All The Day’s A Stage For Adult Swim’s April Fools’ Prank; 'Rick And Morty' Season 8 Premiere Set
After skipping 2024, the interdimensional scientist-grandson duo are ready to get back at it American-style
After putting on three Smiling Friends puppet shows last year, Adult Swim that decided for April Fools’ Day 2025, the play’s the thing. The Rick and Morty Playhouse Players Present: Portal People. Real people reenacting a variety of scenes from episodes of Rick and Morty as a stage musical, after which they revealed a new preview clip and that the eighth season will premiere on Sunday, May 25 at 11 PM Eastern.
It began with the “Pickle Rick” cold open, at least after Morty has left Rick home after the reveal and he’s washed down to the sewers, leading to a recreation of the opening sequence. It’s followed by a “Meeseeks and Destroy” scene done entirely in mime. There’s the escape into the vat of fake acid to escape the mobsters in “The Vat of Acid Episode”, Morty getting juiced for post-apocalyptic combat in “Rickmancing the Stone”, a number by Mr. Nimbus, followed by the Plumbus infomercial from "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate", and a dramatic Shakespearean-style reading of Rick’s monologue at the end of the pilot. There’s senior citizens getting down to recreating the Rick Dance from the first season finale “Ricksy Business”. Then, for the third or fourth time, “Total Rickall” gets in on the April Fools’ festivities, after the Pibby and Adult Swim Junior stunts at the very least, with the Uncle Steve opener presented Western-style. That was followed by the curtain call and a post-spiral Mr. Poopy Butthole season-ending monologue. To top it off, a clip from the upcoming season saw Rick and Morty descend upon some Easter festival, assemble Easter egg shards and be pursued by Space Christians.
Adult Swim Puppeteers 'Smiling Friends' For Its April Fools’ Day Prank
Season 2 of Smiling Friends did arrive on Adult Swim Sunday night as announced it would. But not exactly. Everyone knew something was fishy that there would be a “new” episode at what was April 1 at midnight, the start of April Fools’ Day. Were the festivities going to start
The season’s logline reads “Rick and Morty is back for Season Eight! Life has meaning again! Anything is possible! Look out for adventures with Summer, Jerry, Beth, and the other Beth. Maybe Butter Bot will get a new task? Whatever happens, you can’t keep Rick and Morty down for long. People have tried!” It’s typical in its lack of detail.
“We hope you enjoyed our theater interpretations of Rick and Morty, especially if you are well-off/impulsive and now want to back a Broadway version of the show,” said Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen. “For the rest of you, we’re glad you now know when Season Eight is starting so you have time to stretch and get loose because the team has yet again made a totally great season of television.”
Season eight of Rick and Morty marks the second for Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden as Rick and Morty respectively after series co-creator and former star Justin Roiland was fired. The series also stars Sarah Chalke as Beth, Chris Parnell as Jerry and Spencer Grammer as Summer. It’s executive produced by other co-creator Dan Harmon and Scott Marder, who also serves as showrunner. Cardoni posted the news to his Instagram, captioning it “I’m afraid we 8 with this one”. With a typical 10-episode season, the season would therefore finish on July 27. While not next-day on Max like its modern Adult Swim brethren, the YouTube description of the stunt reveals that the season will arrive on September 1, same-day on Hulu. That’s a 5-week wait, add a day as it’s a Monday arrival just like it would be if it was next-day. The season 8 clip is available isolated and can be watched below.
'Common Side Effects' Renewed For Season 2 At Adult Swim
Adult Swim’s got some magic mushrooms, and they’re not going anywhere. The network has renewed Common Side Effects for a second season ahead of Sunday’s first season finale. The prescription has been refilled.
Source: Variety