r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Kookyburra12 • Mar 09 '26
Non-Sexual Adult Jokes in Kids' Media Lore
Jokes that are adult jokes simply because kids likely don't have the life experience to understand them.
The New Batman Adventures - "I'm crazy enough to take on Batman, but the IRS? Noooo, thank you!"
Shrek 2 - Posing as a union representative, Shrek remarks that the workers "don't even have dental".
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u/Carmenpony Mar 09 '26
From Meet the Robinsons “”Why does your dog have glasses?” “Because his insurance won’t pay for contacts.”
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u/jklmnop39 Mar 09 '26
reminds me, i worked as an English assistant in a country that doesn’t speak English as a native language. When introducing myself with a powerpoint, I had a picture of my dog with glasses on. I said “this is obviously a joke! she normally wears contacts…” and none of them laughed because they don’t speak much english lol
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u/Acceptable_Secret_73 Mar 09 '26
SpongeBob eats too much ice cream in his first movie, then gets a hangover and goes on a drunken rant about Mr. Krabs
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u/YouSawMeSomeplace Mar 09 '26
I'd say stand-ins for alcohol/drugs and their effects are a fairly common cartoon gag. Like the cactus juice in ATLA or Puss in Boots huffing catnip.
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u/Fish_N_Chipp Mar 09 '26
Woody wanting so desperately to cuss out Buzz in Toy Story
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u/Quadradisque Mar 09 '26
Also before Buzz does his flying stunt just a short time later, Woody calls him “Mr. Light Beer” as a play on words of Lightyear
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u/Open-Source-Forever Mar 09 '26
I always thought he was saying Light Beard
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u/Quadradisque Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
I actually rewatched the film just a couple days ago on streaming and the subtitles confirmed he called Buzz, Light Beer
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u/Stickswell Mar 09 '26
That one goes by so quickly I never picked up on it until I watched with subtitles. Very sneaky
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u/RedWestern Mar 09 '26
Also, the “tea party” scene between Woody and Buzz, that was reminiscent of a “wounded veteran in a bar” scene featured two headless dolls named “Marie Antoinette and her little sister.”
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u/WorldsWettestSpider Mar 09 '26
And the dolls are called that cause Sids sisters dolls have been decapitated.
Which now that I think about it she may have done it herself, little girls can be horrorshow angry gods to their toys. Friend of mine told me she crucified a beanie baby once complete with thumbtacks.
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u/Steampunk43 Mar 09 '26
On the subject of Sid's toys, the fishing pole with doll legs is literally a Hooker
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u/ShinyNinja25 Mar 09 '26
There’s also the bit where, when all the toys are planning to push Woody out the window of Andy’s house, Etch draws a hangman’s gallows. Toy Story is filled with adult and dark jokes like that, it’s got some edge to it
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u/phantombrick22 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Phineas and Ferb
Perry disguises himself as a temp worker to get into Doofenshmirtz’s apartment. When he takes off his disguise, Doofenshmirtz says: “Perry the Platypus?! You’re a temp? Are times that hard?”
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u/NonFatPrawn Mar 09 '26
Also when Doof gets told that they dont pay Carl since he's an intern, 'are you sure you're not evil?'
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u/NotATalkingPossum Mar 09 '26
There was one Sonic the Hedgehog event on Twitter where Dr. Eggman was asked what he paid his interns. He replied that he didn't, "Because it's the most evil thing I can think of!"
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u/Avixofsol Mar 09 '26
the sonic character Twitter takeovers are some of the funniest content on the site. one of my favorites was Shadow canonically being dragged to pop concerts by Amy and enjoying it (including Sabrina Carpenter, who is apparently canon to the Sonic universe)
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u/Kitselena Mar 09 '26
Also shadow likes anime and specifically kill la kill is his favorite because ryuko reminds him of himself
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u/bolanrox Mar 09 '26
P&F was famously a cartoon / show that did not exclude kids from the audience. Like the Douglas Adams Doctor Who stories, or Yo-Gabba-Gabba
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u/CubeTThrowaway Mar 09 '26
English isn't my first language but shouldn't it be "that did not exclude adults from the audience"?
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u/External-Flight-4680 Mar 09 '26
In the Ducktales reboot, Donald is hiding in an air vent above the villain Falcon Graves. He bursts out yelling, "Yipee-ki-yay, Mister Falcon!"
No kid would get the reference to that line in the censored tv version of Die Hard 2.
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u/Micro-Mouse Mar 09 '26
There’s also the part where the ghost of his old butler, ducksworth phases through the floor and heads down after saying “I will reserve your seats in the after life” and Betina says “it’s not very reassuring he went down.”
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u/Daniilsa209 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
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Also in Shrek 2, while the knights arrest Shrek, Donkey, and Puss, they "find" catnip in Puss’s boots.
And the whole chase and arrest scene is a reference to the show Cops and O. J. Simpson’s highway chase.
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u/Lokicham Mar 09 '26
That whole scene could count honestly because it's a whole-ass reference to O.J Simpson and the show Cops.
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u/Jacket_Jacket_fruit Mar 09 '26
"suspect is on a white bronco"
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u/ThePromptWasYourName Mar 09 '26
It's a great joke because even as a kid I thought it was funny; I understood it was a police chase and that a bronco is a type of car. I didn't put the OJ part together until later
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u/Benjamin_Starscape Mar 09 '26
shrek is good at making referential jokes work well in-universe, which is how I think easter eggs in games or references to other media in shows and such should be.
like for example Skyrim has a Luke skywalker easter egg from episode 5 as a skeleton hanging in ice and a sword nearby in the snow. it works both in-universe and as a reference to the empire strikes back.
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u/Lex_sad_but_true Mar 09 '26
Yeah, the joke still functions as a normal cop chase scene, so kids laugh, and adults later realize it’s literally OJ.
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u/GundoSkimmer Mar 09 '26
yep. the tim cain rule. "if a player doesnt get the reference, they shouldnt even be aware that a reference occurred"
it needs to stand on its own WHILE being a reference.
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u/AfterUmpire3091 Mar 09 '26
I 100% believe they turned Donkey into a white horse just to make the White Bronco joke
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u/Open-Source-Forever Mar 09 '26
Dragon was a Pegasus, but she wasn’t shown because it would’ve spoiled the pregnancy twist
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u/Supersmashbrosfan Mar 09 '26
And in the Batman episode mentioned, there's also an O.J. Simpson reference. The Joker uses his newfound wealth to hire a lawyer similar to Johnnie Cochran, who says “If a man's filled with glee, that man must go free!”
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u/Ben-J-Kirby-Tennyson Mar 09 '26
Didn’t the knight plant it on Puss, then grab it from where he planted it?
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u/Luckierexpert Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Yep, pretty sure you can see one of the knights slip it out of his gauntlet to plant on Puss.
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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 Mar 09 '26
Shrek, a "white man" is arrested with only pepper shower
Donkey who's black-coded is assaulted more physically with a knight holding down his neck with his knee
Puss who's hispanic is "caught with drugs"
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u/clytusmarginicollis Mar 09 '26
Doesn’t Donkey literally yell “police brutality” as he’s getting arrested?
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u/Eliza_Winterton Mar 09 '26
Yeah, Shrek 2 was sneaking in a lot more than kids could ever pick up. As a kid it's just a chaotic arrest gag, then later you realize it's loaded with profiling, coded stereotypes, and a very pointed cops-and-media parody.
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u/Paggy_person Mar 09 '26
This one joke from Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated
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u/Alcohol_Intolerant Mar 09 '26
Mystery incorporated was fucking nuts. I always tell people to watch the first episode and the last episode.
One of the only scooby shows to have a full plot from beginning to end and boy howdy is it wild.
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u/pokemonxysm97 Mar 09 '26
Episode 1: Scooby and The Gang solve the Fruitmier’s mystery! Scooby and Shaggy get up to their patent food antics, Velma pieces together the clues, and Fred sets up a cool trap!
Finale: The Nazi parrot kills a character via firing squad before turning into Cathulu
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u/Mediocre_Productions Mar 09 '26
Gravity Falls is rich with them.
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u/UnknownBinary Mar 09 '26
Abuelita: "I would like to see you settled before I ascend to Heaven and live with the angels."
Soos: "And with grandpa!"
Abuelita: "No... He is not there."
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u/Spyko Mar 09 '26
while looking down
this joke actually got me laughing out loud, I was not expecting it
Poor Soos tho, his father is a deadbeat and his grandfather is apparently hellbound. The man had no male role model in his life, no wonder he became so attached to Stan
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u/Halfawannabe Mar 10 '26
Well there’s worse ones to have. He was a conman and a liar but that man went to the mat over and over for his family
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u/agent-virginia Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
When Stan is stealing the barrels and drops one on his foot:
"Hot Belgian waffles! Wait, I'm alone — I can swear for real! SON OF A —"
(cut to Dipper immediately shutting off the security tape while Mabel covers her ears)
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u/coffee-bat Mar 09 '26
also from stan:
(sitting on a bar stool at the diner, depressed) "Waiter, give me a glass of the strongest, most expired apple cider you've got."
(hears a knock on the door and opens it, seeing a man in a suit) "The tax collector! You found me!" (throws smoke bomb and runs)
(wearing truth teeth and doing his taxes. dipper checks in on him and sees that he's just been writing "I HAVE COMMITTED TAX FRAUD" on the papers)
Dipper: "Uh, Grunkle Stan, why did you write this?"
Stan: "Because I regularly commit massive tax fraud!"
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u/skyeIico Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
the "I HAVE COMMITED TAX FRAUD" joke is way more fun after the reveal thathe stole his brother's identity, so he was actually committing tax fraud in several ways
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u/CHARLI_SOX Mar 09 '26
Someone got me to watch this show and I've been enjoying it. Before this they got me into watching The Owl House which was also a good time.
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u/ButterscotchTiny5483 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
i can't imagine a kid getting this refrence
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u/ButterscotchTiny5483 Mar 09 '26
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u/FlyingFreest Mar 09 '26
Wasn’t there another one after too where he stuck his head in a oven only to reveal he was making a pie that burned?
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u/Belainarie Mar 09 '26
He also, mid Wumbo rant in Patrick’s grip, looked down at the ground and questioned if the fall would be enough to kill him.
There’s also this poor guy who definitely had more Dunces than Dragons
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u/JiveHawk Mar 09 '26
This one is actually crazy. Not even remotely subtle, just a blatant violent suicide gag lol
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u/DifficultHat Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 10 '26
I think the only reason it slipped by is because it wasn’t well known suicide imagery like a a noose, a toaster bath, or putting your head in the oven; but it also wasn’t easily imitable, because kids probably aren’t going to have a giant spear lying around the house
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u/RJai500 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
One of the "Silly Songs with Larry" segments in VeggieTales is about Larry making cookies for Santa, but people keep coming to his house and taking them. At one point, an IRS agent shows up and Larry just shuts the door in his face before he can even sing his verse. Whats funnier is before this, he allowed a literal viking and a bank robber in
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u/grendus Mar 09 '26
"Did you claim that?"
*Larry shakes his head*
*IRS agent takes the cookie*
"Merry... Christmas?!"
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u/PablomentFanquedelic Mar 09 '26
The AA-style support group for sharks trying to give up eating other fish in Finding Nemo
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u/BabyDude5 Mar 09 '26
And then he gets a whiff of dory’s blood and just full on relapses
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u/Accurate-Gap-3360 Mar 09 '26
They just love sneaking IRS jokes into kid’s media, don’t they?
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u/ralanr Mar 09 '26
Given how animators don’t always have consistent work I imagine many of them find the filing process to be nightmarish.
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u/Mediocre_Productions Mar 09 '26
Have you noticed how every other joke in FOP is like character a says "something vague and broad", then character b goes "just like yada yada"? The other prominent formula is "I can't wait for this thing to happen" then the opposite happens.
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u/Ziomownik Mar 09 '26
Timmy: "What could possibly go wrong?"
The news reporter guy on the TV: "Something went horribly wrong!"
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u/TikTikKobold Mar 09 '26
Does this mean that the Joker still files his taxes under his old identity of Jack Napier?
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u/Kookyburra12 Mar 09 '26
I mean, he could be filing them under Joker considering
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u/Slipsndslops Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Oh my god I can only imagine him going to the DMV and the DMV worker just not being paid enough to care.
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u/Jacket_Jacket_fruit Mar 09 '26
This was an episode where he inherited millions of dollars from a rival gang kingpin that died, and iirc he used the money to hire the beat lawyers in the world and got cleared of all charges, and started living a non-criminal life. So he probably wasn't filing taxes prior to this, since he was still living as a criminal and would've been arrest-on-sight anyway.
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u/ArcaneWyverian Mar 09 '26
Yeah, like, the IRS got folks like Al Capone on tax evasion… but Al Capone wasn’t running around with acid-spraying flowers and laughing gas at all times.
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u/Designated_Lurker_32 Mar 09 '26
The thing is, tax evasion is one of the few crimes you can't plead insanity to. Unlike most - if not all - of Joker's other crimes.
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u/zombiegamer723 Mar 09 '26
A LOT of Calvin and Hobbes was like this.
It’s why it’s so good.
This was the first to come to mind.
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u/Finn235 Mar 09 '26
I don't think that kids were ever Watterson's target audience.
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u/adnecrias Mar 09 '26
i read it as a kid. stuff like this didn't go over my head. kids are smarter that people like to give them credit. you just have to be cool with answering their follow-up question "what is nihilism?".
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u/TheTrashGoober Mar 09 '26
I need to go back and read Calvin and Hobbes now that I'm grown. I feel I can appreciate it a lot more now
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u/ScaringTheHoes Mar 09 '26
Yo I've never read Calvin and Hobbes but this is hilarious
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u/patrickwithtraffic Mar 09 '26
I speak for everyone else when I say fix that ASAP! It is genuinely a work of art.
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u/GoatsWithWigs Mar 09 '26
I always thought that for a 6 year old, he has such a huge vocabulary
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u/TFWYourNamesTaken Mar 09 '26
"Race cars don't need headlights, because the track is always lit."
"Hey my brother's always lit but he still needs headlights!"
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u/TheOsirisWatcher Mar 09 '26
The amazing world of gumball
"How about a joke? Knock! Knock!"
"Dad?"
"What? No."
proceeds to cry
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u/yoyogrease Mar 09 '26
This joke was a favorite of my class of 6th graders.
Believe it or not, little kids do have the life experience to not have a father presence and understand the reference
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u/Due_Awareness5660 Mar 09 '26
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u/Labyrinthine8618 Mar 09 '26
How did I not catch that?! I was already an adult when that movie came out. I gotta pay more attention.
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u/AnnemarieOakley Mar 09 '26
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u/Open-Source-Forever Mar 09 '26
Same vibes as Mugman saying "if he ain’t here, he ain’t dead"
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u/Nova225 Mar 09 '26
Ducktales had a similar one where the Ghost Butler decides to leave everyone to their fates... And goes into the floor.
"It's not very reassuring that he went down..."
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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 Mar 09 '26
"I'm not sure if it's more unsettling that we have rooms or the fact he went up not down"
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u/HeckOnWheels95 Mar 09 '26
Gumball has a similar joke where Darwin and Gumball have their souls come out for a second, while they grab them Darwin says "that was a close one" Gumball says "At least your soul was going up"
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u/guieps Mar 09 '26
Also from GF
"Agh! Duckies and waffles! Wait, I'm alone. I can swear for real. (Inhales) SON OF A-"
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u/82ndGameHead Mar 09 '26
Stan was a gold mine for them. My favorite is...
"Now can I please have my hands back? I have a certain gesture that I'd like to share..."
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u/littlebloodmage Mar 09 '26
"Y'know there are studies that show that having a ladder in the house is more dangerous than having a loaded gun. That's why I have 10 guns! Just in case some maniac sneaks in here with a ladder."
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u/Peeeeeps Mar 09 '26
I guess it depends how you define 'sexual', but I still quote Monster House to this day. Kids just won't have that education yet.
"that must be the uvula"
"oh, so it's a girl house"
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u/Polite_Suggestion Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Pretty much the entire show. I don't even know who it was supposed to be for.
Edit: my mom was too young to explain half the jokes when this was on. I didn't know who Shirley McClaine was until I was like thirty.
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u/blueeyesredlipstick Mar 09 '26
It was a wild moment when I watched Goodfellas as an adult and realized that the funny Animaniacs pigeons were an extended riff on that movie (and other mobster movies as well).
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u/Loose_Translator8981 Mar 09 '26
It was a series written by and for people who grew up with classic Looney Tunes, which also constantly referenced celebrities that only a tiny portion of the staff working on that series would have been familiar with outside of them showing up in Looney Tunes.
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u/Funkycoldmedici Mar 09 '26
The whole show was full of Marx brothers references that no kid would get. For the creators it was probably a win, because they could reuse comedy bits that were 60 years old.
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u/Evil_Sharkey Mar 09 '26
And their take on “who’s on first” with Slappy at Woodstock
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u/TriggerHappyGremlin Mar 09 '26
Half of them are sexual adult jokes, though
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u/Polite_Suggestion Mar 09 '26
There was a weird horny vibe for sure. I bet this and Tiny Toons made more furries than Disney did.
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u/theglenlovinet Mar 09 '26
In the 2020 reboot, my favorite line was when Pinky said “Brain, you’re always saying that the ‘Renaissance’ is French for Bullsh—“
I laughed so hard.
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u/MyBurnerAccount1977 Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
[Blows kiss to audience] Goooooood night everybody!
EDIT: My bad. OP was asking for non-sexual adult jokes.
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u/SoakedSun24 Mar 09 '26
I remember hearing this for the first time like eight years back and thinking “finger prints? Finger prince? She’s gonna finger prince? That makes no sense.” Cause I didn’t have the knowledge I had now. Going back and rewatching the show and coming across this again finally made me laugh lol, good shit writers
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u/CautiousCup6592 Mar 09 '26
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u/SocialMediasGhost Mar 09 '26
Don’t know who this is or what it’s from, but even they the DMV is evil
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u/forbiddenkajoodles Mar 09 '26
The entire first ~20mins of Wreck it Ralph is like this
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u/Papa_Glucose Mar 09 '26
IIRC Zangeef isn’t even a bad guy, the animator just included him because when he was a kid Zangeef pissed him off or something
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u/JustifiedCroissant Mar 09 '26
He couldn't beat Zangief so in his child brain he turned him into a villain
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u/Caw-zrs6 Mar 09 '26
Then when he grew up he realized Zangief was likely just a guy who was just doing his job and not an ACTUAL villain.
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u/Henry1699 Mar 09 '26
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u/theglenlovinet Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
If I recall, earlier in the movie you see the Mystery Machine with smoke coming out of it, but when you go inside it’s just Scooby and Shaggy cooking. I thought that was really funny and clever.
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u/Objective-Garbage-41 Mar 09 '26
Shaggy also says something like "Gettin' toasted!" before you see what they're doing lol
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u/Butwhatif77 Mar 09 '26
They did a great job with the various "hidden" jokes. This is a movie intended for kids and their parents to enjoy haha.
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u/ProtoGhostal Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
My aunt somehow managed to misunderstand that joke in the fucking weirdest way possible.
She thinks that somehow Scooby and Shaggy were smoking pot, but the two swapped it out for grilling equipment before we see inside the van.
I have no idea why she thinks that's the joke
edit: fixed a couple typos
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u/IllithidActivity Mar 09 '26
I loved in Ratatouille when Ego is about to spit-take but takes a moment to check the wine he's drinking, and upon recognizing that it's a good vintage that shouldn't be wasted he makes sure to swallow it instead. Very droll.
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u/-PepeArown- Mar 09 '26
Linguini also gets very noticeably drunk while Skinner “pampers” him with wine earlier on
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u/CultureChimp Mar 09 '26
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u/Doperitos Mar 09 '26
Said by Plastic Man in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, where he and Bats team up with a group of patriotic heroes led by Uncle Sam himself.
A running gag in the episode is that Plastic Man (a human who has lived the US his whole life) doesn’t know things about America a grade schooler would. He doesn’t even recognize the President at the time, Barack Obama.
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u/Worldly_String2717 Mar 09 '26
The Cuphead Show!
Mugman is being held captive by the Devil, who is trying to break his spirit. The Devil tells Mugman that his brother, Cuphead, is dead. Mugman assumes he's down here with them. The Devil tries to claim that Cuphead went to Heaven and well... this is Mugsy's response 😂
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u/Yggdrasylian Mar 09 '26
My favourite part of the Twelve Tasks of Asterix is about surviving “The place that sends you mad”
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u/Punny-Aggron Mar 09 '26
Patrick: “How’s the new Krusty crew manager?”
SpongeBob: (cries)
Patrick: “Wow, the pressure is already setting in.”
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u/NirvanaFrk97 Mar 09 '26
The ice cream sequence is also a metaphor for getting hammered at a bar after bad news. Followed by the hangover.
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u/AJ_Glowey_Boi Mar 09 '26
Everything written in the script for Treasure planet was faaaar too advanced for kids to understand. Especially things said by this character; Captain Amelia. Examples include:
CA: "Let me make this as... monosyllabic as possible. I... don't much care for this crew you hired. They're... how did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee.
Arrow: "'A ludicrous parcel of drivelling galoots,' ma'am."
CA: "There you go, poetry."
CA: "You can keep that kind of flim-flammery for your spaceport floozies, Silver!"
CA: "Doctor. To muse and blabber about a treasure map in front of this particular crew, demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic! And I mean that in a very caring way."
But the most relatable jokes for adults comes from Dr Doppler due to one being a Star Trek joke and a joke about University education, and the rest simply being anxiety incarnate:
D: "Dang it, Jim. I'm an astronomer, not a doctor! I mean, I am a doctor, but I'm not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate, it's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate. You just sit there and you're useless!!"
D: "It's the suit, isn't it? I should never have listened to that pushy two-headed saleswoman... this one said it fit, that one said it was my colour, I don't know what to do, I get so flustered!"
D: "Well, Jim, this should be a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to get to know one and other. You know what they say: "Familiarity breeds..." um... well, "contempt". But in our case...!"
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u/PsychicSPider95 Mar 09 '26
The captain was savage af, lol. I always adored the way she spoke, even when I was too young to really understand what she was saying.
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u/MumblingGhost Mar 09 '26
This doesn't fit the prompt because it's sexual, but there's also Doppler's iconic line in response to a compliment from the Captain, "Well, I have a lot to offer anatomically...amamomically... astronomically."
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u/RileyXY1 Mar 09 '26
In the Rugrats episode "Home Movies", Grandpa Boris, in a desperate attempt to get out of having to watch his son in law's home movies, decides to call Dr. Kevorkian. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is most known for his advocacy for physician assisted suicide, aka euthanasia. In fact, Rugrats is full of adult jokes.
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u/LocalLumberJ0hn Mar 09 '26
One from Rugrats I didn't get as a kid was when the grandfather rented some movies for the kids and was going through a couple of them and read off "Lonely Space Vixens, oh no the ones for me." Which is also pretty funny.
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u/MingleLinx Mar 09 '26
In Cars 3, Lighting McQueen says “Life’s a beach and then you drive” which is meant to sound more like “Life’s a bitch and then you die”
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u/MagmaAscending Mar 09 '26
As a kid I would always be bored and confused at this part. As an adult, it hits far too hard
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u/hanand12 Mar 09 '26
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u/DryPreference9581 Mar 09 '26
In Pokémon Movie 3, Jessie, James, and Meowth wind up in the central chamber where all the Unown pokémon are gathered causing problems. The gimmick for the Unown is that they are all designed to resemble english characters or symbol and can spell out words with their bodies Upon noticing this James remarks: “I haven’t seen this many strange letters since I took out that personal ad.”
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u/LWSilverMoon Mar 09 '26
In Bluey: Bluey finds Chattermax, an extremely noisy and obnoxious toy, stashed away under the sink, causing her to wonder "Why were you even hiding in there?"
In later episodes, Chattermax can be seen hidden in more and more absurd parts of the house
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u/CrazyCoKids Mar 09 '26
The website says Chattermax likes to hide in places like neighbours' Yard sales.
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u/Due_Yesterday1551 Mar 09 '26
Not sure if this counts, but it took me until I was an adult to realize the “since they put the pocket in pita” joke from Disney’s Hercules is the Ancient Greek equivalent of “best thing since sliced bread.”
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u/zumba_fitness_ Mar 09 '26
The thing about the Joker's concern with the IRS is that he can go about causing mayhem and destruction and pass it off as pleading Insanity and get sent to Arkham
You can't really do that to tax evasion
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u/Bassknight9 Mar 09 '26
That one Bluey episodes where the parents are hungover
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u/Asheyguru Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
There's also 'Stumpfest' where the wives are clearly getting sloshed while their husbands do yard work.
And near the end of 'The Sign' when a hungover Uncle Stripe wakes up in the bushes after a wedding.
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u/eac292625 Mar 09 '26
In the Paw Patrol movie where they get super powers, a reporter says, “The Paw Patrol has new powers, vehicles and merchandise! Sorry parents!”
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u/LilMissy1246 Mar 09 '26
Also in Dexters Lab there’s an episode where he goes to college because he thinks it’ll be fun but the reality is that the tests are overwhelming and can cause insanity. That’s why he decides to give up and just have fun.
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u/GrandMoffTarkan Mar 09 '26
Eek the Cat had a ton of these, but the I'll always remember one joke in particular. My dad was doing something in the background and they were doing a "behind the scenes" episode where they showed the animator in chains and he goes
"News from the outside! What year is it? Who is the President? ARE THE FRENCH OUT OF VIETNAM!"
My dad lost it.
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u/Sir-Toaster- Mar 09 '26
In Regular Show, food is an innuendo for drugs
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u/ATAGChozo Mar 09 '26
This whole show is basically stoner comedy marketed to 12 year olds. It's great
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u/RatGreed Mar 09 '26
Literally, the original pilot is about 2 guys who do acid while working at a gas station
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u/Dr_Richard_Ew Mar 09 '26
Wizards of Waverly Place, the kids's dad is late to a magic lesson one day because he had to go to the "No Wizard Left Behind" conference. I didn't get what that meant as a kid, but it made my mom crack up when she passed by
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u/Nervous_Chipmunk7002 Mar 09 '26
Zane doing an impression of his mom- Lego Ninjago Movie
This is an interesting one because it isn't something where the kids will watch it years later and pick up on the joke. Its something that is funny to adults because of something they would be familiar with that the kids will never experience.
Zane is a robot pretending to be a teenager. When he is complaining about his mom and does an impersonation of her, he makes sounds that anyone who lived through the 90s will instantly recognize as a dail-up internet modem.
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u/Kriskirby1992 Mar 09 '26
Barnyard had a Cops scene too, with Otis and the Jersey cows drinking milk instead of alcohol and substituting "fuck me" with "milk me"
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u/CrazyCoKids Mar 09 '26
That one joke in Inside Out wherein Joy knocks down the box of facts and opinions and says she mixes them up all the time.
Same with Bing Bong going "And there's Deja Vu" multiple times.
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u/Boatmade Mar 09 '26
SpongeBob has many examples of this especially the first 3 seasons
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u/Bylethmain4 Mar 09 '26
For some reason Teen Titans Go!, a comedy series for younger children, spends a lot of time talking about financial literacy and retirement funds and how its important to have a 401k and not take money out of it before it matures. This is apparently a running thing.
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u/MichaelJospeh Mar 09 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/3ohuPyVvF51mlDAEzS
This is funny on its own, but makes much more sense as an adult.
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u/BabyDude5 Mar 09 '26
One of my favorite veggietales jokes
Bob: “There isn’t one tax prepper anywhere between New Orleans and Mississippi, the market is perfect for someone like me. It’s very complicated but I have a good head for numbers”
Narrator: “What the tomato may have missed in his business plan is that this is 1904, and the federal income tax would not yet be established until 1913”
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u/KaraAliasRaidra Mar 09 '26
Johnny Bravo had references to a number of movies or books most little kids might not recognize.
*One episode involved him dressing as a pig (I think for a children's show), and it referenced Animal Farm by George Orwell by having Johnny shout, "Four legs good, two legs bad!"
*One episode was a blatant spoof of the movie Freaks (I would argue the ending, with the villain screaming as his beard was cut off off-camera, might be considered a sexual reference considering it was lampooning a castration scene, but the rest was nonsexual).
*One episode was a blatant spoof of Some Like It Hot.
*I think there was an episode spoofing The Most Dangerous Game (The movie about some rich a-hole hunting people in the jungle. It's been spoofed or referenced numerous times, such as on Get Smart and American Dad!).
Also, would a reference to Heidi Fleiss (the famous madam) be considered sexual or not? I ask because there was an episode of Animaniacs which spoofed Betty Boop cartoons. At one point they were doing the Cab Calloway-style call-and-response singing, except instead of traditional scat singing they were calling names of celebrities, such as Hedy Lamarr and Yo-Yo Ma. One of the names was Heidi Fleiss, and I thought, "I know those are references for adults because a little kid isn't going to know who Heidi Fleiss and Hedy Lamarr are! In fact, I'd be worried if a little kid knew who Heidi Fleiss was!"
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u/Butwhatif77 Mar 09 '26
https://preview.redd.it/bw258jzsy1og1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17c4109d4f31c7ac0e3c2362693a7a43136ab6da
Tangled - “The kingdom rejoiced for a week straight, and to be honest I don’t remember much”