This whole calculating jokes per minute thing has always been a hopeless venture.
What is a joke?
How does one go about measuring them?
Well, thats never stopped us before and we stand by our many scientifically dubious studies.
Rick and Morty, though, has always represented the most difficult case.
This is Jokes Per Minute Ph.D. And were still giving it a shot.
You wanna count em?
Well weird in theRick and Mortysense that its not that weird.
Its a surprisingly conventional finale to a wildly inventive, off-the-wall and wonderful season of television.
Regardless, however, JPM cares not for weird.
JPM is only about three things.
Jokes, Pers, and Minutes.
So how does The Rickchurain Candidate fare?
9.18 puts this finale almost exactly in the middle for season 3.
The ABCs of Beth nestles neatly into the middle-ish of season 3 JPM-wise.
Each is counted as a joke.
Lambs to the cosmic slaughter!
Well, that was fun!
Mortys Mind Blowers returns to a tried and true format forRick and Morty.
The clip show-esque style of Interdemensional Cable.
Only this time, Morty Smiths brain is the television.
This return to a tried and true format has an interesting effect onRick and Mortysesason 3s JPM.
While 8.81 is just an objectively high JPM, its actually the lowest recorded for season 3 yet.
Perhaps thats because having so many different vignettes requires a certain amount of joke-less setup.
Regardless, this is still a tremendously funny episode of TV.
I watched it twice.
Once to get the feel for this new, strange universe and once to count the jokes.
I settled on 218 but I really just dont know how accurate that can possibly be.
I have no idea.
But I counted it.
Because its so bizarre to even write that how could I not?
At the same time its also a genuinely brutal moment in an episode full of them.
The Ricklantis Mixup boasts a 9.86 JPM good for second highest recorded of ALL TIME.
Put an asterisk next to it if you must.
Like that docking kind of love.
Like penis in the foreskin kind of.
Like warm… Jessicas creepily sexual friend.
The concept alone is fascinating but in terms of sheer humor, nothing can top Morty in this episode.
Morty is absolute white-hot on fire throughout the entirety of Rest and Ricklaxation.
His desperate sobs in the pre-credits sequence are pureRick and Morty: hilarious and uncomfortable.
And then his rise to the ultra-positive American Psycho version of himself is just stellar.
Bravo, Young American Psycho Morty, bravo.
Mamas coming and she cares about your titties.
Heres another fun fact: this is the highest JPM weve ever recorded for anything ever.
Honestly, were starting to get a little freaked out at this point.
IfRick and Mortycan reach double digit JPMs, whatcantit do?
Find out who killed JFK?
Find life on other planets?
Complete and utterly destroy all life on Earth as we know it?
But so did a JPM above 10 before we started this venture.
The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy is a fantastic episode ofRick and Morty, high JPM or no.
Ill disarm the drunkenly improvised neutrino bomb.
The spoken traditional jokes in Vindicators 3 actually leave a bit to be desired.
Its hilarious that Rick is a Jigsaw-like supervillain when he blacks out.
Its hilarious that Morty seems disturbingly used to all of this.
And its hilarious that drunk Rick knew to celebrate his inevitable victory with a giant concert headlined by Logic.
Still, it doesnt make for a lot of transcendent spoken-word humor.
Mr. Goldenfold
For the purposes of our ongoing JPM studies, Pickle Rick presents an interesting case.
There are moments where the jokes are almost on a 1:1 ratio with each passing second.
Still, what effect do these wildly divergent approaches to joke presentation do to Pickle Ricks JPM?
Not a hell of a lot as it turns out.
Its technically the lowest JPM yet but behind last weeks Rickmancing the Stone by only .08 JPM.
And its still within spitting distance of the outrageous JPM highs of the premiere.
And if thats the case: shame on you.
My sister died in the spaghetti…
Still, even 8.04 was a high that was previously thought unimaginable by JPM scientists across the world.
It looks likeRick and Mortyseason 3 settling into a stunning is 7-9 JPM per episode range.
Rickmancing the Stone is fantastic.
Also this was a nifty little sight gag.
Our lawyers a Morty!
Morty*
*Ok we all know this wasnt really the best joke but I loved it so much.
Heres the full Szechuan sauce rant you were looking for: Thats what this is all about, Morty.
Thats my one-armed man.
Im not driven by avenging my dead family, Morty.
Im driven by finding that McNugget sauce.
I want that Mulan McNugget sauce, Morty.
Thats my series arc, Morty.
If it takes nine seasons.
I want my McNugget dipping sauce, Szechaun sauce .
Thats whats gonna take us all the way to end, Morty.
Season….nine more seasons, Morty.
Nine more seasons until I get that dipping Szechuan sauce.
For 97 more years, Morty.
I want that McNugget sauce, Morty.
The previous record for total jokes onRick and MortywasSeason 2, Episode 4 Total Rickall with 150.
*Total Rickall also holds the record for highest JPM at 6.98.
Thats…absolutely insane.
Thats the 2015-2016 Steph Curry season of Jokes Per Minute.
To be fair, there are a couple of scientific biases and margins for error at play here.
Also, the sheer audacity of dropping an episode on April Fools Day may have subconsciously inflated the total.
We certainly hope not or we might have to start doing Jokes Per Second.
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