44 Jokes In Kid’s Shows That Weren’t Meant For Kids
Cartoonists and creators always have (and will continue to) find places in our favorite children’s shows to insert dirty, naughty, or even dark humor that their target audience will probably never understand. But if you’re a parent, watching these with your own kids, or are simply revisiting the shows for nostalgia, you know just how hilarious these can be for adults, too. We first became aware of such a thing when rewatching Shrek this week. But it turns out that this isn’t limited to animated motion pictures. If you’re willing to have your childhood wrecked, check out these 45 jokes that we were too young to grasp when we were kids. Warning, you may never want to show your kids these ever again, or you might even join them and giggle to yourself each time you find a hidden gem.
The Powerpuff Girls – Accident
There is no doubt that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes have consequences that people need to live with for the rest of their lives. Case in point, children. While they can be planned bundles of joy for many…
That isn’t true for every child born on this planet. It turns out that Bubbles and her friend have a few things in common, and we’re not talking about the fact that they’re girls. Just look at The Professor’s face.
Hercules – 911
One of the most underrated films produced by Disney has got to be Hercules. It’s witty, energetic, and just a wholesome adventure story. Sure it’s not accurate to the original Greek mythology, but it’s still charming. It wraps everything you could for as a kid into a film perfectly.
This one isn’t dirty as much as it is clever. Even if we don’t use Roman numerals for much nowadays, you probably know some of the basics. Well, what does IX-I-I stand for? 911! The number for emergency services in the US. Smart!
The Cat in The Hat – Dirty Hoe
With the internet being literally everywhere, now and then we get a bunch of new discussions online about conspiracy theories that people actually believe in. One person who got a lot of praise for his thoughts believed that the director of The Cat in The Hat might have wanted to take the film in another direction.
Why you might ask? There is a line in the children’s movie about a hoe, the gardening instrument, being rather…filthy. We’re surprised they didn’t cut this out, but it definitely gave all the parents watching the film a hearty laugh.
The Fairly OddParents – Shattered Dreams
Man, having a parent who regrets your birth is a whole experience, and knowing that can cause mental trauma and existential crises for many kids. Not for Timmy though, he’s a tough cookie. The dad though needs some parenting classes.
But we’ve got the hand it to the writers with this one, they did a marvelous job at handling the dialogue. We can fully imagine parents hearing this exchange between a parent and his child while their own kid is watching the show and going “relate.”
Hocus Pocus
One of the best Halloween movies on the Disney Channel, Hocus Pocus, was repeatedly aired for months leading up to October in the early 2000s. It still makes its rounds even twenty years later. The concept though, is undeniably creepy, and maybe a bit dark for kids.
After being brought back to life after three centuries, three sisters who were literally burned to death struggle, like Captain America, to see how much their world had changed. But it gets darker; their hunt for children to sacrifice leads them to men who would rather flirt with them!
Rocko’s Modern Life – Playslug
Rocko’s Modern Life has to be one of the shadiest shows aired during prime time on Nickelodeon. How so? The creators insisted, successfully, slipping in raunchy and juvenile animation here and there that no pre-teen could understand. Well, most pre-teens, anyway.
Need proof? Look at that magazine. Yup, that’s called Playslug, a take on the adult men’s lifestyle magazine called Playboy. Interestingly enough the show was taken off the air but then brought back on popular demand! Perhaps fans were nostalgic for crazy moments like this.
Rugrats – Late Night Pudding
Angelica was one of the best characters in Rugrats and if you disagree, you’ll have to fight us at dawn. In one of the episodes, she fakes having hurt her foot because she knows she’ll be advised to take some bed rest. Who hasn’t faked being sick to miss school, huh?
But when Uncle Stu has to listen to her every whim and fancy, particularly one where he must go to the store to get her a box of pudding mix in the middle of the night, he drops a truth bomb only parents can understand.
Scooby-Doo – What’s Your Name?
Shaggy was one heck of a guy and perhaps the most fun-loving character we’ve seen on children’s television. Fine, he was a little odd, but what’s the harm in that? He definitely wasn’t a role model though, if you’re anti-drugs.
He might look a little cuckoo at first but you soon realize he’s up to, and on, something. What that is is soon revealed; Mary Jane is his favorite name for a reason! And it’s so not because he’s a Spider-Man stan. We miss being innocent and stupid…
Shrek – Keeping Clean
No matter the number of awards you give to the Shrek series of films, they will fall short. Shrek is iconic; from the characters to the plot. This particular scene is one of many double entendre jokes they manage to slip through with incredible finesse.
The number of jokes in this series that we completely missed when we were growing up only to now realize the comedic value of this movie is insane. Wipe your WHAT now? It has to be face, DUH. If your child guessed something else while watching this, check yourself.
Scooby-Doo – What The Heck, Fred?
Sexist jokes are never funny, no matter how big or small the audience. It’s especially bad with kids’ media, as they cannot possibly be expected to understand why some jokes are demeaning for one gender over another. Kids probably laughed at this Scooby-Do episode.
Obviously, this flew past us as kids but now, looking back, it’s nearly infuriating to see the lead characters in such a big kids’ show say something like this. Women go on and on because men don’t have the brain cells to formulate conversations. How’s that for a comeback, ladies?
The Amazing World of Gumball – Browser History
The Amazing World of Gumball was…. Well, an interesting show to say the very least. But we can assure you, this one was safe for kids and their parents because there was NO way kids knew this stuff as, well, kids.
In this particular scene, Gumball walks through the door to see Banana Joe with tissues in hand, evidently cleaning his computer screen very carefully. Oh, what are those images on the screen? Probably just a fruity wallpaper. Just keep walking, Gumball.
Johnny Bravo – Sacrifice
There is a reason Johnny Bravo wasn’t aired during prime time or during the day, and it isn’t because it was a bad show. The network and the writers knew exactly what they were doing. This episode is mature for two reasons.
Number one: sacrifices. Specifically, ritualistic sacrifices. Are we sure kids should be seeing that stuff, especially when it might be inaccurate and exoticized? Number two: virgins. Like cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil? If kids saw this, there would be some very uncomfortable questions parents wouldn’t want to answer.
Rugrats – Umbilical Cord
Rugrats really took it to another level every once in a while, and this episode right here for sure is in the top ten jokes for adults moments on this show ever. But to be fair, kids might have gotten this joke in parts too and giggled a bit.
Of course, the show decided to make the female child wear pink, but they also made it a point to have her observe her missing umbilical cord. What’s next? That’s right; the male child is all too pissed that he didn’t get the snip.
Dexter’s Laboratory – Dance
Tiny-legged Dexter was the boy of many of our dreams – he was smart and could make almost anything he wanted in his lab. When he finally got rid of his annoying sister and got Candi as an assistant, we all thought we would see some real work getting done.
Candi, though, is supremely underqualified for assisting Dexter. And more importantly, definitely did not go through a background check with Dexter’s family! What kids think is her being over-smart and hustling for money, but the parents watching really know what’s up.
Cow and Chicken – Professor of Milk
This was a vivid show, and we know this because it’s vividly etched into our memories. We are most positively scarred for life. And the weird part is that jokes like the one below were not a one-time, or even rare occurrence on this show.
Mooo – we mean, Noooo. This was done too often, and while it was great to teach the kids where their milk came from, the line between the age of kids who understood this was sleazy and those that didn’t was incredibly fine.
Zootopia
One of the cutest animated movies to make it to the big screen in recent years was Zootopia. It won hearts all over the world. Funnily enough, they managed to make some double entendre jokes without the second meaning being too vulgar!
As people who stan Judy and Nick’s friendship, we’ve got to say, the fact that Nick didn’t have a witty response to Judy’s multiplication remark is uncharacteristic. But again, the multiplication dialogue isn’t just a testament to her intelligence and wit.
Animaniacs – No Relation
No matter where you live in the world, you probably know the story of Noah and his Ark and how he saved the species of this Earth from a terrible flood. It was a classic tale in the Torah (Old Testament), so it’s unsurprising Noah is a well-known name worldwide.
Animaniacs took it upon themselves to break the fourth wall down by acknowledging they were acting in a show for children, immediately after making a joke not too safe to laugh at when around kids. Only do that if you want to be bombarded with silly questions.
Tarzan – Privacy
The tale of Tarzan the Ape Man may not date back as old as Noah, but he’s still well known. Whether you read the book, saw the various live-action adaptations, or are just a classic Disney fan like us, Tarzan is a famous character.
We understand why Jane is drawing him on the blackboard. He is a marvel indeed. But her father’s interjection is something we can’t stop laughing at. The fact that he offers her a moment of privacy is both weird and, kinda cool of him to give her some space…
Ratatouille – Cucumbers
Ratatouille is perhaps the best animated movie to have been created, written, and produced in all of eternity. Shhh, no arguing. Each character was, well, a character; aside from Remy being the star, Linguini and Skinner were not far behind.
In fact, this is one of our favorite scenes! As a kid, we thought Skinner was just being the weirdo that he was, but now? Now we see his words in a completely new light and honestly, we’re a little concerned.
Justice League Unlimited – Casanova
There is no settling the debate when it comes to the Batman comics. You either love the guy or you hate him. Most of us here are Marvel fans, so you know where we stand. But there is no denying that Batman’s reputation is something else.
Though he is a great character that most kids are familiar with, he might not be the best role model. For one, everything is too black-and-white in his eyes. But there’s another trait kids might not be aware of: his flirtatious and casanova lifestyle. If you’re a kid reading this; Amanda was talking about blood. Yes, blood. What else?
Teen Titans – Puppets
Let’s just put it out there: Cartoon Network has already been mentioned on this list and will be brought up again, and again, and again. They have a knack for double entendre jokes and their writers deserve a raise for their subtle humor!
In one scene in Teen Titans, the characters come across toy figurines of themselves. Honestly, if we saw ourselves as a toy, after the initial shock, we too would be looking at whether they’re accurate or not. Seems like Beast Boy wasn’t too happy with what they showed under his clothes.
Doug – Volcano
We’re sitting here shaking our heads because frankly, we have no idea how kids would have understood this as anything logical without the brain of a 12-year-old hormonal teenager. But we know one thing for sure, Doug is a weird kid.
Doug loves Patti, but she doesn’t know this. How? We don’t know either, because Doug does a terrible job at hiding it. But when his science lava project continues to overflow, so does his…. HEART. Get your minds out of the gutter!
Rocko’s Modern Life – Doctor’s Appointment
Rocko’s Modern Life appears on this list once again and this time, because of a character’s name. Yup, we’re talking about the one and only, flexible, understanding, and the best, Dr. Bendova. We don’t remember what his field was, but we hope it was just an optometrist.
Coming back to our point, children watching this obviously didn’t notice anything strange about this. For all we know, they likely thought the character was named something exotic because they were a foreigner. If you need a hint: read it out loud quickly.
Animaniacs – The Finger
Animaniacs is back on this list, too. This time again, they broke the fourth wall of drama and not only acknowledged their being on a children’s show, but made something even more innocent and random into something else. Check it out:
Though we don’t know for sure, the show might have been canceled because of ‘jokes’ like these. Chances are, kids watching the show barely ever laughed because everything went over their heads! They should bring it back for the adults though.
Rocko’s Modern Life – Berries
Rocko’s Modern Life, again. We can’t help it; the show had way too many double entendre jokes for us to not share at least a small percentage of them here. Put your kids to bed then come back! Or try to contain your giggles, at least.
This one though is definitely not something that kids didn’t understand. We’ve got to give children credit where it’s due, and they certainly are not stupid beings. Anyway, it isn’t rocket science to figure out why the animal in the second screenshot is whimpering.
Shrek – Length
Shrek managed to slip jokes like this here and there without making them painfully awkward to watch. Talk about double entendre jokes, huh? What are men known to be compensating for when they feel undervalued? Let’s think for a moment. Does it have to do with Rocko’s berry-picking?
Their height dummy – wink wink. Lord Farquaad was a terrible person; more like Lord Farttwat. See, we’ve got jokes of our own. Maybe the writers of Shrek and our team could collaborate on something. There’s no harm in dreaming as long as it’s not about Lord Farquaad.
Madagascar – S**T
Madagascar, and the entire movie franchise for that matter, was another notch below Shrek, but funny regardless. In one scene where Alex and Marty are running at each other while also pissed but overjoyed to know the other is alive…
Marty realizes that a lion’s anger may have more consequences than his own, and screams “Sugar, Honey, Ice, Tea!” It sounded funny as children but fully went over our heads, didn’t it? Look at the first letters in that last sentence. Subtle.
The Fairly OddParents – Dr. Bill
The Fairly OddParents was an interesting show, to say the very least. In one of the episodes, they took it to another level for a few minutes for sure. Fine, we get it, raising kids or even teenagers is a challenge.
But to think you’ve failed as parents after watching a TV show? Did you not live up to the fictional expectation? Nah, not our scene. Parents, you’re doing your best. That’s enough! But yeah, we sure hope your children are more subtle about their…business.
Dexter’s Laboratory – Trophy
Dexter’s back here on this list for another joke about women, and this time, it’s about the stereotypical “trophy wife.” You know, the unintelligent and attractive woman married the celeb. In the shenanigans of this episode, Dee Dee is leaving hints for Dexter everywhere…
We sure hope the kids didn’t understand the relevance of her writing Dad’s Trophy on their neighbor’s behind. But if you were an adult watching this with kids, we know you had to stifle a laugh. Subtle yet funny, don’t you think?
The Powerpuff Girls – Ego
The Powerpuff Girls, both the show and the phenomena in general, was way before its time. Apart from the three sisters fighting crime and injustice, their brains were really sharp. They had so many villains to face, and they had to be clever to get the upper hand every time.
During one fight, they came to the realization that their enemy for that episode had a weakness, and it was an attack on their masculinity. To be fair, this is a very very realistic and cheeky thought, and we’re glad young girls got to see this!
What’s New, Scooby-Doo? – Legal
For some reason, when we were kids all we wanted to do was grow up. Whether it was to be able to drive, vote, or whatever else, we couldn’t wait, could we? Most of us wish we could go back to the days when we were still living with our parents though.
But newly turned adults don’t care about that and want to show off their age just like Velma’s cousin Marcy does here in this Scooby-Doo episode. And yeah, sure, she’s legally able to vote, and drive, and…well, you can fill in the gap.
Shrek 2 – Possession
The only thing better than Shrek is Shrek 2, and we will fight this point to death. One of the key reasons Shrek 2 is better is because it introduces Puss in Boots, the most believed and clever cat possible after Garfield.
This movie was way ahead of its time, and we know that because, in one scene, Puss was held against a wall by a guard who found a packet of Catnip in Puss’ possession. Funnily enough, that Catnip looks a lot like other things that people don’t like being caught with.
SpongeBob SquarePants – Genius
If you had to choose between Patrick or Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants as your favorite character, most kids would pick Patrick. He’s funny and quirky. But most adults would pick Squidward because of how depressingly relatable he is. Happens to the best of us.
Anyway, back to the double entendre jokes in SpongeBob, and there were PLENTY. One of the funniest ones though was when SpongeBob compliments Patrick for his genius and instead, Patrick does….this. He confused the word genius for another similar-sounding word, we’re sure.
Ratatouille – Rash
Linguini from Ratatouille sure benefited from having Remy by his side, or should we say on top of his scalp? But something that bugged us while watching this which we’re glad Linguini rectified later, was him hiding Remy. Check it out:
In his attempt at telling Colette about his… um…. Tiny pal, we land on this dialogue, written masterfully to say the very least. It sounds like he’s saying ‘rash’ instead of ‘rat’, but the way he talks and the hand gestures could very well mean something else.
Silly Symphony: Three Little Pigs – Chops
If you haven’t heard the story of the Three Little Pigs, you must have grown up under a rock. We won’t fault you, however, if you don’t recognize this version. The piggies below are from a 1933 animated Disney short.
But this one scene, where not much is verbally said, needs to be paid special attention to. Look at the background, specifically the wall mountings, then tell us you don’t think it’s a little dark for a children’s story. We’ll wait.
Johnny Bravo – Oops
We’re back with Cartoon Network on this list because they just keep giving us these hidden gems, if we may call them that. Again, this is from Johnny Bravo, and we’re not at all surprised. While this line might not have caught the kids’ attention…
Or had them believe that this grown woman goes to a lot of parties with piñatas. She definitely went to a lot of parties, right? Where else could she have blindfolded herself? Let us think… yes, of course, while sleeping! So that the light doesn’t ruin her sleep.
Rugrats – Boppo
Just to put this out there, in Rugrats, Boppo is the name of the inflatable clown that doubles up as a punching bag. It is Chuckie’s new toy and, at this point, an addiction. It’s bad enough that even Tommy is worried about him.
But come on, of all the things they could name the toy or show their obsession, they chose this? Boppo? A kid Chuckie’s age should be playing outdoors with real people and friends, not…this. We have to give Phil credit for the adult perspective of the situation.
Justice League Unlimited – Speed
Every superhero has a phrase associated with them. For Flash, it’s “the fastest man alive.” Kids, while watching Justice League Unlimited, might have thought that Hawkgirl was joking that he was too energetic to keep a steady girlfriend. But…that might not be what the creators of this show were trying to imply.
We’re shaking our heads sitting here. How was this meant for children! We bet our parents had a great laugh while they heard this being blasted on the TV, knowing well that their kids were too young to what was truly being said about Flash.
Tiny Toons Adventures – Playduck
Here we have one more take on the adult men’s lifestyle magazine. We bet Daffy Duck is reading the magazine for the enriching articles. After all, he’s an intellectual, and he no longer needs drawings and doodles in his literature.
We’re out here hoping that kids didn’t understand this, unless their parents had this magazine lying around at home. But if they did, we would like to assume they were elite and didn’t have time to watch TV shows like other kids. The best part? Bug’s face.
Freakazoid! – Yum
Okay, this shouldn’t need to be said, but obviously, marriage is a person’s own choice and the freedom that comes with it hits a different level altogether. But should what you can eat off the menu matter this much? Let’s as Freakazoid…
We’re joking, we understand exactly where this line is heading! And honestly, this seems like a valid reason to not get married. Why put yourself in a position where you know you can enter the candy shop but never get any?
Hercules – The Play
Disney was (is) fantastic with hidden messages and adult humor. We’re writing this after spending five minutes hyperventilating because we laughed for ten full minutes. We bet kids didn’t understand this while watching, and we sure didn’t when we were younger. But man, WHAT A LINE.
In case you don’t know what the Oedipus ‘thing’ is, let us explain. Oedipus was a mythical king in Ancient Greek. He fulfilled a prophecy by murdering his father and going on to marry his mother. Yup, now you know. You wish you could rewind time and not read this, don’t you?
Rugrats – Movies
Rugrats is here for one last time. Brace yourselves, because not only does this involve an elderly man, but also some DVDs he rented for the boys. Yup. Lonely Vixens isn’t the name of a show or band that kids should be listening to.
Grandpa outdid himself, for himself, and got himself a tiny present for once the little boys go to sleep. It wasn’t a cupcake or a tub of ice cream. We so wish it was. Even if it was a bottle of liquor, we would have been able to defend you, grandpa.
Recess – Floor Cleaning
Muriel Finster from Recess was the villain we all loathed. We knew why she was so tough on TJ and the gang but that didn’t stop us from wishing she would transfer schools, slip on a banana peel, or retire already!
The worst was that almost nothing could brighten Ms. Finster’s day. She used to only grin if Randall Weems tattled on another student from the core gang. But we can’t forget about Ms. FInster’s ‘ride’ on Hank’s vibrating floor buffer. Ew.
Ed, Edd, and Eddy – Don’t
Something we only realised recently is that none of the characters in Ed, Edd, and Eddy were children. Why then was this a show marketed to kids? Perhaps it was to teach kids what not to do when they grow up because of the characters’ epic fails.
Funnily though, the show was known for sneaking in some dark jokes here and there that you could miss if you weren’t staring intently at each pixel on the screen throughout the episode. We’ll leave you to it and trust that you will read the notes yourself.