No, cartoons aren’t only for children.
Yes, adults can watch them baked out of their minds and not be judged. At least not here at Kindling, that is. As an adult stoner who writes about cannabis, movies, and cartoons for a living, I figure why not compile a list of the top five trippiest cartoons to watch high.
RICK AND MORTY
Starting with the most obvious entry on this list, Rick and Morty is by far one of the trippiest and funniest cartoons, regardless of THC intake. The series follows a sociopathic, alcoholic, genius scientist called Rick, and his overly nervous grandson Morty. The two get into tons of misadventures and hijinks across space, time, and the multiverse, all while cracking hilarious jokes.
The visuals can range from simplistic to whacky in a heartbeat and every episode is guaranteed to garner one or two belly laughs. The characters, and riffs on characters like Pickle Rick, paired with the incredulous situations Rick and Morty find themselves in, makes Rick and Morty my favourite cartoon to watch while high.
SOUTH PARK
South Park is one of, if not the most, iconic adult cartoon ever made. The show follows 8-year-olds Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick as they navigate life and deal with the stupidity of the adult world around them. The very first episode of South Park saw Cartman getting abducted by aliens and anally probed, and it’s only got funnier and crazier since then.
South Park has a unique way of tackling serious and societal issues with levity, pointing out the obvious silliness in the world while not taking themselves seriously at all. Although visually South Park isn’t going to blow your mind, its simplicity and hilarity are what counts. Make like Towlie, roll one up, throw on this show and ask your friends: “Wanna get high?”
SPOGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
Are ya ready kids? We all know the plot to this one, an anthropomorphic sponge with squared pants, who lives in a pineapple under the sea gets into hijinks. Now, SpongeBob SquarePants is a show made for children that most of us probably grew up on and enjoyed immensely in our youth. Years later the show's still going strong, and even though it was funny when we were kids, it still holds up today for adults, especially when looking for mindless entertainment. At times, SpongeBob makes absolutely no sense and seems like it was written by stoners in the first place. Who would have thought that shows we enjoyed as sober children would still hit as cooked adults?
SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST
Shout out to the Cartoon Network, and shout out MF DOOM. Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an animated, adult, late-night talk show, hosted by a washed-up superhero called Space Ghost. The show's co-hosts are Space Ghost’s archenemies Zorak and Moltar, who he imprisoned and enslaved to be his bandleader and director/producer respectively.
The show focuses primarily on Hanna-Barbera characters like Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo, who get whisked into the edgy wit and depression that engulfs Space Ghost. Coast to Coast had multiverse-type stuff going on before Marvel made it popular and beat it to death, and nothing’s trippier than getting baked and seeing Snagglepuss in a more mature setting.
FLCL (FOOLY COOLY)
Widely considered to be one of the trippiest anime series ever made, and definitely the least known cartoon on this list, FLCL AKA Fooly Kooly follows middle schooler Naota who struggles with anxiety issues. Naota gets run over and hit in the head with a guitar by an alien girl called Haruko, which formed a weird lump on his head, which is also a gateway to other universes.
That description alone should make you want to get high and trip out to this show. Naota is capable of pulling things out of his head, and of course, misadventures and hijinks ensue. Unlike most anime, FLCL isn’t strict with its animation stylings and can go from looking as crisp as Dragon Ball Z to looking like an episode of South Park on a whim. I highly recommend this show to any stoner who enjoys anime like myself.
