The Pinky And The Brain Connection You Missed In Rick And Morty

Not to crib every undeclared college sophomore from the last eight years, but "Rick and Morty" has got a lot going on. It has hivemind entities standing in as metaphors for getting lost in relationships, a team of thematically indistinguishable Avengers analogues, and Szechuan sauce. If you don't know about the "Rick and Morty" Szechuan sauce thing, stroll to the sidewalk outside of your city's hippest bar, shout, "I don't know about the 'Rick and Morty' Szechuan sauce thing," and buckle up for a really difficult afternoon.

On top of all that, as the crown jewel in the primetime adult animation crown, "Rick and Morty" has attracted a cavalcade of voice talent. That can mean one- or two-episode appearances by big-name movie stars like Susan Sarandon, a cameo by Elon Musk, or a dogged determination to fit Keith David into as many roles as possible. More often than not, it means consistent, low-key work from some of the best voice actors in the business.

One of the cool things about voice actors? They can blend into a part much more unnoticeably than their on-screen counterparts, thanks to the whole "we never actually see their faces" thing. So maybe it'll come as a shock to learn that both Pinky and his longtime employer-roommate-emotional-abuser the Brain have popped up in "Rick and Morty" more than once. Well, kind of — their voice actors did.

Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche — better known to their fans as Pinky and the Brain, respectively — are legends in the voice-acting game. Outside of proving the Brain's mousy worth by overthrowing the Earth in "Animaniacs" (and other series), LaMarche has provided the voices of Kif in "Futurama," Doctor Doom and Magneto in a dozen or so Marvel cartoons, and literally hundreds of other characters. Similarly, Paulsen has more than 500 acting credits to his name, including Yakko Warner from "Animaniacs" and at least two separate Ninja Turtles.

It shouldn't be a surprise that LaMarche's sinister tones found a home on "Rick and Morty," beginning with the Season 1 episode "Lawnmower Dog," in which he voiced Snowball the Dog's accountant. It's so important that you find a money man you can trust, and in this particular case, Snowball picked someone particularly close to his heart, seeing as the Paulsen voiced the Smith family's dog in the episode.

LaMarche would go on to voice dozens of characters in "Rick and Morty," including Abradolph Lincler and the fully-grown Gazorpazorp Morty Jr. Meanwhile, Paulsen put in work in four further episodes, voicing one of Unity's (Christina Hendricks) assimilated victims in "Autoerotic Assimilation" as well as everyone's favorite character from "Rixty Minutes," Regular Legs Johnson.

The point is this: Everybody involved already knows each other — it's time to start pushing a "Rick and Morty"/"Pinky and the Brain" crossover on social media.