The Joke From THE TICK Animated Series That Was Way Too Gross For The Network

The Tick is one of my all-time favorite characters. I loved creator Ben Edlund’s comic books from the early 90s, I was a huge fan of the original animated series, and I even enjoyed the two live-action shows that were developed. But that animated show was just the absolute best. That series had me laughing my ass off every time I watched it.

They did a lot of crazy hilarious things with that series and the comedy was just off the charts. He also has the greatest quotes ever! I’ve never seen anything quite like it since it was released. Some projects have attempted to emulate it, but nothing has really been able to do what The Tick did.

Anyway, during a recent interview with /Film, one of the show’s writers, Henry Gilroy (Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), shared a scene that he has written for the show that ended up being cut out because it was too over-the-top gross for the network.

This scene was from the first episode that Gilroy worked on for the series, and it was titled "The Tick vs. The Uncommon Cold," and it contained a snot-based joke that made the network executives rethink their lives.

In the episode, a dimension-spanning oozing blob super-villain, called the Thrakkorzog, clones the Tick in a plot to take over the world. The clone of The Tick was made from slimy mucous, and the only way that The Tick could defeat this monstrosity was to suck the mucus clone up his nose and then sneeze him out into an interdimensional portal. 

Well, when talking about what part of this had to be cut out, Gilroy explained: "I think there was a close-up of a wavering nostril, with snot going up of it. It was disgusting. They go, 'That's probably too much. That's too gross.'" So it didn’t make the final cut. With everything that this show did, that’s what got cut!? Oh well, it was still a great episode! You can watch it below if you want!