Like many folks, I had a lot of different favorite TV shows during my childhood that I like to give some good ol' nostaglic rewatches today. But there's always something different about watching your childhood favorites as an adult. There are even a lot of dirty lines in '90s TV shows, from Friends to SpongeBob SquarePants, that you probably never noticed. Back then, TV seemed to push the envelope in different ways by hiding some very R-rated jokes in layers upon layers — something you don't read into as a child, but you'd definitely notice as an adult.
Before HBO and cable TV shows were all the rage and bared everything, '90s kids were brought up on good ol' network television, which didn't allow profanity or nudity. So that meant that television series had to find ways to communicate their dirty minds through other means — and try to slip it past the censors, as well as the infamous network Standards & Practices department. But lo and behold, some of those jokes and references totally made it through, and will have you laughing to this day — even in a world filled with curse-laden and nudity-loving cable TV shows (looking at you, Game of Thrones).
Here are some dirty lines you may not have noticed in your favorite '90s TV shows way back when.
11. "Don't Worry, I Was An Accident, Too" — Powerpuff Girls
Robin from next door makes a bit of an awkward confession to the girls and their dad.
10. "We're Here To Toss Your Salad" — Power Rangers Turbo
The Power Rangers pledge to do this to a pizza villain and I can't help wonder if they know what the term really means. That would be a new way to take down a villain, I suppose.
9. "Toolbox, Dirty!" — Gilmore Girls
Before Luke and Lorelai finally got together, the flirting and innuendo was always heavy between the to Stars Hollow lovebirds-to-be. Luke even let Lorelai name his, um, toolbox as Bert and she exclaims "Dirty!" after Luke makes mention of him. How clever.
8. Sneed's Feed & Seed (Formerly Chuck's) — The Simpsons
If there is any series that's an expert at the subtle, layered dirty joke, it's The Simpsons. The above post is just a sign, but dig deeper and it gets super dirty. Let's apply a logic rule to it: If the Feed & Seed is named so because it rhymes with its owner, Sneed, then when it was owned by Chuck, those other two works would've rhymed with Chuck and ended in -uck. I'll leave the rest for you to figure out.
7. "Look, Doubloons! Don't Drop Them" — SpongeBob Square Pants
SpongeBob makes this comment while showing soap to Gary, who, as seen in the clip above, once caught his buddy watching some sea porn. That little sponge has a dirty mind.
6. "No, Joey — U-N-I-sex" — Friends
The classic NBC '90s sitcom had a lot of hilarious jokes that pushed the envelope, but this has long been one of my favorites: When Joey misunderstands the word unisex as needing sex, then an offer of it.
5. "I Can't Remember The Last Time I Was Blindfolded. Wait, Yes I Can" — Johnny Bravo
The giggle after the line is what really sells it as dirty.
4. "Master Of My Domain" — Seinfeld
You gotta hand (ahem) it to this classic NBC sitcom — they did a whole episode about masturbation without even saying the world.
3. "Arnold, You Make My Girlhood Tremble" — Hey Arnold
Hey now, Helga, Kids are watching.
2. "Why Don't You Jump On Our Doggy-Style Bowl Ride? Everybody On Their Hands & Knees" — Rocco's Modern Life
The great thing about this line is that the first one can slip by innocently enough, but the second one is the writers saying, "Yeah, we went there, and we want you to know it (wink)."
1. "No, Finger Prince/Prints" — Animaniacs
Can you believe this joke ran at 4 p.m. on a weekday?! I'm both simultaneously impressed and horrified that this multi-layered, funny-on-so-many-levels joke exists and made it through censors. What makes it even better is that it includes a smiley and suave animated Prince.
It's really impressive that these jokes actually happened, and that our young '90s selves didn't realize a thing.
Image: Warner Bros.
