In the world of Rick and Morty, lampooning catchphrases has arguably been one of the things that helped the show become a phenomenon. Going all the way back to New York Comic-Con 2014, fans constantly shouted out Rick’s season 1 catchphrase, “Wubalubadubdub,” during the Rick and Morty panel. Later in that panel, they showed a hype reel for Rick and Morty season 2 that featured Rick testing out all his new catchphrases. In season two, they take it a step further in “Total Rickall” when Morty ponders “He does have a lot of really weird, made-up-sounding catchphrases!” “One, we were making fun of the concept of cheesy catch phrases,” Roiland said. “It wasn’t in the script.” Instead, it was intended to be a Three Stooges homage, like Curly’s famous, indescribable sound. Originally, Rick was supposed to drop to the ground and do the Three Stooges Curly spin at the end. “I’m going to the booth, and I’m like I didn’t understand what was there, so I did a bunch of them,” he said. “And then it became like the Arsenio joke. I was like “What does Arsenio say again? ‘Wubalubadubdub! Arsenio!’” By the end of the season, “Wubalubadubdub” essentially became canon when it was revealed that the phrase is Bird Person language for “I am in great pain, please help me.” “The fans love it even more because it’s this weird anti-catchphrase, I guess,” Roiland said. “I mean people were screaming Pickle Rick,” he said. “That episode hasn’t even aired yet and people are like, “Pickle Rick!” It’s crazy.”
