The 25 Greatest "Robot Chicken" Sketches

Image via Complex Original

Nerd reference: Friday The 13th

Classic quote: “Eeeeeeeek!”

Tastlessness: Elevated

Robot Chicken works well when it portrays famous characters in their off-hours, acting like normal human beings. We love Jason's childish, gleeful gestures. He's like a little kid on Christmas Eve—that is, if Christmas was an orgy of teenage death and destruction.

Nerd reference: Frank Miller's 300

Classic quote: “THIS! IS! AMERICA!”

Tastlessness: Average

The founding of America is pretty epic, what with its Boston Tea Party, its Battle of Saratoga, and its underdog narrative. Robot Chicken takes America's mythology to its extreme, and reimagines the Revolutionary War as a melodramatic parody of 300, complete with George Washington as King Leonidas. History has never been so manly.

Nerd reference: Donkey Kong, Halo

Classic quote: “Beep! Boop!”

Tastlessness: Average

Every year, we read about people who break the Donkey Kong world record. But as godly as their barrel jumping skills are, it's nothing that a gun and a detonator wouldn't solve. In this early sketch, Master Chief takes the short route to rescue Pauline. It's a bit OP, if you ask us.

Nerd reference: Pokemon

Classic quote: “Say the line Earl! Or you'll get the gas!”

Tastlessness: Elevated

Pokemon don't live glamorous lives. They're imprisoned, after all, and living in a tiny ball isn't exactly a resort weekend. Notice how Pikachu prefers to ride on Ash's shoulder, rather than cramming himself into his teensy sphere. It's no wonder that Squirtle finally can't take it anymore, snaps, and goes off script. Pikachu panics. It's a recipe for instant hilarity.

Nerd reference: Billy Joel

Classic quote: “My piano, it sounds like God’s symphony! And my microphone smells like the poor.”

Tastlessness: Elevated

Oh, Billy Joel. It's bizarre that someone, who started out with such critical acclaim, is now lumped into adult contemporary muzak. Talk about not aging well. This sketch from Season 4 takes the piss out of “Piano Man,” and reimagines Joel as a condescending jerk to his drunken patrons.

Nerd reference: Mortal Kombat

Classic quote: “Feeling better?”

Tastlessness: Elevated

Fatalities are a funny thing. Even when you rip off someone's head or burn someone to a well-done crisp, the victim is back in the Character Select screen 10 seconds later, ready to fight again. Robot Chicken shows what happens in that brief recovery period—the surgery, the coma, and the rehab—before the next debilitating fight.

Nerd reference: N/A

Classic quote: “And that's what will happen if you flinch!”

Tastlessness: Extreme

No one liked going to the doctor as a kid—the lollipop at the end didn't justify the pain and discomfort. Despite the many finger pricks and syringe injections that we received, we never had a doctor who scared us like this. It's every nightmare, come to life.

Nerd reference: Captain Planet and The Planeteers

Classic quote: “Save the Earth! Or I'll fucking kill you!”

Tastlessness: Elevated

In 1990, Ted Turner created Captain Planet and the Planeteers—a weirdly entertaining public aervice announcement masquerading as a Saturday morning cartoon. Ever wonder what it would look like if a 70-plus year old man poured blue paint on himself and dangled executives out of windows? Robot Chicken provides the answer: “Captaaaaain Pllllanet!!”

Nerd reference: Batman, The Shawshank Redemption

Classic quote: “He had a funny way about him. Not 'ha-ha' funny, nor 'stab-stab' funny.”

Tastlessness: Elevated

Arkham Asylum is the worst prison/asylum in history of prisons/asylums, fictional or non-fictional. Every inmate, apparently, has a key or a day pass whenever he/she wants it. This sketch is a classic—apparently, when you take the scariest Batman villain and cross him with one of the most depressing films, you get comedy gold.

Nerd reference: Star Wars

Classic quote: “Your mother is so fat that Ben Kenobi said, 'That's no moon. That's yo' mama!'”

Tastlessness: Average

When the writers got ahold of Mark Hamill, they knew exactly what to do: They put him in a 'Yo Mama' fight with Emperor Palpatine. This is some epic, nerd overload ; every diss is a reference, or a quote from the films themselves. Visual highlights: Darth Vader keeping score with the Force controlled chalk, and Palpatine 'raising the roof.'

Nerd reference: N/A

Classic quote: “How many times did I hear the song, 'I Touch Myself' by The Divinyls?”

Tastlessness: Elevated

The best part of this is William's complete obliviousness. At no point does he ever question what he's asking, not even when he's burning in Hell. This sketch teaches us an important lesson; never ever piss off God at the pearly gates. You're not in Heaven until you're in it.

Nerd reference: Signs

Classic quote: “What a twist!”

Tastlessness: Average

Has there ever been a film director with a more spectacular fall from grace than M. Night Shyamalan? The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were incredible. And then we witnessed a slow slide into mediocrity. Signs. The Village. By the time we got to Lady in the Water, it was all over. Robot Chicken saw, early on, that things were not going to end well. They turned it into a viral meme that's still around today.

Nerd reference: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Classic quote: “We're gonna carve angry faces on the walls that look like they're spitting the darts! Like this!”

Tastlessness: Average

Ancient tombs and temples in movies have a way of enduring. Even if they're thousands of years old, even if everything around them has decomposed to dust, the mechanized booby traps will still work, just as well as they did on the day they were installed. In this sketch, a pair of Chachapoyans prepare for Indy's arrival, and we're so glad that they exceeded their budget.

Nerd reference: Gummy Bears

Classic quote: “For candy this delicious, you'll chew off your own leg!”

Tastlessness: Elevated

There's something so simple, yet so funny about this sketch. Robot Chicken is at its best when it asks, “What if?” What if Cookie Monster attacks the Keebler Elves? What if Darth Vader has a dinner party? And, in this case, what if a gummy bear gets his leg caught in a trap? It's exactly as wonderful, and as horrible, as you thought it would be.

Nerd reference: Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto

Classic quote: “He's-a marinating in his own ragu!”

Tastlessness: Extreme

There's so much win in this. The car on hydraulics. The innocent pedestrians as coins. The use of iconic Mario sounds to narrate the mayhem. And of course, the Resident Evil tribute at the very end. Mario, Luigi, and the entire Mushroom Kingdom are regulars on Robot Chicken, and it's easy to see why.

Nerd reference: Care Bears

Classic quote: “Ya'll know what time it is. It's BedTime! And by Bed, I mean Ethnic, and by time, I mean Cleansing.”

Tastlessness: Unforgivable

Out of all the sketches on this list, this one violated our childhoods the most. There's something about the pastel colors, combined with the adult content, that makes this so twisted. “I may be Love-A-Lot Bear, but I can hate a lot, too!” No one can stop this.

Nerd reference: Voltron, You Got Served

Classic quote: “Voltron, represent!”

Tastlessness: Average

Seth Green has named this sketch as one of his favorites of all time. Voltron engages in a dance-off to the death with his foe. Don't worry about getting served, buddy, you can always pull out your Blazing Sword if the going gets tough.

Nerd reference: G.I. Joe

Classic quote: “Welcome to the team, Fumbles!”

Tastlessness: Average

First impressions are all-important. People will make snap judgments, and once they have done so, it's almost impossible to shake a bad reputation. Calvin learns this lesson the hard way. Way to go, Fumbles!

Nerd reference: N/A

Classic quote: “Mein desk is small!”

Tastlessness: Elevated

The Most Evil Man To Ever Live is not exactly ripe for comedy, but Robot Chicken manages to find the laughs. By making Hitler into a bratty kid, the writers took all the menace out of him. These three segments were bumpers for the longer sketches, and they are some of the show's best.

Nerd reference: Star Wars

Classic quote: “What have you done with those plans? Gary here, never sees his daughter because of people like you!”

Tastlessness: Average

For multiple Star Wars movies, we've been told, both explicitly and implicitly, that the stormtroopers are cloned, nonthinking cannon fodder. This sketch, however, takes us through the day of Gary the Stormtrooper, and shows us that his daily life is anything but monotonous.

Nerd reference: Law and Order: SVU

Classic quote: “Buk-buk-buk!”

Tastlessness: Average

Law & Order has four spin-offs and countless imitators. Some incarnation of Law & Order has been on the air for nearly 24 years, and the formula has gotten a little predictable. This sketch lays that formula bare. You'll never watch a cop procedural show in the same way again.

Nerd reference: Transformers

Classic quote: “Get your ass checked out before it's too late, turkeys!”

Tastlessness: Extreme

Oh man. This shouldn't be funny, but it is. The death of Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie is one of the saddest moments ever. But then, Robot Chicken comes along and turns the tragedy on its head. Remember to get your asses checked, kids!

Nerd reference: N/A

Classic quote: “Darkest Sketch! Darkest Sketch!”

Tastlessness: Unforgivable

Yeah. Not much to say about this one. The Tooth Fairy and one sad, little kid have the worst evening imaginable, and things quickly go from bad, to worse, to horrifying. There's pitch black humor, and then there's this. We can't believe this made it past the censors.

Nerd reference: N/A

Classic quote: “I bet Heaven has all the tender leaves I can eat. And everyone gets their own slurpee machine.”

Tastlessness: Average

This sketch proves that Robot Chicken is at its best not when it's attempting to gross us out, but when it's being clever. There's no over-the-top controversy—just a pathetic giraffe and a pit of quicksand. It's minimalism at its best.

Nerd reference: Star Wars

Classic quote: “Get your seven-foot-two asthmatic ass back here, or I'm going to tell everyone what a whiny bitch you were about Padamamay or Panda Bear or whatever the hell her name is!”

Tastlessness: Average

We could have been deliberately contrarian, but honestly? There's no other sketch that could possibly have been no. 1. This sketch made the rounds when it first debuted, and it has so many things going for it: the nerdy references, the funny animation, the way it casually references the Star Wars films, and doesn't talk down to its audience. It's Emperor Palpatine as we never imagined him, and it's everything we love (and hate) about Star Wars, all rolled into one.