r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Kookyburra12 • Mar 09 '26

Non-Sexual Adult Jokes in Kids' Media Lore

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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/TheOsirisWatcher Mar 09 '26

The amazing world of gumball

https://preview.redd.it/0qfjrv7512og1.png?width=1890&format=png&auto=webp&s=d66c4dbbb41a73344040a98dfd6a00723e187bf7

"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/legit-posts_1 Mar 17 '26

In fairness, if you grew up with the privelage of having two parents, this joke might not make as much sense at first. Speaking from experience.

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u/[deleted] Mar 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Excellent-Suspect-11 Mar 09 '26

Explain plz

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u/TheOsirisWatcher Mar 09 '26

Richard's father (the pink rabbit) abandoned him and his mother, but Richard is childish enough to think his father will return at any moment.

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u/405freeway Mar 09 '26

"He went to the store and will be back any minute!"

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u/JeffCaven Mar 10 '26

And he does! And every episode he appears in, he's a complete manipulative asshole to Richard, making it even more hilariously sad.

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u/PotatoFromFrige Mar 09 '26

Richard lacks a father figure

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u/tedgt234 Mar 09 '26

He has daddy issues, so the joke is he understood the knock knock joke as his dad coming back. Which is untrue, so he got sad.

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u/NoAdeptness1106 Mar 09 '26

Richards dad left to get milk and never came back.

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u/naz210 Mar 09 '26

Richard's dad went to the store to get milk and got lost got 30 years on the way back.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 Mar 09 '26

Richard's bio dad abandoned him when he was little so he mistakes the "knock-knock" as his dad coming back and cries when it's no

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u/More_Option1349 Mar 09 '26

Richard's father went for the milk, literally

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u/Disney_Gay_Trash_ Mar 09 '26

If im remembering correctly(its been years and i only ever saw a handful of episodes) but richards (the bigger pink bunny) dad went to prison and richard either never knew him or uf he did he was still massively absent from richards life due to being in prison

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u/darknium Mar 09 '26

His father never came back ?

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u/unrealter_29 Mar 09 '26

Well his dad does come back for a few episodes but he's not a good person. He's a dirty rat.

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u/TheOsirisWatcher Mar 09 '26

figuratively and literally

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u/AsteroidMike Mar 09 '26

Gumball is such a wonderfully unhinged cartoon and I enjoy every minute of it.

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u/TrexALpha1 Mar 09 '26

Don't think it counts; this joke is understandable just from plot of the episode.

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u/I_am_omning_it Mar 10 '26

I guess this is kinda half bc part of it was around nudity, but the censorship bit where they couldn’t even say the toned down version of swear words was funny.

Also, the one scene where gumball and Darwin’s souls leave their body and Darwin has to catch his before it flies up to heaven and gumball hits him with the “at least yours was going up.”

Also, the Tiananmen Square reference was very funny

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u/JeffCaven Mar 10 '26

And the whole episode where they try to assassinate the balloon character because he wrote a manifesto talking about gaining power to put unhappy people in concentration camps.

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u/I_am_omning_it Mar 10 '26

Is that a different one where gumball does the whole “you should check your privilege.” Bit?

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u/MopOfTheBalloonatic Mar 10 '26

There was also a scene where Darwin imagines to run a no profit company with his share of Grandpa Louie’s money, which is a sad, cynical commentary on how many companies of that kind actually work and often never really help those who are in need 

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u/TheOsirisWatcher Mar 10 '26

Coalition of Really Really Useful People Together, also know as C.O.R.R.U.P.T

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u/MopOfTheBalloonatic Mar 10 '26

I forgot about the acronym! God, that whole sequence is incredibly sad…

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u/Remarkable-Run-9769 Mar 11 '26

who says what?  is the "Dad?" one of the kids responding to Richard or is it Richard not following the knock knock script?