11 High-Brow Jokes from Low-Brow Places
![11 High-Brow Jokes from Low-Brow Places](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/7/2/890672_320x180.jpg)
We may have thought these jokes were complete gibberish at the time (since their source is normally known for complete idiocy), but a deeper dive into the reference or the subject matter proved that they actually knew their stuff. What we have here is the classic lesson of “Don’t judge a book by its completely ridiculous cover.” If you want straight down the middle physics jokes, you know Futurama and The Big Bang Theory got you covered. But if you settled into a silly ol’ low brow comedy, you might’ve been a little pissy that you had to learn something for a split second.
Look, sometimes Yakko takes a break from harassing nurses to question the existence of the multiverse. And sometimes the gang looked to Joey Tribbiani for guidance. Okay, so the joke involved urine, but his science was sound! Good for them, these wiley morons. They got to flash some brains and surprise us, like a dopey cousin who all of a sudden nails a Trivial Pursuit question. But don’t worry, it didn’t take long for these 12 high-brow jokes to stray from their low-brow places.
Pinky not-so subtly called us out.
![Isn't life wonderful, Brain? Just think, we started out as lab mice forced to spend the whole day working our way through frustrating mazes that went absolutely nowhere. Now we get to do what humans do! PINKY & THE BRAIN CRACKED A mouse holds a mirror up to the rat race.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/1/889901.jpg)
Rick & Morty wants you to pick a side!
![Gaslighting doesn't exist. You made it up because you're f***ing crazy. RICK & MORTY BREAKING NEWS CRACKED This local-news spat is a comment on unreliable narratives, and is clearly gaslighting while claiming gaslighting doesn't exist. Dan Harmon said, Anybody could misinterpret that joke in either direction.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/0/889900.jpg)
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on psychoanalysis.
![Sigmund Freud is obsessed with phallic items like a corndog, a cigar, and a vacuum attachment. BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE CRACKED These SoCal (we're assuming stoner) dudes bring historical figures to the modern day, and since Freud often linked mental issues to sex, his modern day hijinks end up psychoanalyzing himself.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/8/889898.jpg)
Punching way up in Spaceballs.
![Lonestar and Barf perfectly parody Lawrence of Arabia. SPACEBALLS Bay CRACKED At polar opposites of the film spectrum, a character named Barf jabs at one of the best films of all time. There's a dissolve directly to the sun, and a music sting similar to the actual score. Barf even buttons the joke with, Nice dissolve.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/9/889899.jpg)
The Naked Gun 33 ⅓ has a multi-layered reference.
![In prison, Frank Drebin yells This Chateau le Blanc '68 is supposed to be served slightly chilled. This is room temperature! What do you think we are, animals? THE NAKED GUN 33 1/3 CRACKED This is a reference to Chateau Cheval Blanc - a highly sought-after wine whose vintage bottles sell for over $1,000. 1968 was a particularly poor year for grape-growing, so it implies the company just gave them away to prisons.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/1/889891.jpg)
Animaniacs asks the big questions.
!['Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars And still the universe extends to a place that never ends Which is maybe just inside a little jar! ANIMANIACS GRACKED Normally an incredibly zany cartoon about harassing nurses, Yakko takes some time to hint at the Bubble Theory and the possibility of a multiverse.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/4/889894.jpg)
Austin Powers had some ancient references in its bag, baby.
![In group therapy, Dr. Evil explains that in his youth, he was ritualistically shaven by a Zoroastrian. AUSTIN POWERS GRACKED It sounds like he's making up nonsense for the joke, but it's a reference to Zoroastrianism - an ancient Iranian religion that actually performed ritualistic shavings.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/7/889897.jpg)
The Wheel of Morality’s take on a classic proverb.
![Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, but socially dead. ANIMANIACS CRACKED The Wheel of Morality promotes a healthy work/life balance.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/2/889892.jpg)
Charlie Baileygates helped raise three geniuses.
![After Shonte Jr. says, Damn! I can't figure out the atomic mass of this motherf***in' deuteron, Jamaal chimes in with, Enrico Fermi would roll over in his mother***in' grave if he heard that stupid sh*t. ME, MYSELF & IRENE 549 CRACKED One of many intelligent jokes from the triplets (whose father was in MENSA), this quantum physics joke references Enrico Fermi, the Italian physicist known as the architect of the nuclear age.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/0/889890.jpg)
Usually Grandpa Simpson longs for simpler times.
![The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I like it. - Abe Simpson. THE SIMPSONS CRACKED You might think this is complete gibberish, but a rod is actually an old English measurement that can equal anywhere from 9 to 28 feet. A hogshead is an old unit of measurement for liquids that equals about 79 old wine-gallons.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/6/889896.jpg)
For all his shortcomings, Billy knew his Shakespeare.
![In the Academic Decathlon, Billy nails his Hamlet monologue. BILLY MADISON CRACKED Clearly an insanely dumb character, Billy does prove that he studies hard. Eric gives a decent opening to the classic speech, but Billy uses his insanity to bring the drama.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/5/889895.jpg)