Things you never realized as a kid...

[Dreadman75]

When I was a kid I loved cartoons, and I still do today. But right now I want to talk about a cartoon I haven't seen in a while...Rugrats.

For those of you who might not know, Rugrats was a Nickelodeon cartoon. The show focused on a group of toddlers and their day-to-day lives, usually involving common life experiences that become adventures in the babies' imaginations. <-- Taken directly from Wikipedia

Moving on, the reason for this thread is that recently, while channel surfing, I came upon a rerun of a particular episode in which the adults are watching home movies. During this one of the grandparents, who was already established as not wanting to be there, picks up the phone and asks the operator to connect him to Doctor Kevorkian. At which point my jaw dropped...

As a kid I had no idea who Dr. Kevorkian was. But now as an adult I'm sitting there thinking "Holy crap! They just made a suicide joke on a nick cartoon!"

Here's a link to the video because I can never remember how to embed videos on the forums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgOoV3xomY

This brings me to my question: What other kinds of adult and/or black humor did you witness as a kid but didn't understand until you were older?

 

[Vault101]

Hunchback of Notre dame was one of my favorite disney films of all time...I used to watch it regually

except the VHS tape we had was actually censored

so Frollo sniffing esmereldas hair?...yeah that didn;t happen

and frollo singing about desperatly wanting to fuck esmerelda? that certainly didn't happen...even though I probably wouldnt have fully understood the full version of hellfire anyway

 

[Vault101]

snip?

I just watched that link...which lead me to another Video from Hey arnold

Grandpa talks abotu how he never got his grade school diploma, Arnold says he should try again and grandpa says

"nahh..I'm too old, not enough Braincells"

"come on grandpa! I'm sure youve got plenty of braincelss!"

"no...not since woodstock"

 

[Dreadman75]

snip?

I just watched that link...which lead me to another Video from Hey arnold

Grandpa talks abotu how he never got his grade school diploma, Arnold says he should try again and grandpa says

"nahh..I'm too old, not enough Braincells"

"come on grandpa! I'm sure youve got plenty of braincelss!"

"no...not since woodstock"

I watched that exact same video!

Yet another thing I didn't notice as a kid but now I understand, and I think it's hilarious.

 

[soren7550]

Lasertime pretty much had a whole podcast dedicated to this:
http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2012/01/09/laser-time-adult-jokes-in-kids-cartoons/

 

[Zhukov]

Well, this isn't a adult-humour-in-kid's-show one, but as a kid my parents somehow managed to convince me that adults never told lies. I believed that with the entirety of my little five year old heart.

Then when I was about eight I caught my mother lying and it blew my mind.

...

Hunchback of Notre dame was one of my favorite disney films of all time...I used to watch it regually

I loved that movie as a kid too.

I loved it so much that I sought out and read the original book.

Whoo, boy.

I don't know if you've read it or not, but it's a lot different. One of the most depressing stories I've ever read. The ending is downright miserable. Oh, and the Captain guy (Phobeus or something?) is a bit of a dick.

But yeah, Frollo lusting after Esmeralda was a far cry from the usual cutesy Disney romance angle. In retrospect, I'm kinda surprised it made it into the film.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I remember watching Rocko's Modern Life a lot as a kid and I freaking loved that show.

There was one episode where Rocko got fired (I think) and he had to find another job, and one of them was a talking to people on the phone, and to me it was funny.

Until much much later when I saw the episode again and realized he actually was working briefly at a sex hotline.

Totally blew my mind.

 

[Luftwaffles]

Plenty of cartoon ones but this one hit me like a truck


1) Setting up for the sequel
2) Possible siblings (i blame natgeo)

 

[Starik20X6]

So many episodes of Batman: The Animated Series are like this. The weight of what some of those characters are doing is a lot heavier than I remember.

I can't wait to see what happens when the kids who've grown up with Adventure Time start understanding some of the more adult jokes and realising the dark places that show goes sometimes.

 

[Something Amyss]

I missed many Mel Brooks jokes as a child. History of the World Part 1 is far better now.

Also, I didn't get 80% of the black jokes in Blazing Saddles.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Most of Animaniacs. Seriously, there's so much stuff that I missed that I'm having a hard time picking just one example. The "fingerprints" and "finger Prince" play on words is pretty noteworthy. It blew my mind when I first realized it.

 

[Easton Dark]

I can't wait to see what happens when the kids who've grown up with Adventure Time start understanding some of the more adult jokes and realising the dark places that show goes sometimes.

"What's tier 15?"

"DO NOT DO TIER 15! STAY AWAY FROM THERE!"

Hahahah... oh man, that's probably my favorite exclamation in the whole show.

 

[Vuliev]

Hunchback of Notre dame was one of my favorite disney films of all time...I used to watch it regually

except the VHS tape we had was actually censored

so Frollo sniffing esmereldas hair?...yeah that didn;t happen

and frollo singing about desperatly wanting to fuck esmerelda? that certainly didn't happen...even though I probably wouldnt have fully understood the full version of hellfire anyway

Hunchback is the reason I thought Notre Dame was in Italy until I was 13. For some reason, the clothes looked Italian to me, and I somehow missed the "in France" lines each of the 100+ times I watched that movie.

 

[likalaruku]

Rewatch shows like Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, ReBoot, Gargoyles, X-Men, Superman TAS, Batman TAS, Freakazoid, Tasmania, etc as a kid & you'll catch the jokes they threw at the parents.

 

[Eddie the head]

I loved the Drew Carry show as a kid. Need I say more than that?

 

[Kopikatsu]

Plenty of cartoon ones but this one hit me like a truck


1) Setting up for the sequel
2) Possible siblings (i blame natgeo)

"HURRY UP AND HAKUNA MY TATAS"

Anyway, pretty much all cartoons have jokes meant for adults in them to keep it interesting, which is how they get families to watch the shows for ratings. Because everyone loves ratings.

More OT: I never realized how brutal all of the Disney villain's deaths were until later on. Or that all of the Disney Princesses are underage. Like Snow White being 14.

 

[WolfThomas]

Van Pelt the Hunter in Jumanji is Robin Williams' character's father. Mind = blown.

 

[Blitsie]

I fondly remember having a good laugh at that trippy pink elephant part in Dumbo where he gets drunk. Thinking back now it was sure a hell of an over the top way to discourage children from drinking.

 

[Tdoodle]

You know that episode of Spongebob where he's watching an anemone on TV, and he's leaning forward with his eyes wide open, then Gary comes in and he hastily changes the channel insisting he was looking for sports?

Broke my heart a little, that did.

 

[Pakkie]

The world is scary and bad