Did Warner Bros. Block Rick and Morty From Using "Looney Tunes" Tune?
· BCPosted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: looney tunes, rick and morty
Did Warner Bros. Block Rick and Morty From Using "Looney Tunes" Tune?
During the ending of Rick and Morty S09E06: "ErickerHead," Rick tells Morty that Warner Bros. wouldn't let them use a "Looney Tunes" tune.
Published Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:07:08 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary
- Rick and Morty S09E06 ends with Rick spoofing a Looney Tunes-style sign-off and joking Warner Bros. blocked the real tune.
- The ErickerHead credits scene has Rick teasing Morty with a shrinking portal before revealing the fake-out and music gag.
- Rick explicitly calls out the Looney Tunes reference, saying the music sounds close because Warner would not clear it.
- We also look back at Rick and Morty’s long-running Space Jam joke, underlining the show’s discomfort with crossovers.
We just assume that corporate synergy is the standard, everyday practice of most major media companies. I mean, look no further than what Disney has planned during the year-long build-up to Super Bowl LXI: "The Mouse" is inviting everyone under the Disney umbrella to help get the word out. But if the end credits to this past weekend's episode of Adult Swim's Rick and Morty are on-point, it would seem that there are some limits to that kind of corporate "kumbaya."
During the end credits to S09E06: "ErickerHead" (directed by Eugene Huang, and written by Albro Lundy & Scott Marder), Rick and Morty finalize a few things before Rick heads off through a dimensional portal – only for Rick to pop his head back in for a quick reminder. Considering what they went through the last time that happened, it's understandable why Morty would start freaking out. But just before history is about to repeat itself, Rick shows Morty that it was a joke. In fact, not only did he fix that whole annoying decapitation problem, but Rick also demonstrated that he can control the size of the portal.
Needless to say, Morty isn't happy, and Rick smiling while he plays around with the size of the portal isn't helping the situation. That's where we get to the fun part, because even before Rick directly references it, you can see the similarity between what he was doing and those classic "Looney Tunes" endings, where Porky Pig pops out of the screen and says, "That's All, Folks!" In fact, Rick even references the music playing – while explaining why it's "Looney Tunes"-like and not the actual tune. "You hear that music, Morty? Warner wouldn't let us use the real music."
Rick and Morty Made Sure Rick and Morty Won't Be Doing "Space Jam 3"
As product deals & marketing crossovers go, Adult Swim's Rick and Morty has done a pretty great job of staying on the right side of the line that divides expanding the franchise and selling out. That said, the dimension-hopping duo's appearance on 2021's Space Jam: A New Legacy was a bit of an odd one. Unable to find a way to "cure" whatever's going on with Taz, Rick and Morty drop him back off to LeBron James, Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck. Aside from it feeling a bit "forced" (and not in an ironic way), it also vibed a little too "family friendly" and not exactly what a lot of folks expected – including the folks behind the Emmy Award-winning animated series.
It began in S06E07: "Full Meta Jackrick," when the duo crashed through the fourth wall in an effort to track Story Lord. At one point, Rick warns Morty that the meta radiation they are being exposed to is eroding their credibility – adding that "every second we spend here is the equivalent of ten 'Space Jam' cameos." But it was this past weekend's episode, S07E06: "Rickfending Your Mort" (directed by Jacob Hair and written by Cody Ziglar), where the situation was dealt with – pretty permanently, from the sounds of it. Standing trial for their adventuring and their alleged murderous behavior, Rick makes the argument that the duo doesn't kill for the fun of it (hmmm…) – only to be shown a clip of Rick dragging two body bags back with him through a dimensional portal. As he tells Morty, he just came back from the dimension where the "Space Jam 2" crossover took place – and based on what Rick brought back with him, it was clear that a third appearance wouldn't be happening even if a third film ended up happening. And just in case anyone watching might have a different take on how the show's team feels about the cinematic crossover, having the deceased duo eager to die pretty much drove the point home: "They welcomed death! They wanted out, Morty!"
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