Controversial Streaming Series Still Packs A Punch, No Matter What Age You Are

Adult-adjacent content notwithstanding, Regular Show’s premise isn’t too problematic, and playfully treads the line with its subversive sense of humor. Relying on surrealistic and supernatural elements, Regular Show is one of those shows that you can watch with your kids so long as you’re comfortable explaining some of the adult themes that play out within its infinitely strange universe. 

Regular Show primarily focuses on two best friends: a blue jay named Mordecai, and a raccoon named Rigby. Mordecai and Rigby work as groundskeepers at a park under the supervision of a walking and talking gumball machine with anger issues named Benson. Functioning primarily as a work-place comedy, Regular Show spends a considerable amount of time following the antics of Mordecai and Rigby, who are portrayed as stoned slackers without explicitly saying so. 

In their efforts to entertain themselves by any means necessary, Mordecai and Rigby get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Leaning heavily into the kind of humor you’d typically find in an episode of The Simpsons or Beavis and Butt-Head, we find our protagonists sneaking into a top-secret military base after lying about being astronauts so they can get preferential treatment at grilled cheese restaurant called Cheezer’s.

In the typical Regular Show fashion, Mordecai and Rigby find themselves in a predicament, as their lying eventually results in the disruption of an anti-matter chamber that has the potential to wipe out humanity as we know it. 

Slapstick humor aside, Regular Show actually has a heart beneath its comedic exterior that allows for some profound teachable moments. When Mordecai gets rejected by his love interest, Margaret, in “Laundry Woes,” he falls into a deep state of depression that you don’t typically see in a children’s show. Going through the motions, like sitting in the dark and crying while listening to depressing music and wishing he was dead, Mordecai shows a level of vulnerability that’s not commonly portrayed in a cartoon with a TV-PG rating. 

Regular Show playfully unpacks Mordecai’s existential dread as he overcomes his first real heartbreak. The episode takes him on a 20-hour long drive to Margaret’s college campus so he can return her missing sweater that he found while doing the laundry. Through a series of vivid hallucinations, Mordecai eventually comes to his senses, and with the help of his friends, finds the strength to move on with his life without the companionship he thought he so desperately needed to survive. 

Though its content isn’t always necessarily directed toward a younger audience, Regular Show is a tasteful exercise in exploring adult content in a way that the whole family can enjoy. Like the ‘90s cartoons that came before it, Regular Show is sick and twisted, but also heartfelt and sentimental when you’d least expect it to be. If you’re ready to talk about some serious life lessons using a cartoon as a catalyst for conversation, we strongly recommend giving Regular Show your undivided attention by streaming it on Max.