Regular Showis one of the most surreal shows to ever find a home on a network for children. The show follows two friends, Mordecai and Rigby, who work as groundskeepers in a large park. Their friends and coworkers include a gumball machine, an albino gorilla who skips everywhere, and a ghost that gives out high-fives. This barely scratches the surface ofRegular Show’s weirdness.
Although the finale first aired 7 years ago,Regular Showis getting rebooted. This is likely a response to the show’s immense popularity on streaming platforms. Over the years,Regular Showhas developed an audience well beyond its target age range. Older fans have been drawn to its surreal sense of humor and bizarre storylines. Hopefully, the reboot will be just as weird and wonderful as the show’s original run.
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10A Regular Epic Final Battle: Part I
Season 8, Episode 27
Regular Show’s endingis the perfect send-off for the show. While the last two episodes of the three-part finale get into the battle between Pops and Anti-Pops for the fate of the universe,“Part I” provides a final burst of the show’s trademark silliness.As Pops teaches everyone about the storied history of the fights, Mordecai comes up with the idea of setting some traps inside the arena to foil Anti-Pops.
The fact that such a weird show can suddenly feel urgent makes no sense whatsoever.
The action-packed finale ofRegular Showfocuses on the destruction and rebirth of the universe. It’s a gleefully nihilistic idea that ups the stakes without betraying the show’s surreal tone for a moment. The fact that such a weird show can suddenly feel urgent makes no sense whatsoever. It’s one final meta joke that J. G. Quintel and the writers manage to play on their audience.
9Terror Tales Of The Park V
Season 7, Episode 9
Regular Show’s Halloween episodesare one of the show’s most popular traditions. These anthology episodes usually create some loose structure to tell three different spooky stories. “Terror Tales of the Park V” goes one step further and therefore one part weirder by throwing in a fourth story. Each of these segments is a bite-sized piece of surrealist humor that reveals a lot about the characters.
“Terror Tales of the Park V” goes one step further and therefore one part weirder by throwing in a fourth story.
Since these stories aren’t necessarily tethered toRegular Show’s established reality, they offer endless variation. Pops' story is a legal drama featuring a werewolf, Benson’s concerns an evil robot, Hi-Five Ghost has a claustrophobic story about being stuck in an elevator, and Rigby’s segment involves a witch with some enchanted chocolate.The only common thread tying these stories together is the Halloween setting.
8Rap It Up
Season 3, Episode 9
“Rap It Up” is famous among fans ofRegular Showfor featuring Childish Gambino and Tyler the Creator as guest stars. This makes it immediately stand out, sinceRegular Showisn’t the type of show which usually has any well-known guests. The real-life rappers play two rappers on the show, except they have the magical ability to conjure up whatever they say. Mordecai and Rigby help Pops battle rap them for control of the park.
“Rap It Up” is famous among fans ofRegular Showfor featuring Childish Gambino and Tyler the Creator as guest stars.
“Rap It Up” is one ofRegular Show’s best episodes, thanks to the fun musical elements and the boundless creativity of the visuals. The resolution of the conflict is also weird, even byRegular Show’s standards. It’s touching that Mordecai and Rigby go to support Pops with his style of gentle poetry, but there’s no real reason they need to don his Elizabethan garb.There’s also no real explanation for why Alpha-Dog explodes, butRegular Showis replete with unexplained explosions.
7High Score
Season 2, Episode 7
“High Score” is one of manyRegular Showepisodes which starts off in fairly relatable, run-of-the-mill territory before spinning into the surreal. After Benson pays Mordecai and Rigby, they go to the arcade to immediately spend their money. They prove to be terrible at their chosen game, but they gradually improve, driven by their desire to gain some respect for once. As soon as they get close to a high score, the episode takes an abrupt turn into a far weirder place.
“High Score” starts off in fairly relatable, run-of-the-mill territory before spinning into the surreal.
The game’s champion, Garrett Bobby Ferguson, suddenly appears in the form of a giant disembodied head. Garrett sprouts arms and legs, seemingly enduring a good amount of pain, and challenges Mordecai and Rigby to a final battle. The only thing weirder than this unexpected and unexplained turn is the nonsensical way that the episode ends, asGarrett explodes into an unidentified white goo. Nobody in the crowd seems to mind.
6The Unicorns Have Got To Go
Season 1, Episode 8
Season 1 ofRegular Showhas just 12 episodes, while every other season has at least 27, but this still provides plenty of time for the show to flaunt its offbeat sense of humor. One of the earliest indications of how weird the show can be is “The Unicorns Have Got To Go,” which takes an unusual premise and resolves it in an even more unusual way. The episode features the house being overrun by aggressive punk unicorns.
The defining moment of the episode involves Rigby being trapped in a circle of unicorns and relentlessly farted on.
The unwelcome guests are eventually defeated when Mordecai and Rigby challenge them to a drag race. Six unicorns pack tightly into one hot rod, before being launched into the sky and blown up.Regular Showoften has endings that don’t really deliver a lesson, which is unusual for a children’s show. There could be a teachable moment about responsibility here, but it’s hard to take that seriously when the defining moment of the episode involves Rigby being trapped in a circle of unicorns and relentlessly farted on.
5Eggscellent
Season 3, Episode 17
When Rigby falls into a coma after failing to complete an omelet-eating challenge at a restaurant, Mordecai has to complete the challenge himself to win a special hat and bring his friend back to life. This premise is bizarre enough, butwhat makes “Eggscellent” extra strange is the way that everybody treats the challenge with the utmost reverence. Rigby, the restaurant owner, and eventually Mordecai refuse to simply take a step back.
The ending is a reference toIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade,except it isn’t about the Holy Grail; it’s about an ugly trucker hat with an egg-based pun on it.
Even when Mordecai explains that his friend is in a coma and he needs the hat, the restaurant owner refuses to sell it to him. Soon, he understands why. After finishing his omelet, Mordecai is transported to a strange room guarded by an elderly knight. This is a reference to the end ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade,except it isn’t about the Holy Grail; it’s about an ugly trucker hat with an egg-based pun on it.
4Over The Top
Season 2, Episode 21
“Over the Top” opens with Rigby lying dead in a hospital, laying down a marker for the weirdness that’s about to come. A flashback reveals that Skips accidentally killed Rigby in an arm wrestle, so Skips takes it upon himself to find a way to bring Rigby back to life. Skips is one of thebest characters inRegular Show, so it’s a rare treat whenever he becomes the focus of an episode.
“Over the Top” opens with Rigby lying dead in a hospital, laying down a marker for the weirdness that’s about to come.
After revealing how Rigby cheated in an arm wrestle, inadvertently enraging Skips, the episode continues with Death showing up to take Rigby to the afterlife.“Over the Top” is one episode where the animation enhances the story. Skips' battle with Death is absurdly high-stakes, but it still retains a sense of tension thanks to the frantic visuals. Skips defeats Death with the same trick Rigby used to beat him earlier.
3Bald Spot
Season 4, Episode 6
“Bald Spot” is arguably the weirdest episode ofRegular Show, but it isn’t considered one of the best.“Bald Spot” is strange in a way that seems self-aware and provocative. At its best,Regular Showcan be surreal and hilarious because the writers exercise absolute freedom when it comes to building a story. By contrast, “Bald Spot” sticks to one ludicrous idea with far more conviction than it’s worth.
“Bald Spot” is arguably the weirdest episode ofRegular Show, but it isn’t considered one of the best.
“Bald Spot” starts with Muscle Man getting a haircut in preparation for a big anniversary date with Starla. When he notices a bald spot, he panics and tries to distract from it in many ways. When hats and comb-overs don’t do the job, he resorts to flexing his “pecs,” which are much flabbier and less attractive than he imagines them to be. His breasts have magical, hypnotic powers that cause a sensation. This one joke isn’t as funny asRegular Showkeeps insisting, which makes the whole episode feel off, just to add to the weirdness.
2Country Club
Season 4, Episode 31
“Country Club” follows Mordecai and Rigby as they discover a private country club on the edge of the park that they didn’t know existed. This is just the first strange occurrence, but their investigation soon leads them to discover that the members of the country club are part of a cult obsessed with turning objects into toilets. They are captured, and come within moments of being turned into toilets and launched on a shuttle to the moon.
“Country Club” is so densely packed with strangeness that some moments which would stand out in other episodes are barely worth mentioning.
“Country Club” is so densely packed with strangeness that some moments which would stand out in other episodes are barely worth mentioning, like the fact that a squadron of militant scuba divers leap out of an ornamental fountain.“Country Club” could be seen as a horror story about class struggles, like a version ofGet Outin which Chris is scared of being transformed into a toilet. Really, it’s hard to think too deeply about such a bizarre episode.
1Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special
Series 6, Episode 26
“Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special” is packed full of references to anime, and a few other shows likePower RangersandTransformers.Essentially, it’s one big self-referential joke aboutRegular Showbeing pressured into selling out and producing terrible merchandise. The episode does this by drawing parallels betweenRegular Showmerch and other shows which are more obviously suited to making toys and video games.
The plot basically gets torn up and replaced entirely by something much weirder every five minutes.
“Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special” repeatedly ups the ante. The plot basically gets torn up and replaced entirely by something much weirder every five minutes. This is how the episode lurches from a robot cassowary with missile launchers to an enormous duck mech to a battle in outer space with a magical sword cutting through Jupiter and almost destroying the entire Earth.Regular Showdoesn’t get much weirder or much better than this.
Regular Show
Cast
Regular Show is an animated television series that follows the surreal adventures of Mordecai, a blue jay, and Rigby, a raccoon, who work as groundskeepers at a park. Created by J.G. Quintel, the series showcases their attempts to avoid work and find entertainment, often leading to bizarre and unexpected situations. The show also features a cast of quirky characters, including their boss Benson, a living gumball machine, and Skips, a yeti.
