13 Dark Humor Jokes from Saturday Morning Cartoons
Whether they watched reruns after school or new episodes with a big bowl of cereal on Saturday mornings, generations of kids have devoured copious amounts of cartoons in their spare time. Action, adventure, comedy and morality plays — it didn’t matter; it was fun and on TV. Still, there were times when even the most colorful animated shows went dark with their humor. While some of it may have gone over kids’ tiny heads, plenty of it also led to hilariously uncomfortable conversations with parents.
Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.
In any case, here are some of the darkest jokes ever that somehow found their way into Saturday morning cartoon culture…
Pizza Horror, ‘Foster’s Home of Imaginary Friends’
Manifesting a slice of pizza from your imagination is one thing, but why did Terrence have to imagine a sentient one that experiences pain?
Stu Pickles Making Chocolate Pudding, ‘Rugrats’
As an adult, you can relate to Stu sometimes. Oh boy, is it relatable.
Heffer Goes to ‘Heck,’ ‘Rocko’s Modern Life’
Remember that episode of Rocko when Heffer went to Hell? Yeah, that was pretty existential for youngsters.
Big Henry’s Sacrifice, ‘Gravity Falls’
When putting in mini golf, you have no idea what drama unfolds when your ball is out of sight.
Shattered Dreams, ‘Fairly Oddparents’
The Nasty Patty, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’
After serving a bad Krabby Patty to a health inspector, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs try to bury him alive and hide the evidence from the police. Remember, this is a plot from SpongeBob SquarePants, not Dexter.
Joker’s Eulogy of Batman, ‘Batman: The Animated Series’
After the Caped Crusader is supposedly murdered in “The Man Who Killed Batman,” Joker and his goons hold a funeral service for him and Batman’s supposed killer, Sid the Squid.
‘Don’t Flaunt It If You’re Not Gonna Give It Up,’ ‘Adventure Time’
Finn makes a very inappropriate and rather dark comment to a gelatinous cube.
Mrs. Bighead Roofies Rocko, ‘Rocko’s Modern Life’
In a now-banned episode, Mrs. Bighead attempts to seduce Rocko by offering him a drink spiked with Spanish Fly and other items to get him more *ahem* compliant for possible romance. Yes, Nickelodeon did a date rape drug joke.
Miriam’s Alcoholism, ‘Hey Arnold!’
Helga’s mom likes “smoothies” to the point that it affects her family life and Helga’s upbringing.
Ren Threatens Sven and Stimpy, ‘Ren & Stimpy’
In this censored episode, Ren horrifies Sven, Stimpy and the audience with just his calm, insane threats alone. If that isn’t bad enough, everyone ends up in Hell.
Organ Harvest, ‘Invader Zim’
To help pass as a human, Zim starts collecting human organs — lots of them.
One Beer, ‘Tiny Toon Adventures’
On a “very special episode” of Tiny Toon Adventures, the toons get a hold of a bottle of beer to showcase “the evils of alcohol.” While that’s not really dark on its own, it gets there when Buster, Plucky and Hampton turn into stereotypical drunks and get into a drunk-driving accident that “kills” them. No wonder this episode got banned.
