Warning! Spoilers for the Rick and Morty episode “Never Ricking Morty” can be found below. At your own peril, read!
The world was affected as usual as Rick and Morty made their return to Adult Swim after a lengthy midseason break with the second half of Season 4. This most recent hullabaloo wasn’t quite a szechuan sauce-type of occurrence, but it did pique the interest of the fanbase in a phrase that isn’t frequently used in casual talks. For those who don’t already know, “cum gutters” is the NSFW term that has made its way into Rick and Morty viewers’ heads. Stunning, no?
Unbelievably, in the days prior to the spring premiere of Rick and Morty, relatively few people Googled “cum gutters.” On Google Trends, where user interest is measured on a scale of 100, the term’s score actually fell below 1.0. When the Adult Swim series returned with “Never Ricking Morty,” which debuted at roughly 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, that difference unquestionably shifted. The search interest for “cum gutters” reached a peak of 100 by midnight that evening, and it has been continuously high ever since.
That query is perhaps best answered with episodic context for individuals who are unfamiliar of what cum gutters are. Here is the scene where Rick was disgusted by Morty for knowing such an offensive and aesthetically arresting slang phrase.
The areas on Tickets Please Guy’s body that run from the hip to the crotch were the ones Morty was referring to. That area is noticeably concave in a way that would resemble a gutter on each side for males with really outstanding physiques. To clarify the remaining details, I’m confident I don’t need to mention any bodily fluids, but you can certainly use your imagination.
There may be a fascinating online “paper trail” of the Rick and Morty creative team discussing this joke in particular if you want some more information on it. In Dan Harmon’s now-defunct podcast Harmontown, the phrase “cum gutters” was mentioned in May 2019 with a specific reference to Jesus possessing them. Jesus also appeared in “Never Ricking Morty,” whether by coincidence or not, and he was indeed as expertly cut as Taking Please Guy.
By praying to Jesus, Rick and Morty broke continuity and effectively destroyed their own marketability. This allowed them to get off the Story Train and inadvertently revealed to the viewers what was really going on with the characters. Although it was not immediately clear if the Rick and Morty in the train were the same Rick and Morty later saw in the living room, the sentience-filled train was actually a toy that Morty bought for Rick at the Citadel of Ricks. It was peculiar, but hey, that’s what makes this show so fantastic and keeps it out of any type of gutter.
On Sundays at 11:30 p.m. ET, Adult Swim broadcasts Rick and Morty. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for additional information on the show as well as the most recent movie and television news for 2020 and beyond.
