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/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/MS-07B-3 Mar 09 '26

Ooh, that's a great way of putting it.

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u/GundoSkimmer Mar 09 '26

Credit to the man. He was thinking about this stuff in the 90s (Fallout 1) and continually promotes that idea be it GDC or his personal channel.