Rick stages an intervention for Mr. Poopybutthole upon Beth's insistence, but things go south when Hugh Jackman gets involved.
Tropes:
- Adam Westing: Hugh Jackman plays an exaggerated parody of himself.
- Answering Echo: Mr. Poopybutthole does an echo when he tells the others that it is his birthday.
- Balcony Wooing Scene: Jackman and Gene attempt to woo Amy by singing to her from outside her house.
- Binge Montage: A montage of the gang getting wasted and visiting different locations after Mr. Poopybutthole reveals it's his birthday.Mr. Poopybutthole: Bet you didn't expect to see Mr. Poopybutthole in a Cold Open, did you?
- Bittersweet Ending: Mr. Poopybutthole once again ruined his chance at reconciling with his family, possibly for good. However, he decides to accept his lot in life and begins to move forward. All the while still having a strong bond with his friends.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mr. Poopybutthole speaks directly to the audience at the start of the episode.
- Brick Joke: Gene's riding mower is left unattended, causing it to scratch his car before a biker crashes into it. In The Stinger, it's revealed to have gone on a rampage through the city. A police sheriff tries to stop it, only to get mauled by it, after which it finally runs out of gas.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Squanchy finally returns after having been subject to an Uncertain Doom since the season 2 finale. Rick even lampshades this by telling Gearhead that he knew Squanchy was still alive.
- Birdperson and Gearhead also return after Birdperson initially left in "Rickternal Friendship of the Rickless Mort" to raise his daughter after rescuing her from the Galactic Federation and Gearhead fell to pieces in Vindicators 3 The Return Of World Ender.
- Gene the neighbor also comes back as the token sober guy for the not-an-intervention and cousin of Hugh Jackman.
- Butt-Monkey: Mr. Poopybutthole (né Wayne) continues to have his life destroyed by Rick, as even his intervention turns into a raging bender and, unlike everyone else, his fade-away is a nightmare of pain.
- Combination Attack: The gang is able to overwhelm the Predator by attacking all at once.
- Contemplating Your Hands: Rick watches his hands while under the effects of Hugh Jackman's party drugs.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mr. Poopybutthole brings up the various jobs that had throughout previous seasons and mentions how Beth shot him.
- Rick mentions how he previously hosted the Oscars.
- When facing the Predator in combat, Mr. Poopybutthole reminds his opponent that he kicked ass pretty good in Season 4, episode 3.
- Covered in Mud: In an attempt to hide from the Predator, Rick suggests covering in mud, only to find that Squanchy had defecated on the nearby mud.
- Damned by Faint Praise: Birdperson tells Rick that "it was canonical to see you".
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Lampshaded in-universe when Birdperson challenges Gene to explain why partying with Hugh Jackman is a bad idea in a way that will not make it seem more appealing. Gene tries to summarize the parties as "anti-limitation" and "extreme".Birdperson: Challenge failed.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Mr. Poopybutthole is shocked to find out the Predator he hired to spy on Amy is now her new husband.
- Fading Away: In his "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, everyone fades away after saying goodbye, Rick then explains that it was the effect of a pill. He then goes into detail that he took a counteracting pill to undo the fadeout for him specifically to explain how it works, before giving Mr. Poopybutthole his own pill, before taking a second pill to fade out again. Mr. Poopybutthole then takes his own pill, where he reveals that it's actually incredibly painful, and he's amazed that nobody else reacted to it.
- Five-Finger Fillet: Birdperson does this while he's completely high at Hugh Jackman's house. Squanchy says it's his turn, and just immediately plunges the knife into the back of his paw with a smile on his face.
- Forgotten Birthday: Rick and company completely forgot about Mr. Poopybutthole's birthday being the same day they stage an intervention. It didn't help much that they took him to Fuck You's, where customers are treated like shit by the waiters for kicks and giggles. Subverted when it turns out it was not actually his birthday and he calls out Rick for not knowing that.
- Given Name Reveal: Mr. Poopybutthole reveals his name is actually Wayne, saying he changed it because Poopybutthole was more dignified.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Mr. Poopybutthole hired a Predator to keep tabs on his wife. Turns out said Predator became more intimate with her and got accepted by Mr. Poopybutthole's son.
- Happily Married: Amy has started a loving family with a Yautja warrior. Mr. Poopybutthole only realizes this when his son begs them to stop hurting his new dad.
- Hollywood Restraining Order: After their divorce, Amy labeled Mr. Poopybutthole with a restraining order after he kept stalking her.
- Immune to Bullets: Gene's riding mower deflects bullets.
- In Love with the Mark: The Predator hired by Poopybutthole to stalk his ex actually falls in love with said ex and becomes Poopybutthole's replacement.
- Insistent Terminology: The dealer who sold Poopybutthole his drugs prefers to be called a pharmacist.
- The Juggernaut: Gene's lawnmower, moving at a snail's pace of one mile per hour, is able to force Gene's car out of its path while causing significant frontal damage, causes a motorcyclist to explode immediately after, and is completely Immune to Bullets.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: As each character does a Sandlot-style fadeout for Mr. Poopybutthole's "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, Rick reappears to explain that the effect is caused by a pill that also affects clothing and whatever the user happens to be touching, which is why Gearhead's taxi vanished with him.
- Knew It All Along: Poopybutthole was fully aware Rick was planning an intervention when he pretended that it was his birthday when it wasn't.
- Mess of Woe: Mr. Poopybutthole's sorry condition at the start of the episode.
- Moment Killer: Mr. Poopybutthole and Amy have a touching moment where she was willing to let him back into his life to be a family with his son and her new husband. Hugh Jackman then smashes Amy's Predator husband over the head with a Grammy and she is now screaming at him to leave.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mr. Poopybutthole has this realization when his son calls out for Gul'karna after the gang overpowered the Predator in the woods.
- N-Word Privileges: Bird Person calls Bird Daughter a bitch and says "If you're a parent you're allowed to say that.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Birdperson rescued his daughter from prison offscreen at some point.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Poopybutthole tears into Beth for reminding her of the time she shot him.
- Post-Modern Magik: Rick engineers a ghost by creating an android, programming it with "Business" and then killing it without completing the upload so it has Unfinished Business that keeps its spirit from passing on. Unfortunately it phases through the floor when it tries to walk, apparently because the existence of floors wasn't part of the business that was programmed into it.
- Power Fist: Rick uses wrist gadgets to punch out the Predator.
- Punctuation Shaker: The alien Predator's name is Gul'karna.
- Retirony: In The Stinger, the sheriff is mentioned to be a day away from retirement and is killed by Gene's mower that runs out of fuel mere seconds after his death.
- Senseless Sacrifice: The mower ends up stopping moments after the sheriff is mowed by it. The cops lampshade it by noting that he could have survived just by standing back by 5 feet, and opt not to tell his granddaughter.
- Serious Business: The taco shop has a friendship taco pack that they only give out to groups of friends, and only gave to Gene without proof because he seems trustworthy. When he leaves the shop and finds the whole group has vanished, an employee comes out and takes it back because he looks like a liar.
- Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble: Mr. Poopybutthole grows some during his binge.
- Something We Forgot: After Mr. Poopybutthole says farewell to everyone after Fading Away, Gene misses out on the goodbyes while being inside the taco shop.
- Staging an Intervention: The family pressures Rick to gather up all of his closest friends (and Gene from next door) to finally confront Mr. Poopybutthole about his destructive alcoholism and his inability to keep his life on track.
- Symbol Swearing: The gang takes Poopybutthole to a bar called "F#%k You's".
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: The Smiths allowed Mr. Poopybutthole to stay at their home after his life fell apart but eventually grew tired of his messes and want Rick to make him leave.
- Too Dumb to Live
- When the Predator scans the surrounding forest for the gang, Mr. Poopybutthole decides at that very moment to slow open a beer can, immediately giving himself away.Mr. Poopybutthole: I admit it, tha-that was self-destructive.
- The sheriff in The Stinger, who stands directly in the path of a very slow-moving lawnmower and shoots at it (rather than, say, walking up to it and turning it off). When his bullets don't work, he stands his ground and is horribly killed, only for it to run out of gas immediately afterward.
- When the Predator scans the surrounding forest for the gang, Mr. Poopybutthole decides at that very moment to slow open a beer can, immediately giving himself away.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Hugh Jackman proves to be a bad influence on Mr. Poopybutthole's rehabilitation. His philosophy of not having limitations may sound cool but it is actually a dangerous way to live your life. He makes the gang take hard drugs and helps Poopybutthole to take Amy back while calling Rick a buzzkill when he tells them that is a bad idea.
- Uncertain Doom: Gul'Karna the predator's fate is uncertain after Hugh Jackman clubbed him over the head with a Grammy award. The ambiguity is shown through the fact that there was no blood or bruise seen on Gul'Karna's head after being hit and no blood is seen on the Grammy either.
- Unfinished Business: Rick creates a ghost robot with unfinished business hoping he could use it to scare Mr. Poopybutthole into leaving. Unfortunately, the ghost falls through the floor.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Mr. Poopybutthole delivers one for the group while they say goodbye.
- Birdperson returned home to raise his daughter.
- Gearhead went back to the gear system to get a spinal replacement.
- Squanchy checked himself into rehab, only to be arrested for smuggling venom.
- Hugh Jackman returned home to fix the award that Gene shot, and destroy all Wolverine references.
- Rick returned home having learned a lesson in friendship, honesty, and about himself.
- Wolverine Publicity: Invoked twice by bringing in Hugh Jackman as a celebrity guest and having a portrait in his man-cave of the "Jack-Men" with himself front and center.
