Rick & Morty has always been fond of Easter eggs and clever callbacks, so it’s no surprise the show snuck in a subtle nod to Dan Harmon’s earlier cult hit Community. Debuting in 2013, Adult Swim’s Rick & Morty has come a long way from its humble origins as a raunchy spoof of Back to the Future. With a massive audience and critical acclaim to its name, the irreverent sci-fi comedy series is now a huge hit as it enters its fifth season.
Since its inception, Rick & Morty has spent plenty of time referencing, parodying, and recreating everything from superhero movies to horror films, and the show never shies away from including obscure Easter eggs. But not everyone noticed Rick & Morty’s early, subtle nod to Community, an earlier show from co-creator Dan Harmon.
Way back in season 1 of the series, Rick & Morty hid a subtle nod to Community in “Raising Gazorpazorp.” When offering an example of a truth that hurts, one character refers to telling someone their makeup doesn’t match their skin tone color-wise, meaning they look like a circus clown with their bare neck. This season 1 Rick & Morty gag is an exact recreation of one of Abed’s effective insults in season 2’s Community episode "The Aerodynamics of Gender", right down to the deadpan delivery. The context the lines appear in couldn't be more different, but the lines themselves are almost identical.
Despite sharing a creator in the form of Dan Harmon and some cast members, Rick & Morty and Community couldn’t be more different in terms of tone. This disparity between the shows makes the reference easier to hide, as the line is delivered in two very different contexts across the two Harmon projects. In Community’s case, Abed has accidentally proven particularly adept at insulting people thanks to his lack of social graces, whereas in Rick & Morty the line comes about when half the titular duo is attempting to escape execution on an alien planet by proving that men can produce value in society (through the example of Marc Jacob). Even in these two radically different contexts, though, the line is equally effective as it comes from an unexpectedly straight-faced and serious figure.
It’s a cute nod to the earlier hit, especially when Community struggled for years to find an audience and often faced threats of a cancellation throughout its run, while in contrast Rick & Morty has been a huge success for Adult Swim. As such, it’s understandable that one of the series’ creators would want to reference an earlier, less-appreciated series in his new hit. Fortunately, time has been kind to Community, and as Rick & Morty has gone from strength to strength it has been able to offer guest roles to many of Community’s cast members, making the connection between Harmon series stronger than the recreation of a throwaway line. Even before Rick & Morty's success became obvious, Community’s John Oliver showing up as early as Rick & Morty’s third episode "Anatomy Park" made it clear that both shows share some creative DNA and their creator was always eager to bring this connection into focus.