Szechuan Sauce Of ‘Rick And Morty’ Fame Is Coming To ‘The Simpsons’ Universe This Week
Szechuan nugget dipping sauce, inspired by Disney’s Mulan and created by McDonald’s, propelled to the status of a cultural phenomenon by Rick and Morty and is now jumping from one animated universe to another. It’s a work of cartoon magic almost as compelling as Rick Sanchez and his infamous portal gun, and it’s happening this weekend when the coveted condiment is transported onto an episode of The Simpsons.
As Inverse reports, at least one jug of the Szechuan sauce (looking strikingly similar to the promotional containers of the nugget sauce sent from McDonald’s to Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland) will be making a cameo on this Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons. Writer Al Jean teased the big event in a tweet sent out into the Twitterverse Thursday. The tweet featured a blurry still shot from this Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, and in the shot, Maggie can be seen clutching a distinctive jug of Szechuan sauce.
As Rick and Morty fans know, Szechuan sauce has dominated the show’s universe since the Season 3 premiere. That was when animated scientist and star of the show Rick Sanchez let it be known that he was willing to dedicate the rest of the series’ story arcs to finding the condiment, which was briefly released by McDonald’s to coincide with the Disney animated flick Mulan before being discontinued.
.@TheSimpsons delicious new episode Sunday at 8 pic.twitter.com/eA1aUBOq07
— Al Jean (@AlJean) November 2, 2017
The Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce storyline has generated such a cult following that McDonald’s, in addition to sending a jug of the teriyaki-style dip to the show’s co-creator and a handful of fans, released a limited supply of the sauce in stores at the beginning of October. The publicity stunt didn’t go as planned, mainly because the folks at Micky D’s failed to properly gauge customer demand for the sauce, and many Rick and Morty fans were left empty-handed and furious.
yes a little shout out to R&M
— Al Jean (@AlJean) November 2, 2017
Ah, stupid meme sauce fandom has seeped it's greasy, highly intelligent roots into more media outlets
— Thrift Shop by Mackelmore (@newtybewty) November 3, 2017
Szechuan sauce in The Simpsons. We really need to start figuring out Season 4’s thing that goes too far.
— Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) November 3, 2017
In response, McDonald’s vowed to make it up to Rick and Morty‘s loyal followers by promising a large-scale re-release of Szechuan sauce later this year. It remains to be seen if the return of the sauce will somehow be tied to a larger promotion involving Rick and Morty. Even so, fans of the show (and the Szechuan sauce) seem more than happy to take McDonald’s up on their offer.
While this Sunday’s Szechuan sauce cameo doesn’t really qualify as a cartoon universe crossover, it’s not the first time that the highly popular adult sci-fi cartoon Rick and Morty has gotten a nod from The Simpsons. Well before Rick Sanchez announced his plan to seek out Szechuan sauce throughout the multiverse, Rick and Morty visited The Simpsons‘ universe by way of a couch gag.
Fans of Szechuan sauce, Rick and Morty, and/or The Simpsons can catch a glimpse of baby Maggie toting a jug of the McDonald’s dip November 5 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox. If you plan on checking it out, don’t forget to set your clocks back, and let us know what you think of the episode in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by Cartoon Network]
