Rick Sanchez is many things: a super-genius, an alcoholic, a danger to all timelines—but most of all, he’s hilariously unhinged. His inventions in Rick and Morty range from universe-altering to completely useless, often blurring the line between brilliance and absurdity. Whether he’s creating gadgets out of spite, boredom, or interdimensional necessity, Rick never misses a chance to drop some chaotic comedy. Here are the 10 funniest inventions that prove science is wild when Rick’s holding the screwdriver.
#10: Butter Robot – “Something Ricked This Way Comes” (Season 1, Episode 9)
Tiny, mechanical, and existentially cursed, the Butter Robot may be Rick’s most pointlessly hilarious creation. Built solely to pass butter, the robot becomes self-aware almost instantly and asks, “What is my purpose?” —to which Rick coldly replies, “You pass butter.”
Its soul-crushing realization (“Oh my God.”) is both hilarious and tragic. The Butter Robot is a joke about AI, free will, and depression, all in one tiny metal shell.
Its existence is absurd. Rick could’ve passed butter himself. He didn’t need a robot. But in creating one, he offers a darkly funny commentary on meaninglessness—something only Rick and Morty could do in under ten seconds.
#9: Dream Inceptor – “Lawnmower Dog” (Season 1, Episode 2)
Rick’s answer to Morty’s failing grades? Incept the teacher. That’s right—Rick builds a dream machine just to pull an Inception and sneak into Mr. Goldenfold’s subconscious.
What follows is a ridiculous series of nested dreams, featuring everything from a centaur Rick to Freddy Krueger knock-off “Scary Terry.” Rick doesn’t even care about helping Morty—he just thinks invading dreams is fun.
The whole setup is a parody of complicated sci-fi logic, and Rick’s casualness about the technology (“Don’t worry about it, Morty—it’s science fiction!”) makes it even funnier. He built a literal dream-warping device just to mess with school bureaucracy. Respect.
#8: Meeseeks Box – “Meeseeks and Destroy” (Season 1, Episode 5)
The Meeseeks Box is simple: push the button, summon a Mr. Meeseeks, and give him a task. Once it’s completed, he disappears. But Rick, in his infinite brilliance (and laziness), gives this cursed contraption to the family without a second thought.
Jerry, of course, asks his Meeseeks to “help him take two strokes off his golf game.” What follows is a spiraling nightmare of increasingly desperate blue beings trying to solve an impossible task—turning into a full-on hostage situation.
Rick’s refusal to help once it goes haywire. Peak Rick. He knew it would go wrong. And that’s what makes the invention funny—because he let it.
#7: Pickle Rick – “Pickle Rick” (Season 3, Episode 3)
Let’s be clear: Rick turning himself into a pickle isn’t science. It’s performance art. He does it not for survival, but to avoid family therapy. And yet, he fully engineers a self-contained Pickle Life Support System™ that lets him roll, crawl, and eventually wage war on an underground rat army.
The absurdity is unmatched. A scientist who can build portal guns chooses instead to become a vegetable. And he wins. By the end, he’s a combat-hardened, blood-soaked pickle wielding rat-spine nunchucks.
It’s dumb. It’s brilliant. It’s pure Rick.
Also… it’s “Pickle Riiiiiick!” That alone made the internet explode—and it’s still echoing through memes to this day.
#6: Instant Death Ray – “The Wedding Squanchers” (Season 2, Episode 10)
When Tammy betrays the Smiths and the Galactic Federation crashes Birdperson’s wedding, Rick casually takes out an “Instant Death Ray.” The kicker? It has no safety.
He even says, “This is an instant death ray, Morty. It takes one second to kill someone. Use it responsibly.” Then proceeds to accidentally drop it, nearly killing himself.
The humor comes from how dangerous the invention is—and how chill Rick is about it. It’s like handing someone a loaded gun with a hair trigger and saying, “Just don’t mess up.” That’s peak Rick irresponsibility in a nutshell.
The fact that this device exists at all is insane. But with Rick, it’s just another Tuesday.
#5: Interdimensional Cable Box – “Interdimensional Cable 1 & 2”
Rick’s interdimensional cable box allows the family to watch television from any universe. Sounds cool, right? Except instead of brilliant discoveries or epic dramas, they mostly get nonsensical improv like Ants in My Eyes Johnson and Two Brothers (and a meteor, and aliens…)
Rick’s reason for building it? Boredom. He wanted better channels. What he delivered was a stream of bizarre, low-budget, intergalactic public access nightmares.
It’s funny because it’s so pointless. There’s no plot, no arc—just interdimensional chaos. And Rick sits back and loves it.
It’s the ultimate “Why? Because I can” invention. Which is basically Rick’s entire design philosophy.
#4: Shrinking Device – “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez” (Season 2, Episode 7)
Rick builds a device to shrink himself into “Tiny Rick,” a hip, young clone body that lets him party with Morty and Summer in high school. Why? Because he wants to help them take down a vampire. Also: midlife crisis.
As Tiny Rick, he dances, plays guitar, and becomes the most popular kid in school. But deep down, his true self is trapped—crying for help through song lyrics like “Let me out, what you see is not the same person as me!”
The shrinking device itself isn’t the funniest part. It’s the ridiculous application. Rick could’ve solved the vampire problem easily. Instead, he becomes a teenage rockstar, loses sight of reality, and practically begs for death—in song.
It’s chaotic, hilarious, and somehow deeply emotional. Classic Rick.
#3: Concentrated Dark Matter – “The Ricklantis Mixup” (Season 3, Episode 7)
In the Citadel of Ricks, we see a younger Rick being trained to make concentrated dark matter. The formula? A wrench, a screwdriver… and a literal can of sht*. Yes, Rick makes a volatile, universe-bending power source that includes actual feces.
It’s never explained. It’s never rationalized. But it perfectly captures Rick’s twisted sense of humor. He takes the pinnacle of cosmic energy—and makes it disgusting for no reason other than because he can.
The absurdity of this invention lies in the visual: high-tech tools, alien crystals, and a casual scoop of poop.
It’s a gag, but also a weird metaphor for Rick himself: brilliant, dangerous, and full of crap.
#2: Froopyland – “The ABCs of Beth” (Season 3, Episode 9)
Froopyland is a magical, Technicolor fantasy world Rick creates so Beth can play safely as a child. On the surface, it’s whimsical and beautiful. Underneath? It’s a biological horror-scape of self-replicating, child-proof nightmares.
Rick builds it with “biologically engineered shrubbery” and a “childproofed physics engine.” Beth, naturally, turns it into a murder paradise.
This invention is hilarious not just for its twisted contrast (cartoon wonderland meets child sociopathy), but because of what it says about Rick: he tried to do something nice… and still accidentally made a nightmare world.
Froopyland is like Rick’s parenting in a nutshell—grand intentions, bizarre execution, catastrophic results.
#1: Portal Gun – Every Episode
The portal gun may be Rick’s most iconic invention—and while it’s often used for serious interdimensional travel, the way he uses it? Absolutely ridiculous.
Rick doesn’t teleport between galaxies to save lives. He does it to skip lines, grab fast food from another timeline, or avoid emotional conversations. His casually world-shattering tech is used to bail on family dinners or escape therapy appointments.
It’s the ultimate “tool of chaos.” He can go anywhere in existence—and usually goes somewhere dumb. That’s what makes it funny. The portal gun should be sacred, but in Rick’s hands. It’s a universal Uber.
It’s science fiction’s greatest toy turned into a running joke. And no one uses it like Rick.
Rick Sanchez is a master of invention—but his gadgets are rarely just about saving the day. Whether he’s creating chaos on purpose or solving small problems with galaxy-sized solutions, his inventions are as hilarious as they are dangerous. These 10 gems prove that in Rick’s lab, the line between genius and insanity is not just blurred—it’s a portal to somewhere much, much weirder. And thank goodness for that.
