Dave Chappelle once said that Chappelle’s Show was “ruining my life” during a stand-up performance in 2004, when his set was interrupted by people in the audience yelling, “I’m Rick James, bitch!” No wonder he didn’t want to make more episodes. Catchphrases are tricky things: everyone wants a quote that sticks (think “you got it, dude” or “live long and prosper” or, shudder, “bazinga”), but if I were, for instance, Matt LeBlanc, I would not want to smile politely (and seethe internally) after hearing “how you doin’?” for the 27th time that day.
Rick and Morty co-creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are no strangers to popular quotes (“I’M PICKLE RICK,” something about Szechuan sauce, etc.), and while they’re happy the Adult Swim series is so popular, there’s also one catchphrase that the former is tired of hearing. “It would be the ‘wubba lubba dub dub’ catchphrase,” Roiland told Entertainment Weekly. “Only because we were making fun of the idea of stupid catchphrases. [At first] it wasn’t at all that and then it was funny because it was a dumb catchphrase, and then we subverted it by making it mean something really depressing. The hardcore fans get the irony behind it.” But that irony is lost on the casual viewers, which is why “I don’t want to bum anybody out,” Roiland added. “I don’t want somebody to be like, ‘I love that!’ And then for them to read that Justin hates it. I don’t hate it…”
As for Harmon, he said that “it always bums me out when somebody uses a meme of a quote for the show and it’s being used by somebody who isn’t the greatest specimen. I hate it when a line from our show is being used by the meanest person in a conversation online,” which is, unfortunately, quite often.
Rick and Morty returns later this year, when victory shall be Roiland and Harmon’s. See? Catchphrases are fun! Except in this case:
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
