Obscure Pop Culture References From 'Rick and Morty,' Explained

• Reference: Rick Guilt Rick's appearance
• Season: 3
• Episode: 7

The black suit and distinctive gray facial hair of political candidate Rick Guilt Rick mirrors that of eccentric and real-life political candidate Jimmy McMillan. McMillan ran for state gubernatorial election in New York in November 2010 under the slogan, "The Rent Is Too Damn High," which was also the name of the political party he founded. He quickly become a meme.

• Reference: The "Goodbye Moonmen" song
• Season: 2
• Episode: 2

In "Mortynight Run," the psychedelic space cloud dubbed, "Fart" sings a very Bowie-esque song composed and performed by Flight of the Conchords's Jemaine Clement. The song is pretty much the same Bowie impression the actor does for FOTC's "Bowies In Space," which is likely why he voices the character.

• Reference: A mysterious shopkeeper who runs a "Needful Things" shop that sells odd items for an odd price
• Season: 1
• Episode: 9 

The shop's name in this Rick and Morty episode makes this an obvious catch but, being a fairly forgotten Stephen King tale, most would be forgiven for not thinking there was anything to catch in the first place. King's novel Needful Things centers around a shopkeeper who sells their wares in exchange for deeds carried out by the buyers. In Rick and Morty's version, the shopkeeper is the Devil, and Rick attempts to run him out of business.

• Reference: "He who controls the pants controls the galaxy!"
• Season: 3
• Episode: 1

This line - shouted by a off-screen character in the first episode of Season 3 - is a clear spoof of this one from David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of surreal sci-fi epic, Dune: "He who controls the spice, controls the universe."

• Reference: The Time Cop's head
• Season: 2
• Episode: 1

In "A Rickle In Time," the Time Cop - with its large, venus fly trap-esque head - looks like a replica of the Langoliers from the Stephen King novella of the same name. Thematically there's a link too, as both the episode and King story are about the dangers of messing with the natural flow of time.

• Reference: The setup of Gazorpian society (and the giant head that gives out sex robots)
• Season: 1
• Episode: 7 

The whole subplot involving a dominant and submissive society on a barren planet that issues bizarre punishments for law-breaking comes straight from the 1974 sci-fi movie Zardoz. If that weren't enough of a clue, the huge, stone, sexbot-delivering head is a carbon copy of the one in the film.