The show is basically "Ow, My Balls!" from "Idiocracy". The jokes are mostly in the stupid stoner humor and the over-the-top nature of the show. (I never said I had great taste). I like animated shit fine enough, but the whole purpose of cartoons is to do stupid shit and be just a bunch of jokes. You can tell stories but it's never going to be "OMG so deep" because that's not what cartoons are for. It's Tom hitting Jerry with a hammer and you laugh every time. It's silly and pointless; mindless, stupid shit.
Fuck I think the first episode literally has the characters go into a dimension where everything is made from giant asses that fart. But because Rick makes banal, surface level observations about impermanence, dysfunction, disillusionment and the fact that life is fleeting, they act like it's really insightful.
It's basically Young Adult novels: take a bunch of played out issues that teens commonly struggle with--figuring out society and fitting in, family issues, school issues, issues with relationship and love, bullying, fear of the future and stress over direction and purpose in life--then gloss over that and top coat it with a layer of dry, sarcastic humor that seems deep and intellectual by its language alone and you've got catnip for every "advanced placement" burnout who thought they were some of the greatest minds because they coasted through public school. They think it's quick witted and topical because they relate to it.
It's strange because to me, Rick is made into such a counter-culture, stick-it-to-the-man asshole and the show seems to very often blatantly repeat the motif that "nothing matters, it's all shit, entropy will eventually destroy everything so it's pointless to be such a tool". Seems to me like worshipping the show and being that fanatical about it as anything other than a stupid cartoon for bored/drunk/high college kids is at odds with that, but maybe Im too dumb to get the subtle cues ("buy more Rick and Morty merchandise wubba lubba dub dub!")
Rick as a character is basically the "cool older brother" who's 22 and out of college but moved back home, doesn't have a good job despite being kind of smart, and has it all figured out. Marty is the insecure high school sophomore who looks up to his older brother and is anxious about all the typical teenage changes and transitions that are happening at that point in your life (finding a purpose, worrying about school, your relationships). The older brother buys the younger one beer, cigarettes and pot and they hang out in his room and get high and listen to Soundgarden while the older brother pontificates and waxes poetic about reality and "how the world really works". That's about 10 minutes of plot interspersed with wacky adventures and antics and stupid slapstick, which is really the part people laugh at.
