Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s animated sci-fi comedy series Rick and Morty has quickly become one of the most popular shows on the air. Something about this curious pastiche of the Back to the Future trilogy, albeit with a lot more alcohol abuse and existential musings, has really clicked with audiences across the world.
In Adult Swim’s last renewal of the series, the network ordered a whopping 70 episodes. So far, we’ve only been treated to five of those episodes, so there’s still a lot more to come. So, Get Schwifty With These 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Rick And Morty.
10 Justin Roiland met Dan Harmon at his Channel 101 short film festival
Justin Roiland first met his future Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon at Channel 101, a short film festival that was co-founded by Harmon. Filmmakers submit short films in the form of TV pilots to Channel 101, and the audience there votes on which shorts should continue as series.
Roiland started submitting content to the festival a year after its launch. While the shock humor in his shorts often confused the festival’s audiences, Harmon took a liking to Roiland’s work. Rick and Morty was eventually adapted from a crude parody of the Back to the Future trilogy that Roiland created for the festival.
9 Bryan Cranston auditioned to play Jerry
Rick and Morty premiered its first season just three months after Breaking Bad aired its finale, so it’s a testament to the hard-working nature of Bryan Cranston that he auditioned to play Jerry on the former show while he was still starring in the latter show, which was being praised as the greatest TV series ever made.
Cranston’s most famous role, Walter White, is a dramatic one. But on the whole, he’s made more of a name for himself in comedy. He had a recurring role as Tim Whatley in Seinfeld and then a starring role as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle.
8 Dan Harmon has recruited a few Community actors to guest-star on Rick and Morty
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has recruited a handful of actors from his previous series, Community, to make guest appearances on the show. John Oliver, who played Professor Duncan in Community, voiced Dr. Xenon Bloom in Rick and Morty’s “Anatomy Park” episode. Jim Rash, who played Dean Pelton in Community, voiced Glexo Slimslom in the Rick and Morty episode “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez.”
Gillian Jacobs, who played Britta in Community, voiced Supernova in “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender.” Keith David, who played Elroy Patashnik in later seasons of Community, voices the U.S. President in Rick and Morty.
7 Ryan Elder’s theme tune was written for a different Justin Roiland show
Ryan Elder’s theme tune for Rick and Morty, which spoofs the theme music from sci-fi shows like Doctor Who, was originally written for a different Justin Roiland show. Roiland had developed a pilot for a show called Dog World at Cartoon Network. Dog World was set in a world where dogs are in charge and keep humans as pets.
Roiland made a snide reference to Cartoon Network’s rejection of the pilot in the Rick and Morty episode “Lawnmower Dog.” Arguably, the theme from Dog World suits Rick and Morty just as well, and you wouldn’t know it was written for a different show unless you were told.
6 Justin Roiland actually got drunk for a scene that required Rick to be particularly hammered
For a scene in a third-season Rick and Morty episode that required Rick to be particularly intoxicated, Justin Roiland actually got drunk. According to series co-creator Dan Harmon, “In episode 304, we need to see [Rick] get especially drunk, so I encouraged Justin to method act. I understand things got a little...creative.”
The video of Roiland recording his lines for this scene while drunk has since gone viral, with viewers both in awe of the fact that the guy was paid to get drunk at work and amused at the kind of improvisation one too many shots of tequila can bring out.
5 The pilot episode was written in six hours
The pilot episode of Rick and Morty was written by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon in just six hours in Harmon’s unfurnished office for the then-returning Community. The show had just gotten the greenlight from Adult Swim, and they were about to call it a day and pick up later, but they figured that if they left the office, it would take months of going back and forth to get the pilot written.
So, they knuckled down on the floor of the office, determined not to leave until they’d finished the script. They managed to complete a draft within six hours.
4 Rick and Morty was initially conceived with 11-minute episodes
Justin Roiland originally wanted to make Rick and Morty with 11-minute episodes, possibly combining two of these 11-minute segments for a full half-hour episode, like SpongeBob SquarePants and several other animated kids’ shows do.
However, Adult Swim had commissioned the show because they were hoping to air a show with genuine mainstream appeal to put their infinitely creative, yet niche programming on the map. So, they insisted that Roiland make half-hour episodes, which are more easily marketable. Roiland relented, obviously, and Rick and Morty was produced with half-hour episodes, split into two acts, which the show has used for brilliant storytelling.
3 Chris Parnell always nails his lines on the first take
According to series co-creator and star Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell – the voice of Jerry Smith on the show – usually nails each of his lines on the first take. Due to the precautionary nature of producing animation, the actors in the voice cast are required to do more than 30 takes for each of their lines, but the producers tend to end up using Parnell’s first take.
Parnell has the distinction of being one of two Saturday Night Live cast members in the show’s history to have been fired and then rehired by Lorne Michaels. His career is paved with distinctions.
2 All of Rick’s burps are real
All of Rick Sanchez’s burps on Rick and Morty are real. Justin Roiland actually elicits that many belches when he’s recording Rick’s lines, and he’ll have to keep doing it for years to come as the show’s popularity only continues to grow. Sometimes, Roiland has to knock back soda and other carbonated beverages to be able to belch that many times.
That must get pretty painful, but it’s all in the pursuit of authentic artistic expression. Sarah Chalke, who provides the voice of Beth Smith on the show, can apparently burp on command, so Roiland is pretty jealous of her.
1 Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon have written a backstory for Rick that they never plan to reveal
Rick and Morty creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon have reportedly written an entire backstory for Rick, but they never intend to actually reveal it on the show. They believe that TV shows have a tendency to jump the shark when it comes to digging into the characters’ backstories when they start running out of story material, and they don’t want Rick and Morty to be one of those shows.
However, the creators have been dropping clues throughout the series. As a result, fans have their own theories, ranging from Rick being an older, time-traveling Morty to Rick’s Morty being a replacement from another dimension after his original one died.
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