The Greatest Common Present Episodes That Are Something However Common

Regular Show stood as one of the pillars that defined the 2010s Cartoon Network. As audiences aged alongside the show, we resonated even harder with Mordecai and Rigby’s experiences as a couple of slacker 20-somethings learning to grow up.

Before Benson yells at us, take a look at the best Regular Show episodes the series has to offer.

1. The Power

It’s incredible how such an early episode had the core identity of Regular Show so perfected. Mordecai and Rigby’s mundane desire to get a raise quickly spirals to the whole cast fleeing from a giant monster on the moon as they use a magic keyboard to get home.

2. This is My Jam

The line “You can’t touch music, but music can touch you” alone makes this episode worth including. Mordecai and Rigby’s desperate attempt to stop an annoyingly catchy summer tune brings the whole park together as a band. The inclusion of Benson on the drums gives him a trait that sticks with him for the rest of the series, including his spotlight episode “150 Piece Kit.”

3. Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special!

The baby ducks saga reaches its peak in this double-length special. A toy executive tries to buy Mordecai and Rigby’s likeness to put on his awful toys (a jab at the poor quality of early Regular Show merchandise). The negotiations break down into an escalating series of mech battles, with the baby ducks and the park employees fighting the toy executives and the evil geese.

4. Happy Birthday Song Contest

The fact that “Happy Birthday to You” exists in such a culturally significant space, and yet most media and businesses avoid it due to copyright reasons, both frustrates and amuses us. However, this episode not only uses this song for real, but they spend the whole time denigrating it so it can be ultimately replaced by Mordecai and Rigby’s original birthday song.

5. Stick Hockey

Mordecai and Rigby go back on their promises all the time, but this time Benson’s the one who doesn’t keep his word. He takes away the stick hockey game he promised Mordecai and Rigby. To earn back their trust, he has to put his life on the line by winning a deadly underground game. The backstory this episode added to Benson made viewers love him even more.

6. Slam Dunk

The late Carl Weathers gives a phenomenal performance as the God of Basketball in this episode. He helps Mordecai and Rigby enhance their ball skills so they can win their computer time back from Muscleman and Hi Five Ghost.

7. Cool Bikes

“Overruled or over cooled?” Mordecai and Rigby’s plan to get back at Benson by making their bikes as cool as possible ends with the three of them in the center of an interdimensional court battle over the slacker’s overwhelming coolness.

8. Weekend at Benson’s

The “Mississippi Queen” segment puts this episode on the map. The trippy visuals and perfect song choice as Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson stumble through a bad reaction to the ultimate spicy drink create one of the peak moments ever in Regular Show episodes.

9. Gary’s Synthesizer

Proving once again that they should never be trusted around precious items, Mordecai and Rigby fuss with the synthesizer that allows Gary to project his physical form. They have to travel to Gary’s home planet of Synthos to fix him. The final synthesizer battle between Gary and David has endless rewatch potential.

10. The Christmas Special

Of all of Regular Show’s Christmas specials, this one wins. It turns the holiday into a high-octane action flick with a hoverboard-riding Santa and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s groundbreaking rendition of “Carol of the Bells.”

11. The Thanksgiving Special

Thanksgiving doesn’t get the special episode love that other holidays tend to get, but that’s fine because Regular Show delivered. The whole cast gets involved in playing their separate parts in saving Thanksgiving.

12. Terror Tales of the Park II

Regular Show took a cue from The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror” and made a Halloween anthology an annual tradition. In this one, the crew deals with Mordecai’s ghost uncle, an evil bus, and a giant spider. The episode gets even better after uncovering the scrapped alternate ending that reveals the characters died in a car collision.

13. Maxin’ and Relaxin

Now, in his relationship with CJ, Mordecai brings her to his childhood home to search for an old mixtape. The emotional core of this episode between Mordecai and his mom makes this episode really special. He gets character growth as he learns to appreciate his mom even though she embarrasses him.

14. Exit 9B

Garret Bobby Ferguson Jr. intends to get revenge on Mordecai and Rigby by brainwashing all their friends and demolishing the park to build a highway exit. This episode features a massive battle between the show’s previously vanquished enemies and all of the friends Mordecai and Rigby have accumulated thus far. And nobody can forget that Thomas, the intern, makes his debut here.

15. The Last Laserdisc Player

The series’ famed Format Wars saga starts here. The gang tries to find a Laserdisc player so they can watch the director’s cut of 21-12 Time Attack. In classic Regular Show fashion, this leads them to help the Guardians of Obsolete Formats defeat the Ancient Order of the VHS to make Laserdisc into the dominant media format. Media format aficionados must watch this, plus the rest of the Format Wars episodes.

16. Busted Cart

After busting the park’s golf cart, Mordecai and Rigby accompany Benson on a road trip to the dealership in a race to redeem the warranty before it expires. “Busted Cart” gives Benson one of his finest showings. The way he interacts with Mordecai and Rigby shows that he’s a pretty cool guy when he doesn’t have to scream at them to do their jobs.

17. World’s Best Boss

The park employee’s attempt at showing their appreciation to Benson leads to an all-out battle for the title of “World’s Best Boss.” Who exactly do they have to fight? The characters from Mike Judge’s Office Space, of course.

18. Eggscelent

This episode gave the world Regular Show’s most iconic frame: Rigby dying in a hospital bed with the “Eggscelent” trucker hat. This episode’s packed with great moments from start to end, and made all of us want to prove that we could be “eggscelent” too.

19. Skips’ Story

We learned about Skips’ immortality early on in the story, but this season five episode finally tells us how he earned it. “Skip’s Story” shows us how he got his name, met Gary and the other immortals, and lost the love of his life.

20. The Real Thomas

While Thomas had a couple of prominent roles in Regular Show episodes since his introduction in “Exit 9B,” he kept a pretty low profile in the series. But “The Real Thomas” busts his character wide open by revealing his true nature as a spy from Russia (na, in the British broadcasts, from the fictional country Druznia). This episode changes his character forever and recontextualizes all his prior appearances.

21. Rigby’s Graduation Special

Rigby’s maturation made him the unexpected star of the series. Here, we get to see all the work Rigby went through to get his high school diploma paid off. The episode ends with the biggest twist in the show which transitions into the final season taking place in space.

22. A Regular Epic Finale Battle

This epic two-parter gives Regular Show a proper goodbye. Pops sacrifices his life to defeat Anti-Pops and undo all of his damage. With the universe safe, the park employees return to Earth to move on with their lives.

Mordecai and the others grow up, get married, have kids, and finally return to the park for a 25-year reunion. As Pops says, “Jolly good show.”