It's always tricky when creators of a great TV show work on something else. Oftentimes, even when the second project is amazing in its own right, it will always live in the shadow of something else. Such is the case of Futurama, the brain-child of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Arguably one of the best shows of all time, The Simpsons have been on television for decades, and will probably stay for more to come.
Futurama often gets disregarded and pushed to the side, considered to be a cheap knock-off of The Simpsons. This is far from being true, and while Futurama might not be the funniest series of all time, it's definitely one of the smartest and most refined. Plus, they predicted the future dozens of times, and have some of the best jokes. Here are 10 examples of when the show was funnier than its relative The Simpsons!
A Nod To Roosevelt
The thing about comedy shows is that sometimes, the cleverest jokes and references are hidden in the background. Futurama does this at an expert level and one that usually demands a degree in mathematics to understand. But this one, in particular, goes out to all the politics lovers out there.
When Fry is searching for political parties in "A Head in the Polls," you can see a booth called Bully Space Moose Party in the back. This is a nod to President Roosevelt's party from 1912, known as the Bull Moose Party, after Roosevelt was quoted saying he was "feeling like a bull moose."
Bender's Naughty Wash
One would think Futurama isn't the kind of show that could get away with dirty jokes. It's not Matt Groening's style to go for something raunchy, but it's not beneath him to make some naughty jokes here and there. Plenty of these can be found throughout the show.
One of the best can actually be traced back to one of the first scenes ever where Bender is getting a robot wash. He seems to enjoy the vibrations a little too much... to the point where his eye roll all the way to the back of his head. Smart innuendos make for the funniest jokes!
Please Rise For The Futurama Theme Song
One of the staples of Futurama is the opening tagline that appears at the beginning of every episode. We could honestly write an entire list of funny jokes from the show consisting of nothing but taglines, but for now, we'll just go with one of the funniest of the bunch.
"Please rise for the Futurama theme song" is gracious, elegant, and hilarious in its simplicity. Just the mental picture of viewers rising with a hand on their hearts for the quirky theme song of the show is enough to give you the giggles.
Punny Beers
The science puns are everywhere in Futurama. Honestly, there are so many, it's often hard to keep up with. But some are easier to grasp and funnier than others, as it the case of the beers in "The Route of All Evil." For starters, the gang goes searching for them in a place called 711.
And because with one pun simply isn't enough, the names of the beers are all hilarious as well. There's a reference for everyone, from programming geeks to the physicists of this world.
Just Hedonismbot In General
Plenty of recurring characters on the show have given us moments where we couldn't help but laugh out loud. Not to take away from the main character's consistently hilarious dialogue, but there's something about things like Hedonismbot that you just can't find anywhere else.
The whole character is a hoot. C'mon, a robot from ancient times with a love for orgies and overall decadence? Priceless! His lines are always pure comedy gold. "I trust the orgy pit has been scraped and buttered?" will go down in television history as one of the best pieces of dialogue to ever come out of a robot.
Urectum, You Say?
Let's take another walk down dirty joke land and give props to the writers for this very up-front joke. We were all nine-year-old kids once, and we all laughed at Uranus at least once back then. Heck, even know we can't help but smirk if someone names the planet-not planet-planet out loud.
There was an instance on the show when Professor Farnsworth tells fry they renamed Uranus to try and get over all the puns. Well, that didn't work out very well, considering the chosen alternative was Urectum. Seriously, what are scientists smoking when they name planets?
Zoidberg Is All Of Us
Zoidberg is probably one of the most lovable characters in the whole show. He's just trying to do the best he can, okay? And let's be honest here, Zoidberg's complete lack of attention and overall disregard for what everyone says can be extremely relatable sometimes.
Every moment that Zoidberg is on the show, it turns into an instant laugh. And deep down, we know how real his ability to somehow always be a few steps behind everyone else can be. Especially if it's six in the morning, we haven't had our coffee yet, and the boss is already yelling in our ears about an Excel spreadsheet.
Schrödinger's...Dog?
In fair true, not all of Futurama's jokes are easy to follow if you don't have a deep knowledge of science and mathematics. Which is fair, and also great for viewers. Who doesn't like a little side of education with their comedy?! But some references are easier to grasp than others, such as Schrödinger's cat.
The show gave its own spin to the theory by introducing Witten's Dog and what seems like a very complex drawing. In reality, it's just a poop joke designed by a physicist. But even if you didn't get that, the dog reference was enough to get a laugh out of.
The Money!
Oh, yes! The scene that launched a thousand memes! It would honestly be sinful on our part if we failed to include the famous moment when Fry tried to buy a gadget he didn't really need. Since then, "shut up and take my money!" has become a staple of meme culture across the Internet.
Good luck trying to access any social media channel without seeing at least one reference to this scene. It was just hilarious in general and unforgettable for sure.
All The Good News
Look folks, say whatever you want, but Futurama will always automatically be funnier The Simpsons once Professor Farnsworth comes on screen and yells "good news, everyone!". We know it's never going to be good news, and we still love it simply because it's so incredibly absurd!
There's just something about the absolute certainty of impending doom prefaced by an announcement of non-existent good news that is both hilarious and refined. We're ready to fight you on this one!