fee. In the end, Rick gets bored and brings out a gas can, dousing the store with gasoline and burning it down.
* GaussianGirl: Parodied in "Ricksy Business". Jessica is introduced this way, only for Rick to scold Slow-Mobius for messing with time to create the effect.
* GeniusLoci: "Childrick of Mort" shows that sentient planets exist, as Rick gets a call from Gaia that she is pregnant and that the children are his. The end of the episode shows there's an entire pornographic dating website called Planets Only, which Rick enjoys indulging in.
* GeniusSerum: This is heavily implied to be the case with Mega Seeds, and that they are the main source for Rick's SuperIntelligence.
* GiantSpider: In "The Ricks Must be Crazy", the universe Rick, Morty, and Summer are visiting has giant, telepathic spiders.
* GirlOfTheWeek:
** While Morty's main LoveInterest is Jessica, and she's usually the target of his affection in episodes that focus on his love life, he has occasionally shown interest in other girls too. Except for Arthricia in "Look Who's Purging Now" (for whom his crush is unrequited), he actually has managed to score with most of these girls, including Annie in "Anatomy Park", Stacey and Jacqueline in "Rest and Ricklaxation"[[note]](albeit as "Healthy Morty", with part of his normal personality removed)[[/note]], and a mermaid in "The Ricklantis Mixup." (And, depending on whether or not you count it or not, "Gwendolyn" the non-sentient sexbot/breeding chamber in "Raising Gazorpazorp").
** Summer also has a possibly on-again-off-again sometime-boyfriend named Ethan (with their relationship really only shown in two or three episodes), but she gets some of these, as well. She's shown to have a crush on Frank Palicky in the pilot, has a brief relationship of some kind with her boss (the actual Devil) in "Something Ricked This Way Comes", gets together with and even marries Hemorrhage (before divorcing him) in "Rickmancing the Stone", and has a whole slew of these(thanks to a dating app), male and female, in "The Old Man and the Seat".
** Rick usually doesn't bother with romance since it distracts him from his work, but he does get Unity, a NewOldFlame whom he gets back together with, and who then later leaves him again, in "Auto Erotic Assimilation".
* AGlitchInTheMatrix: All over the place in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens". The simulation isn't that high-quality to begin with, and Jerry's section is running on 5% processing power.
* GodwinsLaw:
** In the pilot, Morty tells Rick he's worse than Hitler (since even he cared about Germany, "or something") when he shows no empathy over Morty breaking his legs.
** At the end of "Rick Potion #9", when Morty is freaking out over having to replace his DeadAlternateCounterpart in another dimension, he asks Rick "What about the reality we left behind?" Rick responds by telling him "What about the reality where Hitler cured cancer, Morty? The point is, [[SafetyInIndifference don't think about it]]."
** Jessica's boyfriend invokes it on Abradolf Lincler. He probably gets this a lot. Though, to be fair, Lincler played the Lincoln card first. He was asking for the rebuttal.
* GoneHorriblyRight: In the season 1 finale "Ricksy Business", Beth and Jerry go to a fancy Titanic-themed cruise line, complete with a crash into a prop iceberg that's supposed to result in the ship sinking in a safe, controlled manner to give the passengers a chance to reenact scenes from the movie. The ship misses the iceberg and ''doesn't'' sink. This is treated like a disaster.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Rick sends Beth and Jerry off to an alien couples therapy retreat to fix their marriage. It works by taking the couple's unconscious perception of each other and manifesting it as monsters which they can then observe. Monster!Beth proceeds to use Monster!Jerry's gelatinous form to [[WallpaperCamouflage blend in with the wall]] and escape her cell. By the time the real Beth and Jerry solve the problem, the entire retreat is destroyed.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: In "Rixty Minutes", Summer overhears her parents state during an argument that they planned to abort her, and only didn't do so because of a flat tire on the way to the clinic. Summer is so upset about this (and about the fact that her existence made her parents give up on their dreams) that she almost runs away until Morty convinces her not to [[TheAntiNihilist by explaining that everyone is an accident]]. At the end of the episode, we learn that the alternate dimension versions of Jerry and Beth are miserable and regretful.
-->'''Alternate Dimension Jerry, having a breakdown''': "Beth Sanchez, I have been in love with you since high school. I hate acting, I hate cocaine, I hate Kristen Stewart. I wish you hadn't gotten that abortion, and I've never stopped thinking about what might've been."
* {{Gorn}}: Graphic violence is quite frequent, mostly involving aliens. It reaches its zenith in "Look Who's Purging Now."
* GroinAttack:
** The Machine of Unspeakable Doom swaps your conscious and unconscious minds, rendering your fantasies pointless while everything you've known becomes impossible to grasp. Also, every ten seconds it stabs your balls.
** When Rick is sold out by Gearhead, he kicks Gearhead in the crotch, rips out his "gearsticles", then swaps them for his mouth gears.
** Rick and Zeep do this to each other in "The Ricks Must be Crazy", Rick with a kick and Zeep with a punch. Rick, surprisingly, just powers through it.
** In "Wedding Squanchers", Rick warns his family that the Galactic Federation will torture them by hooking their testicles/labia up to the alien equivalent of a car battery.
* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: In "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind]]", the Rick we follow throughout the show (Rick C-137) is arrested by the Citadel of Ricks, accused of murdering other Ricks. His portal gun history seems to corroborate this charge, and in any case, his refusal to have anything to do with the Citadel of Ricks makes him suspect among the others. He's only let off the hook when he escapes and tracks down the actual culprit.
* HappyMarriageCharade: Beth and Jerry only got married because Jerry got Beth pregnant [[PromBaby after prom]]. Their fragile marriage is a recurring theme, and they are quite aware of it, but it's usually [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther resolved at the end of the episode]], and the marriage seems to improve somewhat over the course of the first season. [[spoiler:The first episode of the third season ends with then splitting up, but they end up getting back together (seemingly happier and without it being a charade) by the season finale.]]
* HardTruthAesop:
** "Mortynight Run" drove home the point that the universe doesn't function according to BlackAndWhiteMorality and that if you don't fully know the details of the situation, it's best to not get involved at all because you can make everything a whole lot worse.
** "Autoerotic Assimilation" says that just because one has free will, it doesn't mean they will use it to make good decisions and that racism will exist no matter where ''or'' who you are.
** "Look Who's Purging Now" shows that no matter how much of a good person one claims to be, they can be pushed to becoming as monstrous as the "evil" people they criticize. Also, that people will always be aggressive to each other one way or another and not learn from their mistakes.
** The fact that the only Rick in the multiverse that's a NiceGuy is TheDitz, Morty being BookDumb, and Jerry being a loser gives off the impression that either smart people are assholes or nice people are idiots. Rick even brings this up in his improv wedding speech in "The Wedding Squanchers".
--> "Look, I'm not the nicest guy around, because I'm the smartest, and being nice is what stupid people do to hedge their bets."
** This is elaborated more in "The ABC's of Beth" where Rick's speech seems to outright state there's no difference at all between being intelligent and being a morally bankrupt sociopath.
** In "Pickle Rick", Dr. Wong delivers it: attending therapy and getting help is a choice, despite it being a potential help if your relationship with your loved ones is downright toxic and hateful. She can only offer advice, but can't make him or Beth take it. As she puts it, Rick's choices constantly prefer to go for death-defying adrenaline adventures, rather than BoringButPractical maintenance.[[spoiler:He turned himself into a pickle to get out of therapy, which led to him being covered in rat blood and cockroach limbs and human feces, as well as nearly vegetating.]] He may prefer to court death over repairing his family, and ultimately the choice is up to the individual.
** "The [=ABCs=] of Beth": Sometimes your parents don't know what they're doing, especially if they're trying to rebuild their life after a drastic change. Also, refusing to take responsibility for your actions means that ultimately collateral damage will ensue, whether to loved ones --in Jerry's case -- or to strangers -- in Beth's case.
* HarmlessFreezing:
** [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Averted]] with Frank Palicky in the first episode. Rick had insisted he'd be fine, but the frozen Frank fell over and [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered]].
** Played straight in "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" when one of the Ricks freezes Jerry. When he later unfreezes Jerry, not only is Jerry unharmed, he doesn't seem to have noticed he was frozen.
** Averted again in the Simpsons crossover. Flanders is frozen, then knocked over and shattered when the spaceship takes off.
** Played straight again in the season 3 premiere, when the Council of Ricks froze [[spoiler:the Jerry, Beth, and Summer from "our" Rick's and Morty's original dimension]].
* HellholePrison: Two examples.
** In The Galactic Federation's Prison, the prisoners are chained to slabs and stacked like Jenga blocks.
** In Time Prison, [[PrisonRape the most feared part of prison]] still happens but [[AndIMustScream it goes on forever]].
* HeroicBSOD: Morty suffers one at the end of "Rick Potion #9" as he tries to cope with his entire world going to hell, and then suddenly finding himself in a world where nothing went wrong except that he just replaced his own self, who had died just moments before.
* HeroicSacrifice: In the second season premiere, at least one out of 64 versions of Rick was prepared to sacrifice himself (and the other 63 Ricks) to save Morty, though Rick managed to survive anyway through sheer luck.
* HeroesWantRedheads:
** Morty sure seems to. His main love interest, Jessica, is a redhead, and in "Morty's Mind Blowers", one of the removed memories shows that he used a magnet that can attract anything to pull in a bunch of women, all of whom had red hair.
** He might have inherited this from his grandpa; when Rick briefly gets back together with Unity, one of his sexual requests to it is a stadium full of redheaded people that it's possessing (seemingly of both genders) for him to bang.
* HiddenDepths: There's a lot more to Rick than just a drunk asshole who's good with science. We have yet to see all of it, but you can tell it's there. Directly referenced at the end of "Ricksy Business", where an embittered Morty says that Rick "isn't that complicated" and Birdperson states that he's wrong.
* HighSchoolDance: In "Rick Potion #9", Morty's school holds a "Flu Season Dance."
-->'''Principal Vagina:''' Please note: if you have the flu, do not attend this dance. It's about awareness, not endorsement. You don't bring dead babies to Passover.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: The horrors that Rick has put Morty through (not to mention the constant verbal abuse) would be enough to drive any full-grown adult insane, much less a 14-year-old boy. Morty seems to take it most of the time though.
* HobbesWasRight: In the climax of the Season 3 premiere, [[spoiler:the value of the Galactic Federation's centralized fiat currency, whose value is apparently set by ''its own value'', gets set to zero by Rick. Literally ''moments'' after learning this, the Federation's president [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] and the entire Federation collapses into complete anarchy due to disagreements over who gets paid to do what, and abandons Earth.]]
--> '''Alien:''' ''[offscreen]'' HE WHO CONTROLS THE PANTS CONTROLS THE GALAXY!
* {{Hobos}}: Reuben from "Anatomy Park" is one. Justified since you don't agree to have a theme park built inside you if your life is going great, though he is a more modern variant.
--> '''Robot Reuben Tour Guide''': My story begins in the Dot Com Crash of the late '90s...
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In Season 3, Rick's constant belligerent attitude to his family results in three things during the finale:
** The first is that Morty finally grows a spine [[spoiler: and as a result leaves Rick, and takes his family off to a retreat in the woods. While Rick does find them, Morty is finally able to say no to his grandfather's demands.]]
** The second is that Beth is told in no uncertain terms that [[spoiler: she is ''not'' the clone discussed in the previous episode, but the completely flippant way that Rick disregards her fears only makes it worse, and as a result drives her back to Jerry, who she sees as simple and predictable.]]
** The third is that Rick's inability to stop his grandiose AGodAmI complex [[spoiler: causes a falling-out with the President that results in an all-out battle that results in the first point happening and placing Rick at the bottom of the family hierarchy.]] Essentially, Rick's mad rant at the beginning of the season? Completely null by the end.
* HolidayEpisode: A few:
** "Anatomy Park" and "Rattlestar Ricklactica" are {{Christmas Episode}}s. Both of them did actually air quite close to Christmas in real life (9-10 days before, to be exact).
** "Rick and Morty's Thanksploitation Spectacular" and "Bethic Twinstinct" are {{Thanksgiving Episode}}s. Unlike the above-mentioned Christmas instances, both of these were {{Out Of Holiday Episode}}s that aired months before Thanksgiving.
* HowWeGotHere: Parodied in "Look Who's Purging Now." Morty listens to a screenplay that begins with a trite scene of danger and then flashes back to "Three weeks earlier." Morty groans.
* HugeHolographicHead: The Cromulons are an entire race of partially transparent floating heads.
* HumbleGoal: When Rick introduces the problem-solving Meeseeks to the family, he tells them to keep their requests simple. Summer asks to be more popular at school, and Beth asks to be a more complete woman. Trying to heed Rick's warning, Jerry just asks to take two strokes off his golf game. Guess which problems are solved easily and which one turns into a huge ordeal.
* HurtingHero: If you consider Morty a hero, the ''entirety of the show'' should do the trick; from when he [[spoiler:gets almost raped]] in "Meeseeks and Destroy," to [[spoiler: living with the guilt of Rick accidentally turning all non-related humans into Cronenberg-esque creatures on his behalf]] in "Rick Potion #9. And ''that's'' just the first season.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" this is applied, not to hyperspace, but wormhole travel. During a fight, a shield that protects part of a starship from the crazier aspects of wormhole travel is damaged, meaning everyone in proximity experiences a mind-bending acid trip that, according to the characters, lasted "a thousand lifetimes."
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** The Citadel of Ricks, and the Council that leads it, was formed because of government attempts to control other Ricks, yet they enforce their will on all Ricks regardless of whether or not they have joined. "Our" Rick, C-137, calls them out on this.
** In ''The Ricks must be Crazy'': Rick calls Morty gay despite being openly pansexual himself.
** "Raising Gazorpazorp"; while it does result in Morty learning that parenting is a thankless job, the attitudes of his parents do little to help the situation. Beth and Jerry both criticize Morty over his attempt at raising Morty Jr. while failing to reflect on their own actions while raising their own kids. Beth drinks, the couple fights, Summer has gotten a black eye (accidentally but due to Beth hitting her with a wine bottle), not to mention they allow their underage son, who has poor attendance in school, being dragged across dimensions with his 60ish alcoholic, sociopathic grandfather... neither of them are Parent of the Year themselves and they're basically acting like spoiled brats because Morty called them out on their own behaviour.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** In "Total Rickall" the house becomes infested with alien parasites who embed themselves in memories and act like old friends and family. Rick warns his family to "keep an eye out for any zany, wacky characters that pop up". He then accepts help from a strange creature called "Mr. Poopybutthole" we've never seen before. It turns out this isn't so hypocritical, as Mr. Poopybutthole is shown to be real at the end of the episode.
** "The Ricks Must be Crazy" has Rick bemoan that the PocketDimension powering his car, in turn, invented and then copied his scam. When Morty [[HypocrisyNod brings up the hypocrisy]], Rick merely realizes that he can use this to convince the one from his creation to switch back to the original power source. Then it goes a layer deeper as instead of the scientist just realizing that he's a hypocrite, he realizes they're ''both'' hypocrites, and thus that Rick is probably doing the same thing he is but one universe higher.
** "The Ricks Must be Crazy" also has this bit:
--->'''Morty:''' What's wrong, Rick? Is it the quantum carburetor or something?\\
'''Rick:''' "Quantum carburetor"? Jesus, Morty, you can't just add a '''*burp*''' sci-fi word to a car word and hope it means something. Huh, looks like there's something wrong with the microverse battery.
** "The Wedding Squanchers" has Beth's conversation with Birdperson. While he opens up with secret details about Rick's past, she ignores him and keeps complaining about how Rick was a wayward father. After Birdperson leaves, she mutters that it's "like talking to a brick wall."
** In "Morty's Mind Blowers", Morty is shown a memory where he and Rick are on a planet called Venzenulon 9 with the car broken down. Rick panics, saying the night temperature reaches 300 below and they need to find shelter. Morty suggests finding a cave, to which Rick replies "you've seen too many movies". Rick then proceeds to cut open their AnimalCompanion so they can [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack hide in its warm innards.]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Many episode titles are based on a movie title or common phrase with "Rick" and/or "Morty" inserted into it somewhere. It is even lampshaded by Rick in one of the promos.
-->'''Rick:''' What's [the episode] called?\\
'''Morty:''' "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind"!\\
'''Rick:''' What, ''really?'' That's horrible! What kind of formula is that?! Take a movie title and arbitrarily shoehorn my name into it?\\
'''Morty:''' I don't think they put a lot of thought into it, y'know. I think they save their creative energy for the show.
* IdiotBall: Oh boy, do Rick's enemies ever hold it. Among the most noticeable ones, the Federation ''not'' using the most recent Brainalyzer to deal with Rick, who they ''know'' to be the "smartest mammal in the universe", the Citadel of Ricks for having a system for moving the whole structure around that can be activated easily by a single person (which also raises the question of why would a room full of Rick be needed for it) and without any security measures to avoid it materializing into anything solid or the blue ape aliens from "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" that try to kill Rick ''before'' he's out of the immortality field. It's actually surprising when villains dodge it, with some of the only ones so far being Zeep, the memory parasites, and, supposedly, Concerto (who, however, still [[VillainBall doesn't outright kill Rick and Morty when he has the chance]]).
** One not from the antagonists is from Krombopulous Michael, an alien ProfessionalKiller who hands out cards that can be used to track him. Fittingly, it ends up being the cause of his demise.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight:
** At the climax of "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Morty and Summer have to do this with Rick who's trapped in a younger clone of himself that's taken over his personality.
** Parodied in "Morty's Mind Blowers". One of the removed memories shows that Rick, Summer, and Beth once had to do this with Morty when he got possessed by an alien worm-creature, telling him how much they love him and encouraging him to fight it...except that it takes so long for Morty to barf up the alien worm that they have trouble actually ''continuing'' to encourage him and not just start cracking jokes at his expense instead.
* ILoveTheDead: One alternate version of Jerry wrote and directed a film called "Last Will and Testameow: [[Film/WeekendAtBernies Weekend at Dead Cat Lady's House II]]", a film about how nine cats [[OfCorpseHesAlive move their owner's putrefying corpse to make her seem alive]]. The film also features a guy having a romantic relationship and sleeping with the dead woman, [[PaperThinDisguise thinking she's still alive]].
* ImmediateSequel: Interestingly played with for the second season relative to the first. This is averted for Rick, Morty, and Summer, for whom six months have passed between the two seasons; however, since they "froze time" for the rest of the world and it's remained frozen during that six months, this is played straight for everybody else once they un-freeze it since from their perspective, no time has passed and they're not even aware that anything happened at all.
* ImpliedDeathThreat: When [[spoiler: Evil Morty]] becomes president of the Citadel of Ricks, he has a meeting, while having a barber cut his hair, with some of the most important Ricks, who tell him they are going to be TheManBehindTheMan and he will not have real power. He [[BoardToDeath kills the most vocal of these Ricks]], after which we get this:
-->'''Barber:''' Is... is that enough taken off the top?
-->'''[[spoiler:Evil Morty]]:''' I don't know. Is it?
-->'''Surviving "top" Ricks:''' Yes! Yes! Goddamn, yes!
* ImpossiblePickleJar: Jerry's inability to open a jar results in Rick giving him the Meeseeks box, sparking the B-plot of "Meeseeks and Destroy".
* ImprobablyHighIQ: [[Creator/DanHarmon Word of God]] puts Rick's IQ at 350.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played for BlackComedy in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" when Rick takes Jerry to an amusement park that has an immortality field that revives anyone who gets killed. Jerry calls bad parenting when a couple of kids run around with the brother repeatedly blasting his sister in the head. When the immortality field is destroyed, later on, the boy shoots his sister again and this time kills her for real.
* ImStandingRightHere:
** In "Mortynight Run", Rick suggests to Morty that they kill Fart and go home. Fart is telepathic and says as much, to which Rick retorts that he was being polite.
** This is a RunningGag with Summer and Unity, as the latter always points this out to Summer when she tries to complain about it assimilating the planet into a single HiveMind.
* InexplicableCulturalTies: "Look Who's Purging Now" and "Rick: A Mort Well Lived" confirms that both ''Film/ThePurge'' and ''Film/DieHard'' and all of its sequels are all universal constants that are replicated in nearly every major civilization across the universe. It's unavoidable for them to eventually be concieved.
* InJoke: Rick makes a fake one referring to "Redgren Grumbholdt" at Jerry's expense, and calls Morty and Summer out when they laugh along.
* IndividualismVsCollectivism:
** [[Characters/RickAndMortyRickSanchez Rick Sanchez]] is portrayed as the [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype logical conclusion]] of Individualism at its most egoistic. While [[JerkassHasAPoint the various collectives he antagonizes (The Galactic Federation, The Council of Ricks, etc.) definitely have it coming]], his motives are entirely selfish. While he claims that he acts out of EnlightenedSelfInterest, it is very clear that much of his behavior is just schadenfreude born out of an existential ennui brought on by his [[StrawNihilist nihilistic]]-materalist view of the multiverse and [[CommanderContrarian a knee-jerk opposition to any kind of authorty that isn't him]] (''him'' him, not his infinite alternate universe counterparts). He will routinely convince himself that any sense of morals beyond "ItsAllAboutMe" is a spook and should any of his adventures create too much of a mess (as in ''apocalyptic''), he abandons everyone to their grim fates and hops to a different universe to start over.
** Unity from the episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E3AutoEroticAssimilation Auto Erotic Assimilation]]" deconstructs the authoritarian metaphor inherent in the HiveMind trope. They are a Hive Mind that has assimilated an entire planet and has plans to assimilate the rest of the universe. While Unity robs those it possesses of their individualistic identity and free will, it becomes clear that after some of the people she possessed are freed when they go on a bender, [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill they immediately devolve into a senseless race war over a defining physical trait]] (in their case, their nipple-shape). This is in direct contrast to how they behave when they are under their control, the people they possess living better lives and the planet joining the Federation. When Rick (who is established as the Individualist to their Collectivist) reenters their lives, his short-sighted, hedonist ways prove detrimental to the stable life they built and she dumps him when she realizes this.
* IndyPloy:
** Rick is forced to resort to this occasionally. One particular example is in "The Rickshank Redemption"; his original plan [[spoiler:was to BodySurf his interrogator, get the Level 9 access codes, and bring down the Federation from the inside with that. But then the Citadel of Ricks' SEAL Team Ricks invades the Federation to kill Rick C-137 ("our" Rick) to keep the Federation from finding out what he knows and succeed at killing his original body, forcing him to BodySurf again and improvise from there. It ends with Rick causing severe damage and massive casualties to both the Federation ''and'' the Citadel]].
** "Rest and Ricklaxation" begins with Rick and Morty going on what Rick intends to be a quick, 20-minute adventure. It then turns into a 6-day epic that results in them becoming heroes for an entire civilization. When they ''finally'' leave and get a chance to catch their breath, they freak out from the stress. Rick admits that he had no control over any of it. They were flying by the seat of their pants.
* InformedAttribute: The council of Ricks is ''made'' of this trope. They are theoretically all versions of Rick and all equally intelligent ([[ShowDontTell as they will tell you repeatedly), and yet in their very first appearance we see Rick able to out-think all of them (and being able to predict how they will move based on the fact that they are all Rick, while not a single other Rick is able to predict his moves the same way). It only gets worse from there, with not only their intelligence, but by "The Ricktlantis Mix-Up" the very fact that they are all versions of Rick becomes informed, with them effectively being a series of entirely different people who just happen to share the same name and face.
* InformedFlaw: Morty being an idiot. While he's not on Rick's level, to be sure, Morty seldom does anything that could genuinely be called stupid. In fact, in Season 3 we establish both that he's smart enough NOT to mess around with alien devices when he clearly doesn't know what they do AND has taught himself how to disarm Neutrino bombs that Rick makes while black-out drunk.
* InherentlyFunnyWords: Many alien names and terms used by the show fall under this category, but it reaches critical mass with the entire Plumbus skit in "Interdimensional Cable II" which is made up almost entirely of goofy-sounding nonsense words.
* InkSuitActor: When Tricia Helfer and James Callis show up for the Season 2 finale, they're voicing characters who are dead ringers for [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 their most famous previous roles]]. As a bonus, they turn out to be homicidal cyborgs. Jerry and Beth also strongly resemble their own actors.
* InMediasRes: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in "Look Who's Purging Now". A man wrote a screenplay using HowWeGotHere, a version of this trope, and asks Morty for feedback:
-->'''Morty:''' I feel, you know, we should start our stories where they begin, not start them when they get interesting.
* InsaneProprietor: Ants in My Eyes Johnson. Though, his low prices are not due to insanity, but rather due to blindness caused by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the ants in his eyes]].
* InsaneTrollLogic: InUniverse. Drunk Rick's second puzzle in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" asks the Vindicators to choose a location that they would "never visit"; naturally, they assume he means a place with which they have a dark history. The answer is Israel, and the Vindicators ''would'' indeed never go there...because, since they're not from Earth, they don't know what that is.
-->'''Morty:'''It's just something Rick starts talking about when he's blackout drunk.
* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Many aliens see "[[Main/{{Malaproper}} Ee-arth]]" and its inhabitants as undeveloped, primitive and simple by comparison. Those who've attended Earth parties note that Earth cultures are built around bad sex jokes. The Federation believes they all eat spaghetti and pray to kangaroos. Tourism to Earth wasn't common until its acquisition by the Federation, amidst the search for Rick.
* InSpiteOfANail: Most realities have a Rick, and most Ricks have a Morty. Even some of the really strange realities, like the one where Morty was an anthropomorphic hammer for some reason. Maybe not a perfect example, since there are an infinite number of universes. For the infinite number of universes that have a Rick and a Morty, there are theoretically also an infinite number of identical universes that have no Rick and no Morty, and another set of identical universes with only one or the other. Most of the universes ''we see'' have a Rick and a Morty, because most of the alternate universes we see are because of different versions of Rick are interacting.
* InsufferableGenius: Rick, the smartest man in the universe, is not even remotely modest or shy when it comes to boasting about it. Morty's quote at the top of this page, especially the "all you know is that you know nothing and he knows everything" line, sums it up pretty well.
* InsultToRocks: In the pilot, after Morty breaks both his legs and Rick observes him in a [[LackOfEmpathy matter-of-fact]] fashion as he writhes on the ground, Morty accuses him of being "[[GodwinsLaw like Hitler]], but at least Hitler cared about Germany or something."
* IntercontinuityCrossover: With ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind". After Rick opens multiple portals to distract his pursuers while he and Morty hop between universes, one of the portals [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140511235713/gravityfalls/images/5/59/Rick_and_Morty.jpg spits out a pen, a notebook, and a cup with a question mark]], the same items [[http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141029020656/gravityfalls/images/b/b0/S2e7_rick_and_morty_connect.png sucked into a portal]] during the stinger of an episode of ''Gravity Falls'' [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E7SocietyOfTheBlindEye that aired over half a year after "Close Rick-Counters"]].
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rick treats Morty and, to a lesser degree, Summer, more like friends than grandchildren.
* IPhony: The logo on [[https://i.imgur.com/N7suuzc.png Rick's laptop]].
* {{Irony}}:
** The Council of Ricks wanted to escape the government, so they "became a ''freakin' government''" themselves. "Our" Rick lampshades the hypocrisy.
** Rick favors Morty over Summer despite genuinely caring for both, but it is shown several times that he actually has more in common with his granddaughter than with his grandson.
* IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes: In "Get Schwifty", the U.S. President, when asked if he can fly a Blackhawk, asks in turn if the Pope's member can fit through a donut in place of answering with "I'm not sure".
-->'''Morty''': Uh, I don't know?\\
'''Mr. President''': ''Exactly.''
* ItMakesSenseInContext:
** While flipping through channels in "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", the entire Smith family sans Jerry stumble upon the following scene: Jerry, in an operating room, with his pants down, keeping the doctors hostage with an alien dildo for a weapon, demanding that they remove his penis. Naturally, their immediate reaction is that it must be an alternate reality where this sort of thing is normal.
** Heck, this trope happens ''a lot'', and "alternate reality" or "alternate dimension" explains most of the instances.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Rick tells Morty that they can only do the jump into another reality after irreversibly ruining our own thing three more times, four tops. He knows the viewers wouldn't be impressed if they did it more than that across the series.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: In "Rixty Minutes", Beth and Jerry use one of Rick's devices to learn about alternate versions of themselves, and find out how their lives might have gone differently if Summer had never been born.
* IWorkAlone: Rick claims this as a reason he hasn't joined the Citadel of Ricks.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick calls Morty out for using a love potion to force a girl to fall in love with him, at one point comparing it to roofies. But Morty fires back by noting that [[HypocriticalHumor Rick still made it for him]] (and his only initial objection was that [[PragmaticVillainy it was a waste of his talents]]), while also noting that Rick wound up turning the whole planet into ''Creator/DavidCronenberg''-ian monstrosities through his own carelessness and a ''lot'' of bizarre assumptions in regards to biology.
** Later [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] by Rick and then [[DefiedTrope defied]] by Morty in "Vindicators 3":
--->'''Rick:''' I knew you were sucking the Kool-Aid out of the Vindicators' dick, so the fact that I was right must be pretty hard to admit.\\
'''Morty:''' Yeah, it ''is''. You know why Rick? Because when you're an asshole, it doesn't matter how right you are, nobody wants to give you the satisfaction!
** Vance Maximus Renegade Starsoldier in that same episode is an [[TooDumbToLive idiot]], a [[DirtyCoward coward]], and an intentional ShallowParody of superheroes (specifically Star Lord and Iron Man) that calls Morty the disabled id they drag along for PR. However, Vance is completely right when he points out that Rick needs his claim that good and evil are just social constructs to be true because it how he justifies his actions.
** "Look Who's Purging Now" has a rage crazed Morty saying they should just kill a girl that already double crossed them when she beseeches them for help in ending the annual Purge. He's irrationally angry at the time but he and Rick had been betrayed once already so trusting the girl again would be a bad idea.
** The President in "The Rickchurian Mortydate" is a control freak who tries to assert some authority over Rick and Morty, sending them on relatively unimportant jobs while brushing off Morty's request for an autograph, and later practically declaring war on them after they abandon their task. However, considering that the pair's reckless actions have caused massive, irreversible destruction before, there's a case to be made that some more accountability and oversight is currently amiss. Additionally, given how Rick and Morty use their power for almost entirely selfish purposes, they can hardly argue that their work is more important or valuable. Not to mention that the President was willing to ''let them leave peacefully'' and Rick escalated the situation out of spite.
* JerkJock: Morty runs into one in "Rick Potion #9" when trying to ask out his crush, Jessica, to the Flu Season Dance. He's actually pretty self-aware:
-->'''Brad:''' Dude, stay in your league! Look at how hot she is! You don't see me going to a bigger school in a wealthier district and hitting on ''their'' prettiest girl!\\
'''Jessica:''' [[SarcasmMode Gee, thanks Brad]].\\
'''Brad:''' I throw balls far. You want good words, date a languager.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Decidedly more gravitated toward the "jerk" part of a spectrum, ComedicSociopath Rick is shown on occasion to have a bit of leftover humanity in him, occasionally reaching out to Morty in a more thoughtful, sympathetic manner than usual (usually with traumatizing results). Although Rick acts like he doesn't care about most things, his actions repeatedly imply that this is at least partially an act. We constantly see hints that he's tried to be involved with his family in the past, for example. (Baby pictures of Morty, mostly.)
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Though with the season 3 premiere, it seems as though Rick is veering into this, though it's hard to tell because he's such an UnreliableNarrator. [[spoiler: He manipulates everyone to get what he wants, manipulates Summer and Beth into loving him, manipulates Beth into divorcing Jerry when Jerry crosses Rick, and then in a mirror of the first episode's ending, tells Morty that he is going to help Rick get what he wants and if Morty tries to cross him, he will turn Summer and Beth against him as well.]] Throughout Season 3, he seems to vacillate between "Heart of Gold" and "Heart of Jerk".
* JustAFleshWound: Rick gets shot in the liver with his laser pistol and yet seems pretty good to go (even though it's "the hardest working liver in the galaxy"). A few scenes later he puts some science gunk on the wound, which apparently heals it.
* JustOneSecondOutOfSync:
** In the second season opener, "A Rickle in Time", the time-screw from the end of the first season causes deviant timelines that involve thecharacters acting in character, but slightly out of sync; sometimes in times, sometimes in space, sometimes both.
** In "Mortynight Run", Rick and Morty go to a "cross-temporal asteroid" which seems to exist in all timelines at once, yet isn't perceptible unless you know where to look. One version of Rick set up a Jerry daycare there in case other Ricks needed somewhere to dump their Jerrys for a while.
* KarmicNod: Mr. Goldenfold's reaction in "Something Ricked This Way Comes" upon learning that the "gift" the Devil gave him that made him irresistible to women also made him impotent. Though it's less of a nod and more of an all-out [[ChewingTheScenery Scenery Chewing]].
* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: PlayedForLaughs at the end of "Rickmancing The Stone". Summer develops a relationship with the leader of a band of [[Film/MadMax Mad Max-ian]] post-apocalyptic humans but eventually creates a new civilization when Rick reveals that the MacGuffin that was causing the episode's conflict could be used to power everyone. Summer's relationship with the leader falls out, and she leaves him heartbroken. Before Rick jumps through the portal, he steals the MacGuffin and robs them of electricity just because he can.
* KissingWarmUp: When Morty falls asleep at the breakfast table after one of Rick's escapades, his mother asks him if he's feeling well, and then asks if he's been kissing the pillow that the dog sleeps on.
* KleptomaniacHero:
** ''The Adventures of Stealy'' follows a strange creature who steals from everyone and chloroforms people who get in his way.
** Rick has also been known to steal randomly, as seen in "Total Rickall" and The Simpsons crossover.
* KnightOfCerebus:
** Mr. Jellybean, who completely unironically attempts to rape Morty in "Meeseeks and Destroy".
** Evil Morty. In his debut episode, "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", it's built up that Evil Rick is the main threat and he's just a lackey. Then, in the end, it turns out that Evil Morty was the mastermind all along. Throughout the episode, he shows little signs of emotion, and only gets two lines, both of which are completely devoid of humor. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZtfRHkjoYU This]] clip really sets it in though just how serious the character is compared to the rest of the show, and appears to be hinting at the [[BigBad bigger picture]]. [[spoiler:This is reinforced by his next appearance two seasons later in "The Ricklantis Mix-up", in which he manipulates the members of the Citadel of Ricks into electing him as their new president, with his first act as the new leader being to have almost the entire [[ManBehindTheMan Shadow Council]] murdered, and the bodies of numerous dead Ricks and Mortys (and one Morty who was still alive but [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew too much]]) ThrownOutTheAirlock]].
* LackOfEmpathy: One of [[TheSociopath Rick's]] primary character traits; he ''rarely'' ever gives a shit about anybody other than himself, to the point where "Just don't think about it" is practically one of his catchphrases. CharacterDevelopment, however, has shown that not only is this attitude only a little more than [[HiddenHeartOfGold skin-deep]], but also it didn't [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror occur]] [[SafetyInIndifference without]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow provocation]]. By the end of Season 1, he's officially in JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
* TheLancer: Morty is decidedly a foil for Rick, described by the latter as "as dumb as [Rick is] smart." This is actually one of his key motivations for bringing Morty along on adventures.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: "Morty's Mind Blowers" flashes back to memories of experiences that Rick erased from Morty's mind. Most of them were too horrific for Morty to live with, but Rick also wasn't above abusing the technology when he made a fool of himself and didn't want Morty to remember.
* LaserGuidedKarma:
** "Meeseeks and Destroy": King Jellybean attempts to rape Morty and Morty beats the crap out of him, and later Rick kills him.
** "Something Ricked This Way Comes": Mr. Needful/Lucifer scams Summer, then Rick and Summer beat the shit out of him.
** "Ricksy Business": Lucy almost rapes Jerry at gunpoint and Beth beats the crap out of her, and later she gets run over by a car.
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers:
** Lampshaded and averted in "Anatomy Park".
--->'''Morty:''' Spleen Mountain? Bladder Falls? Pirates of the Pancreas?\\
'''Rick:''' You got a problem with that last one, Morty?\\
'''Morty:''' No, I'm just saying them in the order that I see them.
** In "Rixty Minutes", an alternate reality ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' has a bizarre lineup of a piece of toast, two guys with handlebar mustaches, a guy painted silver who makes robot noises, [[InsectoidAliens Garmanarnar]], three creatures even the narrator is stumped by, a peephole, and Bobby Moynihan.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo:
** In the pilot, during the first establishing shot of Interdimensional Customs, [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot (without legs) and Gypsy]] can be seen as silhouettes in the crowd of aliens. In a later scene, the silhouettes of [[Music/{{GWAR}} Oderus Urungus and Beefcake the Mighty]] can be seen as Rick and Morty escape from the customs agents.
** In the episode "Rixty Minutes," the characters in ''Hamsters in Buttland'' resemble the ''30 Second Movies'' bunnies.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
** In "Rick Potion #9," Rick states that they can't replace themselves in another dimension "every week" and should only do it "three or four times, tops." This is an insinuated promise by the writers to not hit the ResetButton too often.
** In "Mortynight Run", when Jerry gets frustrated playing poker with other Jerry's at Jerryboree, he says "I can't believe Rick did this. This is the eighth to the last straw!" The episode was the eighth to the last one of the season.
** At the beginning of "Interdimensional Cable Part 2," the SequelEpisode to "Rixty Minutes," someone asks Rick what he's doing, and Rick responds, "A sequel." He then mutters about how he doesn't know whether it's really warranted because he "kind of nailed it the first time." The original episode was one of the most popular episodes of the first season.
** At the end of "Look Who's Purging Now," Rick mentions the candy bars "that we got in the first act."
** The {{Stinger}} of "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" is a string of messages on Jerry's answering machine, the last of which is a message from an antique phone rental place, saying that they intend to let Jerry off the hook for the $70 late fee and allow him to keep the answering machine because 'nobody really uses those anymore except to provide exposition on TV shows anyways'.
* LegoGenetics:
** PlayedForLaughs in "Rick Potion #9". First Rick tries to use praying mantis DNA to counter-act vole DNA (with the theory that mating once and then killing your mate is the opposite of living only to mate), then he admits genetics is more complicated than that, and so develops another cure:
--->'''Rick''': It's koala, mixed with rattlesnake, chimpanzee, cactus, shark, golden retriever, and just a smidge of dinosaur. Should add up to normal humanity.\\
'''Morty''': I don't-- that doesn't make any sense, Rick!
** Rick also tries it in "Ricksy Business" with Abradolf Lincler: a genetic combination of Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler who was intended to be a morally neutral super-leader. Turns out he's just a jerk who can't deal with his conflicting emotions.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Morty and Jerry -- both are insecure, neurotic, emotional, and [[ButtMonkey tend to put up with a lot]].
-->'''Scroopy Noopers''': Is everyone in your family an idiot?\\
'''Morty''': For sure, me and my dad are.
* ListingTheFormsOfDegenerates: Why Pancho released tuberculosis in "Anatomy Park"
--> "That's right, baby. A lot of people would pay top dollar to decimate the population. I'll take the highest bidder. Al Qaeda, UsefulNotes/NorthKorea, [[TakeThat Republicans]], Shriners, balding men that work out, [[{{Otaku}} people on the Internet that are only turned on by cartoons of Japanese teenagers]] -- anything is better than working for you, you pompous, negligent, iTunes-gift-card-as-a-holiday-bonus-giving..."
* LiteralMetaphor: In "Pilot", the "two plus two" part of Rick's rant about school sounds like it's just a metaphor but then it turns out that Morty's math test really consists of simple calculations like that.
* LogicBomb:
** Three regarding golf in "Meeseeks and Destroy". Square your shoulders ''and'' keep your head down. Choke up ''and'' follow through. Try to relax.
** Rick makes the first level of the simulation shut down in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" by talking to a crowd of people and making them do increasingly more complex things.
* LotusEaterMachine:
** The parasites in "Total Rickall" can implant happy fake memories in their targets, then assume the identity of the focus of those memories. The parasite can then in turn inspire more memories, allowing its offspring to assume the forms within. The targets never question this because, to them, the parasites are trustworthy friends who have never done them wrong. Morty manages to snap everyone out of it by realizing the flaw in their deception: the parasites are incapable of fabricating negative memories. Because their family has [[DysfunctionJunction no shortage of personal issues between them]], it doesn't take long for them to weed out the parasites. Except for Mr. Poopybutthole; he was, in fact, just that nice of a guy.
** Poor Simple Rick is kept in one of these in "The Ricklantis Mixup". He's stuck in a loop of experiencing the same happy memory over and over, and the positive endorphins his brain secretes because of it are used '''''as flavor for a wafer'''''. [[spoiler:When Factory Worker Rick frees and accidentally kills Simple Rick, the former is given a massive HopeSpot before being shot unconscious and made into the new Simple Rick instead, using said HopeSpot to provide the happy memory.]]
* LouisCypher: In "Something Ricked This Way Comes" the proprietor of the cursed items shop, who is actually the devil, goes by the name "Lucius" Needful.
* LovePotion: In "Rick Potion #9" Morty has Rick make one so Jessica will like him. Unfortunately, due to it being flu season the potion is transmitted through air, quickly causing the school (and eventually the entire world) to be in love with Morty. Rick later points out how Morty essentially asked him to make roofies. Morty answers back by noting that Rick still agreed to make said potion for him regardless, and that the only objection he offered at time was that doing so was a waste of his time and talents, rather than any moral scruples.
* LovecraftLite: It's only "Lite" for lack of a better word, but mostly the show's science-fiction is highly Lovecraft-inspired. Humanity is a speck in an infinite cosmos and beings which appear godlike are entirely different to our civilization and alien in intelligence, and to the extent they comprehend us, or we comprehend them, it's as a joke (the Cromulons who see Earth as merely a reality-show contestant).
* LowerDeckEpisode: "The Ricklantis Mixup" begins with Rick and Morty going off to visit the lost city of Atlantis, but the entire episode focues on the various lives of the thousands of Ricks and Morties that live at the newly reconstructed Citadel of Ricks.

[[folder:M-P]]
* {{Macguffin}}: Rick's Portal Gun is one of his most important and famous inventions in ([[IconicItem and outside of]]) the series. Many of his enemies, including the Galactic Federation, are those who scheme to steal the gun or the formula to the fluid that powers it from him. It is crucial for Rick's multidimensional adventuring and his creation of it is what made him go from ambitious scientist to one of the smartest men in the universe(s).
* MagicFeather: A variant occurs in "Look Who's Purging Now" when the normally meek Morty goes on a bloodthirsty warpath during the Purge. At the end of the episode, Morty is worried that he has several demons to work out within himself, only to be told by Rick that a candy bar he had eaten earlier contained Purgenol, which increases aggression. Cue the shot showing that the candy bar is "Now Purgenol-Free".
* MagicTool: The season 2 DVD set actually reveals (what are implied to be just a ''few'') uses of the plumbus [[NoodleImplements tool]] that seems to be used in nearly every other dimension except for a few Earths in the central finite curve. Just a few of the device's uses include toilet-cleaner, portable stove, food utensil, sex toy, religious icon, babysitter, and vacuum cleaner. Of course, you no doubt knew all this as [[RunningGag everybody has one.]]
* MaintainTheLie:
** In "Meeseeks and Destroy", TheStinger has a servant finding disturbing pictures (most likely of exploited children) in King Jellybean's closet and being ordered to destroy them so the people will remember him for what he represented, not what he was.
** Zeep at the end of "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" is forced to do this, rather than reveal to his people that Rick is using their ''entire universe'' to power his car battery, or else Rick would destroy the "broken" battery along with the multiverse inside it.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Or rather, [[InvertedTrope In Front Of The Man]]. In "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind," Evil Morty is this to Evil Rick, who was only his [[RoboticReveal cyborg puppet]].
* ManChild: Rick is about 60 but has the maturity of a teenager, swearing, making dirty jokes, and being involved in rather reckless antics. One example is him finding it hilarious telling an alien race that flipping the bird meant "Peace among worlds". Morty's expression says it all.
* ManHug: Jerry and Doofus Rick part ways with one. Also Rick and Morty at the end of "Get Schwifity".
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: [[LouisCypher Mr. Needful]] before he upgrades to his simpler Creator/SteveJobs turtleneck.
* MarilynManeuver: Jessica in "Rest and Ricklaxation", when she drops from a portal with Rick.
* MarriedTooYoung: Since Jerry impregnated Beth when they were 17, he decided to stay with and marry her. Unfortunately neither were emotionally mature enough to be married, never mind parent a child. This is just one reason why their marriage is so strained.
* MarshmallowHell: In "Lawnmower Dog", after Rick and Morty free the rest of the family, Summer pulls Morty face-first into her chest when hugging him. Thanks to recently having had a very awkward encounter with a dream version of her (see BrainBleach above), Morty is quite uncomfortable by this.
* TheMasquerade: Utterly averted. Everybody seems to be aware that Rick's a super scientist, but outside of the family, nobody seems too concerned. The town and school are aware but react with indifference. Rick's unknown outside of town before "Get Schwifty." Considering Rick's on the run from TheEmpire, he takes no special precautions to hide his presence.
* MeaningfulName: Beta 7 acts like a DoggedNiceGuy to Unity. A common slang term for men who act like that towards women is "beta male," as opposed to Rick's "alpha male" personality.
* MeaningfulRename: A minor character has one in the episode "The Old Man and the Seat". Delivery Drone, originally a robot delivery boy who ran away to join a RobotWar in another star system, wrote over the label on his chest so that it instead said ''Deliverance''.
* MediumAwareness: All over the place:
** Rick says a universe run by intelligent dogs would be interesting to watch "at 11 minutes a pop".
** In "Rixty Minutes", Rick and Morty comment that TV from other dimensions has a "looser feel" and an "improvisational tone." As they say this, the camera is positioned in such a way that although they're looking at the TV, it seems like they're looking at the audience.
** The same episode runs the concept of alternate universes in two different directions, and one turns out to be significantly funnier than the other. Rick says to the characters stuck in the B-plot "you guys clearly backed the wrong conceptual horse."
** When Morty and Summer express concerns about their parents in "A Rickle in Time", Rick says that "They're probably living it up in some pointless grounded story about their shitty marriage." The B-plot does indeed involve Beth and Jerry in a grounded story about their marriage.
** Throughout the series, Rick (and sometimes other characters) will make references to seasons or episodes of the show. For some examples of each:
*** Rick celebrates the "end of Season 1", states that he'll accomplish a certain character arc even it if takes him "nine seasons", and notes that he destroyed a certain technology "a few seasons back". Beth also notes in the Season 3 finale that from now on, the show will be "like Season 1, but more streamlined".
*** All three of the anthology episodes (the 8th episode of each season) has Rick directly mention a previous episode, sometimes by name. And in TheTeaser of "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", he calls it a "Rick and Jerry episode".
* MetaFiction: "Never Ricking Morty" finds Rick and Morty on a very literal Story Train that represents the story-telling process. The whole episode waxes the creative story process and is aware of itself and the meta concepts. The two eventually find themselves in conflict with the Story Lord, who attempts to break the ''fifth'' wall by tapping into possible storylines that haven't happened. Morty questions if anything they're experiencing is canon, to which Rick states that it ''could'' have been. The train's story literally derails itself when it's revealed to be a toy that Morty bought from the Citadel of Rick's gift shop, which Rick is very proud to see Morty's participation in consumerism.
* MindRape: Being a gaseous creature, this seems to be Fart's only method of attack. Of course, since it can turn a perfectly adjusted person [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]] in less than a second, it's hardly anything to sneeze at.
* MissingMom: Not much is known about Rick's ex-wife, Beth's mom. Not even her name, which may or may not be Diane. There have been some hints that she's dead in the present day, but it's not confirmed. Rick states that his marriage to her failed, but there are also indications that he still has feelings for her on some level.
* AMistakeIsBorn: Jerry and Beth only got married because they accidentally conceived Summer when they were teenagers.
* MisterSeahorse:
** The Season 1 opening title sequence shows a scene where Jerry is getting ready to give birth.
** "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat" features a caterpillar version of Mr. Goldenfold, who births a few caterpillar larvae.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Rick & Morty would deal with a one-shot villain or rogue alien species in each episode.
* MonstrousGerms: In "Anatomy Park", the various diseases are portrayed as hideous monsters who chase the protagonists around in an {{homage}} to ''Film/JurassicPark''.
* MoodWhiplash:
** Twice in "Meeseeks and Destroy". First, a Giant accidentally smashes his head and dies from the trauma, almost leading to Rick and Morty being convicted as murderers; and secondly, when Morty is almost raped in a restroom. It even cuts to Rick singing karaoke and the ridiculous Mr. Meeseeks brawl in the middle of the latter.
** TheStinger for "M. Night Shaym-Aliens" has Rick drunkenly enter Morty's room, telling him he's a good kid and a trooper for putting up with all the crap he's been through. A sweet, if slightly disturbing, gesture. He then pulls a knife and holds it to Morty's neck, screaming at him to tell him if he's a simulation or he'll cut his throat. After a minute of this, Rick passes out on the floor, leaving Morty confused and terrified.
** The A plot of "Rixty Minutes" is a series of absurd sketches improvised by the voice actors, with the framing device being that Rick has upgraded the family's cable to pick up channels from other dimensions. The B plot is the family having an existential crisis after learning of a dimension where Beth aborted the unplanned pregnancy that would have been Summer, and as a result, Beth and Jerry didn't get married and ended up with their dream jobs instead. The mood switches again when the Beth and Jerry from the alternate dimension are revealed to be unhappy in their dream jobs and still in love with each other.
** "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat" has this in the scene where Rick C-137 [[spoiler:in a clone body of Wasp Rick]] is having dinner with the Wasp version of the Smith family. The genuinely heartwarming interactions between the family is juxtaposed with the heavy BlackComedy of them eating Caterpillar Mr. Goldenfold and his babies alive.
* MoonLandingHoax:
** Suggested in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens" that the aliens faked the Earth-Moon Landing when Rick, Morty, and Jerry run past a simulation of it.
** During their fight scene in "The Rickchurian Mortydate", Rick and Mr. President run past numerous sound stages of faked historical events, including a lunar lander and the planting of the flag on the moon. The government also apparently actually carried out the murder of Music/TupacShakur and staged [[WhoShotJFK the JFK assassination]], the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext George Washington crossing the Delaware.]]
* MoralMyopia: Beth spent years putting Jerry down because she thought she was better than him, but was very offended when she found out she was holding him back as well.
** The entire family is this to Jerry to the point where they come across as HolierThanThou, since they repeatedly call him out for his mistakes despite making those same mistakes themselves.
*** Season 4 has an example of Morty CallingTheOldManOut in The "Old Man And The Seat" for creating a phone app with Rick's temp even though he was warned not to. Yet Morty could have avoided the conflict of "Rattlestar Ricklactica" if he had both stayed in the car like he was told, and ignored the dead snake astronaut.
* MotivationalLie: In "Get Schwifty", Rick tells Morty that his portal gun only has enough charge for two trips: one to grab their family and one to get off-planet. This is to get Morty to focus on placating the Cromulons rather than worrying about his family. Rick blows his own ruse when he casually portals out to pick up some snacks for Ice-T.
* MST3KMantra: InUniverse example. For every disturbing thing Morty sees or experiences, Rick's advice is "Don't think about it!"
* {{Multiboobage}}: In "The [=ABCs=] of Beth", Jerry starts dating a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe named Kiara, who has three breasts.
* TheMultiverse:
** Rick {{exploited|Trope}} this in "Rick Potion No. 9" by simply slipping into one universe where he and Morty suddenly died after curing the Cronenbergs. Apparently, he hasn't managed to find very many universes where they both died in such a way that everything's okay afterward.
** There's an entire group of alternate Ricks who have banded together to form a society known as the Council of Ricks. However, the Rick we know refuses to be affiliated with them. This refusal to join the Council makes "our" Rick the "Rickiest Rick there is." By default, that makes Morty the "Mortiest Morty."
* MundaneUtility:
** Rick builds a self-aware, sentient robot to pass the butter, which is about an inch out of his reach and which he could have easily just leaned forward and grabbed in a fraction of the time it took to build the robot. When the robot finds this out, he's devastated.
** Rick created a PocketDimension, manipulated the intelligent life within into generating massive amounts of power, and then channelled that power into... his car battery.
* MundaneSolution: When Rick is about to destroy the Galactic Federation, his grandchildren suggest two options: Summer suggests that he'll set all their nukes to target each other. Morty suggests reprogramming all their military portals to disintegrate their entire space fleet. While Rick appreciates the HoistByHisOwnPetard nature of these plans and claims that he's "[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold almost proud]]," he ultimately decides on this and [[spoiler: reduces the value of their credit-based economy to zero.]]
* MusicalSpoiler: At the end of "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", TheReveal that Evil Morty was actually behind the events of the episode is punctuated by Blonde Redhead's "For the Damaged Coda" playing in the background. In "The Ricklantis Mixup", [[spoiler:this same song starts playing again moments before it's officially revealed that Evil Morty is the true identity of the newly-elected President Morty]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** This hits Rick at the end of "Auto Erotic Assimilation," when Unity's note to him makes it clear that his manipulative personality ends up bringing down all of his loved ones. It's enough to make him [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide]].
** One of Morty's removed memories in "Morty's Mind Blowers" reveals that his mistaken belief that the new school guidance counsellor was up to no good and resultant actions against him led the man to commit suicide, causing Morty to react like this.
* MythologyGag:
** The o3o expression the characters use is one of the few things from ''Doc and Mharti'' that hasn't been changed.
** At one point, Rick says that a whole world populated by dogs would make an interesting TV show. This is a reference to an actual [[http://vimeo.com/48994457 pilot]] Justin Roiland made in the past.
** Certain parts of Cronenberg-Rick might bring back some...[[BrainBleach memories]].
** The CloningBlues invoked with the gradual mental degeneration of the Meeseeks brings to mind the defective Cosby clones from Roiland's earlier Web series ''WebSeries/HouseOfCosbys''. The alternate-dimension TV channels are also a similar concept to the series' nonsensical final episode involving alien satellite transmissions.
** There are a few instances where Rick tells someone to "lick [his] balls." It's one of his catchphrases in "Total Rickall", where he follows it up with claiming that he "says it all the time", and he plays samples of himself saying "balls" to annoy Morty in "Get Schwifty." In the original "Doc and Mharti" short, Doc repeatedly asks Mharti to lick his balls as part of his science experiments.
** In "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez", Tiny Rick makes a drawing of Doc.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: In "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", Rick figures out that he and Morty are being monitored by a race of aliens. The aliens also happen to be really uncomfortable with nudity, so Rick and Morty strip to have some privacy.
* NameAndName: Rick and Morty.
* NeverMyFault:
** Beth blames all of her failures on Jerry. After their separation in Season 3, she starts blaming it on her kids, and later, her dad.
** Rick repeatedly uses his intelligence and/or alcoholism to absolve himself of responsibility for his actions. A particular example of the latter happens in "Vindicators 3: The Return of World Ender", where he refers to Drunk Rick (himself on a blackout-drunk bender) with third-person pronouns and acts like he's someone else completely.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Rick constantly encouraging Morty to "purge" in "Look Who's Purging Now?" causes Morty to go psycho and almost kill Rick.
** Rick's overthrow of both the Council of Ricks and the Galactic Federation from "The Rickshank Redemption" gives [[spoiler:Evil Morty and Tammy, respectively,]] the opportunity to take over what's left of each.
** Several episodes showcase how Morty's misguided attempts to do good end up backfiring horribly. The massive death and destruction Fart causes after Morty frees him in "Mortynight Run" and the hostile snake civilization Morty accidentally uplifts in "Rattlestar Ricklactica" are particular examples.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: One of Rick's biggest {{Jerkass}} moves in season three was [[spoiler:manipulating Beth and Jerry into getting a divorce. Even if he's right that they're bad for each other, he makes it clear the only reason he did it was to spite Jerry for wanting to turn him into the Federation. He and Beth have a heart-to-heart later on where he offers to clone her so the original can be free to explore the universe and her dreams. Come the Season Finale, he offhandedly says that if she were a clone he'd kill her for becoming self-aware, causing her to freak out and run to Jerry, disavowing Rick once and for all. Rick brings a shotgun to kill Jerry but admits he can't do it after seeing how he messed up]].
* NippleAndDimed: Lampshaded by Summer when a PowderKegCrowd who [[ItMakesSenseInContext are divided by their nipples]] ask Morty and Summer to show them theirs:
-->'''Morty:''' [pulling up his shirt to show his nipples] We're neither. S-see?\\
'''Summer:''' [Not pulling up her shirt] Yeah, take my word for it.
* NoAccountingForTaste: Beth and Jerry. If they're the focus of an episode's plotline, it's probably about their struggling marriage. Deep down, they still care about each other, but there's so much resentment between them that the only reason they're still together at this point is for the sake of the kids. Well, that and StatusQuoIsGod. This finally becomes averted in Season 3: the two decide to separate and divorce at the beginning of the season, and while they do get back together by the end, they've both had significant CharacterDevelopment in the meantime and give the impression that they won't be as miserable together anymore.
* NoDeadBodyPoops: Ruben's death causes such a buildup of fecal matter in his sphincter that it overloads the artificial barrier Rick built there, destroying the enlargement ray at the base of his colon.
* NoIndoorVoice:
** Mr. Meeseeks! [[VerbalTic (Look at him!)]]
** The Cromulons, though it'd be a difficult task for a moon-sized talking head to take it down a notch.
* NoMoreForMe:
** Beth attempts to kiss Mr. Meeseeks just as he disappears. A waiter asks if she wants more wine, and she decides she's done.
** In an alternate universe where chairs and people are reversed, a chair discards the rest of his booze after seeing Rick and Morty walking around.
* NominalHero: Rick is just barely a hero by him caring about his family, and there being even worse people.
* NonIndicativeTitle: The family likes a show from an alternate reality called ''Ball Fondlers''. It's basically just ''Series/TheATeam'', a peppy action show with no fondling of balls or even any innuendo. Rick does do a fondling motion with his hand when suggesting it to Morty and Summer, but that's it.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: The characters in the "Strawberry Smiggles" commercial have regular-looking cartoon pupils instead of the weird squiggly things all the other characters have.
* NoodleImplements:
** In "Auto-Erotic Assimilation", Rick tells Unity that he wants to perform a sex act involving a hang-glider, a crotchless Uncle Sam costume, and a football stadium full of redheads and men who look like his father. Becomes subverted when we get to see what these are used for shortly afterwards.
** The plumbus is one of these, a result of the writers improvising an entire documentary of how it's made (involving other noodle implements as well like Schleem and a Grumbo).
* NoodleIncident:
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick has to figure out how to deal with a virus that turned the entire human race minus his family into nightmarish mutants. After a commercial break we see Rick and Morty returning to a perfectly restored neighborhood and Morty congratulates Rick for "finding the crazy solution like you always do." [[spoiler:Then the two are killed by a bomb, and the real Rick and Morty arrive via a portal and take their place.]]
** In "Wedding Squanchers", Birdperson tells Beth that he and Rick once fought in a vicious war, and are now considered terrorists by the Galactic Federation. However, he never says exactly what he and Rick did during that period.
** Half of the clips in the opening sequence are these. Says Roiland at a [=ComicCon=]...
-->"The idea with the opening credits is like there's three real episode clips, and then there's three completely fake made-up things every season, and we just love that you don't know what is what until the last episode, y'know?"
** C-137 Rick's and Morty's adventure in "The Ricklantis Mixup." All we know is that Morty hooked up and likely had sex with a mermaid and wants to go back.
* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: Averted. We get to see pop culture from other planets, other dimensions, you name it.
* NoteToSelf: In "Total Rickall", when Rick first discovers the mind-altering parasites trying to infiltrate the family, he writes the current number of family members on a piece of paper and tapes it to the wall. Whenever the parasites multiply and try to disguise themselves as new family members, Rick kills the likely suspect. The parasites beat this by implanting a new memory in which Rick wrote the number for a nonsensical reason rather than for a logical purpose, foiling that plan.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The ending of season 5 changes the possibilities that the series can move forward with, which is saying something considering that there's a very loose definition of what types of adventures and storylines that are prevented from happening in the first place. [[spoiler: Evil Morty destroyed the Central Finite Curve that sealed off all the infinite universes where Rick is the smartest man in the universe from the rest of the multiverse and now opens up the possibilities for new villains and characters who can challenge Rick. The Citadel of Ricks has been destroyed, with an untold number of Ricks and Morties killed in the process. There's a subtle implication that portal technology may not be as reliable to use anymore and dimension hopping may not be possible. Finally, with Morty now fully aware of Rick's background, and the relationship the two have with each other won't be the same]].
* NotHelpingYourCase: In "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", when Rick is suspected of having killed several Ricks from other dimensions, he decides to act rude and unhelpful to the Council, then [[WhatMeasureIsAMook kills several Security Ricks]] in his escape.
* NotSoDifferentRemark:
** Stated word-for-word and lampshaded:
--->'''Evil Rick''': We're not so different, you and I.\\
'''Rick C-137''': Uh yeah, ''duh''!
** Played straight and {{subverted|Trope}} with the Council of Ricks. Rick calls them all a bunch of sellouts but admits that, like him, they all can't resist tormenting Jerry. Similarly, Rick picks on Doofus Rick just as much as the Council Ricks do. The similarities end when the Council of Ricks marks off Mortys as their main resource and not as their respective grandsons, the moment evil Rick/Morty baffled that C-137 Rick!Prime actually loves his grandson cements this.
* NoYou: When Jerry and Beth are packing away Rick's stuff, he tells them that they shouldn't be messing with it because it's beyond their reasoning. Jerry retorts "YOU'RE beyond our reasoning!", and Rick counters with "Takes one to know one!"
* NukeEm: In "Get Schwifty", the general constantly advocates nuking the Cromulons. When he finally manages it, it's about as effective as flicking embers into someone's beard.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: A strange example: Morty's irregular brainwaves literally obscure the normally distinctive brain emissions that would otherwise allow the numerous multiversal governing bodies to track the various alternate selves of the mad scientist. This is at least part of the reason that every Rick hangs out with a Morty if possible, essentially hiding someone else's intelligence by the former's stupidity.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Rick and Jerry very much act this way with each other, though to be fair, they probably wouldn't like each other anyway. The creators say that Rick hates Jerry due to circumstance as he blames Jerry for ruining Beth's life by impregnating her when she was only 17.
* ObviousBeta: The simulated world in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens" has quite the number of bugs in it, to say the least.
* OddCouple: Rick and Morty themselves.
* OfCorpseHesAlive: The episode "Rixty Minutes" has a fake trailer of a movie where a bunch of cats manipulate the corpse of their owner to convince people she's alive. She's still very obviously dead; with green soft tissues and a maggot infestation. Strangely enough, this is a sequel.
* OhCrap:
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick gets this when he hears it's flu season (since the potion he gave Morty will spread like wildfire if combined with the flu virus), and Morty says this word-for-word twice.
** "A Rickle in Time" had this, when 32 Ricks were attempting to fix 32 broken collars:
--->'''16 Ricks:''' Now hand me that flat-head screwdriver.\\
'''Other 16 Ricks:''' ''(in unison with above line)'' Now hand me that Phillips screwdriver.\\
'''16 Ricks:''' Actually, make it a Phillips.\\
'''Other 16 Ricks:''' ''(in unison with above line)'' Actually, make it a flat-head.\\
''(Time splits in half again, creating 32 new variants)''\\
'''All 64 Ricks:''' Ohhhhhh, shit.
** Rick and everyone at the wedding reception in "The Wedding Squanchers" when Tammy reveals herself as a deep-cover agent for the Galactic Federation and has the building surrounded.
** Morty has one of these in '"The Rickshank Redemption" When Rick is ranting about [[spoiler: how he got rid of Jerry ''and'' the government because Jerry threatened to turn Rick in.]]
--->'''Rick:''' Ohhh, it gets ''darker'', Morty! [[LampshadeHanging Welcome to the darkest year of our adventures!]] First thing that's different? [[spoiler: No more dad, Morty! He threatened to turn me into the government so I made him and the government ''go away!'']]\\
'''Morty:''' Ohhhh ''fuck''...!
* OnceASeason:
** In-universe, in Planet Music, there's always one planet per season that protests the show and gets disqualified.
** For the series as a whole it appears a movie-based episode. Inception for Season 1, The Purge for Season 2, and EnsembleCast superhero movies such as [[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]] for Season 3.
** Allusions to Interdimensional Cable, if not whole episodes devoted to it.
** Fan favorite characters like Gearhead, Birdperson, Tammy and Mr. Poopybutthole have appeared at least once per season as well.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: In the episode "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Jerry mentions in passing that he has wondered about having a vagina. Afterwards, Groupon reminds him on every occasion about his vagina fantasies, leading to Jerry proclaiming "I don't want to be known as the vagina guy."
* OnlyAFleshWound: Rick tries to invoke this in "Total Rickall" when he gets tired of playing SpotTheImposter, instead intending to shoot everyone in the shoulder so only the weaker parasites will die from their wounds. It doesn't pan out because, understandably, no one likes getting shot and the parasites manage to take his gun.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: You wouldn't expect this show to get so serious at times.
** In "Auto Erotic Assimilation", Rick tries to [[NotSoStoic kill himself]] after Unity tells him that his reckless and self-destructive nature only ends up causing the people around him to suffer. The DVD commentary to the episode reveals that the chemical he drank before doing it was meant to synchronize all his parallel selves - He wasn't only trying to kill himself, but also ''all other versions of himself in other dimensions.''
** When Morty almost gets raped by King Jellybean in "Meeseeks and Destroy", Rick figures out what happened, and proceeds to murder the king with a single gunshot.
** Beth and Jerry found out about their miserable lives without each other in "Rixty Minutes", and realizing how good they have it together after all.
** Rick turning himself in "The Wedding Squanchers" after overhearing the others talking about him and realizing how much of a burden he is to them. When calling the Galactic Federation to share his location, he asks for [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes his family to be able to have a safe life]] on Earth.
* OpenMindedParent:
** Tammy's parents are incredibly accepting of the fact that their high school daughter is marrying a middle-aged alien. It helps that they're actually robots to help her cover identity.
** Beth is usually pretty okay with Morty and Summer getting involved with Rick's antics. She also defends Morty's use of a sex robot when Jerry wants to intervene, saying that would mess up his development.
* OverTheTopRollerCoaster: The episode "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" centers on a roller coaster that exists in a theme park protected by an immortality field, meaning no one in the park can die as long as the field is operational. Aside from the fact this means the coaster can be incredibly outlandishly dangerous, it has an added threat: the apex of the highest peak actually barely extends past the immortality field, a fact utilized for an assassination attempt.
* OvernightAgeUp: Male Gazorpians reach adulthood in one day. Being half-human, Morty Jr. goes through typical human stages of growing up, including teen rebellion, in that time span. By TheStinger of the same episode, Morty Jr. has grey hair and has written a bestselling novel, whereas none of the other characters have aged nearly so far.
* OverlyLongGag:
** The "Rick and Morty forever and forever, a hundred years" moment at the end of the pilot goes on for over a minute.
** "WHY DID YOU EVEN ROPE ME INTO THIS??" "CUZ HE ROPED ''ME'' INTO THIS!!" "WELL, HIM OVER THERE, HE ROPED ''ME'' INTO THIS!!" "WELL ''HE'' ROPED ''ME'' INTO THIS!!"
** The cereal commercial in "Rixty Minutes".
** The fake door commercial, enough that Morty has to ask Rick to not change the channel, and then gives up on it himself.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DfmDuOxcN8&t=0m17s Personal space!]]
** In the first episode of season 1, Rick goes on a rant saying ''Rick and Morty'' will go on for "a hundred years". 3 years and 120 days later, when the first episode of season 3 premiered, Rick goes on another rant and mentions they've got "97 years" left to go.
* PapaWolf: Rick may be an incredibly flawed individual with practically no regard for the lives or well-being of others, but there's one moral misstep he will not forgive you for: messing with his grandkids.
** Also, when Beth and Jerry disagree or fight in front of Rick, he echoes this trope by typically taking his daughter's side, belittling Jerry in the process.
** Jerry is a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass with extra Moron and a side of ButtMonkey who will field any IdiotBall that is hit anywhere near him, but when his family is threatened, he can step up to the plate to keep them safe.
* ParanoiaFuel: InUniverse for Rick in TheStinger of "M. Night Shaym-Aliens" when he bursts into Morty's room drunk and, after an [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold out of character moment of praise]], pulls a knife on him and demands to know if he's still inside a simulation.
* ParentsAsPeople: Both Jerry and Beth often show concern for their kids and the effect Rick's antics can have on them, however, they are continuously hindered by their own psychological problems and their failing marriage.
* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The Galactic Federation is an intergalactic [[TheEmpire Empire]] [[MasterRace controlled by one alien species]] that turns the worlds it conquers into [[PoliceState Police States]].
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Morty protests that "schwifty" isn't an actual word.
* PersonAsVerb:
** After inflicting BodyHorror on the whole world, Rick says that he "[[Creator/DavidCronenberg Cronenberged]]" the place.
** When Summer is screwed out the business by her [[LouisCypher boss]], she states that she's been [[Website/{{Facebook}} Zuckerberged]].
* PetTheDog: Rick is a foul-mouthed, abusive asshole scientist who's rude to just about everybody, but he has quite a few moments of this (especially with his daughter Beth and grandkids Morty and Summer, but even sometimes with his son-in-law Jerry and other people as well) that hint at a HiddenHeartOfGold.
* PissTakeRap: "Flu Hatin' Rap" from "Rick Potion #9".
* PlanetOfHats:
** In "Rixty Minutes", there's a universe where Earth is populated by [[AnthropomorphicFood corn people]], and one where it's populated by hamsters living in human butts.
** All Zigerians are scammers who are prudish towards nudity.
** Several alternate universe versions of Rick and Morty in "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind", including a cowboy version, multiple alien versions, a robot version, and Cronenberg Rick and Morty.
** In "The Wedding Squanchers," [[spoiler:when searching for a replacement home planet,]] the Smiths happen upon a large Earth-like planet where everything -- strawberries, flowers, birds, mountains, ants, and even ''atoms'' -- is on a cob. Upon this revelation, Rick hastily makes the family leave [[spoiler:and nixes relocating there]], for reasons never explained.
** In "Edge of Tomorty", Rick travels to several different dimensions: one where the whole world is fascist, another inhabited by shrimp-people ([[RunningGag which is also fascist]]), a third world of teddy bear people ([[RuleOfThree which, once again, is fascist]]), and a fourth where everyone is bug-people (which ''isn't'' fascist!), including wasp versions of the Smith family.
* PocketDimension: In "The Ricks Must be Crazy", Rick's car is revealed to be powered by one. One of the inhabitants created his own, and one of ''its'' inhabitants, in turn, discovered ''his own''.
* PoliticalOvercorrectness: In "Something Ricked This Way Comes", when Rick tells Morty that the [[ItMakesSenseInContext microscope he got from Summer's boss will make him retarded]], Morty tell him that he probably shouldn't use that word because, even though he was speaking objectively and the microscope would have literally made him mentally retarded, it would still offend "powerful groups who feel like they're doing the right thing". Rick's response? "[[TakeThat Well, that's retarded.]]"
* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Parodied at the end of the second episode. Rick suggests that the world populated by dogs "could be developed into a very satisfying project for people of all ages", and that he would watch it "for at least [[Creator/AdultSwim eleven minutes]] a pop".
* PoorMansPorn: While living with the tree people, Morty was without access to internet porn and instead used an extra curvy piece of driftwood.
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: At the end of "Meeseeks and Destroy" Rick makes an Arsenio Hall reference, making Beth and Jerry laugh, but then Beth says she doesn't get it, as she's too young.
* PopCulturePunEpisodeTitle: Many episode titles are puns of other works, like "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" being a pun on ''Film/TheABCsOfDeath''.
* PottyFailure: Happens to Summer twice: First in "A Rickle in Time", out of the shock of Morty knocking out Rick, and again in "Total Rickall" during the elevator flashback, though both aren't explicitly seen, but mentioned by Morty the first time and Summer the second time.
* ThePowerOfLove: Played with in "Morty's Mind Blowers". One of the memories is of Morty being possessed by a demon worm, which Rick, Beth, and Summer discover can be coaxed out of Morty by telling him they love him. However, they can't help but crack jokes at Morty's expense as the spectacle becomes more disgusting and drawn out, leading to the Power wavering and creating extended discomfort for Morty.
* PoweredArmor:
** In "Lawnmower Dog", Snuffles builds walking, humanoid exoskeletons for himself and all the neighborhood dogs, due to becoming an UpliftedAnimal with genius intellect by way of a helmet Rick invented to make him smarter. Models with yellow TronLines are combat-capable, sporting [[ShoulderCannon shoulder guns]]; whereas blue denotes civilian.
** In "Look Who's Purging Now", Rick and Morty have Summer send each of them a set of this so they can defend themselves from the Purgers trying to kill them. Unfortunately, Morty hits his RageBreakingPoint and gets a little kill-happy with his, forcing Rick to knock him out. Rick then lets Arthricia borrow Morty's armor, and the two of them use it to slaughter the rich people who orchestrate the yearly Purges.
* PrisonRape:
** In "Meeseeks and Destroy", Rick and Morty are about to be sent to Giant Prison. Rick bemoans that, if someone drops the soap, it will land on them and [[SubvertedTrope crush their spines]]. [[DoubleSubversion It would be really easy to rape them, then.]]
** The fourth-dimensional lifeform in "A Rickle in Time" tells Rick, Morty, and Summer that they're going to Time Prison.
--->"You know what they do to third-dimensional lifeforms in Time Prison? Same thing they do in regular prison, only forever!"
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: In-universe, lampshaded in [[http://games.adultswim.com/rick-and-mortys-rushed-licensed-adventure-adventure-online-game.html Rick and Morty's Rushed Licensed Adventure]]. It's right there in the title! The characters frequently complain about not being able to perform certain simple actions because the developers were too lazy to implement them (The game is actually not that bad for a free-to-play Flash game).
* ProductPlacement:
** Blatantly lampshaded in "Total Rickall". A flashback shows Rick walking into the living room with his arms full of [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS Nintendo 3DSs]], rambling on about how they can take advantage of the Walmart sale to turn a profit and sell them for more money because they were all the limited edition ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' versions. In the end, [[BreakingTheFourthWall he turns right to the camera]] and yells "Nintendo! Send me free stuff!" Apparently, Justin Roiland did this once in real life.
** Done again in The Rickshank Rickdemption with the Mulan Szechuan sauce. This caused such an out-of-universe demand for it from the fans that [=McDonald's=] actually brought it back in a limited capacity.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality:
** The collateral damage wreaked by Rick's schemes, whether implied or shown outright, is often absolutely gruesome in its sheer body count, but receives no serious repercussions for it, week after week. He's destroyed ''an entire reality'' just through incompetence, and that's probably not the first, and he stated that he once made the same mistake Beth did (in which she accidentally shot a genuine family friend whom she thought was an evil parasite) on "a planetary scale".
*** In general, Rick does the same things (or worse) than the people the show paints as villains without it being ever really relevant. He dislikes government for how controlling they are, yet he rules his family with an iron fist and severe gaslighting. He hates fascists, yet he considers himself a superior being with no issue to kiill those he deems "inferiors" (which, as stated above, includes several genocides). The galactic government keeping prisoners into stasis and feeding them a virtual reality was considered crossing a line, it's then discovered Rick does the same to people with no apparent reason. Rapists and slavers are considered utterly despicable when they are secondary characters, yet Rick is both things. And the list goes on.
** Averted and played with in "Mortynight Run". After Rick sells a gun to K. Michael for an assassination, Morty argues that's as bad as pulling the trigger. Morty then goes and tries to save the life of K. Michael's target, causing hundreds of casualties as a result. Rick doesn't let him hear the end of it.
* PunchAWall: Jerry does so after having to say goodbye to Doofus Rick.
* PunchClockVillain: Parodied by Scary Terry, the "[[CaptainErsatz legally-safe knock off]]" of Freddy Kruegar living deep in Mr. Goldenfold's dreams: not only is terrorizing people literally just his day job, after he's done he goes home to a perfectly normal-looking suburban house, complete with an equally-scary wife and infant son.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R-U]]
* RainOfBlood: The result of Reuben's enlarged corpse exploding in "Anatomy Park".
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: As mentioned under "BlackComedyRape," the show has a strict rule regarding this subject, both InUniverse and among the writers: ''comments'' about rape can be jokes, but ''depictions'' are treated 100% seriously, [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale regardless of]] [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale gender]]. Even when the would-be rapist is [[ItMakesSenseInContext an anthropomorphic jelly bean]].
* RaptorAttack: Photography Raptor from "Total Rickall" is your standard oversized ''Film/JurassicPark'' raptor covered in scales instead of feathers. Justified, in that he's an alien parasite in the guise of a velociraptor.
* RatedMForManly:
** ''Alien Invasion Tomato Monster Mexican Armada Brothers Who Are Just Regular Brothers Running In A Van From An Asteroid And All Sorts Of Things: The Movie''. (Or, just ''Two Brothers''.) The sequel ''Three Brothers'', though never shown, likely matches or exceeds the manliness level of the original.
** ''Ball Fondlers''.
* RealFakeDoor: The Trope Namer is Rixty Minutes, where one advert is for "Real Fake Doors", doors that just open to a wall.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: Averted. Characters surprisingly speak realistically, filled with stutters, mumbling, and belching. Some of the alternate-dimension TV especially falls into this, with Harmon and Roiland improvising it on the spot.
* RealTrailerFakeMovie:
** One episode had a trailer for [[LongTitle "Alien Invasion Tomato Monster Mexican Armada Brothers Who Are Just Regular Brothers Running In A Van From An Asteroid And All Sorts Of Things: The Movie"]], alternatively titled "Two Brothers."
** In that same episode, a trailer for [[Film/WeekendAtBernies "Weekend at Dead Cat Lady's House II"]], written and directed by Alternate Universe Jerry.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Considering how dysfunctional the entire main cast is, they give and get these a lot.[[note]]Since these speeches are often pretty long and it would take up a lot of room to write them all here, see the episode recap pages and/or Quotes page to read the speeches word-for-word.[[/note]]
** Rick is made of these. Expect at least one episode as he delivers them to just about everyone he talks to. The main cast members get them constantly, especially Summer and Morty.
** In "Auto Erotic Assimilation", Blim Blam the Korblok, an alien that Rick has chained up in his basement, finally gets so fed up with having to listen to Jerry and Beth have yet another (particularly vicious) spousal argument that he tears his chains out of the wall and steals a translation device so they can understand him, '''just to brutally lay into both of them''' about how awful they are to themselves and each other, ending it by saying that he's sorry that Rick has to deal with either one of them.
** "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" has an AnthropomorphicPersonification of Beth tell the original that only Jerry sees her as strong and smart, and the real her could never measure up. She's heartbroken at this.
** Invoked mercilessly by Dr. Wong, a psychiatrist whom the family goes to visit in "Pickle Rick". Rick tries to brush it off, but his facial expression afterwards and the fact that he has no reply to what she said suggests he knows she's right.
** Jerry and Beth each receive one from Rick and Morty, respectively, in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", with Morty admonishing Beth for being just as arrogant and irresponsible as Rick, while Rick tears Jerry a new one for manipulating others by playing the victim and acting pathetic so people will pity him.
** In "The Old Man and the Seat", Rick inadvertently ends up delivering one to ''himself'' after his selfish pride ends up indirectly getting an alien who genuinely wanted to be his friend killed.
** In "The Vat of Acid Episode", Rick gives Morty a blistering lesson about the concept of "no consequences". He reveals that since the save point remote transports Morty through alternate dimensions rather than time, all of the horrible deeds he committed still happened, just in different dimensions. Also, every time Morty reset into a different dimension, the remote automatically kills the Morty native to that dimension so Morty can take his place. Rick further presses home that Morty ''chose'' to do all this, as he had an opportunity to learn the truth of how the remote truly worked but ignored it.
** In "Solaricks", Morty is forced to return to the Cronenberg dimension where he meets a hermit version of Jerry. Jerry tells him that this dimension's Beth and Summer are dead thanks to illness and being unthawed properly. Morty wants to return to being a family, but Jerry chews Morty out for not only abandoning him, but not even treating him like a person the last time Morty was there.
-->'''Original Jerry''': Oh, am I cool enough for ya now? (chuckles) Oh well that was easy it only cost me '''FUCKING EVERYTHING'''! […] You came back and talked about us like we weren't even PEOPLE Morty! And you bailed and left us to freeze! […] '''YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER DIED MORTY'''! (Sighs) and I moved on, from caring.
* RecursiveReality:
** In "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!", some aliens try to trick Rick into giving away his formula for concentrated dark matter by trapping him in a multi-layered simulation.
** In "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" it's revealed that Rick's spaceship is powered by a small universe. It turns out that a scientist in that universe is also developing a smaller universe to use as a power source. Then it turns out that a scientist in ''that'' universe is also developing an even smaller universe to use as a power source...
* RedAndBlackTotalitarianism: In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Repeat", when Rick dies and Operation Phoenix reroutes him to other universes, those universes turn out to be fascist empires, complete with red and black flags and symbols.
* RedHerring: In "Total Rickall" The concept of "mind parasites", creatures that telepathically insert false memories into people to convince them that they know the person, and can therefore trust them, is introduced during the cold open shortly before we meet a never-before-seen character, Mr. Poopybutthole. The intro then shows Mr. Poopybutthole throughout the entire sequence, spliced into every scene as if he was always a main character. Finally, at the end of the episode, Mr. Poopybutthole sits down with the family after they have slaughtered dozens of mind parasites, and Beth, remembering only good memories of the character, fires a blast at his chest...only to have red blood gush out like a gunshot wound instead of dissolving the disguise and causing the "parasite" to explode. TheStinger reveals Mr. Poopybutthole survived and is now undergoing physical therapy, and is not pressing charges, but does not wish to associate himself with the Smiths anymore.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Rick is a mercurial and self-centered alcoholic with a very strange set of priorities. He has the technology to become extremely rich and powerful but doesn't seem to care. The fact that he's technically in hiding from the Galactic Federation might be at least partially responsible. His occasional profit schemes tend to be subverted in some way:
** Rick opens a store that removes the curses from magical items that Satan has been giving people. As soon as Satan admits defeat, Rick loses interest in the whole thing, not even caring that the store seemed to be making a good profit.
** He gets a bunch of money from an underworld deal so that he can blow all of his profits at Blips and Chitz, an arcade.
** He drunkenly rambles about cornering the market on Nintendo 3DS consoles, which never goes anywhere, then turns to the audience and asks Nintendo to send him free stuff.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Rick and Morty, (along with the other Smiths at times) hop into new dimensions every few seasons thanks to destroying whatever version of Earth they're on at the time… meaning every single reoccurring character that appears after each dimension-hop is actually a different person. Not that it matters in the long run though since they essentially share the same history as their other versions.
* ResetButton: An incredibly grim example appears in "Rick Potion #9". When Rick's cure irreversibly turns everyone into monsters, Rick "fixes" the problem by finding a parallel universe where that version of Rick [[CliffhangerCopout somehow fixed his screw-up]], but immediately afterwards, both of he and that version of Morty died in a freak accident. Rick then makes Morty help him dispose of the corpses, allowing them to resume normal life in place of their dead parallel selves, leaving their own universe destroyed.
* RetGone: Inverted with the parasites; they retroactively insert themselves into the cast's memory.
* TheReveal: A few major ones throughout the series:
** From "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind": Evil Rick, the apparent BigBad of the episode, was actually being controlled by his apparent [[TheDragon Dragon]], Evil Morty, the episode's [[TheDogWasTheMastermind true mastermind]].
** In "The Wedding Squanchers": Tammy was actually TheMole for the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]], and only pretended to be in love with Birdperson to get close to him so she could eventually kill or arrest him and his friends (who are so-called terrorists rebelling against the Federation).
** "The Ricklantis Mixup": [[spoiler:The newly-elected President Morty, who just had quite a few of his dissenters killed (some of whom were [[AssholeVictim Asshole Victims]], others because HeKnewTooMuch), is actually Evil Morty from the first example.]]
** Season 6 episode 1 "Solaricks" reveals that [[spoiler:Rick C-137, Morty's ''actual'' grandpa Rick, was the one who killed Rick's version of Beth and Diane and sent him down his path of revenge that resulted in him creating the Citadel of Ricks and everything that followed]].
* RewatchBonus: Most episodes contain a line or two that seems like a throwaway but ends up being crucial or really illuminating upon rewatching the episode, and sometimes entire seasons.
** In "Meeseeks and Destroy", Rick assures Summer after one Meeseeks dies off that "Trust me, they're cool with it", which really foreshadows later on what happens when a Meeseeks stays around too long.
** All throughout season 5, there are numerous throw-away lines, usually once in almost every episode, in direct reference to Beth's mother or Rick's former wife. There's no focus of context on these lines until the season finale, where Morty and the audience learn that [[spoiler:Rick's wife Diane and child Beth actually were killed by a rogue Rick as shown in his memories in "The Rickshank Redemption" from season 3]].
** The Council accusing C-137 Rick of killing off the others from different realities in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" [[spoiler: takes a new light [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge when you learn his past]] in Season 5.]]
** The big reveal in “Solaricks” that [[spoiler:main Morty is the grandson of the Rick who killed our Rick's family]] certainly explains a lot of Rick’s actions in the first half of season one, especially [[spoiler:casually fucking up the planet with his Cronenberg serum. After all, why would he give a shit about the timeline of the guy who murdered his wife and kid]]? It also sheds new light on his line in “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind” that “the Rickest Rick would have the Mortyest Morty.”
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: After the Galactic Federation is kicked out of Earth, aliens are [[ColdBloodedTorture drawn-and-quartered]] in the school courtyard and it is considered patriotism.
* [[RightThroughTheWall Right Through The Ceiling]]: When Morty is, uh, playing with the sex-bot Rick bought him.
* RobotWar: The show briefly reveals one called the Robolution is ongoing in a region of the galaxy called the Midland Quasar, and was initially making its LastStand. Rick arrives to search for a specific robot who has information on the location of one of his enemies and in the process [[TheCavalry kills so many lizard soldiers that they surrender to the Robots]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The second half of "The Rickshank Redemption" is one for Rick. [[spoiler:He exploits a [[BodySurf device that transfers the user's consciousnes]] to bring down the Galactic Federation, the Council of Ricks, and Jerry.]]
* RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts: The Gazorpians try to save face by claiming this after realizing that simply crushing Rick with a boulder is too simple.
* RuleOfThree:
** Morty could accept the bun being placed between two hotdogs and the old woman walking her cat on a leash. But the Pop-Tart living in a toaster oven.... ok, something weird is going on.
** In "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick-Kind", Rick and Morty run through a dimension where pizzas sit on chairs and use phones to order people, a dimension where phones sit on pizza and use people to order chairs, and a dimension where chairs sit on people and use pizzas to order phones.
** Rick actually lampshades this in "The Rickshank Redemption" ("Comedy comes in threes!"), and sure enough, [[spoiler:he [[BodySurf Body-Surfs]] three times throughout the episode]].
** Similarly, in "Edge of Tomorty", which involves more [[spoiler:body-surfing]] shenanigans, Rick ends up [[spoiler:in fascist dimensions]] the first three times he does it before finally getting one [[spoiler:that isn't fascist]].
* RunningGag: The writers seem to intentionally make alien names and terms sound like random sounds made up on the fly, leading such creations as Doctor Glip-Glop and planet Gazorpazorp.
** A lot of the aliens and otherworldy flora tend to have designs that are incredibly phallic, or testicle-y, or both.
** Also recurring are [[HopeSpot Hope Spots]] between Morty and Jessica, which usually result at the moment being ruined by Rick's doing.
** Every official episode description for Season 4 addresses the reader as "broh".
** The series mocks the use of pop culture-referencing episode titles by giving episodes increasingly awkward and forced punny titles, going from "Ricksy Business" and "Total Rickall" to stuff like "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" and "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort".
* SadisticChoice: In "Morty's Mind Blowers", at one point a villain held Beth, Morty, and Summer hostage, and told Beth it would spare one of her children, but she had to choose. Without even thinking about it, she immediately blurts out Summer with absolute certainty. Rick shows up at the last minute to kill the villain, but apparently, the experience was so traumatizing for Morty that he begged Rick to erase the memory.
* SafetyInIndifference: This is the main reason Rick is as heartless as he is. Even if you ignore the countless amount of people and creatures that die whenever he's around, having access to TheMultiverse makes attaching to people borderline impossible, what with the fact that there's [[ExpendableClone trillions of copies of them out there that are, for the most part, identical]].
* SandInMyEyes: When Evil Rick is looking through Rick's memories, seeing memories about Morty makes Rick start to cry. Evil Rick makes fun of him, and Rick says that he isn't crying, he's just allergic to dipshits.
* SarcasmBlind: Rick, willfully:
-->'''Summer''': Careful Dad, jealousy turns women off.\\
'''Jerry''': Well, isn't that convenient.\\
'''Rick''': Not for the men they cheat on, no.
* SarcasticClapping: Done by Evil Rick in "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind", and referred to as the "SlowClap". Lampshaded by Rick, who points out how {{cliche}} the gesture is, though Evil Rick counters that in this alternate dimension, he's the one who invented it.
* SceneryPorn: Rick takes Morty to a bizarre dimension in the pilot that's very colorful and bizarre with phallic imagery and hanging sacks. Like actual porn.
* SchoolIsForLosers: Rick believes this. He is a ''very'' intelligent MadScientist who cares about Morty, so there might be some reasons.
-->'''Summer''': Grandpa, can you help me with my homework?\\
'''Rick''': Sure....don't do it.
* ScrewYourself: Done on-screen by Beth and Space Beth in "Bethic Twinstinct", where Rick also claims to have done similar things with his interdimensional counterparts.
* ScriptReadingDoors: Rick's portals open and close when it's narratively convenient, in addition to simply appearing whatever surface works for the scene.
* SealedEvilInACan: Evil Morty reveals, in the fifth season finale, that the Central Finite Curve functions as this, because, [[spoiler:as part of a bargain to stop the war between themselves and "our" Rick, the Citadel and Rick collaborated to seal off a section of the infinite multiverses, so that all the universes containing Ricks were sealed away from the rest of the cosmos. Evil Morty claims this was because they wanted to be guaranteed to be the smartest person in every universe they could travel to. Given Rick's view of himself, though, this trope may be what he intended by it.]]
* SecretTestOfCharacter:
** In the pilot, when Morty stops Rick from going through with his plan to wipe out the human race and start over, Rick unconvincingly claims he was doing this and Morty passed. This confession is immediately followed by a "Sure, why not, I don't know."
** One interpretation in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens" suggested says Rick suddenly started acting uncharacteristically playful with important science stuff as a test to see if Morty would notice and say something. Morty didn't and just played along, confirming Rick's suspicion that he too was a simulation.
* SeenItAll: Rick was already in this territory well before the series started. Over the course of the series, Morty gradually becomes this more and more as well:
** When Summer accidentally sort of causes a race war between two groups of aliens (who look exactly alike, nipple shapes aside) in "Auto Erotic Assimilation", she is horrified. Morty, however, just chuckles and says "Oh, Summer. First race war, huh?"
** In "Pickle Rick", when Morty sees that Rick has turned himself into a pickle, he isn't particularly impressed or amazed by it (much to Rick's annoyance), and instead is just trying to figure out ''why'' Rick would bother with this.
** "Vindicators 3" has Morty able to correctly guess the answers to Drunk Rick's questions and disarm his neutrino bombs. In fact, he's apparently disarmed so many of them by this point that he knows that there's a 40% chance of it being a dud anyway.
--->'''Rick''': Morty, how many of these--?\\
'''Morty''': TOO MANY, Rick! Too many!
** In "The [=ABCs=] of Beth", when introduced to [[spoiler:Jerry's new girlfriend Kiara]], Morty is familiar with her culture and able to greet her in her native language.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Morty and Rick, respectively.
** Summer's crushes and ex-husband[[note]][[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E1Pilot Frank Palicky,]] [[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E7BigTroubleInLittleSanchez Toby Matthews,]] and [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E2RickmancingTheStone Hemorrhage]][[/note]] are all more masculine than her actual [[spoiler: former]] boyfriend, Ethan.
* SequelEpisode:
** "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" to "Rixty Minutes", with Rick even BreakingTheFourthWall to lampshade it.
** "The Ricklantis Mixup" to "The Rickshank Redemption", showing how [[spoiler:the Citadel of Ricks]] is faring after Rick practically destroyed it in the latter episode. [[spoiler:It also turns out to be one to "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" (which was the first episode to feature the Citadel, while "Rickshank" was the second), in that it shows what Evil Morty is doing now after his plans in that episode were thwarted by "our" Morty.]]
* SerialEscalation:
** The parallel dimensions in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" become increasingly absurd variations on a theme, from a world where slices of pizza order human delivery, to a world where phones sit on pizza and order chair delivery on human phones, to - [[RuleOfThree finally]] - a world where chairs sit on inanimate humans and order phone take-out on pizza. Rick and Morty even visit an Italian restaurant and purchase some edible phones for themselves.
** Arguably the entire show, on a high concept sci-fi scale. The first episode starts with the most ridiculous thing being that Rick has created a flying car from garage junk, and introduces the concept of the multiverse. By episode six of the first season, the titular characters have replaced alternate universe versions of themselves who managed to solve a problem our Rick and Morty couldn't, and also coincidentally died around the same time. The Citadel of Ricks in Episode 10 escalates this even further, and by the beginning of Season 2, we're in full-blown mind-fuck territory if we weren't there already. And it escalates further from there.
* ServantRace: Meeseeks, who are created by one of Rick's devices to serve a single purpose and die in a puff of smoke after they're done. However, if they take too long to get a task done then they'll end up going murderously insane until it gets accomplished.
* SexBot: Rick buys one for Morty in "Raising Gazorpazorp". As it turns out, the robot is actually a Gazorpian breeding chamber that results in a half-human half-Gazorpian baby.
* SexSells:
** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZGyb5vID4 Fan Art Contest promo]], Rick promises bonus points for "scantily clad artwork of Summer!"
--->'''Morty:''' W-what!?! Th-th-that's ''disgusting'', Rick!\\
'''Rick:''' [[EveryoneHasStandards Hey, look, Morty, I agree]]. But, uh, sex sells, you know? We gotta push product, right? Just don't look at it.
** The "Turbulent Juice" commercial in "Rixty Minutes".
--->'''Morty:''' What in the hell?!\\
'''Rick:''' Sex sells.\\
'''Morty:''' Sex sells what?! Is that a movie, or does it clean stuff?!
* SexyDimorphism: The Gazorpians. Male Gazorpians are large, stupid, brutish beings driven by violence and lust, while females are much more human-looking and are empathetic, intellectual, and ''telekinetic''.
* ShaggyDogStory:
** In "Mortynight Run", Morty disobeys Rick to save the life of a gaseous creature targeted for assassination. In the process, he endangers himself and Rick and causes the injury or deaths of dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent bystanders. Just before the creature makes it home, however, it reveals that it's going to return with reinforcements to purge all organic life like a disease (including Morty), and Morty has no choice but to kill it himself, so despite his best intentions, he has only succeeded in making things objectively worse.
** In "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", Rick claims at the beginning of the episode that the parallel universe they're in has "the best ice cream in the multiverse", but when the family finally gets to the ice cream shop at the end of the episode, all ice cream has been declared to be for all beings, including telepathic spiders, meaning that it has flies in it now.
** In "Look Who's Purging Now", Rick and Arthricia kill all of the rich leaders of the planet to stop the Purge, but it's implied it will happen again, regardless of their influence.
** In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", Morty spends most of the episode following a vision that will lead to him dying old with Jessica declaring her love for him. He learns in TheStinger that, in the vision, Jessica was a hospice worker comforting Morty so he wouldn't die alone, and presumably didn't even remember him personally.
* ShapedLikeItself: While reporting a robbery of a Mortymart in Mortytown (which was committed by other Mortys) to Cop Rick and Cop Morty in "The Ricklantis Mixup", the shopkeeper describes the robbers as "about 14 years old, about my height and wearing yellow shirts." This is lampshaded by Cop Morty.
-->'''Cop Morty''': [[SarcasmMode Yeah, make sure you get THAT one down.]]
* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: When the President takes a shrinking pill, Morty pokes fun at how his clothes aren't shrinking with him. Rick makes a shirt for him that grows with him when he enlarges again, but intentionally left out pants just to rile him up.
* ShooOutTheClowns: The third season, billed as darker than usual, [[spoiler: sees Jerry divorced from the rest of the family and not appearing at all in several of the episodes, and suffering more than usual on average when we do see him.]] [[spoiler:He returns to the family at the end of the season.]]
* TheShowMustGoOn: Rick's and Summer's party in "Ricksy Business" hits a few speed bumps, including the entire house being accidentally teleported to an alien planet, but for the most part, everyone just keeps partying.
* ShownTheirWork:
** In "Anatomy Park", the tuberculosis/scar tissue relationship is described correctly.
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick tells Morty that he got his vial of oxytocin from a vole, an animal that mates for life. Not only is the chemical correct - oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that is basically the closest thing there is to love in chemical form - but voles (prairie voles specifically) do indeed mate for life and are well-known for their aid in the study of this chemical.
** In "Something Ricked This Way Comes," one of Needful's cursed objects is a beauty cream that makes women beautiful and blinds them. Radium cream and eyeshadow were once prized for making women literally glow before the radiation blinded and killed them.
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], as Morty is, indeed, missing school to go on adventures with Rick. Rick at least made sure to brainwash Mister Goldenfold into giving Morty an A, but that doesn't really cover all his other classes.
* ShoutOut: Has its [[ShoutOut/RickAndMorty own page]].
* ShowWithinAShow:
** ''Pregnant Baby''
** ''The Life and Times of Mrs. Pancakes'' (Rick's a fan, but a season behind watching).
** There are loads of these in the episode "Rixty Minutes," and again in "Interdimensional Cable 2."
* SilenceIsGolden: The show utilizes this a couple of times in later seaons, using background music to set the mood but not containing dialogue.
** In "The Vat of Acid Episode", while Morty is on a do-over spree with the remote Rick gave him, we see him [[FallingInLoveMontage meet, fall for, and start a relationship with]] a BespectacledCutie, before getting into a harrowing, life-threatening situation with her, and getting out alive...before, unfortunately, Jerry [[YankTheDogsChain accidentally hits the remote and resets all of it]]. There being no dialogue also means that we [[NoNameGiven never learn the name]] of Morty's girlfriend. This montage is one of the primary factors behind this episode winning an Emmy.
** In "Rickmurai Jack", Morty uses information downloaded from Rick's brain to learn about his DarkAndTroubledPast backstory, [[spoiler:showing how he lost his wife and daughter, killed hundreds of Ricks in a failed effort to avenge them, and eventually spiraled into cynicism and nihilism before going to live with his family and partnering up with Morty]]. The only sounds from the characters come from Rick and Morty laughing at the end during a montage of their adventures together, and the downcast music makes the montage all the more powerful.
* SitcomArchNemesis: Jerry and Rick toward each other; see ObnoxiousInLaws above.
* SkewedPriorities:
** When Rick is explaining to Summer that he and Morty are stuck on a planet that is currently undergoing a [[Film/ThePurge purge]] and needs her help before they get killed, her first action is to express her opinion of the movie.
** Rick's morality results in a lot of gags like this. In "Get Schwifty," he uses his portal gun to get snacks but not to get the rest of the family in case Earth is destroyed because it's "planning for failure." In a flashback in "Total Rickall," aliens are performing experiments on Morty, and Rick runs in to steal their medical equipment.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Easily the most nihilistic and pessimistic cartoon on television. The show has a habit of taking any sense of optimism you would normally expect with a show and smashing it into pieces. With that said, the series can actually still present some positive notes and insightful ideas.
** However the show subverts this with Jerry and the family as a whole. The creators are quick to point out that Jerry who has had a really tough life and is consistently being dumped on by the universe, is still somewhat content with how his life is going. They point to the scene where Rick is on the verge of suicide while Jerry is happily trimming his lawn. Rick who is an all-powerful omni-scientist, who can create almost anything is left feeling bitter and depressed whether by the burden of his knowledge or his really awful outlook on life, while by contrast, Jerry who has no prospects and has had many many awful situations heaped upon him is still trucking along. Both creators admire Jerry for his tenacity and optimism.
** The episode The Rickchurian Mortydate eventually calls out Rick's nihilistic attitude and shows that for all of their negative qualities and despite Rick's rantings about the futility of existence the Smith family finally finds some contentment with their lives. Ultimately they tell Rick either to stay or go and to stop acting like such a nihilistic ass to Jerry all the time.
** This is taken to an extreme in A Rickconvenient Mort, where it is shown that all hope for the planet is lost and humans, even the ones who don't want to do harm, are a cancer on the world. The Tina-teers now only care about profit and Planetina begins murdering people when she sees her activism isn't working.
* SlowClap: Done by Evil Rick as SarcasticClapping in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind". Apparently, he invented it in that dimension, and no one has ever done it there before him.
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: In the pilot, Rick mentions that he builds robots for fun. In "''Something Ricked This Way Comes''", he built one for the specific reason of passing butter on the table. Note that this robot is advanced enough to be horrified when Rick told him what his only purpose is.
-->'''Robot:''' [[AC:What-is-my-purpose?]]\\
'''Rick:''' You pass butter.\\
'''Robot:''' ''(looks at its hands)'' [[AC:Oh-my-god!]]\\
'''Rick:''' Yeah, welcome to the club, pal.
* {{Smurfing}}: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[JustifiedTrope justified]], in a rather surprising turn. Squanchy the talking cat uses "squanch" and variations thereof for everything, including auto-erotic asphyxiation; when Beth lampshades that this is "like the Smurfs", Rick explains that Squanchy's language is more ''contextual'' than literal. When Beth tries to do it (by saying that she squanches her family) both Rick and Squanchy start cringing in disgust.
* SnapBack: Pretty much every episode that has a B-plot about Beth and Jerry ends with them reconciling their marriage. They're back to fighting by the next episode.
* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: In "Rick Potion #9", one of the most serious and dramatic episodes in the series, the show remains very persistent that Praying Mantises cull one another during mating. Even the matching genders.
* SpaceOrcs: Male Gazorpians are large, sex-obsessed primitive brutes who spend their [[RapidAging short lives]] trying to kill each other and impregnating artificial birthing machines distributed to them by the more civilized females. Rick theorizes that the males used to be just as civilized until the invention of birthing machines allowed them to focus more on war and building weapons, eventually causing their society to devolve back to the stone age and become more savage and violent as a result.
* SpinoffBabies: For April Fools 2021, Adult Swim's official [=YouTube=] channel posted an opening for ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8fVjM-5pGc Rick and Morty Babies]]'', a LighterAndSofter {{alternate universe}} where everyone (except [[ButtMonkey Jerry]]) are babies.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover: In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Rick transfers his mind into a younger clone body. His teenage hormones cause a different personality to develop and take over. The real Rick communicates through Tiny Rick's subconscious, causing him to beg for Morty and Summer to save him from himself through Tiny Rick's artistic endeavors.
* SplitScreen:
** Used extensively in "A Rickle in Time", representing different timelines.
** Also occurs during the phone conversations in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" and "The Rickchurian Mortydate".
* SpringtimeForHitler: Heavily implied that "Weekend at Dead Cat Lady's House II" was this for Jerry C-500a, as at the end he has a complete breakdown and admits he hates everything to do with being a celebrity.
* SpockSpeak: Birdperson speaks in this manner, and veers into TheComicallySerious.
* SpoofAesop: In "Raising Gazorpazorp" Summer saves the day with a seemingly heartfelt speech that amounts to "Straight men are terrible, but gay men are alright." It only works because the Gazorpazorpians are brutally sexist against men (understandably so given the ways their sexual dimorphism differs from humans, but still).
* {{Squick}}: So, so often. Some examples:
** Morty and Rick have this reaction in-universe when Summer appears in BDSM gear and acts seductively towards them in Mr. Goldenfold's dream world in "Lawnmower Dog".
** Any time Rick [[FullFrontalAssault appears completely in the nude]], doubling as FanDisservice, such as in "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" and "Rest and Ricklaxation".
** In "The Ricklantis Mixup", one of the businesses in "Mortytown" is a strip club called The Creepy Morty. The only denizens of Mortytown are, well, Mortys. So, this is a strip club where Mortys dance...[[ScrewYourself for other Mortys]].
* StacysMom: Summer's friend Tricia professes an attraction to Jerry in "Promortyus".
* StatusQuoIsGod:
** Both averted and played straight at the end of "Rick Potion #9". After infecting the entire planet with a BodyHorror virus, Rick ultimately solves the problem by taking himself and Morty to an alternate universe where their counterparts invented a successful cure for the virus and but died on the same day so that he and Morty can take their place. Rick tells Morty not to think too hard about it all, but Morty is visibly traumatized by the events.
** The ending of Season 2 resulted in Earth joining the Galactic Federation. The opening of Season 3 [[spoiler:results in Rick escaping from prison through [[BodySurf Body Surfing]] his mind from his body into a GF agent, and then into another Rick who was part of an assault force tasked with killing Rick himself. He surfs from one Rick to another, eventually destroying both the Galactic Federation and the Council of Ricks in succession. Earth restores itself to normal by the end of the episode]].
** No matter how many episodes end with Beth and Jerry rebuilding their marriage, expect it to be falling apart again by the next episode. [[spoiler:It's played with at the end of Season 3: while Beth and Jerry do get back together and call off the divorce after spending all of Season 3 separated, seemingly playing this straight, there is also the implication that their marriage will be more solid and less unhappy in the future.]]
* StealthPun:
** At the end of "Meeseeks and Destroy", the family comments on how the Meeseeks destroyed the room. All five then proceed to [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]].
** Pluto's society is controlled by the wealthy. In other words, it's a plutocracy.
** The Moonmen that Fart sings about in "Mortynight Run" turn into asses.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" has Tiny Rick, Morty and Summer kill the vampire in their school, who turns out to be Coach Feratu. TheStinger lampshades this, with a vampire elder getting really annoyed at how vampires infiltrating human society always like using obvious identity-blowing references as their names rather than regular human names.
* TheStinger: Not counting the pilot, every single episode of the series has one after the ending credits.
* TheStoic: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the first episode in which Rick assures Morty that he's seen it all and will keep him safe, only to be interrupted by a fierce alien creature. "Run Morty, I've never seen one of those before! This is bad, we're going to die, Morty!"
* StoryArc: Downplayed, which is enforced in-universe by Rick [[MediumAwareness heavily disliking serialized drama and preferring to keep things episodic]], but there have been a few:
** Rick's past fighting the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]] with Bird Person, Squanchy, and others, and the ramifications it has in the present day when their past catches up to them. Naturally, the G-Fed as a whole acts as the BigBad to this story, with [[spoiler:Tammy and, for a while, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Phoenix]] [[FaceMonsterTurn Person]]]] acting as TheHeavy. So far, this arc has gotten central focus in "The Wedding Squanchers", "The Rickshank Redemption", "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri", and "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort".
** When Rick manipulates Beth and Jerry into divorcing at the beginning of Season 3 so he can become the new patriarch of the family, the season as a whole focuses on how his self-destructive, nihilistic worldview serves as a ToxicFriendInfluence and negatively affects the rest of the family, culminating in all of them realizing this by the finale, deciding they don't want to be like that, and choosing to work on bettering themselves, complete with Jerry and Beth getting back together and unseating Rick as head of the family.
** The conflict between Rick and Morty and the Citadel of Ricks, and the enormous negative ramifications that the Citadel's actions have had on the Ricks, Mortys, and the rest of the Smith Families of TheMultiverse. This plotline has a BigBadEnsemble consisting of both the Council of Ricks (plus other major leaders of the Citadel) and of [[spoiler:Evil Morty]], and takes center stage in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", "The Rickshank Redemption", "The Ricklantis Mixup", and "Rickmurai Jack".
* StrawFeminist:
** The female Gazorpians have a society that's practically built on straw. It's so extreme that they'll automatically kill any male who enters their domain, even if he isn't a threat. Their behavior is actually understandable because female Gazorpians are intelligent and empathetic whereas male Gazorpians are incredibly violent and dangerous, but their hatred spreads to males of ''all'' species, which winds up making them pretty intolerant and hypocritical.
** Summer showed signs of this as well in the same episode as she refused to objectify herself even though her life and her chastity was threatened. Though that was more of a reaction to Rick being a {{Jerkass}}.
* StringTheory: In one episode we see Rick's bedroom. One wall has notes connected this way.
* StrongerThanTheyLook:
** Summer proves to be a pretty good shot with a laser pistol in "Total Rickall." In fact, once she starts going on adventures with Rick, she proves to be a competent fighter anytime they're forced to battle.
** Invoked with Beth a few times. She is shown kicking just as much Cronenberg ass as Jerry in "Rick Potion #9" and again in "ABC's of Beth" as she [[spoiler: walks back into the garage liberally ''soaked'' with blood.]]
-->'''Beth''': "So.... [[BlatantLies Tommy gave me his finger]]."
-->'''Rick''': "He ''gave'' you his finger?"
* StylisticSuck:
** The full version of the [[http://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/74973533164/winstonchurchillenjoyspopsicles-dan-harmon flu-hatin' rap]] from "Rick Potion #9", with [[PissTakeRap lyrics that sound like they're made up on the spot.]]
** The Lighthouse Keeper from "Look Who's Purging Now" allows Rick and Morty to use his lighthouse if, in return, the latter listens to him read his screenplay. Said screenplay is a massive [[invoked]]ClicheStorm, and is made even worse by the stilted, dull monotone the man speaks with when reading it.
** The stories Morty tells in "Never Ricking Morty" to break the story barrier, the second of which is purposely designed to pass UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest, both featuring the characters [[DullSurprise talking in flat, dull monotones]] [[BadBadActing with little genuine emotion]]. Many of the other non-canon short story snippets qualify too, bringing back characters and storylines that fans are interested in in the most [[ClicheStorm cliche, generic, corny]] way possible.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Rick is smart enough to analyze magical items from the devil's shop, then remove the curse while still retaining the magical benefits.
* SummonBiggerFish: This happens several times in the [[ShowWithinAShow "Two Brothers"]] trailer in "Rixty Minutes". Tornadoes push away cat monsters, a UFO sets aside the tornado, and so on.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Being a DeconstructorFleet, a lot of plot points and punchlines are centered around this.
** Rick succeeds in besting Satan by opening a new store. Afterwards, faced with the responsibilities of running the shop, he announces he's bored of it and closing, douses it in gasoline and sets it on fire during regular business hours.
** After Jerry successfully pacifies the Meeseeks in "Meeseeks and Destroy", he tells the chef that he and Beth will take their dinner to go (presumably, to go home and have sex), but the chef replies that the cops are on their way and will have a ton of questions for him, which makes sense considering that the Meeseeks attacked the restaurant and took people hostage while trying to get to Jerry. Jerry himself even acknowledges this with "Fair enough."
** In "Ricksy Business", Summer, seeking to get in with the cool kids, blows off one of her nerdy friends and essentially throws her out of the party to get her out of the way...and then finds out that when you do un-squanchy stuff like that, no one wants to hang out with you.
** Rick's alcoholism and Morty's constant brushes with death, which are usually played for laughs and brushed aside, are occasionally shown to weigh on them heavily.
** "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" features the TV show "Man vs. Car", in which a man tries to fight a car. The man is quickly run over, and the [[{{Corpsing}} chuckling]] announcer asks, "Wouldn't the cars ''always'' win?"
** Other ways to destroy [[TheFederation the Galactic Federation]]? [[spoiler:Why not disrupt their [[WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture credit economy]] by reducing their spending power to zero?]]
** At the end of "Rick Potion #9", Beth, Jerry, and Summer of the show's original dimension appear to have found happiness despite being the last humans on a post-apocalyptic Cronenberg earth. Skip ahead 2-3 years to "The Rickshank Rickdemption", and the family has devolved to the level of cavemen due to the brutal realities of living in such a world. Furthermore, in "Rick Potion #9", Beth and Jerry don't seem to mind that Rick and Morty have disappeared. (In fact, they feel as if it has made their lives better.) However, by the "The Rickshank Rickdemption", Jerry smashes the portal gun to keep Morty C-137 from leaving and is ready to kill the current version of Summer because she admires Rick. It stands to reason that the original-version Smith family would come to loathe the man who stole their son and destroyed their world, the Season 1 happy ending notwithstanding.
*** This universe is re-visited in the Season 6 premiere, where it is revealed that just because your weapon causes HarmlessFreezing doesn't mean it's in any way merciful. [[spoiler: Two members of Morty's original family "thawed wrong".]]
** What happens when you try and outsmart the smartest man in the universe (maybe multiverse?) You lose....badly. [[spoiler:As the Federation agent trying to interrogate Rick finds out when he attempts to get Rick to reveal the secret of the portal gun.]]
** In the B-plot of "Rixty Minutes", Summer is annoyed that while her parents' alternates are doing amazing things like movies, surgery, cocaine and Kristen Stewart, ''her'' alternates all seem to be playing board games with her family. Of course, since time-travel isn't a thing, ''of course'' she's not going to see some life-fulfilling self -- ''all her alternates are still teenagers''. Generally speaking, one doesn't become a movie star or a surgeon while they're still in high school.
** After "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Jerry finally realizes that he can't keep using his bad experiences to deflect responsibilities and consequences. However, this isn't an overnight change, as he still has moments where he relapses in his judgement, like when he [[spoiler:uses Morty and Summer to break up with his alien girlfriend in "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" rather than just coming clean to her that he's the one who wants to break up]].
** When Morty joins a miniverse forest tribe in "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", he's quickly terrified and infuriated by the tribe's rituals. The tribe lacks personal hygiene and one of their rituals includes eating babies to make their fruit grow bigger. Morty is from a time where nature and science have been understood and Morty is well-adjusted to using [[TheInternetIsForPorn technology]] to [[ADateWithRosiePalms entertain himself]].
** It happens in the Rickchurian Mortydate. The President of the United States reveals that the only reason the government doesn't prosecute Rick and Morty for their regular lawbreaking -- several thousand violations a day-- is that Rick is too valuable as the dimension's only citizen that can handle alien threats. When Rick and Morty blow off helping with an alien under the White House who ate a janitor, the President yells at them for lying to him and terminates their relationship, promising to treat them as foreign enemy agents if they interfere violently in government affairs. [[spoiler:Sure enough, when Rick murders Secret Service agents trying to escort him peacefully out of the White House, he may win the subsequent tech fight with the President but is labelled as a domestic terrorist. Rick eventually realizes he went too far in BullyingADragon and has to fake dimension-hopping to ensure he's not arrested and implicitly apologize. Even if he can break out of prison easily, it's too much of a hassle for him and his family, especially Beth]].
* TakeOurWordForIt:
** In "Meeseeks and Destroy" Summer's Meeseeks makes her popular by delivering a speech to the entire student body in the auditorium. We only hear the very end of the speech, but it was apparently really convincing.
** Despite the episode name, we never actually see Rick's and Morty's Atlantis adventure in "The Ricklantis Mixup", which instead focuses on the Citadel of Ricks, but in TheStinger, they make a point of gushing on and on about how awesome it was and how they plan to go back many more times.
** Whatever Rick and Jerry see in the Talking Cat's brain scan from "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" is not shown to the audience, but it's apparently ''so'' terrible that Jerry vomits and is reduced to a TroubledFetalPosition in tears, even ''[[SeenItAll Rick]]'' almost [[AteHisGun eats his gun]] [[DrivenToSuicide in horror]], and Rick erases Jerry's memory of the incident so he won't have to live with it.
* TakeThat:
** Rick says that [[ItMakesSenseInContext a chorus of Morties screaming in agony]] is better to listen to than Music/MumfordAndSons.
** In "Lawnmower Dog", Rick tells Morty that entering dreams will be just like ''Film/{{Inception}}'', except "it'll make sense."
** Rick's big rigged escape area in "Vindicators 3" is very blatantly a ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' reference. When Morty points this out, Rick initially denies it and replies "I'm a drunk, not a hack." Then his drunk self contradicts him.
** The Vindicators episode itself is one long, rather mean-spirited "screw you" to the superhero genre in general, peppered with plenty of vitriolic jabs that would make Creator/GarthEnnis proud.
** According to "Something Ricked This Way Comes", [[Website/{{Facebook}} Mark Zuckerberg's]] name is [[PersonAsVerb literally synonymous with betrayal]].
** "Rest and Ricklaxation" fired off a subtle blink-and-you-miss-it one at the Sbarro pizza restaurant chain. When the Earth is "toxified" (i.e. making everyone act on their worst traits and impulses), patrons of Salad Works leave the restaurant and enter Sbarro instead, and the lone Sbarro patron leaves the store and ''eats out of the dumpster.''
** In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", Rick complains that Morty has taken all of his normal Meeseeks boxes and left him with only Kirkland-brand boxes. The Meeseeks spawned by the Kirkland boxes are red instead of blue, rude and surly instead of polite and cheerful, and smoke cigarettes.
** "Rattlestar Ricklactica" is a scathing and over-the-top satire of the ''{{Franchise/Terminator}}'' franchise. Having learned the secrets of time travel, the alien snakes start indiscriminately sending countless assassins and bodyguards into various points in the past, causing chaos in the space-time continuum to the point where the [[CallBack Time Police]] have to intervene.
* TakeThatUs: When Rick [[BreakingTheFourthWall reveals]] the idea of Morty's stored memories in season 3's eighth episode, "Morty's Mind Blowers", he states that they won't be doing an Interdimensional Cable episode this time. The Interdimensional Cable episodes are always situated as the eighth episodes in seasons, and the last installment, "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" wasn't well received.
* TechnicolorScience: Many of Rick's inventions and much of the alien tech emit all manner of glowing light and strange energies, but this often just goes with the brightly colored nature of the show. More straight examples of the trope occur when the characters are playing with chemicals. The test tubes seen in "Rick Potion #9" and "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" are filled with brightly colored liquids, and weirdly, this makes them seem mundane in comparison to the rest of the show's science.
* TeensAreShort:
** Morty is at least a head shorter than the adults in his family, and Summer is slightly shorter than her mother.
** Rick's teenage version of himself is a head shorter than his adult version and appropriately dubbed Tiny Rick.
* TeenPregnancy: Beth got pregnant with Summer when she was seventeen, and inwardly resents Jerry for impregnating her and supposedly robbing her of her dream to become a human surgeon rather than operate on horses.
* ThatCameOutWrong: When Jerry, Beth, and Summer use Rick's goggles to look at alternate timelines of themselves, Summer says that she doesn't see anything. Beth responds and realizes what she said without even pausing to breathe.
-->"Well, you should select a different timeline. I mean, if your father and I achieved our dreams, there's a chance you were never born -- that came out wrong, that came out ''very'' wrong."
* TheThemeParkVersion: Played with in "Anatomy Park". The "Pirates of the Pancreas" ride is a [[ShapedLikeItself ride through a pancreas with pirates]], but Rick claims that they don't whitewash it and the pirates are "really rapey". Rick is proud of that ride since it was his own creation. "The Rickchurian Mortydate" later reveals that Rick is afraid of pirates, so it was probably supposed to be his "scary ride."
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Played with in "Pickle Rick". It's [[AvertedTrope averted]] at first when Beth is forced into a mandatory family therapy session by the kids' high school after both Morty and Summer have separate problems at school, and they visit Dr. Wong. She makes several comments about the fact that their issues might come from using intelligence to justify their problems rather than dealing with them directly and notes that building healthy relationships with others is hard work, while also correctly noticing Beth's tendencies to put her father on a pedestal and let him do whatever he wants to her family and house while only ever minimally calling him out on it. However, it's then played straight at the end when, despite both Summer and Morty wanting to return to see Dr. Wong again, Beth and Rick gleefully ignore her advice and the kids' wishes and make it clear that they don't intend to ever come back. Thankfully, though, it becomes [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] as of the "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri," wherein it is established that the Smiths have started consistently attending sessions with her, which is further confirmed in the next episode, "Mort Dinner Rick Andre."
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: This is the main reason [[TheSociopath Rick]] is so mentally disturbed: humanity was clearly never meant to have access to TheMultiverse, encounter the horrors therein, and most importantly, face the existential nightmares it causes. Just look at how Morty [[HeroicBSOD reacts to]] having to find and bury his DeadAlternateCounterpart in "Rick Potion #9" and compare it to [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror Rick]].
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch:
** Scary Terry can't help but end his sentences with "bitch".
--->'''Morty:''' [[LampshadeHanging Wow, he sure says "bitch" a lot!]]
** After screwing over Summer, Mr. Needful declares "I'm the Devil, BIATCH! What-what!" before he busts out a solo on his fiddle.
** Near the end of "Close Rick-Counters", our Rick calls one of the Council Ricks to get them to come to his location to arrest the real Rick-murdering culprit, saying, "I caught the real killer, BIIIIITCH!"
** In "A Rickle in Time", when Beth is trying to save a deer that Jerry accidentally hit with their car, the hunter who was tracking it spitefully makes it clear that he hopes she's not a good surgeon and fails to save it, and she answers with "In your dreams, bitch."
** In "Total Rickall," one of Rick's random catchphrases is "[[Literature/TheJungleBook RikkiTikkiTavi]], biiieeeaaatch!"
** When Jerry is messing with a drugged Rick in "The Whirly-Dirly Conspiracy", he acts like he's about to punch him, and when Rick flinches: "That's what I thought, ''bitch''."
** This bit of dialogue in "The [=ABCs=] of Beth":
--->'''Beth''': I was traumatized, Summer! Your generation wouldn't understand that.\\
'''Summer''': Bitch, my generation gets traumatized for breakfast.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The parasites in "Total Rickall" revert to their original appearance when they are killed.
* ThousandYardStare:
** Morty has this by the end of "Rick Potion #9". Given the events of the episode, you can't blame him.
** Summer ends up with this by the end of "The Ricks Must Be Crazy".
* ThrowingOutTheScript: Parodied, and provides the current page image. Rick's "script" for his best man's speech at Birdperson's and Tammy's wedding in "The Wedding Squanchers" consists of two and a half sentences, then some notes telling himself to crumple up the script and start ad-libbing.
* TitleDrop: Go ahead and count the number of times Rick drops it in the page quote alone.
* TitleMontage: The series subverts this by updating the title sequence every season, but having several clips that are fake and created solely for the intro.
* ToiletHumor: It isn't guaranteed in an episode, but it shows up now and then. The episode "Mortynight Run" features a gaseous alien being that Rick dubs "Fart", and Rick farting loudly is something of a RunningGag.
* TrainingMontage: "Something Ricked This Way Comes" has Rick and Summer working out and taking steroids set to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGx6K90TmCI& X Gon' Give It To Ya]]" by DMX so that [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu they can go beat up Mr. Needful]] (and after the credits, assorted assholes).
* TranquilFury:
** After putting together what happened between Morty and the Jellybean King, Rick simply wears an [[http://imgur.com/onhezG7 expression]] of silent rage.
** Rick and Morty both enter into this at different points in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy": Rick when he realizes that Jerry betrayed him to assassins who wanted to kill him, and Morty when he's confronting Summer's now-ex-boyfriend Ethan about breaking her heart.
* TrickedOutShoes:
** Rick gives Morty a pair of grappling shoes that will allow him to walk down a cliff. Unfortunately, Morty tries doing this before Rick tells him that they need to be turned on.
** Mr. Needful gives one of his customers shoes that offer superhuman speed, but they're also cursed so the user can't stop once they started, which would force them to run until they drop dead. Rick manages to remove the curse.
* {{Troll}}: Beth refers to a NoodleIncident in which Jerry was trolled online and responded with a flippant "takes one to know one" and spent the rest of the night refreshing the browser while crying.
* UndercoverCopReveal: Summer's friend Tammy reveals herself to be an agent from the Galactic Federation during her wedding with Birdperson in "The Wedding Squanchers".
* UndersideRide: Lucy clings to the underside of the Smiths' car while cackling "I'm doing Film/CapeFear!" right before [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome she loses her grip at the first bump and gets mortally wounded from being run over by the back tires.]]
* UnfulfilledPurposeMisery: The Meeseeks box summons a creature called Mr. Meeseeks, who obeys one command of their summoner before disappearing. If the task is too hard or takes too long (in this case, helping Jerry get better at golf), they start breaking down but still can't disappear until it's done, so they might find alternate solutions like summoning more Meeseeks or killing their summoner.
* UnseenCharacter: Beth's mother is not seen in the show but is mentioned several times. Whether or not she is deceased or simply not around is unknown. [[spoiler:She seems to make her apparent first appearance in the Season 3 premiere, but since this a fabricated flashback inside of Rick's mind, it's unclear whether or not this is actually her. However, in the season 5 finale it's revealed that the flashback (or at least parts of it) was actually true.]]
* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:We never find out which Beth is the original and which is the clone, as when Rick cloned her he turned his back when mixing up the stasis vats to not know himself. This is pointed out directly by Morty, Summer, and Jerry where they make it clear that they don't ''care'' to know which one is the clone, as both Beths are equally badass and their mother/wife in their own ways. In the end, only Rick is left caring to learn which is which, and once he remembers that he looked away to never know, he mutters to himself about what an asshole he is.]]
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
** It seems this extends to the entire show when it comes to human/alien interaction. None of the human characters seem fazed or bothered by having to interact with multiple alien species.
** In "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" everyone who learns that Tiny Rick is just Rick having transferred his consciousness to a teenage clone of himself reacts completely casually to it.
** From the same episode, Rick arrives naked and covered in blood to pick up Jerry and Beth from marriage counselling. Neither of them comment on it at all, and in fact, don't even seem to notice or care.
** At the end of "The Wedding Squanchers", Earth becomes a member of the Galactic Federation. Aliens are integrated with human society, and nobody thinks anything of it.
** In "Edge of Tomorty", Gearhead is in the backseat of the ship with Rick and [[spoiler:Fascist]] Morty for unexplained reasons. He doesn't say anything, and neither of them gives any indication that they're even aware of his presence.
* UnwantedHarem: In "Rick Potion #9", after Morty's love potion backfires and goes airborne, it results in ''everyone on the planet'' that isn't related to him biologically desperately wanting to have sex with him. Then Rick adds in some mantis DNA and [[{{Yandere}} they want to kill him after the fact]].
* UpliftedAnimal: Snowball and his dog army.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: If Rick's younger clone can be considered, Rick was cheerful and nice in his younger days. No doubt the horrors he was exposed to later in life made him into what he is as an old man.
* UterineReplicator: Female Gazorpians use a combination Uterine Replicator/Sexbot to go and "mate" with the male Gazorpians and then give birth to babies since the females don't want to do either.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* VastBureaucracy: In "The Wedding Squanchers", we get a glimpse of both the scope (6,047 other planets) and yet the inefficiency of the Galactic Federation, when Earth is added within a day, and the ensuing news report summarizes humans as a species "who love to eat spaghetti and pray to kangaroos."
* VerbalTic:
** Rick continually addresses Morty by his name when talking to him. This is toned down in the second episode but is still present. You could also count the constant belching Rick does in mid-sentence whenever he's drunk, which is most of the time.
** In "Lawnmower Dog", Scary Terry constantly ends his sentence with "[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]]"
** "Hi, I'm Mr. Meeseeks! Look at me!"
** Female Gazorpians are always telling each other "I'm here if you need to talk", to the point that it may just be a casual greeting.
** Mr. Poopy Butthole is constantly saying "whoo-wee!"
* VillainWithGoodPublicity:
** Frank Palicky in the pilot. Despite being a sadistic bully to Morty, Summer had a crush on him, and after his death, the rest of the school held a memorial in his honor.
** As of the end of "The Ricklantis Mixup", [[spoiler:Evil Morty. The members of the Citadel of Ricks (or, at least, those still living) see him as their benevolent newly-elected President who cares about all the Ricks and Mortys living there and plans to make life better for them...unaware that he was once the mastermind of a plot that involved killing a couple of dozen Ricks (and framing another Rick for it) and kidnapping and torturing hundreds of Mortys]].
* ViolenceIsNotAnOption: Rick has no problem with just shooting whatever ails him, so typically, he's only ''not'' killing things when doing so wouldn't solve his problems. A specific example comes with the Cromulons, giant floating space-heads that force Earth into a musical reality show, where they explicitly state the losers' planets will be destroyed by a plasma ray. Rick plays along, but a nuke-happy General tries to blow up the Cromulons instead...[[NoSell to predictable results.]]
* ViralTransformation: In "Rick Potion #9", Rick's attempt to cure every one of Morty's love potion turned them into Mantis Men. His attempt to cure everyone of ''that'' turned them into [[Creator/DavidCronenberg "Cronenbergs"]].
* VisualPun: In "Morty's Mind Blowers", we see Rick owns a device that can magnetically attract whatever is programmed into it. When Morty toys with it, dozens of horrified girls ([[HeroesWantRedheads all redheads]]) start flying towards the garage: a literal babe magnet.
* WeReallyDoCare: In "Ricksy Business", Birdperson questions why Morty cares if he no longer can have adventures with Rick if he thinks Rick is just a huge asshole and notes that, if Morty truly is fed up with Rick's shenanigans, fate has presented him with a way out. Morty realizes that Birdperson is right and that he does still want to go on adventures, and wakes Rick up in time to prevent his parents from seeing the house trashed.
* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in "The Ricklantis Mixup". The assembly line Ricks and construction worker Ricks and plumber Ricks and so forth on the Citadel of Ricks are working-class rather than slaves, and they're technically living in the present, but they're part of a society half composed of super-geniuses. Having robots handle the unpleasant jobs would make more sense, but of course, it would also undercut the citadel being used as a parody of present-day society.
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Rick is implied to be this, as he wanted a stadium of men who even remotely resembled his father to watch him have sex with Unity. They're heard chanting "Go son go!"
** It becomes clearer and clearer as the series goes on that Beth is this as well; a combination of wanting Rick's love and approval and desperately not wanting him to leave her again makes her willing to put up with way too much from him and very reluctant to put her foot down even when she really needs to. Luckily, she seems to grow past this by the end of Season 3.
** This mindset is deconstructed thoroughly throughout the series and reaches a head in season five's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E7GotronJerrysisRickvangelion Gotron episode]]: Rick is a cynical man with incredibly eccentric interests, which is why his praise is so rare, and people mistake that rarity for value. Conversely, the fact that Jerry is so easy to please is why nobody cares if he is.
* WeirdnessCensor: This happens quite a bit throughout the series (see UnusuallyUninterestingSight)
** None of the people Summer invites to the mutual house party seem at all fazed by the extra-dimensional oddities Rick keeps company with. Nor do they seem to notice the entire house has been suddenly teleported to another world or dimension. (At least one of them is later revealed as an undercover galactic cop, so...)
** In "Pickle Rick", Rick finally shows up to family therapy still in his pickle form, while also wearing his PowerArmor that's partially made up of the body parts of rats. Naturally, his family doesn't find anything weird about this, but Dr. Wong, the therapist, also doesn't act as if this is anything remotely out of the ordinary.[[note]]This could be because she's used to having some pretty "out there" patients, since many of the people that she treats have issues with eating poop, or possibly also because, by this point in the series, Earth was already temporarily part of the Galactic Federation, and after having aliens of all different kinds visiting their planet for months, a guy who's turned himself into a pickle is relatively mundane in comparison.[[/note]]
* WhamEpisode:
** If fan consensus says this, then "Rick Potion #9" is definitely this, given how Rick and Morty abandon ''their'' doomed reality for a ''non-doomed'' one... and take the places of their ''dead'' counterparts.
** The [[SeasonFinale Season 2 Finale]] "The Wedding Squanchers" where Rick allows himself to be taken prisoner while Earth becomes a member of the tyrannical Galactic Federation.
** "The Rickshank Rickdemption" resolves the Season 2 cliffhanger. [[spoiler:Rick successfully escapes from the Galactic prison and destroys both the Galactic Federation and the Council of Ricks. Morty shows Summer the doomed reality of Earth C137 from "Rick Potion #9" and Beth is divorcing Jerry. Rick also says that his PetTheDog moment in "The Wedding Squanchers" was just part of a BatmanGambit and that he doesn't really care about his family, but it's hard to know how seriously to take that. Tammy also rebuilt Birdperson as an evil cyborg.]] It was also unexpectedly aired on AprilFools two years after the last season ended. ''Phew.''
** "The Ricklantis Mixup" ends with [[spoiler:a Morty becoming the President of the initially destroyed Citadel. However, it's revealed that he's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind Evil Morty]] in disguise as he seizes complete control of the station.]]
** "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" confirms something that many fans had suspected for a while: [[spoiler:that Beth is every bit as amoral as Rick himself. As of this episode she finally comes to terms with that, possibly leaving to wreak havoc across the universe while leaving a clone to watch the kids, or also possibly deciding to stay and put real effort into improving herself and being a better mom to her kids.]] Oh, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Rick lost an arm.]] (He got it back.)
** "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort" has a rare dive into Rick's past, and confirms at least part of the [[spoiler:Rickshank Redemption flashback was true. Rick C-137's (AKA our Rick) Beth died young, before she gave birth to Summer and Morty.]]. Rick also has [[spoiler: romantic feelings for Bird Person, and the latter's rejection of them made one of the worst days of Rick's life]].
** "Rickamurai Jack" reveals the actual truth behind Rick's past ''and'' brings [[spoiler:Evil Morty]] back into the storyline. [[spoiler:Morty sees a full-on flashback of his Rick’s past and learns Rick C-137’s “fabricated backstory” from “The Rickshank Redemption” was almost entirely true: his Beth was murdered in childhood, along with Rick’s wife Diane, by a rogue Rick. Rick then became the [[TheDreaded boogeyman of Ricks]] by slaughtering dozens of them (maybe more) on his quest to find his wife’s killer, until the other Ricks call a truce. He helps create the citadel and ends up abandoning it before going to another timeline and adopting the Beth seen in the first half of S1 and her family. Also, the citadel has been “farming” Mortys for years — first by ensuring Beth gets together with Jerry in every timeline (implying they might not even be together otherwise), and then through cloning. The Ricks also built the Central Finite Curve, which is a wall separating the infinite universes where Rick is the smartest thing alive from the rest of the multiverse. Evil Morty kills the majority of Ricks and Mortys, destroys the Citadel ''and'' the CFC and escapes to a new multiverse outside of it using his own portal gun]].
** The next season’s opener, “Solaricks”, builds on this further by revealing the Morty Rick has been hanging out with since day one isn’t just ''any'' Morty; he’s [[spoiler:the grandson of ''the Rick who killed Main Rick’s family''. Rick had been hanging out with them in vague hope their own Rick would show up, but his lines in the final scene seem to indicate he’s actually keeping Morty around out of sentimentality; he reassures Morty isn’t bait because Morty’s original Rick “truly does not give a shit”.]] This particular twist casts many of Rick’s actions and offhand comments from prior episodes in a new light.
* WhamLine:
** From "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind:"
---> '''Morty''': Oh, my God, Rick, look! There's a bunch of people strapped all over that building!
---> '''Rick''': Not people, Morty, '''''Mortys.'''''
** Some occurs with "Rixty Minutes".
*** This argument between Jerry and Beth, regarding Summer's birth:
---->'''Jerry:''' All this time, you've been thinking, "What if that loser Jerry hadn't talked me out of the abortion?"
*** An in-universe one for Summer (but not for the audience, who already knows this):
---->'''Morty''': ''(points to the graves in the backyard)'' That out there? That's my grave!
** Tammy's speech at her wedding reception in the season 2 finale:
--->'''Tammy''': But then I think, y'know, in a lot of ways I'm not a high school senior from the planet Earth. In a lot of ways what I really am is a deep cover agent for the Galactic Federation and you guys are a group of wanted criminals and this entire building is, in a certain sense, surrounded.
** Not a spoken line, but a ''song'' at the end of "The Ricklantis Mix-up." [[spoiler: [[{{Leitmotif}} "For the Damaged Coda"]] begins playing once the newly-elected President Morty has the shadow cabal of Ricks killed, revealing [[EvilCounterpart just who we're]] [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind really dealing with.]]]]
** In “Solaricks” he tells Morty, “We're gonna go [[spoiler:kill your grandpa]]!” This confirms that our Morty [[spoiler:originates from the same Earth as the Rick who killed Rick's family]].
* WhamShot: A '''giant''' one for "The Ricklantis Mix-up". At the end of the episode, [[spoiler:Candidate Morty has finally become President of the Citadel, and he has disposed of some Ricks and Mortys who have disagreed with his rule, even his presidential campaign manager. [[ThrownOutTheAirlock As their bodies are ejected into space]], contents of classified documents that Campaign Manager Morty had are shown to the audience while they are drifting in space: pictures of the Candidate Morty [[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E10CloseRickCountersOfTheRickKind with a familiar eyepatch and a robotic Rick.]] The real Wham? The Rick that gave Campaign Manager Morty the pictures is floating in space too. ''Nobody left alive'' on the Citadel knows who Evil Morty actually is.]]
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: A character on ''[[ShowWithInAShow Pregnant Baby]]'' says this when she decides she doesn't need protection since she's already pregnant.
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: In "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender", Rick gets so blackout drunk that he single-handedly kills the Worldender character threatening the universe and makes matters worse by creating an even bigger threat. He acknowledges that he officially had too much to drink last night.
* WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: Inverted. One episode featured a ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}''-themed ship which is designed to hit an iceberg and sink every time it sails. It misses the iceberg completely.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** All the people who had bought cursed items and were waiting to be served when Rick got bored and closed. Enjoy your curses everyone.
** Subverted in "A Rickle in Time." The neighbor that Summer forgot to put a mattress undertakes a nasty fall off his roof and is then forgotten about, until the very end of the episode, which offhandedly reveals that he survived the incident, but is now in a wheelchair.
** In "The Ricklantis Mixup", the ending shows short epilogues for all of the surviving characters except for [[spoiler:Rick J-22, who was last seen still hooked up to a LotusEaterMachine so his brain fluid can be used to make wafer cookies. Since President Morty killed the factory owner, it's unknown what's become of J-22 or any of the other Ricks working there.]]
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Morty sometimes tries to take a stand with his grandpa after the situation inevitably devolves into chaos and horror. In "Rick Potion #9", Rick turns it back on him, rightly comparing Morty's love-potion request to a bid for date rape.
** The entire family pretty much calls out Rick in "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" for [[spoiler:secretly cloning Beth without telling anybody. Even worse, he doesn't even know which Beth is the original or clone, because he deliberately hid that knowledge from himself. Everybody finally accepts what a terrible father figure Rick is.]]
* WhatMeasureIsAMook:
** Rick tells Morty in the pilot episode that it's okay to shoot the spaceport security guards because they're "robots". They aren't, but Rick contemptuously refers to them as such because of his hatred for bureaucracy.
** The last thing the Zigerian leader mentions before mixing the chemicals that destroy the entire warship in a massive explosion is how all of his staff members have families.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: ''Constantly'' abused and exploited for comic effect. Of course, it's not like the series places a great deal of emphasis on human life, either.
* WhatWereTheySellingAgain: Discussed in "Rixty Minutes" after a ''very'' confusing ad for "Turbulent Juice" featuring [[FanService hordes of shirtless men]].
-->'''Morty:''' What in the hell?\\
'''Rick:''' Sex sells, Morty.\\
'''Morty:''' Sex sells ''what''? Is it a movie? Does it clean stuff?
* WholePlotReference:
** Owing to its origins as a parody of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', multiple episodes pastiche sci-fi and speculative fiction works, oftentimes blatantly lampshaded in a very tongue-in-cheek manner.
** "Lawnmower Dog" is one for ''Film/{{Inception}}''. The act of entering someone's dream is even referred to as "Incepting".
--->'''Morty:''' But I-it's been like a whole year! \\
'''Rick:''' It's been six hours. Dreams move one one-hundredth the speed of reality, and dog time is one-seventh human time. So, you know, every day here is like a minute. It's like ''Inception'', Morty, so if it's confusing and stupid, then so is everyone's favorite movie.
** The "Lawnmower Dog" plot itself is a reference to ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'', a movie about a mentally challenged man who gains intelligence through the application of technology, and it turns him toward malevolence.
** "Anatomy Park" is a hybrid of ''Film/FantasticVoyage'' and ''Film/JurassicPark''.
** "Something Ricked This Ways Comes" initially starts as one to ''Literature/NeedfulThings'', down to the storeowner being named Mr. Needful. And then Rick blatantly references ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', Creator/RayBradbury, and ''Series/FridayThe13thTheSeries'' when he comes back with his device that scans and analyzes what each object's JackassGenie twist is gonna be.
** Invoked in-universe by the ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}''-themed cruise ship that Jerry and Beth go on in "Ricksy Business". People can live out their Jack and Rose fantasies by recreating scenes from the movie.
** The main plot reference of "Ricksy Business" itself [[Film/RiskyBusiness is rather obvious]].
** "Raising Gazorpazorp" cribs much of its A-plot from the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Abandoned", in which the crew deal with a fast-growing infant Jem Hadar boy left on their station. Its B-plot is based on the somewhat-comprehensible parts of ''Film/{{Zardoz}}''.
** "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" is this to the Tom Baker era Doctor Who serial The Deadly Assassin, where the president of the Time Lords is assassinated and the Council of Time Lords blames the Doctor. It turns out the killer was [[spoiler: The Master.]]
** The Time Cop in "A Rickle in Time" is a [[Literature/TheLangoliers Langolier]], only with skinny arms and fewer teeth.
** "Look Who's Purging Now" is one for Film/ThePurge, in which society has achieved world peace through a night of wanton cathartic murder. Rick even references the film itself and states that multiple civilizations across the universe have their own Purges under different names.
** "Rickmancing the Stone" serves as one of the ''Film/MadMax'' films, taking place in a post-apocalyptic version of Earth where "Death Stalkers" scrounge for supplies. Summer even kills an [[Film/MadMaxFuryRoad Immortan Joe]] {{Expy}} near the beginning.
** The second half of "Rattlestar Ricklactica" is basically a ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie, but with snakes instead of humans.
** ''Promortyus'' is a clear reference to ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' and the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise in general. The entire plot only works due to Rick and Morty [[TooDumbToLive being stupid enough]] putting their faces right in front of a clearly suspicious egg, allowing themselves to be attacked by facehugging parasites.
* AWildRapperAppears: Parodied in "Total Rickall" when Summer goes into a SugarBowl music video and suddenly a very aggressive rapper who is incredibly out of place shows up and changes the entire tone of the song.
* WildTeenParty: In "Ricksy Business", Summer immediately plans one of these while Jerry and Beth are away. Rick decides to one-up her party idea by inviting hordes of his own "[[InnocentAliens friends]] and [[AmusingAlien acquaintances]]" to his party, and whoever they know. After Morty has a small mishap with one of Rick's inventions while attempting to woo his would-be girlfriend Jessica, the party becomes literally [[RecycledINSPACE "out of this world"]], teleporting the house to another universe entirely. Despite the nonsensical and dangerous events therein, one notably involving a human teen getting [[BlackComedyRape "lucky"]] with a bunch of gargantuan creatures lurking outside the house's perimeter after it had been teleported, the odd mixture of guests find the time to mingle with each other, and have fun, regardless.
* WimpFight: Rick gets into one with the Devil in "Something Ricked This Way Comes".
* WithDueRespect: "Rick, with all due respect--what am I saying? What respect is due?"
* WombLevel: All of Anatomy Park, which exists inside of a homeless man named Reuben. The main attraction of the park happens to be all of Reuben's many diseases.
* WomenDrivers: Invoked in "A Rickle in Time". Jerry was the one driving when he hit a deer, but insists that Beth say she was at the wheel because he was eating rum-raisin ice cream.
* WorldOfSnark: Not every single character introduced on the show is a straight DeadpanSnarker, but they all get their moments. At the very least, the main cast certainly have had at least one good sarcastic comeback. [[ThrowTheDogABone Even Jerry.]]
* WouldHurtAChild:
** In the pilot, Rick freezes a teenager threatening Morty with a knife. This ultimately kills him when he tips over and shatters (although in Rick's defense, Rick didn't intend for this to happen... but he didn't appear to care if it did).
** All of the adventures he takes Morty on can be counted too. He isn't above risking Morty's life or having him be a mule for him.
* WraparoundBackground: Jerry drives through this when he's in a simulation running at low capacity. Rick has the same three people passing behind him as he talks on the phone in the same episode. Neither [[SpottingTheThread notice]], but Rick knew what he was in from the very start, so it's completely beneath him.
* WriterOnBoard:
** In one episode parodying ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Rick makes a point to mention how overrated that film is, which follows Dan Harmon's comments about it in his podcast ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}''.
** In "Look Who's Purging Now," Morty criticizes screenplay gimmicks like the use of HowWeGotHere. Dan Harmon often complains about clichés he hates in screenplays.
** Played with in "Interdimensional Cable 2". When Summer complains about juvenile violence in the media, Morty becomes enraged and rants that people shouldn't have to communicate through the filter of her comfort. It's immediately undercut by Rick implying that Morty is just sexually frustrated.
* YankTheDogsChain:
** Done with Jerry in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens", where he has the perfect day and wins an award right before Rick comes in and reveals that the whole thing has just been one giant simulation. When Jerry tries starting his next day the same way in real life, it stops as soon as it started in the simulation.
--->'''Rick:''' Don't worry about it, Jerry. Who cares if the greatest day of your life was just a simulation running at minimum capacity?
** Also happens to Morty in "Lawnmower Dog" when Rick shows up to reveal the life of luxury he had been living as Snuffles' pet was just part of a dream.
--->'''Rick:''' Right before I incepted you, you crapped yourself. I mean, real bad, Morty. It's a total mess out there, Morty. Of all the things that you thought happened, you crapping yourself is the only real thing.
** In "Edge of Tomorty", Morty uses a death crystal to see [[TheManyDeathsOfYou possible ways he might die]], and sees that there's apparently a future that involves him ending up with Jessica and growing old with her. After an entire episode of [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope going way too far]] in his efforts to make this future happen, he finds out that Jessica wants to be a hospice care worker after leaving school, and the future he saw just had her comforting him when he was old and dying without any kind of special connection to him in particular.
* YearInsideHourOutside:
** The nesting {{Pocket Dimension}}s in "The Ricks Must be Crazy" have time which runs progressively faster the further down you go. A period of months spent three dimensions down equates to a few hours outside. The minutes-long final fight lasts a few seconds for Summer.
** The same thing happens in "Lawnmower Dog" as a spoof of ''Film/{{Inception}}'', where time moves faster the deeper they go in Goldenfold's subconscious. Snuffle's AllJustADream apocalyptic scenario at the end goes on for a year, despite everyone involved only being asleep for six hours, which Rick chalks up to the dream being measured in dog years:
-->'''Rick:''' "And if that doesn't make any sense, then [[TakeThat neither does everyone's favorite movie!]]"
* YouAllLookFamiliar: Both parodied when Jerry fails to notice he keeps passing the same simulated background people and played straight when Rick uses the fact to get large numbers of people to work on the same problem at the same time, thereby freezing the program in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens"!
* YouCanRunButYouCantHide: Parodied in "Lawnmower Dog". Scary Terry keeps saying this as he stalks Rick and Morty. The duo then discusses why they are listening to him, pointing out that since Scary Terry is the villain, he probably wouldn't offer them advice that would actually help them, so they decide to try and hide from him anyway. It turns out to be very effective; Scary Terry spends hours searching for them unsuccessfully before giving up in frustration and going home.
* YouDoNotWantToKnow: After Rick locks down the house in "Total Rickall":
-->'''Beth:''' Dad, why does our house have blast shields?\\
'''Rick:''' Trust me Beth, you don't wanna know [[ParodiedTrope how many answers that question has]].
* YouMonster:
** Morty calls Rick a monster before comparing him to Hitler. He then takes this last part back, saying that at least Hitler cared about Germany.
** Zeep Zanflorp calls Rick a monster after the latter destroys his pocket universe.
* YourMom: Morty discusses his feelings for Jessica with Jerry, and Jerry says that he used to feel that way about a lady named "Your mom"--and then specifies that he's speaking literally and not as an urban diss.
* YoYoPlotPoint: In some episodes, Jerry and Beth's marriage is on the verge of collapse before some event in the episode brings them closer together, rekindling their interest in each other and making them determined to give their marriage another try... until the next episode [[StatusQuoIsGod shoves them back into square one]] and they have to work through their failing marriage all over again. "Rick Potion No. 9" also justifies the trope by having Rick and Morty jump to another dimension, where Jerry and Beth never repaired their marriage as we saw them do earlier in the episode. "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" lampshades their ever-waffling relationship and explains that they're codependent. Given Rick's presence constantly traumatizes them and destabilizes ... reality... pretty justified. Also, they're not really great people and their marriage has a pretty shitty foundation.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Rick occaisionally compliments a member of his family for their ideas or actions. They typically react with entirely appropriate self-hatred.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:A-D]]
* AbsurdPhobia: It turns out Rick is afraid of wicker furniture and pirates.
* AbusiveParents: Due to [[AbusiveAlienParents species divide]], Morty accidentally became one in "Raising Gazorpazorp", as chronicled in his half-alien son's book ''My Horrible Father.''
-->'''Beth:''' It's a thankless job, Morty. You did the best you could.
** Beth and Jerry aren't necessarily abusive, more neglectful. They didn't pay their children much attention when they were babies, one reason could be because they became parents so young. Earlier in the series, Jerry tries a little harder at being a good parent than Beth, but she has gotten ''much'' better since the end of Season 3 and dropped the ParentalNeglect almost entirely.
** Jerry also mentions how "they can't all be raised like reptiles by a mentally ill scientist" suggesting that Rick may have been this to Beth when she was a child. He was neglectful of her, to the point where she would draw him into family pictures with a crayon. However, this is turned back on Beth when Rick shows her the box of inventions ''she'' specifically asked him for. Some highlights include stickers that cause amnesia, shoes that make no sound (for sneaking up on people), and a sentient switchblade. Rick mentions that Beth was a "scary kid" and that he did everything he could to limit her interactions with other people. He fully admits his inability to be a good parent but makes Beth take some responsibility for her own actions.
* ActorAllusion: "Meeseeks and Destroy" isn't the first time Creator/TomKenny has voiced an [[WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown evil bean]].
* ActuallyPrettyFunny:
** Subverted with Evil Rick's bug-like henchman, who randomly makes a laughing noise every few seconds, which our Rick mistakes for approval of his zingers.
** In "The Rickchurian Mortydate", Rick finds the President's rivalry with them to be annoying, but clearly enjoys watching Morty verbally spar with the President.
* AdamAndEvePlot: The very first thing we see Rick do in the series is drunkenly planning to exterminate the human race except for Morty and the girl he likes.
* AerithAndBob: Generally justified due to the many alien species in the series obviously having different cultures from Earth.
* AnAlienNamedBob:
** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]; Many [[InsectoidAliens Gromflomites]] have alien-sounding ''first'' names, paired with ''last'' names that sound like mundane human ''first'' names. Examples include Krombopulos Michael the assassin, and Cornvelious Daniel the interrogation agent.
** Tony, the alien gentleman from "The Old Man and the Seat" who turns out to be using Rick's private toilet.
** The face-hugger aliens who possess Rick's and Morty's bodies in "Promortyus" are named Bruce and Steve.
** In "A Rickconvenient Mort", Rick has a fling with a very non-humanoid alien woman named Daphne.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys:
** Summer has a crush on Morty's bully, Frank Palicky, in the pilot episode.
** Played with concerning Jessica and her boyfriend. She hates how he always picks fights, and yet they're still on-and-off until she permanently breaks up with him by the start of Season 4.
* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: Several planets and alternate realities Rick and Morty visit.
* AmbiguousDisorder:
** It's strongly implied in the first episode, and Jerry explicitly speculates to the same effect, that the reason Morty is underperforming in school is that he has some kind of learning disability. In "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty", when Rick and Morty are trying to enter [=HeistCon=], Rick says that Morty has Asperger's, although it's possible he wasn't serious and just making a ShoutOut to ''Film/BabyDriver'' (whose main character also has an AmbiguousDisorder).
** Rick's [[TheAlcoholic drinking and substance abuse problem]] has been acknowledged in canon, but he also often has a notable mix of a lack of empathy and [[spoiler: suicidal tendencies]].
** Dan Harmon, co-creator of the show, is on the autism spectrum and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emo-OT3RzQc has spoken before]] about how he tries to create positive representations for the autistic community with his characters. Both Rick and Morty (but especially Morty) display symptoms of autism-like stuttering or difficulties forming sentences, failing to pick up sarcasm, and only in Rick's case, lack of empathy. In "The Rickchurian Mortydate", in his usual cynical tone, Rick asks if ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' was made for autistic people, because he's starting to [[BaitAndSwitchComment enjoy playing it]].
* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: The whereabouts of Beth's mother have not been given a proper explanation. Rick has implied that his marriage to her was not stable and that they did separate before his disappearance. Beth sheds a tear in "Pilot" when Rick tells her that he wishes her mother was present to eat the family's breakfast, but it is never confirmed if Beth's mother is actually dead.
** In "The Rickshank Redemption", Rick is shown a memory in which a woman named Diane is his wife as well as Beth's mother, and she is killed in it along with Child-Beth; while Rick claims the memory was fabricated to fool his interrogator, Season 5 eventually confirms that it was real, and Diane and Beth were killed by another Rick.
** That being said, it seems like the solid majority of Ricks in the multiverse ''did'' abandon their own versions of Diane and Beth to focus on science; dialogue heavily implies that this was the case for both of the Beths who act as main characters during the show, and when living with them, Rick goes along with the assumption that he was one such Rick who did so. As mentioned above, dialogue ''also'' implies that Diane is still dead in these universes as well (just from a different cause); in fact, the only time Diane has ever been seen alive on the show so far is in other characters' memories of her.
* AmbiguouslyBi:
** Jerry is in this territory after the incident with Sleepy Gary in the episode "Total Rickall". Although his feelings for Gary appeared to be real, the entire incident was a falsely implanted memory of a relationship that never happened with a man that never existed. As Jerry hasn't yet shown any romantic interest in a male character who definitely exists, it's difficult to say whether him potentially having any interest in men at all is really the case or was just another part of the implanted memory. "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", however, makes this less ambiguous as he participates in a threesome between him, Beth, and Mr. Nimbus.
** Summer, despite clearly being into boys, has given off hints of being interested in girls. In "The Old Man and the Seat", one of her selected soulmates is a woman, and the episodes "Rattlestar Ricklactica" and "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion" reveal she likes going to Boob World.
** For most of the series, Beth is only interested in men, with her partners being Jerry and Mr. Nimbus (with whom she has a threesome with Jerry). Come "Bethic Twinstinct", though, and [[spoiler:Beth--that is, both versions of her, Earth and Space Beth--fall in love with each other. The ambiguity is whether Beth is outright attracted to women in general as well as men, or if falling for a different version of ''herself'' [[IfItsYouItsOkay is a special case]]]].
* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Galactic Federation in the first two seasons. Rick shows a lot of disdain towards the organization and his friends see themselves as Freedom Fighters going against them. The Federation are made out as oppressive and have been seen to be apathetic to civilian casualties. At the same time, this information comes from [[UnreliableNarrator Rick]] and they do keep their word when Rick turns himself in so his family can return to Earth. That being said, their appearances in Season 3 and onward remove any remaining ambiguity; while many of the people ''working'' for the G-Fed are JustFollowingOrders, the government itself is shown committing genocide on various planets, [[WouldHurtAChild holding an innocent child in a brutal prison]] [[SinsOfOurFathers simply because her father is a wanted criminal]], and decide to destroy the Earth when Space Beth goes there for no real reason except that they ''can''.
* AndIMustScream: Glockenspiel Jerry is willing to do anything to live until he is incapacitated and forced to endure centuries of torment, unable to die, all scored to Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever."
* AnimatedShockComedy: ''Rick and Morty'' is generally seen as an example of this trope "done right". A lot of the humor is extremely sophomoric, with phallic imagery, burp/fart jokes, pop culture references and violence galore; however, it plays the consequences of a lot of these jokes completely straight for the sake of furthering the story and developing the characters, who even at their flattest are much more fleshed out and three-dimensional than a good deal of the show's contemporaries. The most notable of this is the writers' conscious decision to make the occasional verbal rape joke while playing every instance of the act itself completely for horror, illustrating the difference between [[BlackComedy making jokes]] ''about'' rape and thinking rape is ''funny''.
* AnyoneCanDie:
** One-off or even recurring characters might as well have countdown clocks over their heads. If someone survives a guest appearance, they'll probably be killed off for a dramatic moment when they next appear.
** Overlaps with DeathIsCheap for the main characters, who can be replaced by alternate-universe versions of themselves and thus might occasionally suffer a sudden PlotArmor failure.
*** "Solaricks" is a particularly notable example. While the audience has followed the same versions of the titular duo throughout the entire series, by midway through the second season, the show is on its second iterations of Summer and Beth and third iteration of Jerry as the "main" versions of the rest of the family. [[spoiler:This episode kills off or confirms the deaths of all previous versions who have been main characters in earlier seasons; Original Jerry confirms that the original Beth and Summer [[KilledOffscreen died offscreen]] after being frozen in ice in "The Rickshank Redemption", and he himself is killed by Rick Prime in TheStinger. Meanwhile, the second main version of Jerry dies when he's bitten and assimilated by Mr. Frundles.]]
*** This especially stands out in the episodes starring the Citadel of Ricks. The ''main'' Rick and Morty are safe, but any other versions of them are fair game. "The Rickshank Redemption", "The Ricklantis Mixup", and "Rickmurai Jack" in particular all see ''extremely'' high body counts of various alternate Ricks and Mortys, and in the latter episode, [[spoiler:the ''entire Citadel'' is destroyed, killing almost every Rick and Morty there except for the main duo and a small number of other Mortys (most of whom die in the following episode anyway).]]
*** A major joke of the episode "Mortyplicity", the entire episode focuses on clones of the family who are evading squids coming to kill them who are, in turn, also clones dressed up as squids trying to kill other clones because they realize they're clones. Repeatedly throughout the episode the viewer watches one particular iteration of the family for sometimes 2-3 minutes of time, only for them to be suddenly killed and focus is shifted to another family. By the end of the episodes, the clones trying to figure out who is the real one are running around killing each other in a mass frenzy, and ''even then'' the narrative keeps focusing on a specific family only for them to die and be revealed as yet ''more'' clones.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
** The coda for "Something Ricked This Way Comes" has the very muscular Rick and Summer beating up: a neo-nazi, a bully who pantses a kid, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church carrying one of their infamous "God Hates Fags" signs, and a guy who's mean to his dog.
** Poncho's grievances against Dr. Bloom include his pompousness, negligence, and [[BerserkButton giving iTunes gift cards as holiday bonuses.]]
** In "Get Schwifty", the first three undesirables sent to the Cromulons are a thief, a {{Goth}}, and a "movie talker".
** In "The ABC's of Beth", Rick goes through some of the things Beth asked him to make for her as a child: rayguns, a whip that forces people to like you, invisibility cuffs, a [[Film/TheParentTrap1961 parent trap]] (BearTrap), a lightning gun, a teddy bear with anatomically correct innards, night-vision googly-eye glasses, sound erasing sneakers, false fingerprints, fall-asleep darts, a lie-detecting doll, an indestructible baseball bat, a taser shaped like a ladybug, a fake police badge, location tracking stickers, ''rainbow-colored duct tape,'' mind-control hair clips, poison gum, and a pink, sentient switchblade.
** From "The Rickchurian Mortydate":
--->'''The President:''' You're a terrorist, you're an enemy of the state, and you [[GroinAttack kicked me in the balls]] ten minutes ago!
* ArtEvolution: The character outlines become smoother and the backgrounds and designs of other characters more detailed as the show goes on.
* ArtShift: The post-Season 1 promos has Rick and Morty (and Mr. Meeseeks) appearing as puppet versions of themselves, and the commercials for "Two Brothers" and "Jean Quadrant Vincent 16" are animated in a more dramatic, realistic comic style. The promos made for the third season's release use far creepier looking animatronic rod puppets.
** The special shorts all feature this being animated by different teams- "Bushworld Adventures" is handed in Michael Cusack's trademark style of DerangedAnimation; "Samurai and Shogun" is animated by Creator/StudioDEEN and Creator/StudioTwinkle in full CGI, and "Rick and Morty vs. Genocider" is animated by [[Creator/TMSEntertainment Telecom Animation Film]] and animator Takashi Sano in the same style as the ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' anime. The following short with the same team, "Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)" uses a more stylized look slightly closer to the show.
* AscendedExtra:
** Summer started as a recurring character in the early episodes. She has become more major to the show since "Raising Gazorpazorp", frequently becoming a trio with Rick and Morty in adventures.
** Beth and Jerry also rise to prominence as the series goes on, with their subplots becoming more important and each of them getting a solo adventure with Rick in Season 3 (Jerry in "The Whirly-Dirly Conspiracy" and Beth in "The ABC's of Beth").
** Arguably Squanchy Cat. He appears as an almost throw-away gag for Rick's party, in which Rick seems to not know him very well. By the second season finale, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Squanchy was a member of Rick's freedom fighters and rock band.]]
** [[spoiler:Tammy Geuterman and Birdperson aka "Phoenixperson" who barely appear at all throughout most of the series and fall off after the season 2 finale "The Wedding Squanchers", only to suddenly reappear in "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" as the major antagonists of the finale.]]
* AssShove:
** Rick makes Morty shove two mega-seeds up his ass so that he can smuggle them through inter-dimensional customs.
--->'''Rick:''' When we get to customs, I'm gonna need you to take these seeds into the bathroom. And I'm gonna need you to put them waaaay up inside your butthole Morty. Put them way up inside there, as far as they can fit.
** One alternate dimension is populated entirely by hamsters who live inside people's butts. It's pretty ambiguous if the people are even living things since they seem to function like mobile homes.
*** However, the post-credits stinger shows the family visiting the "Hamster in Butts" dimension, where a hamster helpfully shows a diagram of the arrangement. The 'people' are in fact just empty puppets where the hamsters live. The people are like cars or houses and do not seem to have separate identities.
** In "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", when viewing photographs of the murders of 27 other versions of Rick, one of the Ricks was killed by having his head literally shoved up his ass.
* AttemptedRape / NearRapeExperience: Quite a bit.
** Happens to Morty during an adventure. Luckily, Morty kicks ass, and then Rick kills the attempted rapist.
** Rick argues that love potions are basically this, though he takes his time before saying so. In the same episode, everyone outside of Morty's family is infected by the potion, turning the tables on Morty.
** Happens to Summer on another adventure. Luckily, Rick kicks ass.
** In yet another episode, Jerry is the victim of it. Luckily, Beth kicks ass.
* AuthorAppeal:
** In "Something Ricked This Way Comes," the final victim of Rick and Summer's rampage is a dog abuser. Harmon and Roiland are both dog owners. Harmon put his dog on his VanityPlate, while Roiland named Jerry after one of his dogs.
** Ice-T showing up in "Get Schwifty," with Dan Harmon doing the voice. Harmon loves doing Ice-T impersonations in ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}''
** Dan Harmon does what sounds like an improvised rap in "Rick Potion No. 9." Improvised rapping is a big part of ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}''.
** In a ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}'' episode, Harmon tells the story about how he went for years without realizing he had a thing for redheads; A friend looked through his erotica collection and pointed it out to him. In the episode "Auto Erotic Assimilation," Rick has an orgy with a stadium full of redheads. In "Morty's Mind Blowers", Rick has an invention that works like a huge magnet on anything and Morty uses it to attract redheads.
** In "Interdimensional Cable 2," an alien voiced by Creator/WernerHerzog criticizes humanity for doing things like putting an object up to their crotch and saying, "Look, I'm so-and-so penis!" A recurring feature on ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}'' had Harmon singing a song about a man with a chicken noodle soup can for a penis. Also on the podcast, comptroller Jeff Davis would occasionally sing a song called "Pringles Dick," about a man who puts his penis inside a Pringles can.
** In "Interdimensional Cable 2," the commercial for Little Bits, the restaurant that only serves tiny food, is based on Bytes, the same idea for a restaurant frequently endorsed by Dan Harmon's friend "The Real Abed."
** The plot of season 3 reflects Dan Harmon's divorce.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther:
** Jerry and Beth do ''not'' have a good marriage, and are sometimes unsure if they're even in love, but one always has the other's back when push comes to shove. They do get divorced at the beginning of Season 3, but end up rekindling their love and reconciling by the end of it.
*** ''How'' they get back together is an example as well. Beth is worried that her father may have cloned her and she might actually be the clone, and talks to Jerry about it. Rather than taking advantage of her vulnerability like he might have in the earlier seasons, he sincerely reassures her by recreating their first date, leading Beth to realize how lucky she was to be with him. From Seasons 4 and onwards, while their marriage still has its bumps and minor issues, it's a much happier and healthier relationship overall.
---->'''Beth''': This isn't the woman you married, Jerry. Because this woman loves you.
*** This also extends to Space Beth. Even though Space Beth is the version of the two Beths (one of whom is a clone of the other) who remained divorced from Jerry, and questions why Earth Beth continues to stay with him, she did keep his surname and it's hinted that despite their divorce, she does still feel something for him. [[spoiler:In "Bethic Twinstinct", it's even implied that she joins Earth Beth in a threesome with him when the two Beths fall in love.]]
** The titular characters as well. Rick, despite his abrasive behavior, always wants what's best (well, at least what ''he'' thinks is best) for his grandchildren and isn't above having fun with them once in a while. He's abusive as hell to Morty and typically treats him as a means to an end, but there's little doubt he ''does'' genuinely cares about him. Further pointed out in the episode "Rest and Ricklaxation". Rick ''considers'' these feelings negative, but the only reason Toxic Rick fails is because he shows an extreme amount of concern towards Toxic Morty's gunshot wound.
** This is a show where you spend 99% of the time laughing/cringing at all the BlackComedy, and saying "D'aww" at least OnceAnEpisode.
** In ''Get Schwifty", Jerry outright says he's sick of pretending they only stay together for their kids. He married Beth because he loves her and wants her to know that.
** "Rixty Minutes" shows an alternate timeline where Summer was aborted. Jerry becomes a movie star, and Beth is rich enough to sit at home all day. This leads to a lot of hurt feelings between "our" Jerry, Beth, and Summer. It turns out that in the alternate universe, Jerry's miserable and Beth is a [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Parrot Lady]]. Jerry has a meltdown and drives all the way to her house on a Rascal mobility scooter in nothing but his underwear, police and media on hot pursuit, to confess his love for her. This leads to "our" dimension's Jerry, Beth and Summer to patch things up.
** In "The Wedding Squanchers" The Smith family become fugitives after Rick is discovered to be wanted for terrorism by the galactic federation. Jerry suggests that they turn Rick in so they can have a normal life but the rest of the family refuses because they love Rick(for the most part). Rick has a revelation and turns himself in anyways. [[spoiler:Though later subverted when it turns out he [[BatmanGambit got caught on purpose]] to not only topple the government but push Jerry and Beth to separate, letting him in his own words "become the de-facto patriarch of the family ''and'' the universe]].
** "The Ricklantis Mixup shows a Rick who is "more into working with wood than science," and creates a jewelry box (complete with a cartoon horse on top) for his daughter's birthday, truly demonstrating his love for Beth. [[spoiler:This is then ruthlessly invoked as the scene pans out to reveal that this Rick is kept a prisoner, with this memory being played on an infinite loop just so the "happy" chemical his brain secretes can be extracted. This is done by ''other'' Ricks, to add flavor to a '''wafer'''.]]
** Rick is reluctant to see Jerry killed, being genuinely horrified along with the rest of the family when Jerry was almost shot to death in "Interdimensional Cable II: Tempting Fate", keeping him alive despite Jerry betraying him in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", killing his ex-girlfriend's jealous boyfriend in "The [=ABCs=] of Beth", not going through with killing him in "The Rickchurian Mortydate", and rescuing him when he's in trouble in "Rattlestar Ricklactica" and "Amortycan Grickffiti".
*** Despite their SitcomArchnemesis status, Rick and Jerry have also genuinely bonded more after their initial adventure together in "The Whirly-Dirly Conspiracy", and Rick looks out for his well-being in addition to his life. In "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty", he erases the horrifying memory of what he and Jerry saw from the Talking Cat out of Jerry's brain to spare him the pain of remembering it, and he tells the Beths in "Bethic Twinstinct" that he and Jerry were drinking together one night and it led to Rick giving Jerry what he claimed he wanted the most (an emotional defense system) with no strings attached. Rick even admits in "Amortycan Grickfitti" that he's grown to genuinely care about Jerry, in his own way.
** Morty and Summer start with an initially slightly adversarial relationship typical between siblings, but they develop an intense familial bond that is not only the strongest but the healthiest familial relationship in the entire Smith family. They both make it very clear to the other that while they don't always see eye to eye, they'll go to any length to protect the other from harm.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** After their first encounter with Rick in "Get Schwifty", the President and the United States Government got to work on creating their own form of portal transportation. It works, but the military has to spend the time and resources to manually airlift the portal platform to its destination just for a few people to transport through. According to Rick, each usage of the equipment ''triples the deficit''.
** Invoked again the same episode. The US Government has developed a pill that will shrink the user to near-microscopic levels. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: it doesn't shrink their clothes, seems to take a decent amount of time while the user shrieks in agony, and Rick claims it will give them severe and incurable cancer.]] Rick creates one ''in a day'' that circumvents all of these shortcomings.
** Also invoked in "Vindicators 3". Turns out our heroes weren't called for "Vindicators 2" in which the titular Vindicators [[spoiler:destroyed an ''entire civilized planet'' just to get ''one'' shapechanger villain.]] Ricks's response?
--->'''Rick:''' "I could have made you something that would have found him in about 20 minutes."
* BadassFamily: The Smith-Sanchez family. Even with {{Non Action Guy}}s like Jerry and sometimes Morty, they still pull this off quite well, and several family members who start off as {{Action Survivor}}s in earlier seasons end up [[TookALevelInBadass taking several levels in badass over time]]. The best examples of this are seen in:
** "Total Rickall": Once Rick, Morty, Summer, and Beth confirm that they're all real, the four of them work together to gun down the dozens of memory parasites in their home, complete with several instances of BackToBackBadasses. ([[NonActionGuy Jerry]], however, sits it out and hides in a corner.)
** "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri": All members of the family are vital to defeating the Galactic Federation by dividing and conquering. Rick brings everybody else to their ship to rescue the Beths and then battles Phoenix Person (ultimately losing, but keeping him busy); Summer and Morty stop the G-Fed from destroying Earth by shutting down their planet-destroying laser; the Beths [[DamselOutOfDistress break free from confinement]], [[LovelyAngels shoot their way through]] the {{Mook}}s on the ship, and save Rick from Phoenix Person (even if they also lose to him); and even Jerry uses a ChekhovsSkill to distract Phoenix Person before he can kill Rick and the Beths, giving them the chance to shut him down.
** "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion": Each of the five family members gets to pilot their own Gotron mecha, and they all later form a CombiningMecha together to take down enemies even more effectively.
* BaitAndSwitch:
** Due to the editing, it at first seems like Rick's emergency plan in "Rick Potion #9" managed to save the day offscreen (after he "[did] some scouting"). As it happens, he was actually scouting for a dimension where he and Morty managed to save the day... ''and then died soon after''.
** Invoked in the episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind". The episode begins with Rick being shot to death and Morty being tranquillized and kidnapped by Evil Rick and Evil Morty, who appear from a portal in the dining room. Then it turns out that these were alternate dimension versions of the main duo, and "our" Rick and Morty (C-137) are just fine.
** In "Auto Erotic Assimilation" after seeing Unity bomb a city, it seems like Rick's going to realize their relationship is toxic for the both of them and leave. Then Unity clarifies that it moved everyone out of the city without telling him just to screw with him, and Rick has no such epiphany. (In fact, ''Unity'' is later the one to realize this and end the relationship.)
** In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", when Rick [[spoiler:gets the drop on Risotto Groupon, he activates the cybernetics in his arm to reveal what appears to be a large, overly-complex gun, only for it to shoot out a suction dart which he uses to grab Risotto's gun and kill him with it.]]
** "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" has Rick's ship, which has been put under strict orders to keep Summer safe, stick out a device and scan a person it sees as a potential threat, only for the scanning to actually have been a LaserCutter that turns him into a fleshy pile of cubes.
** The ending of "Never Ricking Morty": Rick and Morty have defeated and imprisoned Story Lord and prepare to leave the train...[[spoiler:only to find that the control panel is fake. What's more, it's revealed that the whole episode wasn't happening to the ''real'' Rick and Morty; the Story Train is a toy that Morty bought for Rick as a present, and the Rick, Morty, and every other character inside the train are just fabrications created by it for a fake-story-adventure]].
** Rick's negative dialogue with [[spoiler:Young Memory Rick]] in "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort" about the Battle of Blood Ridge implies that he doesn't like to remember it because it went poorly. [[spoiler:It actually went very well, and Rick and Bird Person were BashBrothers who delivered a CurbStompBattle to the enemy. The real reason Rick dislikes the memory of it is because he basically confessed his feelings to Bird Person and invited him to travel the multiverse with him, but was (politely) rejected.]]
** A few in "Night Family":
*** Morty appears to be opening his fly in front of his mom and sister, but actually just unzips a bag with a bowling ball in it so they can drop it on his newly-built abs to prove how strong they are.
*** In TheStinger, [[spoiler:the Night Family is completely broke after spending all the Daymanoids' money, and Night Rick has "a device that can solve everything": a revolver, implying they've been DrivenToSuicide. He actually just uses the gun to shoot the Somnambulator, which ''does'' permanently kill off the Night People and restore them to their Day selves, but doesn't physically harm them at all.]]
*** Immediately after, Rick checks his phone to see how long they were asleep, and instantly becomes very upset...because [[FauxHorrific Klondike discontinued the Choco Taco!]]
* BerserkButton:
** Don't eat Eyeholes cereal unless you want the Eyehole Man to show up and beat the hell out of you.
** Rick does not take betrayal well at all, as Gearhead found out.
** Morty hates being called a terrible person, especially if he's done nothing wrong.
** Jerry mentions in passing that he's wondered what it's like to have a vagina. He gets increasingly annoyed at Risotto Groupon [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten repeatedly bringing this up]], until he eventually snaps and attacks him, despite normally being a NonActionGuy.
* BigDamnMovie: A game, in this case. Episode one of [[http://games.adultswim.com/rick-and-mortys-rushed-licensed-adventure-adventure-online-game.html the game]] has Rick be fully aware that the sudden problem that starts the plot makes no sense.
* [[BigBrotherInstinct Big Sibling Instinct]]: Summer plays it straight by showing some Big Sister Instinct towards Morty, and he inverts it with Little Brother Instinct towards her (in his case, sometimes to [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Knight Templar Little Brother]] levels). As they both become more and more traumatized through their adventures with Rick, they become increasingly protective towards each other. Morty in particular will not stand for other people making Summer cry.
* BizarreAlienBiology: So many examples that it could have its own subpage. Lampshaded in the pilot, when Rick points out a random alien creature and says it "defies all logic."
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The combination of cynicism, black comedy, and the general CrapsackWorld that is the universe leaves the series with barely any characters who ever really do the right thing. Morty started off the series fairly optimistic and cheerful, but season 2 and especially season 3 have already worn him down. No character ever gets to live their lives and do everything they want without appropriate consequences. For example, Morty's desire to win the love and affection of his crush resulted in--as Rick describes it himself-- a date rape drug being spread throughout the entire planet's atmosphere and transforming all non-family members into Cronenberg-style mutants. There are clearly nefarious characters and entities that clearly fall under black, but almost everyone else is grey.
** Consequences are often bizarrely inappropriate in keeping with the nihilistic morality of the show. Characters suffer even for having the bests of intentions. In "Something Ricked This Way Comes," Summer shows genuine kindness and sympathy for [[spoiler: the Devil]] but is of course betrayed. In "The Wedding Squanchers," the family convinces Rick to open up and genuinely enjoy the healthy activity of a friends' wedding only for it to turn [[spoiler: out to be a hit from the galactic government that turns into a blood bath, though Rick's absence would have changed nothing]]. In "Look Who's Purging Now," Morty's attempt to help an innocent woman leads to them getting caught in a WholePlotReference to The Purge series, where Morty [[spoiler: jumps off the slippery slope to enjoy gratuitously killing defenseless people]]. In "Mortynight Run," Morty objects to Rick selling arms to a hitman, only to later cause dozens of deaths freeing the hitman's potential target and then kill [[spoiler: the target because he poses a threat to all other life in the galaxy]].
** "A Rickconvenient Mort" takes this to an extreme. Planetina, a WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet {{Expy}} used to save the environment with her Tina-teers. In the modern day, the latter have become greedy, soulless bastards who don't give a shit about the environment and only pretend to care to make money off of Planetina. [[HumansAreBastards The rest of the human race is shown to similarly not care and continue to desecrate the planet while lying through their teeth about how green they are.]] When Planetina is freed from the Tina-teers' rings and allowed to live full-time on Earth, she takes increasingly extreme measures to save the environment and eventually snaps and murders miners. Said miners were unpleasant, but had the valid point that they needed the income, showing how polluting corporations have too many people in their pocket for any meaningful change to arise. The episode comes to the conclusion that humans are BeyondRedemption and there [[ItIsBeyondSaving is no hope; humanity will suffer an agonizing, pathetic extinction as a result of its own idiocy.]]
* BlackComedy: Most definitely. Most of the humor revolves around Rick's sociopathy and alcoholism and the resulting damage it does to Morty's psyche. After "Rick Potion #9", the show takes a realistic look at the traumatic damage that the pair's adventures can have on Morty.
* BlackComedyRape: An interesting [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]. There are a few passive jokes about rape in the dialogue, but the act itself is always ''depicted'' completely seriously. For example, Rick makes a passive comment about PrisonRape during his and Morty's trial in "Meeseeks and Destroy," which is meant as a joke, but Morty [[AttemptedRape almost getting raped]] in a bathroom later in the same episode is not. Rick's reaction to it cements this.
* BlatantLies: This shows up in pretty much every episode, especially from Rick, and often PlayedForLaughs.
-->'''Rick:''' I wouldn't lie to you [Morty]. ''{{Beat}}'' Well, that's a lie. Huh.
* BloodierAndGorier: While the show has never been one to shy away from on-screen violence, it was rarely extravagant, with most episodes in the first two seasons being rated TV-14. Season 3 takes the violence much further, with almost every episode getting a TV-MA rating and involving a sequence where one or more of the main characters engage in the brutal, graphic, and creative slaughter of a crowd of enemies. Usually, the crowd is a collective AssholeVictim, but it is still the heroes gleefully engaging in BloodyHilarious violence. The late Season 2 episode "Look Who's Purging Now" is a hint at the beginning of this, with Rick and Arthricia literally dancing in a river of blood to Toni Toni Tone after killing all the aristocratic "fat cats".
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** Jerry, of all people, looks straight at the camera and shrugs at the end of the ChristmasEpisode.
** All five characters at the end of "Meeseeks and Destroy". Rick even says "See you next week!" to the audience. He does this again in "Raising Gazorpazorp."
** At the end of "Ricksy Business", Rick ends the episode by ordering to roll the credits, and repeatedly yells that it's the end of the first season.
** In-universe, the Titanic reenactment cruise that Beth and Jerry are on fails to sink as it was supposed to, and to make up for it the captain of the ship offers everyone free "James Camer-Onion Rings". This prompts Jerry to angrily say "...and now the fourth wall is broken."
** "Total Rickall" features Rick telling viewers that the show will be back after a commercial break.
** The same episode has a fake flashback of Rick detailing a get-rich-quick scheme involving selling Nintendo 3DS systems. At the end of the scene, he turns to the camera and asks Nintendo to give him free stuff.
** Mr. Poopybutthole mentions how "The Wedding Squanchers" ends on a huge cliffhanger, and how it'll take a year and a half or possibly longer to see how it'll be resolved at the start of Season 3. He does something similar at the end of "The Rickchurian Mortydate", referencing that Season 4 will come in "a really long time".
** At the end of "The Rickshank Redemption" Rick goes on a rant about how finding some way to acquire more Szechuan sauce from UsefulNotes/McDonalds is going to be his "series arc" and he will achieve it, even if it takes him "nine seasons" or 97 years to do so.
** Rick looks right at the camera with a deadpan face by saying "We'll be right back" before cutting to the commercial break in "Rickmancing the Stone."
** In the cold open of "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Rick calls it a "Rick and Jerry episode!"
** During the introduction to "Morty's Mind Blowers", Rick gives a TitleDrop of the episode, then looks directly at the camera and says, "And we'll be doing this instead of Interdimensional Cable." Cue the intro.
** At the end of the third season finale "The Rickchurian Mortydate", after Beth and Jerry decide to get back together, Beth makes an explicit comparison to Season 1.
** "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat": Rick is confused as to how the Phoenix Protocol activated when his body died, since he "axed" it (literally) "two seasons ago" (in the episode "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez"). The ending also has Rick and Morty talk about all the adventures they're going to have, and when Summer mocks them for it, they yell at her for "ruining the season premiere".
** In TheStinger of "Never Ricking Morty", when the Story Train that Morty bought for Rick breaks, Rick insists that Morty buy him a new one rather than returning it, because "nobody's out buying anything with [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic this fucking virus]] going around!"
** Numerous times in "Rickmurai Jack", such as Rick calling it a "Citadel episode", noting that the Citadel "runs on canon", and stating he hates "serialized drama", and [[spoiler:Evil Morty]] notes that Rick prefers to "keep it episodic".
** A few as well in "Solaricks": Rick states that [[spoiler:Jerry's original dimension, which he was accidentally taken from in "Mortynight Run" and is returned to here,]] is giving him "major Season 2 vibes", and [[spoiler:refers to the Jerry who is originally from their current dimension but has been living in the alternate one as "Season 2 Jerry"]]. When the family has to [[spoiler:hop dimensions]] at the end, Rick notes how hard that is to do [[spoiler:without portals]] and that they're going to have to do "the whole fucking episode all over again!"
* BreakTheCutie: The entire series is a long process of this for Morty. Particular examples include "Meeseeks and Destroy", in which he is almost raped; "Mortynight Run", when he has to kill Fart to save the universe, and in the process, render all of the death and destruction that he caused throughout the episode pointless; and "Morty's Mind Blowers", where he relives numerous memories that were ''so'' traumatizing for him that he outright removed them from his brain. Morty having been broken so many times is a major factor in his ever-increasing SeenItAll attitude with each passing season.
* BuffySpeak: Used occasionally.
** One example is this exchange in "Ricksy Business" that took place when Rick had a massive hangover.
--->'''Rick:''' Bring me the thing.\\
'''Morty:''' What thing?\\
'''Rick:''' The thing, the thing. It's got buttons and lights on it. It beeps.\\
'''Morty:''' Rick, that describes ''everything in your garage''!
** Also this one from "Rickmurai Jack":
--->[[spoiler:'''Evil Morty''']]: Tonight, the quality of dialogue stops mattering. Tonight, I do that thing I wanna do! With the curve thing!
* ButForMeItWasTuesday:
** Rick has a lot of enemies that he doesn't remember until it comes back to bite him in the ass.
** Meanwhile, he's on the opposite side of it in regards to [[spoiler:Rick Prime, the man who murdered Main Rick's original Diane and Beth from his dimension. Rick spent decades of his life trying to find him, to no avail, and his failure to do so caused him to spiral into cynicism, nihilism, and alcoholism. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like Rick Prime is even aware of ''why'' Rick is trying so hard to hunt him down, just that he is, but he apparently has enough enemies that, when he built a hideout rigged with traps for them to find, he acknowledges in the pre-recorded videos that he doesn't even know who he's talking to.]]
* CallBack: Happens in pretty much every episode. There are some plot points that are called back multiple times:
** Rick's insane "Rick and Morty 100 Years" speech at the end of the pilot episode gets a call back at the end of the third season premiere. It even has the same music playing during the speech, and both end with the garage door closing while a confused Morty, on the floor, watches Rick absolutely lose his marbles. The fourth season premiere also has a similar rant, except that this time, Rick and Morty are both eagerly participating in it together, and then yell at Summer for ruining it when she mocks them.
** Morty pulls his "every 10th adventure" card in "Vindicators 3", calling back to the agreement he and Rick made in "Meeseeks & Destroy" that Morty would get to pick one out of every ten adventures they went on. It's even a literal card, complete with nine Morty ink stamps. It gets brought up again in "Rattlestar Ricklactica", where Rick is annoyed enough about Morty's latest screw-up causing the events of the entire episode that he counts it as a "Morty adventure" and tears up his card to start it over.
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick makes a meta-joke that they can mess up their own dimension and shift to a new one only a few times. "Morty's Mind Blowers" has Rick claim they have to jump dimensions once again (though, based on series continuity, this was probably not meant to be taken as canon and was just being PlayedForLaughs) and remind Morty of that very issue. [[spoiler:"Solaricks" sees the entire family (including Space Beth) do it this time, complete with ''everybody'' burying their corpses in the backyard.]]
** "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" has Rick transferring his mind into a teenage clone of himself, but after it tries to suppress his real mind inside the subconscious of his new teenage mind, he deems the cloning project, called "the Phoenix Protocol", a failure, and destroys all of the clone bodies with an axe. In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", it's shown that the Phoenix Protocol is supposed to be a way for Rick's mind to upload itself into a new clone body if his original body dies, and because he destroyed all his clones in his own dimension, he reincarnates into alternate-dimension clones and has to get back home. And then in "Rickmurai Jack", [[spoiler:Evil Morty hijacks the Phoenix Protocol so that, when the Ricks and Mortys of the Citadel die from his traps (or kill themselves to try to invoke the Protocol and escape), they'll be redirected to clone vats in the Citadel that [[LudicrousGibs blend them to mush]] to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild power his giant portal gun]] that opens the Central Finite Curve]].
* CallToAdventure: When the Vindicators activate their distress beacon to summon Rick and Morty, Rick adamantly refuses a "literal call to adventure", but Morty invokes his right to choose one out of every 10 adventures to force him into it.
* CallingTheOldManOut:
** Summer is willing to and does do this with Rick. Morty becomes more and more willing to do so over time as well.
** She also does it with her parents when they didn't seem to care that Morty has a sexbot in "Raising Gazorpazorp".
** In the same episode, Morty Jr. does this to Morty.
** Morty calls Beth out for being as irresponsible as Rick in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy".
** "The [=ABC=]'s of Beth" has quite a bit of this, with Beth finally calling Rick out for neglecting her as a child, and Morty and Summer calling Jerry out on quite a few of his flaws, as well as being unable to admit to his new girlfriend that he wants to break up.
** Both versions of Beth tear into Rick in "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri" for having cloned the original Beth, lying to both of them about who the clone is, [[spoiler:and mind-blowing himself so he wouldn't even ''know'' who it is. They're [[BrokenPedestal so disillusioned with him]] that Space Beth literally comes back to Earth just to kill Rick, both Beths team up so they can kick his ass later, and they finally overcome their need for his approval.]] Rick ''himself'' admits he's a terrible father after all of this.
** "A Rickonvenient Mort": After his parents (but moreso his mom) express reservations about Morty dating Planetina and refuse to let her stay with them, he completely goes off on them about how no one in family really respects him or values what he has to say despite all the experience he's had in traveling the universe. This one is a bit tricky, though, in that [[BothSidesHaveAPoint Beth and Jerry have legitimate reasons to be concerned about the relationship]].
** Beth is ''not'' happy to discover in "Amortycan Grickffitti" that Rick's "guys nights" with Jerry are really just using the latter as an oblivious punchline to pay back a debt to some hell demons. Eventually, the demons get her drunk and she gets in on it as well, but in her case, it's more like fond teasing, and she does regret it later when Jerry is hurt by it. Rick, for his part, eventually admits this was wrong.
* CallingTheYoungManOut: This happens a few times, too:
** In "Rick Potion #9", Rick makes a LovePotion for Morty at his request (with Morty, a 14-year-old boy, clearly just seeing the "romantic" implications of this and not realizing how gross this actually is). Rick later likens it to Morty wanting to roofie Jessica, calling the potion a "roofie juice serum", and tells Morty that he's "a little creep" for it (though, as Morty points out, Rick did still make it for him in the first place and only expressed reservations about it later).
** Rick gives a ''massive'' ReasonYouSuckSpeech to his son-in-law Jerry in "The Whirly-Dirly Conspiracy" about how Jerry is downright predatory in his constant m.o. of acting pathetic to make people feel sorry for him, and subsequently taking advantage of that pity to get what he wants. Notably, this ''does'' get through to Jerry, and he vows that this will no longer be his "signature move".
** In response to Beth calling him out in "The [=ABC=]'s of Beth", Rick also turns it back on her by pointing out that AtLeastIAdmitIt; he ''knows'' he's a bad father and isn't trying to deny or excuse that, but Beth refuses to admit that she's just like him in all the worst ways and takes a NeverMyFault attitude about her flaws, deflecting blame to everyone but herself. Like with Jerry, this does reach her, and she admits at the end that she's out of excuses to not be who she really is.
** When Morty is [[spoiler:returned to his original universe]] in "Solaricks", he meets [[spoiler:his original dad (the Jerry of the first six episodes), who calls Morty out on abandoning his native dimension and family and not treating them like real people when he returned there briefly in "The Rickshank Redemption". While it's a bit lessened by the fact that Jerry, Beth, and Summer didn't miss Rick or Morty once they left, he's still not wrong that Morty ''could'' have made the effort to come back there and fix things, but never cared enough to bother.]]
* CaninesGamblingInACardGame: In "Lawnmower Dog", A group of super-intelligent dogs replicate the classic image after taking over the world.
* CassandraDidIt: The memory parasites try to use this to make it seem like Rick is the parasite due to his own zany wacky personality and incredibly vague backstory. The family, especially Beth and Morty, start to believe them even though Rick is literally related to them.
* CatchPhrase:
** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] with Rick's "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub!". Bird Person later tells Morty that this saying translates in his language to "I am in great pain. Please help me."
** As of the season 1 finale, he decides his new catchphrase is "I don't give a f***!"
** He also has a fondness for saying "It's gonna be great!" when talking about his inventions.
** "And ''awaaaaay'' we go!" should probably also qualify.
** Morty's is "aw geez". Him saying it so often is parodied in "The Ricklantis Mixup" and "Rick: A Mort Well Lived".
** In-universe, Mrs. Pancakes, in her self-titled series, has "You don't know me!" It's later turned on its head when Summer is watching the show in "Rest and Ricklaxation", where she says, "You ''do'' know me!"
** With power running low, some of the computer simulations are reduced to one sentence Catchphrases like "Yes!" And "My Man!".
** Later parodied in "Total Rickall" when we see a string of Rick's "really weird, made-up-sounding catchphrases", which are a series of strange {{Non Sequitur}}s such as "AIDS!" , "Shum shum shlippidy-dop!", "Graaaaaassss... tastes bad!" and "BURGER TIME!" The context of the scene would lead the viewer to assume that they're the result of the memory-tampering parasites, except that none of the flashbacks feature the parasites and none of them seem to be pleasant memories, meaning Rick really ''does'' have these catchphrases even if they've never appeared onscreen before or since (although he re-uses "Riki-tiki-tavi" and "And that's the ''waaaay'' the news goes" in the last part of the episode, after all the parasites have been exterminated).
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Generally involving the 14-year-old Morty.
** In one flashback, his 17-year-old sister Summer walks in on him.
--->'''Summer:''' Oh my god!\\
'''Morty:''' I thought you went to a concert!\\
'''Summer''' We forgot the tickets! Why in the kitchen?!\\
'''Morty:''' I do it everywhere! Stop shaming me!\\
'''Summer:''' You're not the victim here!\\
'''Morty:''' I hate you and I was thinking about your friend Grace!\\
'''Summer:''' ''[inarticulate scream]''
** Referenced in one episode where Jerry opens Morty's bedroom to ask him a question. At the end of their conversation, Morty gives him a protracted warning that he's asking for trouble by bursting into a teen's bedroom without warning.
** Invoked by Jerry in "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate." When nearly caught by the doctor browsing confidential patient documents, he drops trou and loudly declares he was masturbating.
** The season three intro features a butt-faced Morty watching porn where a woman has faces on her ass and quickly trying to cover it up when a butt-faced Beth comes into his room.
** The wizard from "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty", before his final confrontation with the slut dragons, emerges from what seems a medieval portable toilet, hastily closing his robe, while in the toilet there's some kind of magical mirror that apparently shows a HotWitch.
** The time-traveling snakes from "Rattlestar Ricklactica" first attack Morty in his bedroom while he's masturbating. He manages to pull his pants back up before fleeing the room for help, but remains shirtless.
* CentralTheme: Nihilism and Cosmic Horror.
** Embracing the inherent chaos, unpredictability, and cosmic meaninglessness of the universe and finding something to keep yourself tethered to the mortal plane despite nihilism. While nihilism is usually portrayed in media with the mindset of "Life is pointless, so why bother?", Morty actually points out a positive note in "Rixty Minutes" when he tells Summer that nobody and nothing is ''designed'' to happen and that it's up to everyone to find their own purpose and enjoyment.
--->'''Morty''': Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die. Come watch TV?
** The mental conflict between intelligence and human connection.
** Both Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have stated that the study into nihilism is really to help find a sense of purpose and live a better life by focusing on human relationships and experiences, and not preoccupy our minds with unanswerable questions.
** The last few episodes of Season 5 put the spotlight on numerous characters who deal with genuinely sympathetic negative emotions, such as trauma, grief, insecurity, and loneliness, in very unhealthy ways, to their own detriment:
*** "[=GoTron=] Jerrysis Rickvangelion": Summer feels lonely and insecure at being the "odd one out" in her family, and in her effort to keep them together and win Rick's approval, enables him in everything he does, including his worst habits, and pushes the rest of her family members away, leaving her in tears when she realizes this.
*** "Rickternal Friendshine of the Rickless Mort": [[spoiler:Bird Person is so filled with grief at Tammy's betrayal and death that he [[DrivenToSuicide tries to destroy his mind and die in the process]] and refuses Rick's efforts to save him, only relenting and changing his mind when Rick reveals to him that he has a daughter, whom BP decides is WorthLivingFor]].
*** The above episode and "Rickmurai Jack" reveal that [[spoiler:Rick did indeed lose his wife Diane and child Beth in an explosion, and he spent decades afterwards trying to hunt down the alternate Rick responsible, killing countless other versions of himself and making many enemies, only to fail and spiral into being the cynical, nihilistic, depressed, lonely man he is today. A younger version of himself from Bird Person's memory is horrified to see what kind of person he'll become]].
*** Also from "Rickmurai Jack": [[spoiler:Evil Morty is revealed to have been a normal Morty who snapped from all the abuse he had to put up with from his and other Ricks, and he came up with a plan to escape Rick's influence forever, which is totally understandable. What is not acceptable, though, was how he lost any empathy he once had and was willing to kill thousands if not millions of Ricks ''and'' Mortys to achieve his plans, and came to care only about helping himself and no one else.]]
* CerebusRetcon:
** Although an observant viewer may have inferred it prior, it's revealed at the end of "Ricksy Business" that Rick's constant drinking and abuse of the occasional FantasticDrug isn't just for fun; he's actually numbing himself from an ''intense'' amount of emotional pain.
** In the same episode, his "Wubba lubba dub dub!" catchphrase, previously portrayed as just a parody of other nonsense-word catchphrases, is revealed to actually be a phrase in an alien language. It means "I am in great pain. Please help me."
** In "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind", Morty, after seeing all the Rick-and-Morty pairs together in the Citadel of Ricks, expresses happiness at how he and Rick have such a close bond that it spans across infinite universes. He's disappointed to learn from Rick that a big part of this is due to Ricks needing the brainwaves of Mortys to conceal them from enemies, rather than Ricks actually caring about their Mortys. This is ''already'' fairly dark, but it gets much, much worse after "Rickmurai Jack", which reveals that [[spoiler:the Ricks of the Citadel purposely engineer Morty's birth across infinite dimensions, and clone them to create a mass-market of Mortys who can just be sent off to any Rick in the multiverse that needs them, meaning that most Mortys are essentially part of a SlaveRace to Ricks. As much crap and abuse as "our" Morty has to put up with from "our" Rick, he's actually one of the ''lucky'' ones in that he has a Rick who actually cares about him and doesn't just see him as disposable, which is more than most Mortys get.]]
** Also from "Close Rick-Counters", at the end, Morty asks what will happen to all the Mortys who lost their Ricks. He's told that the Rickless Mortys will return home and lead ordinary lives. Instead, "The Ricklantis Mixup" reveals that Mortys without Ricks are kept away from their families and sent to a school where they are groomed to serve as docile replacements for other Ricks, with many shuffling through many Ricks. Mortys who fail to graduate are dumped in "Mortytown," a burnt out, crime infested section of the citadel where they victimize each other. [[spoiler:This is probably because, as per the above reveal, many of these Mortys are clones and don't ''have'' a home dimension to go back to, because the original Mortys that they were cloned from are already living there.]]
** In the earlier seasons, Jerry and Beth are quite unhappily married (despite having [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther quite a few moments of bonding and growing closer]]), with an alien marriage counselor stating that theirs is the worst relationship he's ''ever'' seen and the two of them never should have gotten together in the first place. Then we find out in "Rickmurai Jack" that, [[spoiler:related to the above reveal, Beth and Jerry were manipulated by the Citadel into getting together in countless different universes--sometimes even through some kind of love-drug--just so they would eventually give birth to Morty. In other words, the marriage counselor was ''completely right'' that they never should have hooked up, and it was engineered by alternate versions of ''Beth's own father''. Luckily, the main Beth and Jerry of the show do have a much more functional relationship in later seasons, but this is not the case for the vast majority of Jerrys and Beths in the multiverse.]]
* CerebusRollercoaster:
** While the series never stops being dark, whether dark elements are played for laughs or treated seriously vary greatly. While most of Rick's actions and the horror Morty goes through because of them are treated as BlackComedy, things like his near-rape experience or replacing himself in an alternate universe are not. The marital troubles between Beth and Jerry can go either way.
** A self-contained example is the episode "Rixty Minutes", which is simultaneously regarded by fans as one of the funniest and one of the most mature and emotional episodes of the entire show, after an excuse to throw around a bunch of random jokes inadvertently triggers a B plot where Summer learns she was nearly aborted.
** "Total Rickall" features the appearance of several absurd characters, one being named Mr. Poopy Butthole. But the same episode features Rick goading Morty to fatally shoot him in the head, someone accidentally seriously injuring a long-time friend to the point they required physical therapy and an implication that Beth also has a drinking problem.
** "Pickle Rick" alternates between the absurdist comedy of Rick [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turning himself into a pickle]] and Dr. Wong pointing out the hubris and self-destructiveness behind such a stunt and the way Beth rationalizes it and refuses to acknowledge the deleterious effect it has on her family.
* ChekhovsGag: In "Promortyus", Summer even lampshades that her "thing" for this episode is to have a toothpick sticking out of her mouth. This ends up saving her from being possessed by the same face-hugging aliens who successfully do so to Rick and Morty, because numerous facehuggers that try to possess her just end up impaling themselves on her toothpick and dying.
* ChekhovsGunman:
** Or at the very least, Chekhov's ''dead'' gunman. In the season 3 premiere, Summer digs up the dead body of her own Rick that died in ''Rick Potion No. 9" to get the portal gun that ultimately sets her and Morty's plan to rescue their Rick in motion.
** The [[TheQuietOne quiet]], eyepatch-wearing Evil Morty in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" turns out to have been remotely controlling Evil Rick all along, meaning that he was the true mastermind behind the serial killings of Ricks. He proves to be this once again in "The Ricklantis Mix-up", where we find out that the newly elected leader of the Citadel of Ricks, President Morty, is actually him. [[spoiler:And then he becomes the FinalBoss of Season 5 by facing off with Rick and Morty directly in the season finale.]]
** "The Rickshank Redemption" has Rick being interrogated by agents of the Galactic Federation so they can view his memory of how he invented his portal gun/interdimensional travel and take the technology for themselves. Said memory involves an alternate Rick (known as "Weird Rick") offering him the technology, Main Rick refusing in favor of being a family man to his wife Diane and child daughter Beth, and Weird Rick blowing up Diane and Beth with a bomb. Rick then claims to his interrogator that this backstory was completely fabricated so he could overpower him and break out of the memory device. [[spoiler:"Rickmurai Jack" later shows that, while the part of this memory where he invented the portal gun was indeed fake, the rest of it--including Weird Rick (or rather, "Rick Prime")--was RealAfterAll, and Rick spent most of his life after Diane's and Beth's deaths [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge trying to hunt him down for revenge]], to no avail, eventually becoming the man he is today. What's more, in a double-instance of this, "Solaricks" further reveals that Rick Prime is, in fact, Main Morty's ''original'' Rick from the same universe, and Main Rick originally came to that dimension and met Morty with the hope that Rick Prime would come back there someday.]]
* ChekhovsSkill:
** A minor, easy-to-miss example, but in Season 1, Beth mentions Jerry's education in civics (and implies it was a waste of time). In Season 2, his "Cervine Institute" con exploits the jurisdiction limits of Brad's Law to let Beth save the deer's life.
** At the beginning of the pilot, Rick planned to use a neutrino bomb to destroy the Earth; since then, Morty has had to disarm Rick's neutrino bombs before. This comes in handy in "Vindicators 3: The Return of World Ender", which shows that Morty carries a set of wire clippers for just this purpose.
---> '''Rick''': "Morty...how many of these have you had to...?"
---> '''Morty''': ''(Interrupts)'' "Too many, Rick! Too many!"
* ChekhovsTimeTravel: Defied by the creators, as Rick has a box on his shelf with the text "Time Travel Stuff", but time travel is about the only sci-fi trope they haven't touched yet. Roiland and Harmon have said that the box on the shelf is a StealthPun, indicating that all time travel stories are "shelved" for the series. (It's for this reason that Rick can't simply go back in time to when ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' was running in theaters to try UsefulNotes/McDonalds Szechuan sauce). Time Travel has since been officially reaffirmed as off-limits by the authors in interviews; they reason that it makes [[ResetButton all problems just too easy]].
** That being said, the show finally makes its foray into time travel during "Rattlestar Ricklactica", while utterly lampooning and deconstructing the entire concept. This is symbolized by the "Time Travel Stuff" box on the shelf being tipped over for the episode.
** "The Vat of Acid Episode" revisits this with Rick inventing a device to give Morty his "save point" idea. Morty uses it to pull pranks, avoid injury, fall in love and have a long-term committed relationship...and then Rick points out that it's not a time-travel thing, but an alternate universe thing, and that all of those things really happened and involved an alternate reality Morty dying in agony so Morty could hop over, to the latter's complete horror.
* ClipShow:
** Following from the episodes of Dan Harmon's ''Series/{{Community}}'' which parodied clip shows by featuring clips from episodes the audience had never seen, "Total Rickall" gives us the same joke taken to the next level - the things that everyone keeps remembering never even happened.
** Similarly, in "Morty's Mind Blowers", the titular mind-blowers that Morty is seeing are, out-of-universe, original content. In-universe, they seem like new content to Morty too because the clips are actually memories of Morty's that he's had removed from his brain because they were so traumatizing; Rick outright calls them a "Clip Show made of clips you never saw".
* ClockRoaches / TimePolice: When Rick attempts to repair the fractured timelines in "A Rickle in Time,", one of these--a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien who doesn't like his methods--appears and antagonizes him. The alien's odd appearance is [[ShoutOut inspired by]] [[Literature/TheLangoliers another, particularly iconic group]] of ClockRoaches. Rick later purposely attracts their attention in "Rattlestar Ricklactica" to make sure they resolve the family's time-traveling snakes issue.
* CloningBlues:
** More "robot" than clone, but in "Rickmancing the Stone", Rick makes robots resembling himself, Morty, and Summer to take their places in the house with Beth while the three of them are on an adventure. Morty's robot-double eventually gains sentience and wants to have real human experiences and feelings, before being shut down by Rick.
** In "The ABC's of Beth", Rick offers to make a clone of Beth so she can go out and do what she wants in her life. The Season 4 finale reveals the other Beth was out in space, fighting the new-and-improved Galactic Federation, but both are eventually made aware of each other and they try to figure out who is the clone. In doing so, they also realize their mutual dislike of Rick and decide to just keep living their own lives. Rick made a memory tube of who is who, but nobody cares anymore. The tube reveals that Beth asked him to make the decision. [[spoiler:He made a clone, properly labelled the cloning vats, but then removed the label and started switching them around until [[TheUnreveal the camera cuts away to make it impossible to see who is who]]]]. Rick verbally acknowledges what a shitty father he is.
** "Mortyplicity" deals with the aftermath of meeting Space Beth, where Rick created decoy clone families and placed them all over the country because there are always enemies that want to hunt them down. With families being killed by alien squid people, other Ricks are alerted to the clones, leaving the families confused what is going on. Rick uses decoy override protocols to shut the decoys down, but also learned that there are decoys who also came up with the idea of creating decoys, which leads to the decoys who discovered they were decoys to dress up as squid aliens to hunt them down. Rick explains the "[[Creator/IsaacAsimov Asimov Cascade]]" where all the decoys will inevitibly kill each other. Complete chaos ensues when the decoy families begin to kill each other, until the last family themselves get killed by Mr. Wants To Be Hunted because they didn't hunt him. Meanwhile, the original family is returning from a space adventure and meets up Space Beth, and the confusion begins all over again when Rick reveals the decoy families.
* TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: In the season 3 premiere, Summer starts acting crazy, thinking there must be some way to reconnect with Rick. She goes into the garage, which has now replaced all of Rick's gadgets and sees a group of dead flies on the countertop. She thinks that maybe if she rearranged the flies, they'd activate a hologram or a door of some sort. When Rick later comes back to the garage, he sets everything back to normal by setting the flies a certain way. Summer's placement wasn't even that far off.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Evil Rick tortures ''hundreds'' of alternate versions of Morty to hide from the Council. The fact that it's actually Evil Morty [[TheManBehindTheMan at the wheel]] here makes this an especially wicked ExpendableClone scenario.
* ComedicSociopath: Rick definitely fits this, although [[CharacterDevelopment it is implied he is more empathetic than he lets on]] and his sociopathic tendencies are some sort of defense mechanism.
* ComicBookAdaptation: Several. There's the main-line ''Rick and Morty'', as well as several spin-offs: ''Lil' Poopy Superstar'', ''Pocket Like You Stole It'' (based off on "Pocket Mortys"), ''Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons'', and ''Rick and Morty Presents:''. Now has its own page [[ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni here]] for these adaptations.
* ComicBookTime: It doesn't really matter how many hundreds of adventures Rick and Morty are implied to have been on, or what events transpire over what period of time during the course of any given season, or even what dimension you visit. Morty is fourteen years old, Summer is in her late teens, and both [[NotAllowedToGrowUp are likely to remain roughly the same age no matter how many seasons pass.]]
** Summer's age in particular is given a LampshadeHanging in "Never Ricking Morty" where Rick and Morty are shown a possible story of Summer finally turning 18 after what "feels like years" and moving out to attend college -- a scenario that Rick explains ''could'' have become canon if it wasn't being presented as a possibility.
** Also lampshaded in "Bethic Twinstinct" when Summer comments that Morty "really came of age this Thanksgiving", and Morty responds by asking how old the two of them are even supposed to be and how many Thanksgivings they've had by now.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
** When Snuffles has Jerry threatened with a pair of surgical scissors, Jerry thinks they're threatening to cut his hair.
** Played with in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" Rick is pointing out things that don't make sense to convince Morty that they're in a simulation, specifically a living Pop-Tart with a toaster-themed house and car. Morty agrees, noting that a Pop-Tart would be too scared of toasters to live in one. Rick cites this trope as he clarifies his point -- its car is ''also'' a toaster, and someone's car is not normally a smaller copy of their house -- but really, both observations are valid, it's just that they're both overly sophisticated compared to "one of our neighbors is a living Pop Tart."
** Jerry in "Something Ricked This Way Comes":
--->'''Morty''': "Dad, what's your endgame here?"
--->'''Jerry''': "Ain't no game, sucka!"
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Aside from the immediate threat of death, almost nothing in the multiverse fazes Rick, not even having to bury [[ItMakesSenseInContext his own corpse]]. Over time, the rest of the family becomes this more and more, too, especially Morty and, to a slightly lesser extent, Summer.
* ConjoinedTwins: A pair of conjoined twins named Michael and Pichael (the former being a news reporter and the latter being the host of his own cooking show) appear in "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate".
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The council of Ricks ''lives'' on this trope. Despite, in theory, being all the same insanely clever scientific genius, the original Rick and Evil Rick can easily outsmart them. Taken even further in "The Rickshank Redemption", where they are reduced to mooks, with [[spoiler: the original Rick being able to sabotage them repeatedly without effort, despite them ''expecting'' him, and the federation security being able to inflict heavy casualties on them, if not about to overpower them. The same security the original Rick could smack around effortlessly by himself]].
* ContinuityNod:
** "Rixty Minutes" has a few, one of which is [[MoodWhiplash surprisingly]] PlayedForDrama:
*** The goggles that let people see through their alternative timeline doppelganger's eyes is the same one Rick uses to find a replacement universe after everyone gets Cronenberged in "Rick Potion #9".
*** One of the TV shows they watch calls back to the previous episode and the planet Gazorpazorp.
*** Morty reveals his own grave in the backyard to Summer, explaining how he and Rick destroyed their own world in "Rick Potion #9" and crossed over to this reality mere moments after the local Rick and Morty died from one of Rick's inventions.
** In "Something Ricked This Way Comes," Rick can be seen watching ''Ball Fondlers'', one of the shows he and Morty watched in "Rixty Minutes," near the end of the episode.
** Cronenberg Rick and Cronenberg Morty are members of the Citadel of Ricks.
** In "Ricksy Business" there are two of the Councilman Ricks at the party.
** In "Mortynight Run" there's a Mr. Meeseeks in the background of Blips and Chitz helping someone play an arcade game. When the game starts lighting up from some sort of jackpot, the Meeseeks winks out, his job complete.
** Also in "Mortynight Run", a Hungry for Apples ad can be seen hanging over a vending machine.
** In "The Ricks Must be Crazy", Rick, Summer, and Morty visit a universe with a ''Ball Fondlers'' movie, which was first shown in "Rixty Minutes". There are also movie posters for ''French Toast'' (a piece of toast was part of ''Saturday Night Live's'' cast) and ''Three Brothers'' (a sequel to the nonsensical ''Two Brothers'').
** Also in "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", Rick opens a hatch on the leg of his mecha, releasing a snake, similar to the "snake holster" in "Get Schwifty!"
** "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" has Morty eating Strawberry Smiggles for breakfast. Jerry is also seen playing his iPad game again, there's a picture of Snuffles on the wall of the Smiths' dining room, and Morty has a picture of Jessica in his locker.
** After the events of "Ricksy Business", in which the Smiths' house gets transported to another dimension, from that point forward there is always a crack shown in the ground around the house from when it resettled after being transported back.
** The Season 3 premiere shows [[spoiler:Summer digging up Rick's grave from "Rick Potion #9" (which she learned about in "Rixty Minutes"), along with a trip to the Cronenberg-ed dimension created in that same episode.]] Hammer Morty is also seen later in the episode, [[spoiler:used by a Rick to kill Galactic Federation guards before being shot.]]
** The stinger in "Morty's Mind Blowers" has Jerry finding a box for Jerry's Mind Blowers, which contains tapes labelled "Apples Campaign" and "Sleepy Gary".
** In the Season 4 premiere, [[spoiler:when Rick dies, he is resurrected by Operation Phoenix in another reality,]] and expresses confusion at first, since he'd (literally) axed that program after the events of "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" back in Season 2.
* ContinuitySnarl: Possibly. "Morty's Mind Blowers" from Season 3 seems to indicate that after "our" Rick and Morty were shown hopping dimensions to live in a different universe in "Rick Potion #9" (from Season 1), they've since done so again offscreen at an unspecified point when Morty accidentally incurred the wrath of the squirrels of that universe. The problem is, based on references in other episodes, there's no point in time that this could have occurred to fit with various events. Certain plot points[[note]]Namely, the dead Rick and Morty of the current universe that our Rick and Morty replaced, and their graves being in the backyard[[/note]] indicate that, after "Rick Potion #9", Rick and Morty are still in that same universe in "Rixty Minutes" (also Season 1) and "The Rickshank Redemption" (the Season 3 premiere), both of which reference what happened in the former. Furthermore, events of the Season 4 premiere are a direct result of Rick's actions in "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", a Season 2 episode, proving that Rick and Morty haven't switched dimensions between then either. The best explanation is probably just that Rick's claim in "Morty's Mind Blowers" of needing to change realities again was being PlayedForLaughs, wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and is just subject to Rick's MST3KMantra of "Don't think about it!", especially since it wasn't shown happening on screen and has never been mentioned again since.
* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: The plot of "Look Who's Purging Now" is kicked off by a large alien bug hitting the windshield of Rick's spacecraft, and Rick heading for a nearby planet to get more windshield wiper fluid.
* CoolOldGuy: Definitely Rick. Not only is he capable of making almost any sci-fi gizmo you can think of, he's a total badass both [[StrongerThanTheyLook physically]] and [[TheChessMaster mentally]] and spends almost all of his waking hours spending his idea of quality time with his grandkids, which ranges from death-defying inter-dimensional adventures to freezing time to play pranks on the neighbors to dancing to booty jams in the front yard. He's even shown to be "cool" in the more traditional sense in "Ricksy Business", co-hosting a killer party and getting, in his own words, "Riggedy-riggedy-wrecked."
* CorruptedContingency: Numerous versions of Ricks and Mortys across the multiverse have a plan to cheat death called the "Phoenix Protocol", which allows their consciousness to escape into a cloned body when in mortal peril. However, the main villain of season 5 rerouts all of the cloned bodies to be dumped into an enormous meat grinder upon revival.
* CosmicHorrorStory: The horror that we are insignificant specks in a vast universe, at the mercy of beings whose power and motives are beyond our comprehension. ''Rick And Morty'' has Cosmic Horror tropes in spades, and surprisingly, they are usually PlayedForLaughs. Examples include:
** Morty convinces Rick to help him get a date with his dream girl, but something goes wrong, then Rick's attempt to fix it makes it worse, then Rick's attempt to fix ''that'' makes it worse, culminating in every human on Earth except Morty's family [[BalefulPolymorph turning into gibbering]] [[AndIMustScream mounds of flesh and limbs]]. Rick gives up on trying to fix the world and just takes Morty to another dimension where Earth isn't completely ruined. This also involves Rick and Morty burying the mangled corpses of that dimension's Rick and Morty to take their place.
** Rick creating [[RecursiveReality an entire universe in a box]], so the intelligent denizens living in that universe can perform slave labor to act as a battery for his spaceship.
** PlayedForDrama: In "Rixty Minutes," Morty talks Summer out of running away when she finds out [[SurvivorGuilt her birth ruined her parents' dreams]]. By revealing the events of "Rick Potion #9," Morty turns what would otherwise be a horrifying statement about mankind's insignificance into a very touching moment.
--->'''Summer:''' So, you're not my real brother?\\
'''Morty:''' I'm better than your brother. I'm a version of your brother you can trust when he says "Don't run." Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die. Come watch TV?
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Despite the colorful art style and silly characters, this show is often very dark and existential.
* CreatorInJoke: When Rick talks about his interest in watching a show about a world of intelligent dogs, it's a reference to Roiland's previous project ''Dog World'' that never aired. Earlier in the episode, Rick name-drops a character from the proposed series, Ruffles.
* CreepyChild:
** The little girl that haunts the centaur's dreams in "Lawnmower Dog" certainly qualifies. Doubles as a ShoutOut to "Film/TheShining", even though there is only one of them.
** The two children in the Strawberry Smiggles commercial from "Rixty Minutes" who tie down the leprechaun and ''cut his guts open'' just to get to the cereal that he'd already eaten. And then ''they'' eat it, covered in blood and guts and all.
** Done in "The Ricklantis Mixup" by a Morty to Cop Rick. The Morty is by himself, crying, in a filthy room and asks if Cop Rick is "my new Rick." Cop Rick picks him up in a carry and it looks like there will be a tender moment, then MoodWhiplash strikes as the Morty stabs Cop Rick several times, forcing Cop Rick to shoot and kill him. Also of note is the crib present in the room, which Cop Morty explains being there as "a way to make you [Rick] feel bad."
* CrossoverPunchline:
** [[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=821TmxO95iE This video]] teases a minor crossover with ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. However, because Alex Hirsch and Justin Roiland are really good friends, it's probably just a joke. Although ''Gravity Falls''' BigBad, Bill Cipher, ''does'' show up on a screen at the marriage counselling clinic in "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez," strengthening the theory.
** Rick and Morty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ecYoSvGO60 also appeared]] in an extended CouchGag in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
** A background character occasionally appears in the show with rainbow suspenders and a football on his shirt with stitching that looks like Roman numerals. The corresponding letters of the alphabet were supposed to be part of a crossover hidden message along with ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' and ''Murder Police''. Only ''Rick and Morty'' followed through with the plan, and given the fact that ''Murder Police'' was pulled from Fox's schedule before it ever aired, the crossover may never happen.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Jerry is pretty on-the-ball when he's not being constantly emasculated.
** Morty may be a neurotic, dim-witted wimp, but when push comes to shove, he can put up a surprisingly good fight. Mr. Jellybean, Evil Rick, and Nick learned this the hard way.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The various Mortys in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind" offer a Comicbook/ChickTracts-like booklet that describes "The Path of the One True Morty", which was available in physical form with [=DVDs=] of the first season and describes a religion which preaches them to never follow Rick and live a simple, independent life, after which they go to an afterlife filled with space motorcycles and all the Jessicas they can ever want.
* CurbStompBattle: From "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", the show ''"Man Versus Car"'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which pits a man against a car]]. Michael Jenkins, despite his prodigious size and strength, can only resist pushing against the car for a few moments before he keels over backwards and dies a horrible gory death under the tires. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome What else were you really expecting?]]
* CurseCutShort: The head alien in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" says, "This is going to be such a mind f----!" cut to commercial.
* CursedItem: In the episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes", the Devil opens up a store selling antique items that all have curses associated with them, such as making someone impotent. Rick quickly undermines this operation by inventing a device that can identify and remove all the curses, allowing people to use the items with no ill effects.
* CutawayGag: A major plot point of "Total Rickall". The mind parasites manifest themselves in the form of flashbacks, which are presented as these.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Justified / deconstructed. Rick is often involved in various bizarre get-rich-quick schemes even though he could easily make himself wealthy simply by selling his inventions to the public or use them for more productive purposes...but that would require Rick to give a crap about other people or anything related to mundane adult life. This is best illustrated in "Something Ricked This Way Comes": Rick combats the Devil's shop of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor cursed items by starting a shop of his own that de-curses the items, leaving just the benefits, but as soon as the reality of running a business rears its head and he finds himself at the butt end of a lot of paperwork, he loses interest and sets fire to the place. \\
\\
Not to mention, selling his inventions to people would only get Rick money for Earth C-137. Not exactly a big motive when he travels to all sorts of planets and dimensions and just wants to do things like spending the afternoon at Blips and Chitz.
* DaddysGirl: Beth is willing to abandon her marriage and allow her kids to go on "adventures" that repeatedly expose them to the threat of death and rape (as well as making them complicit in countless murders and other crimes), ''all so that her daddy won't leave again''. Cemented in "Pickle Rick" when she flat-out ignores her children's emotional health in favor of bonding with Rick.
** Later dialled back in "The [=ABCs=] of Beth" when details from Beth's childhood are revisited and she's forced to accept that Rick was a pretty awful father.
** To be fair, Beth was forced to admit that she was also a pretty awful child as well. One of the "toys" Rick made for her was a sentient knife. Who was worse is debatable, the child that requested items like "silent shoes" and "sleepy darts" so her father would pay attention to her, or the father that ''made'' these things for her?
--->'''Knife''': "Hi, Beth! You've gotten taller. Shall we resume stabbing?"
* DancePartyEnding: A very unique one at the end of "Ricksy Business".
* DarkerAndEdgier: [[LampshadeHanging Acknowledged in-universe]] that Season 3 doubled down on the series' more upsetting elements, violence and black comedy. Toned back down in Season 4, however.
* DeadAlternateCounterpart: Rick takes [[ExploitedTrope advantage]] of this at the end of "Rick Potion #9"; [[spoiler:when he causes a [[ZombieApocalypse Cronenberg Apocalypse]], he and Morty escape to a very particular universe where their counterparts cure the Cronenberg plague ''and'' are killed almost immediately afterwards by an unrelated incident]].
* DeadlyGame: The Cromulons have a show called ''Planet Music'', wherein they travel to planets looking for talent, teleport qualifying planets to their region of space, then force them to compete against each other. Losers and those who refuse to participate are disintegrated by plasma ray.
* DeathIsCheap:
** There are an infinite number of dimensions and an infinite number of Ricks and Mortys populating them, so no version of Rick or Morty is truly irreplaceable. This is even true of the main Rick ("Rick C-137"), and he has all sorts of technology to keep his consciousness alive in the event of his death. Case in point; in "The Rickshank Rickdemption", [[spoiler:his original body was killed by Seal Team Rick, all while he [[BodySurf jumped consciousness from one Rick to another, then in "Rest and Ricklaxation," he was mauled to death by a monster, but "birthed" a new body with all of his memories shortly before that.]] The show then just follows this new Rick and goes on as normal without skipping a beat]].
** At the end of "Interdimensional Cable 2 : Tempting Fate", Jerry [[SuicideByCop gets shot]] ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 57 times]]'' [[SuicideByCop by alien bodyguards]], with ''very'' graphic footage of the bullets going straight through his body and [[BoomHeadShot skull]]. Cue his family screaming in horror as the screen [[FadeToBlack fades to black]] with Jerry lying face down in a pool of his own blood. What happens next? He opens his eyes to a TV commercial about [[MoodWhiplash butthole]] [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext ice-cream]] as his family rejoices around his hospital bed. Turns out, getting shot down in a super-advanced alien hospital is no worse than getting a splinter removed from your finger.
** "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat" reveals that when a Rick dies in one reality, they'll reincarnate as a clone in another Rick's reality where the Project Phoenix wasn't destroyed yet.
* DeathGlare: Rick pulls one after he realizes that Morty was almost raped in the bathroom. He later kills Morty's attempted rapist.
* DeconstructorFleet: Of [[WesternAnimation Western Animated]] FantasticComedy.
* DeliveryStork: In "Get Schwifty", Principal Vagina's head religion believes that undesirables should be sent up to the Cromulons by balloons, whereupon they'll be sneezed back as better babies.
* DePowerZone: In "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty", Rick follows the sorcerer who sold him Balthromaw back to his home dimension, intent on making him cancel the [[MagicalContract soul-binding contract]]. When the sorcerer refuses and threatens retaliation, Rick is confident that the sorcerer's magic will be no match for the "real power" of his technology. Rick then gets a rude awakening when he finds that, due to the nature of the dimension, none of his tech works there. Rick is forced to cobble together a {{Magitek}} device to fight back.
* DepravedHomosexual: PlayedForDrama in "Meeseeks and Destroy" with King Jellybean, who outright attempts to rape Morty. It is also implied that he has done so to other young boys.
* DestructiveRomance: Beth and Jerry's rocky relationship starts as [[BlackComedy darkly humorous squabbling]] before becoming full-on toxic by the middle of season 2, where it's shown just how badly their [[CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem unhealthy dependence on one another despite being totally mismatched]] is shown to be more damaging than it first seemed.
* DevilButNoGod: Zig-zagged:
** Seemingly played straight when Rick's established as a HollywoodAtheist in the pilot, when he tells Summer "There is no God, gotta rip that Band-Aid off now, you'll thank me later." When the Devil shows up in "Something Ricked", there's no mention of God, and Rick's only reaction is to figure out how to defeat his evil powers with science.
** On the other hand, different episodes imply that Rick believes in or at least considers/fears the existence of a God since he says "Jesus Christ, our savior, was born today" about Christmas in "Anatomy Park", and starts praying to God when he thinks he's going to die in "A Rickle in Time" (though he then immediately takes it back and says "Fuck you, God! Not today, bitch!" once he's saved).
** The beginning of Season 5's "Mortyplicity" settles the matter, as it has Rick and Morty [[spoiler:or at least their decoys]] preparing to kill God, who has apparently been asleep for thousands of years.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: At the end of "Something Ricked" Rick and Summer get their revenge on [[LouisCypher Mr. Needful]] by bulking up and beating the shit out of him in front of thousands of people at the n33dful.com product launch.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Rick nonchalantly "buys" an ironically-cursed item from LouisCypher (you don't pay for items in his store... [[PowerAtAPrice not with money]]), analyses it, takes out the curse while keeping the supernatural benefits, and offers to do the same for other "customers" of Satan's store in exchange for cash. This drives Satan to attempt to commit suicide, only being saved by the timely intervention of Summer and a Monkey's Paw.
* DirtyOldMan: Rick. It's first seen in the pilot where Rick spends a large amount of time having sex with beautiful women in another dimension, to the point where his portal gun has no charge left. In "Lawnmower dogs" Rick is seen to have a fetish for BDSM. In "Auto Erotic Assimilation" he makes a lot of rather bizarre sexual requests to Unity, including a giraffe and stands of men who remotely resemble his father.
* DisneyAcidSequence: Fart's "Goodbye Moonmen" song is accompanied by bizarre visuals whenever he sings it to Morty.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", alien doctors need Jerry's penis [[ItMakesSenseInContext in order to save an old ruler.]] When Beth is given a catalog of prosthetic penises to choose from, she reads it like a Playgirl magazine.
-->'''Jerry''': Hi, honey, so, here's the thing... these guys... they want to completely remove my penis and use it as an alien's heart. And we just need ''you'' to sign off on it.
-->'''Beth''': ''[[BigWhat What?!]]''
-->'''Jerry''': ''(to the Alien Doctors)'' Uh-oh. Maybe we got a problem here after all, guys. Yikes.
-->'''Alien Doctor''': ''(to Beth)'' His penis will be replaced with a sophisticated prosthetic. Now, there's a wide range of options to choose from. They're all in this catalog. ''(gives Beth the catalog)''
-->'''Beth''': I don't ''care'' about prosthetics. This is insane. What do you people think you're doing?
-->'''Alien Doctor''': I understand your feelings, Mrs. Smith.
-->'''Beth''': Oh, I don't think you do. I-I bring my husband in for emergency treatment, he's gone an hour, and now you want his ''penis'', ''(opens catalog)'' and you hand me some... catalog. ''(sees catalog's contents)'' [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic It's-it's-it's-it's-I mean...]]
* DistressCall: In "Auto Erotic Assimilation", Rick insists that you always answer these. Nine out of ten times, it leads to a ship full of dead aliens waiting to be looted. (And a bunch of free shit, Morty!)
* DisproportionateRetribution: What does Morty do in response to Ethan breaking up with Summer? Forcibly turn Ethan into a [[BodyHorror horrible living abomination.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** The monsters in TheStinger for "Ricksy Business" seem to be getting a lot of pleasure from shoving people into each others' holes. The human teen seems to enjoy it, too. [[BlackComedyRape Abradolf, not so much.]]
** Also, from the same episode Squanchy was always looking for a place to squanch. We never find out explicitly what that is, but it sure looks a lot like auto-erotic asphyxiation.
** The mining of Pluto in "Something Ricked This Way Comes" is a pretty clear allegory for oil drilling and global warming.
* DonutMessWithACop: In "Rick Potion #9", several donuts can be seen on the ground next to the dead police officer when Jerry grabs his rifle.
* DotingParent: The one person Rick is rarely seen disrespecting or swearing at is his daughter Beth (with the one major exception being when they finally have it out and talk about their issues with each other in "The [=ABCs=] of Beth"). He even calls her "sweetie" sometimes. He was absent for a large portion of her life but it's hinted that he is actually deeply ashamed of this.
* DotingGrandparent: Not seemingly as Rick often curses at Summer and Morty and treats them like crap, but he does love them deep down and supports them and protects them from other threats(besides himself). He enjoys spending time with them and treats them more like his friends than his grandchildren
* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: Rick's relationship with Unity in "Auto Erotic Assimilation". Unity is a hive mind that possesses the bodies of everyone on the planet it's conquered, which she uses to have sex with Rick. The thing is, whether they are aware of it or kept unconscious for the whole time, they are being used for sex while unable to give consent. What makes it striking (and disturbing) is that none of the characters--not even Summer, who initially disapproves of Unity and its actions--seem to even remotely consider the possibility that this might be a form of rape.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: When an app has Summer date an older man Beth is shocked and horrified, identifying it as statutory rape. Morty is even younger and has been shown having sex with adult women. This never concerns anyone, and it's actually considered a cool thing when it happens.
* DownerEnding:
** "Rick Potion #9" is up there with [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} "Jurassic Bark"]] and [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark "You're Getting Old"]] as one of the biggest [[DownerEnding downer endings]] in the history of adult animated sitcoms. Rick and Morty accidentally destroy civilization with a plague and have to move to an alternate timeline where they fixed everything, but died shortly afterwards. They had to leave behind their family from the original timeline, but in the post-credits scene, it's shown that, in the original dimension, Jerry and Beth got over their marital problems and are happy without Rick and Morty around. It's a fairly disturbing ending since it still involves real characters dying (only to be replaced just like that). But as Rick says, just don't think about it. The irony to this is if Morty had followed through with helping Rick in the first place, it would've killed them in their own universe, so he inadvertently saved their lives. Rather twisted indeed. The irony here is twofold: As Rick explains to Morty if he hadn't screwed up as bad as he did (i.e. if he had managed to cure the Cronenbergs instead of abandoning the world to its fate and travelling to a universe where his counterpart succeeded instead), then they (the original Rick and Morty) would be the ones who died and were replaced instead.
** Rick gets his first downer ending in "Auto Erotic Assimilation", in which he runs into an old lover of his, Unity the hive mind. They get back together until Summer convinces Unity that Rick is a bad influence on it, and it leaves him. At the end of the episode, we see him drunkenly prepare to commit suicide via a disintegration ray aimed at his head. However, he passes out just before it fires, and it misses, leaving him unconscious on his desk while uncharacteristically emotional music plays in the background.
** "The Wedding Squanchers" serves as this for the entirety of Season 2. It turns out Tammy was an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation and was planning on using her wedding to Birdperson to trap as many of Rick's friends as she could. The Smiths managed to escape, but Birdperson was killed and Squanchy's fate is unknown. Rick had a HeelRealization and decided to turn himself in so that his family could resume their lives on a now alien-occupied Earth, but only Jerry (who is Rick's most vocal critic and benefits greatly from the Federation taking over Earth) ends up happy because of this. [[MoodWhiplash Oh, and]] [[TheBusCameBack Mr. Poopybutthole]] molested a pizza guy in TheStinger. Season 3's got a hell of a starting point.
** Pretty much the entirety of "The Ricklantis Mix-up". [[spoiler:Factory Worker Rick snaps and attempts to escape the Citadel, inadvertently killing Simple Rick in the process. He's then captured and forced to replace Simple Rick in a LotusEaterMachine. Cop Rick's innocence and idealism is shattered when he's forced to kill the corrupt Cop Morty. Campaign Manager Morty is killed after unsuccessfully trying to stop Evil Morty from winning the presidency. Then Evil Morty kills the cabal of Ricks secretly running Citadel, seizing full control of the station. The only non-evil characters that get a decent ending are the Stand By Me Mortys, except for Slick Morty, who essentially committed suicide by jumping into the "Wishing Portal".]]
** "The Old Man and the Seat" gets a surprising downer ending: Rick visits his new friend Tony, the guy who was using Rick's special private toilet without his permission ([[{{Tsundere}} whom Rick refuses to admit is his friend]]), at work...[[spoiler:only to find out that Tony died in an accident after quitting his job to live a happier life. The episode ends with Rick sitting on his toilet, dejectedly watching the message he'd left for Tony to see the next time he came there to relieve himself (which consists of many hologram versions of Rick mocking Tony good-naturedly about how lonely he is and how nobody wants to be around him)]].
* DramaticEllipsis: In "Lawnmower Dog", when Rick and Morty go from the completed A Plot to the developing B Plot.
-->'''Rick''': Out of the frying pan, dot dot dot, eh Morty?
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Mr. Lucius Needful, a.k.a. The Devil, in "Something Ricked This Way Comes", until Summer saves him.
** Rick sticks his head into a disintegration ray at the end of "Auto Erotic Assimilation". It only fails when he passes out at the last second. It's especially noteworthy in that, in a show that runs off some of the blackest BlackComedy out there, this is played ''completely'' humorlessly.
** In "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", the scientist who created the teenyverse in the hope of harnessing its energy commits suicide when he realizes his own planet was created by another scientist for the same purpose.
** Through the use of a death crystal, Morty can convince a judge to let him go free by reminding her of her lost loved one. She immediately commits suicide to join him, as noted on the news ticker on TV immediately after.
** [[TheUnReveal Whatever]] the secret of the talking cat from "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" was, it was apparently so disturbing that almost caused Rick to [[AteHisGun kill himself]].
* DrowningMySorrows: It becomes more and more obvious as the first season goes on that Rick doesn't just drink because he wants to. In "Ricksy Business", Bird Person flat out states that he does it to cope with a dire amount of emotional pain. Rick no doubt feels remorse over his failures as a father and a grandfather as well as the traumas he's seen.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: In "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!" Jerry has sex with a stalled simulation of Beth and seems to find it more enjoyable because she wasn't moving. Or, knowing Beth, because she's not making comments about how disappointing he is.
* DumbIsGood: Doofus Rick - ten times dumber than our Rick, but at least a hundred times nicer. Perhaps having all the other Ricks making fun of him constantly has made him compassionate.
* DysfunctionalFamily: Rick is an alcoholic sociopath, Morty is a neurotic teenager who gets [[BreakTheCutie broken]] several times, Jerry is hopelessly insecure, Beth is thinking about leaving him and is slowly regretting marrying him, and Summer is starting to feel unwanted. Even worse than the [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpson family]].
[[/folder]]

* BadassFamily: The Smith-Sanchez family. Even with {{Non Action Guy}}s like Jerry and sometimes Morty, they still pull this off quite well, and several family members who start off as {{Action Survivors}}s in earlier seasons end up [[TookALevelInBadass taking several levels in badass over time]]. The best examples of this are seen in:

-->'''Rick:''' When we get to customs, I'm gonna need you to take these seeds into the bathroom. And I'm gonna need you to put them waaaay up inside your butthole Morty. Put them way up inside there, as far as they can fit.

** In "The ABC's of Beth", Rick offers to make a clone of Beth so she can go out and do what she wants in her life. The Season 4 finale reveals the other Beth was out in space, fighting the New-and-Improved Galactic Federation, but both are eventually made aware of each other and they try to figure out who is the clone. In doing so, they also realize their mutual dislike of Rick and decide to just keep living their own lives. Rick made a memory tube of who is who, but nobody cares anymore. The tube reveals that Beth asked him to make the decision. [[spoiler:He made a clone, properly labelled the cloning vats, but then removed the label and started switching them around until [[TheUnreveal the camera cuts away to make it impossible to see who is who]]]]. Rick verbally acknowledges what a shitty father he is.

* ComicBookTime: It doesn't really matter how many hundreds of adventures Rick and Morty are implied to have been on, or what events transpire over what period of time during the course of any given season, or even what dimension you visit. Morty is fourteen years old, Summer is in her late teens, and both [[NotAllowedToGrowUp are likely to remain roughly the same age no matter how many seasons pass.]] Summer's age in particular is given a LampshadeHanging in "Never Ricking Morty" where Rick and Morty are shown a possible story of Summer finally turning 18 after what "feels like years" and moving out to attend college -- a scenario that Rick explains ''could'' have become canon if it wasn't being presented as a possibility.

-->'''Morty''': "Dad, what's your endgame here?"
-->'''Jerry''': "Ain't no game, sucka!"
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Aside from the immediate threat of death, almost nothing in the multiverse fazes Rick, not even having to bury [[ItMakesSenseInContext his own corpse]].

* CorruptedContingency: Multiple versions of Ricks and Mortys across the multiverse all have a plan to cheat death called "Operation Phoenix", which allows their consciousness to escape into a cloned body when in mortal peril. However, the main villain of season 5 rerouted all of the cloned bodies to be dumped into an enormous meat grinder upon revival.

** Morty may be a neurotic, dim-witted wimp, but when push comes to shove, he can put up a surprisingly good fight. Mr. Jellybean and Evil Rick learned this the hard way.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The various Mortys in "Close Encounters" offer a Comicbook/ChickTracts-like booklet that describes "The Path of the One True Morty", which was available in physical form with [=DVDs=] of the first season and describes a religion which preaches them to never follow Rick and live a simple, independent life, after which they go to an afterlife filled with space motorcycles and all the Jessicas they can ever want.