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It was 2010 when Regular Show first made its debut on Cartoon Network, and it’s been over four years since the series ended. Regular Show was one of those cartoons that became an iconic classic that captivated both kids and adults alike. There are many cartoons and films that throw in a good share of adult references for the parents that are watching, but there was something about Regular Show that sometimes seemed more adult-oriented rather than being specifically targeted at kids. J.G. Quintel, creator of both the animated series Regular Show and recent adult comedy Close Enough, has an almost authentic way of portraying young adulthood through animation that makes even the silliest of his cartoons feel relatable.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series, J.G. Quintel’s Regular Show revolves around two twenty-three-year-old dropouts who are just trying to coast through life by doing odd jobs at the city park and having fun the rest of the time. They aren’t the most reliable workers and are often caught slacking off, but their intentions are good…most of the time. However, their lives are far from mundane as the duo, along with their friends, seem to get caught up in strange and sometimes supernatural antics that oftentimes leave the fate of the world in their hands.
Though the premise of Regular Show indeed follows Mordecai and best friend Rigby on these crazy adventures, the show also lays down a few realities about living as a young adult and the milestones that come with it. All wackiness aside, J.G. Quintel’s portrayal of young adulthood is all too real as the show hit close to home with many adult fans. J.G. Quintel has used nostalgia, real-life scenarios, and realistic character development that has memorably connected to the adult fans of the show, making it a highly relatable and unforgettable experience.
Regular Show’s Appeal To Adults
In the early 2010s, Cartoon Network entered into a new era. Gone were the days of popular 90s cartoons such as Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls, and new cartoons were getting the green light. Cartoon Network had already revamped its image, now becoming more appealing to the current generation of children and adolescents. Following the rebrand came a slew of new cartoons spread throughout the 2010s that ended up including popular titles such as Steven Universe, The Amazing World of Gumball, and of course the two cartoons that became cult classics: Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time and Regular Show by J.G. Quintel.
Now it’s easy to say that both Adventure Time and Regular Show became instant hits with young and older fans alike, though Adventure Time had more of a kiddie feel than Regular Show did, at least in the beginning. Many millennials who grew up in the 80s and 90s were either in their early twenties to thirties when Regular Show aired, seemingly dropping at just the right time for the soon-to-be adult fans of the show.
J.G. Quintel’s Clever Use Of Nostalgia
Despite the series being popular with young viewers, it also appealed to older fans in more ways than one. Creator J.G. Quintel, who was in his late twenties at the time of the show’s debut, was a child of the 80s himself. This was shown in many distinctive ways throughout the show’s run, using throwback references that were almost completely obvious. The nostalgic throwbacks were almost refreshing to adult fans, or at the very least, it was fun to catch the easter eggs in certain episodes. Though there were many young fans of the show, there were some references that had flown over their heads; not just the adult humor but also the nostalgic references.
J.G. Quintel was quite aware of this fact but still used it to his advantage to add something fun and whimsical to the series. J.G. Quintel even mentioned in a previous interview that he wanted to make cassettes of the show’s soundtrack just so kids would have to ask their parents if they had a cassette player and what it was used for. In a way, J.G. Quintel had not only brought some comforting nostalgia to the adult table but also educated the younger fans on what was the norm during his and possibly their own parent’s childhood. Looking back on it, Regular Show seemed to evolve with the times in many ways. Technically, there is never a specific nod to what year it actually is in Regular Show. Fans automatically assume that it takes place during the present, but that is never specified. Throughout the series, we see retro video game consoles, laser-disc players, flip phones (eventually smartphones), and flat-screen TVs coexisting together, almost as if the show is taking place in an alternate universe. It isn’t too far-fetched since the world of Regular Show is already full of many things that aren’t exactly “regular.”
Despite the mesh of differently aged technology, the show had indeed evolved with the times. After a seven-year run, it is easy to see how the show reflected the decade’s turn in technology and the advancements made since. Gradually the audience sees less of the analog-style TVs and more modern-day flat screens. Retro Nokia-style cell phones are replaced with flip phones and eventually smartphones. VHS was already a common medium seen in Regular Show, and it was challenged by laserdisc in the episode “The Last Laserdisc Player.” We eventually get to DVDs, Bluray, and, much later in the series, streaming. It’s almost crazy thinking about how much technology has actually advanced in the real world during that time, and J.G. Quintel wasn’t too far off with Regular Show’s portrayal of it. When the series first aired, VHS was just getting phased out for DVDs, analog TVs were still quite common in households, and smartphones were still in early development.
It’s a little mindboggling to look back and see how quickly technology had evolved during Regular Show’s seven-year run, but it’s also pretty awesome. J.G. Quintel nearly hit the mark with that one, give or take a few things such as the retro video gaming consoles, which never seemed to change much throughout the show. Little pieces of nostalgia such as the retro NES-looking gaming console, video rental stores, and mixtapes almost made adults long for the good old days. Who doesn’t miss doing simple things like chilling with friends on a Friday night while playing video games and chowing down on pizza? J.G. Quintel was able to remind adults of that feeling — the warm and fuzzy feeling only true nostalgia could give us.
The Portrayal of Young Adulthood: The Good And The Bad
Regular Show has many fun moments full of classic gags, freestyle rap battles, and even time travel. But despite these whimsical parts, J.G. Quintels’s classic series also portrays real-life situations that are all too common to young adults. It may not stand out clearly to very young audiences, but watching Regular Show as an adult really put things into perspective for many. Mordecai and Rigby are twenty-three-year-old dropouts (Rigby, high school, and Mordecai, college) who don’t actually have a solid goal for their lives.
Instead, they spend their time coasting through life while working an average-paying job at the city park and living onsite with coworkers. Mordecai and Rigby’s days are mostly spent playing video games, throwing house parties, and majorly slacking off at work (at least when their entire dimension doesn’t need saving!). This isn’t something new, as most of us have been there before in our early twenties.
A Young Adult’s First Taste Of Freedom
J.G. Quintel’s series shows the reality behind growing up, especially during your early twenties. It is a time of growth, but also a time where young adults are trying to find their place in the world. Long gone are the days of high school and living under mom and dad’s rules. Your twenties represent freedom, doing whatever you want because you’re still young and the world is your oyster. This is exactly how Mordecai and Rigby are shown at the beginning of the series: young, reckless, and a little naive. Your early twenties are an adventure, of course, which includes making your own experiences while learning how to live without your parents. It’s a type of freedom most don’t know until actually moving out of their parent’s home, and it can be a euphoric and almost addicting feeling. J.G. Quintel heavily displays the freedoms of young adulthood through Mordecai and Rigby, two young guys just trying to figure out life.
This could be why Mordecai never chose to go back home after dropping out of college, despite his parents being well off and extremely attached to him. Mordecai wanted to do things his own way without his parents (more specifically his mom) trying to butt into every aspect of his life. Or perhaps Mordecai had too much pride to go back home after dropping out and was simply trying to prove to his parents that he was fine on his own. In Rigby’s case, he had a bad, almost toxic, relationship with his father, which could have prompted him to stay with Mordecai rather than go home. Either way, most of us have been in those situations, which made the series feel much more realistic.
Mordecai, Rigby, and the gang spend a lot of their time partying or just sitting around playing video games, but one thing we see them do very often is crack open a can of soda and chill. Many have compared the soda in J.G. Quintel’s series to beer or even weed. It is seen in every party scene and is made pretty obvious during certain episodes like “Party Pete,” where Mordecai and Rigby hire a hypeman to get more people to show up to their house party. The party looks almost like a college kegger, and one that got out of control as a urinal ice sculpture was thrown through the house’s window by a bunch of frat boy-type centaurs while Party Pete went a little off the rails after drinking too much “soda.” It is also implied that Benson is a depressed alcoholic, as he is seen constantly at Wing Kingdom downing wings like there is no tomorrow.
One can’t help but see the clear reference to booze, as the wings are sometimes served in large beer mugs, and Benson starts talking and acting in a way that only someone who drank too much would. His speech is slurred, he’s either overly giddy or depressed, and he makes impulsive decisions that he would never make while “sober.” During the episode “Weekend at Benson’s,” Benson is challenged to a “spice eating contest” by Audrey’s ex, which closely resembles a drinking contest. During the same episode, Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson down a drink called the Mississippi Queen, a concoction that throws the three into what looks like an intense drug trip, similar to how one feels after taking strong edibles or LSD. Many of us had a party phase, and some partied a little harder than others, but most eventually grow out of it. It is most definitely a common rite of passage during the first few years of being on your own, and J.G. Quintel portrays it very well in the series, albeit subtly because it is still technically coded as a children’s show.
Crushes, Heartbreak, And The Desire To Settle Down
J.G. Quintel not only portrays the fun side of growing up and being on your own but the rough side as well. Being a young adult thrust into the real world can bring a lot of intimidation, especially when it’s finally time to learn how to make major decisions independently. Making decisions always has an outcome, and whether the outcome is good or bad really depends on the decision made. Young adults are just starting in the world, so there is still a lot of naivety there. This naivety can lead to poor decisions and the consequential hurt that follows, but that is simply a part of learning and growing up. Eventually, you learn how to handle certain situations properly and are careful not to make that same mistake again. J.G. Quintel portrays this perfectly by exploring each character’s youth and relationships, both platonic and romantic.
J.G. Quintel has given us a hard look at relationships and what they actually mean to us as adults. As teenagers, most romantic relationships are no more than innocent crushes that don’t normally last after high school. As young adults, romantic relationships tend to be mostly casual passing flings — someone to have fun with. As depicted in Regular Show, as we grow older, our wants and needs begin to change. J.G. Quintel has portrayed different types of relationships during different stages, which doesn’t seem like much of a big deal until you actually look back at it as an adult and understand. Mordecai went through two serious relationships (Margaret and CJ), each of which didn’t exactly end well.
Handling Relationship Baggage
Even in a child-coded cartoon, J.G. Quintel was able to portray real-life difficulties like carrying baggage from one relationship into another and showed how it affected the characters involved. Mordecai had his own insecurities when he was dating both Margaret and CJ, and unfortunately, those insecurities negatively impacted both of his relationships. Margaret was just a crush initially — the cute girl who worked at the diner who always seemed to have a boyfriend and never bothered to notice Mordecai. The truth was that Mordecai had a hard time expressing his feelings and therefore became an indecisive person who was afraid to take risks, which really ended up hindering him in the long run, especially with relationships. This could very well also go back to his dropping out of college that contributed to at least part of his insecurity, as this kind of indecisiveness and anxiety pops up again when Mordecai is tasked to paint Benson’s portrait in the episode “Bad Portrait.”
This insecurity seeps into Mordecai’s relationships with not only his best friend Rigby but his romantic relationships as well. CJ definitely seemed to get the worst of it, as Mordecai’s issues made him careless and selfish, often hurting CJ in the process. Mordecai was oftentimes too caught up in his own feelings that he would neglect the feelings of his loved ones. Not to say that he intentionally meant to hurt them, but his blindness to his own issues truly did cost him relationships eventually. CJ was even willing to forgive him for everything, including kissing Margaret and admitting to still having some feelings for her even though he was still seeing CJ. Mordecai never truly tried to address his issues or even really think about how he was hurting CJ, so the inevitable break-up ended up being for the best.
It’s a shame because they really did seem like a good match, but this is also something that J.G. Quintel has realistically portrayed through Regular Show, and that is that not all relationships last, and not all of them have a happy ending. It’s just how life is as an adult. Mordecai had to go through a few heartbreaks and bouts of depression in order to learn a hard lesson. All of his have gone through heartbreak before, and nothing feels worse than your very first one. It could be why it was so difficult for him to get over Margaret, even though CJ was perfect for him. Eventually, Mordecai meets a cute artist years later and marries her, showing that not all adults marry young either. Sometimes you have to wait for the right time and the right person before taking that leap. And most importantly you have to be ready also.
Rigby wasn’t shown having any real romantic relationships until he started dating Eileen, someone he had no interest in at the start of the series. In fact, Rigby wasn’t too nice to Eileen either, despite her sweet nature and obvious interest in him. Despite his constant rejection and disinterest, she is patient with him, and eventually, they become friends, later leading into something much more intimate. There was a significant change in Rigby after he started hanging around Eileen more often, and his changes were even more apparent when they started dating. She seemed to bring the best out of Rigby and helped him become a better person, inspiring him to reach for goals that he never thought he could reach before (or even care to reach).
Once selfish and kind of mean and offputting, Rigby had a complete change of heart, especially when it came to Eileen. There was absolutely nothing Rigby wouldn’t do for her and always made sure she was loved and cared for. Rigby wanted to better his life because his future with Eileen was extremely important to him. He came to a point where he seriously knew what he wanted for his future, so he worked hard to make his life better, and it was partially thanks to Eileen’s support that he succeeded. It could be that all Rigby needed was that one person willing to stand by and love him while bringing out his true potential. This remains true in real life as well. Sometimes you need one person who believes in you and loves you wholeheartedly to inspire you enough to make a change.
The Year Of The Rigby: Growth And Moving Forward
Another awesome thing J.G. Quintel has done with Regular Show is portray growth really well. Much like childhood, as adults, we hit certain milestones in our lives. Some people reach them a little later than others, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Another great example of positive growth is Rigby. Surprisingly enough, Rigby was put in the spotlight of the show for a while, which was different from him usually playing sidekick to Mordecai. Rigby was known as dumb, selfish, and a little too carefree at times, but this was an exceptional point in the show where Rigby began to seriously work on himself for the better.
Rigby had been in a very happy and loving relationship with Eileen for a few months, someone who has always been very patient, loving, and supportive of him. He decided that he wanted to prove that he was good enough for her and made the tough decision to go back to high school and finish at twenty-four years old so he can earn his diploma. It started as wanting to prove he was good enough for Eileen, but as time went on, Rigby found that he was very much doing it for himself also, which heavily contributed to his positive drive. We see Rigby grab responsibility by the helm as he charts his own course. Suddenly Rigby was doing things that were out of the ordinary for him, such as studying, attending field trips, and flying around the world to earn credits towards his grades. In the episode “Rigby’s Graduation Special,” Rigby does, in fact, graduate and earn his diploma while also giving an inspiring speech that can’t help but tug at the heartstrings.
J.G. Quintel portrayed Rigby’s growth beautifully and naturally. Seeing Rigby succeed in areas where he was once sure he would fail is inspiring in its own right. This was a truly memorable moment in Regular Show, not just because of Rigby’s outstanding character development but also because it showed that you can still have aspirations and goals no matter what age you are. It may take a lot of work, and it may be hard to stay focused, especially on days where it’s just easier to give up; but the point of the message is that anything is possible if you work hard and power through those tough times. Very rarely is there smooth sailing from high school into adulthood, no matter what society says. In fact, it is more common for young adults to switch majors multiple times or even drop out of college or high school, but that doesn’t mean that their chance is gone forever. J.G. Quintel may have been trying to convey that adulthood doesn’t have a set paved plan. You kind of have to go with the flow and figure it out as you go, and that is absolutely okay.
Growing Up With Regular Show
J.G. Quintel has captivated fans through his animated series, Regular Show, which continues to live on in peoples hearts (and memes!) to this day. Not only was it a fun and crazy ride watching Mordecai, Rigby, and the whole park crew battle supernatural forces and evil scientists, but we were also gifted with the simple slice of life part of it. J.G. Quintel portrayed adulthood in a relatable and inspiring way. In a way, some of the younger millennials “grew up” alongside Mordecai Rigby while trying to find their own place in the world of young adulthood. Together we have gone through breakups, heartache, and difficult obstacles while learning what it truly means to grow up. It is essentially a long and exciting journey more than anything.
J.G. Quintel told us that though adulthood can be rough and difficult to navigate at first, it is also a new adventure that we should live to the fullest. After all, what’s life without making your own experiences? As Rigby said in his graduation speech,
“Once you do the hard stuff, it becomes not that hard.”
