Things Only Adults Notice In Ed, Edd N Eddy
Ed, Edd n Eddy was a gem of the 2000s Cartoon Network lineup. The kinetic cartoon follows the three titular boys as they explore their neighborhood, antagonize the neighbor kids, and embark upon a never-ending series of schemes. Unfortunately, their plans tend to backfire — but watching them pick themselves up and concoct a new one is part of the fun. The series lasted for six jawbreaker-crunching seasons, in addition to several specials and a television film entitled Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show.
It may have been a show for kids, but if you've watched it as an adult, then you've probably noticed more than a few jokes, gags, and references aimed squarely at adults. Some of them go so far, it's hard not to wonder if the censors were asleep — but then again, when you have a show that's this filled to the brim with absurdity, some no-nos are bound to make their way through. These are the parts of Ed, Edd n Eddy that went whizzing over your childhood head, from the subtlest nods to the most obvious dirty jokes.
Eddy's magazines
Those familiar with the series know how important Eddy's magazines are to him. They were a gift given to him by his legendary older brother, and are, according to him, "one of a kind." What do these fabled magazines contain? The titles make it pretty clear: There's really only one thing publications called "Jiggy Jiggy," "Frisky," and "Chix" are about. We never see the contents, of course, but Ed, Edd n Eddy has other ways of making their nature clear. They're stored under Eddy's bed, for one thing, alongside junk food, soda, and other prized possessions his parents restrict his access to. Most suggestively, they're surrounded by crumpled-up tissues. We'll let you fill in the blanks yourself.
Eddy's magazines aren't a one-off gag, either — they're a bonafide plot device. Multiple episodes see Eddy trying to save them, becoming agitated by their absence, and in the case of "The Luck of the Ed," having to embark upon a quest to recover them after Ed hides them, then forgets their location.
Dirty jokes, winter style
In the episode "Look Before You Ed," Edd and Jimmy set up a safety club to protect students during the winter season. They soon recruit Ed and Eddy to help them on their crusade ... and, well, they're about as helpful as you'd expect.
Eddy is, of course, always looking to make a quick buck, tiny con man that he is. Naturally, he begins using a snow-clearing machine to serve up delicious snow cones to his classmates. As Edd begins to berate him, Eddy disarms him with a well-placed joke: "What's winter without a snow job? Eh, sock-head? Get it? Snow? Job?"
Some dirty jokes in this series are hidden. They happen so quickly, you could reasonably miss them if you blinked at the right moment. Some are remarkably subtle, retaining plausible deniability. This one, however, is utterly transparent. There's no other interpretation of it that holds water. How it got past the censors is a mystery for the ages.
Bunnies are good at multiplication
Rolf, the mysterious foreign kid, is a fairly easy mark for the Eds, as evidenced by the episode "Flea-Bitten Eds." In it, the Eds set up a scam pet boutique and agree to watch over and clean up Rolf's animals — for a fee, of course. Ed soon realizes that the bunnies are upsetting his allergies. The bunnies hide underneath his shirt, and when Ed finally gets a hold of them, he's surprised to see that there are now four of them. If you've ever heard the idiom, "breeding like rabbits," then you're well-acquainted with what's going on here.
Edd and Eddy soon have to stop what they're doing and help Ed get his allergies under control. They lose track of the bunnies for much of the rest of the episode. At the episode's end, they return to their boutique, only to discover that the garage is now filled with bunnies. This fact isn't lost on Edd, who comments, "Seems like Mr. and Mrs. Bunny have been practicing their multiplication tables."
The Eds are soon buried in a bunny avalanche. Kids chalk it up to cartoon absurdity, but adults know precisely what's going on ... and feel bad for Ed for having it go on under his shirt.
Embracing mother nature
Edd is the shyest member of the group, more comfortable with his microscope than anything else. He's usually embarrassed when his friends engage in dirty humor — but in one episode, he's the one who gets downright shocking. In "Hand Me Down Ed," a mysterious boomerang comes to the cul-de-sac and drastically changes the personalities of the kids. Hot-headed Sarah is now calm, and Eddy is downright motherly. When Edd succumbs to its effects, he starts complaining about the heat and begins stripping off all of his clothes.
That's not all. Edd adopts a new dialect as well, saying things like, "Chill, bro. I'm sizzling in this heat." Edd then hops on a nearby lamppost and does a few spins reminiscent of entertainers in decidedly adults-only establishments. Edd's language grows more and more relaxed as he describes himself and Mother Nature as "having a thing going on." Basically, the boomerang turns him into a hippie nudist. Thankfully, its effects wear off quickly. Edd goes back to normal and is understandably mortified to see what he was up to.
Advice in the bathroom
It's a running gag throughout the series that Edd's parents leave him way too many sticky notes while they're away. Admittedly, these usually consist of solid (if obvious) advice, like remembering to lock the bathroom door. One note, however, carries a particularly grown-up admonishment
In "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Ed," Eddy convinces Ed that Edd is actually a mad scientist who has gills under his hat. Ed believes this, of course, and goes on a mission to uncover the "truth." His exploits soon bring him to Edd's bathroom where we see several more notes left behind by Edd's parents. One of these notes reads, "Don't touch yourself." Yikes. This is, of course, a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of gag, made in an age when it was a whole lot more difficult to pause cartoon episodes and examine them frame by frame. It's a bit of fun on the part of the animators, most likely. But really, put yourself in Edd's parents' shoes. If your son were friends with Eddy, the kid who never shuts up about the dirty magazines his big brother left him, wouldn't you be a little concerned about him rubbing off on your precious only son?
Ed gets frisky
"To Sir With Ed" wastes no time in getting the attention of the adults in the audience by opening with a very inappropriate joke. Ed and Edd are hanging at Edd's house. The phone rings — it's Eddy with an emergency. Instead of helping with the situation at all, Ed decides to place a nearby bone in his mouth and act like a dog. In one shot, we see Edd from the waist up, talking on the phone. Suddenly, he begins to shake. His face falls, and in a flat, annoyed tone, he says, "Please let go of my leg, Ed."
It seems Ed took his responsibilities as a dog a little too seriously. If you've ever had a canine companion, then you know exactly what was going on. When Ed first picks up the bone and starts acting like a dog, Edd jokes that he hopes Ed is a housebroken. Too bad he didn't think to include "neutered."
The facts of life
Later in "To Sir With Ed," Nazz shows up at Eddy's house, and says she's going to make him dinner. Eddy doesn't know what's going on — Nazz doesn't usually take any sort of interest in him. Then, Edd suggests that the two of them could be on a date. This makes all the sense in the world to Eddy, especially as he already has a crush on Nazz. He decides to brush up on his dating knowledge.
Since Edd has likely never been on a date before, he does the only thing he knows how to do: He reads a book about it. The one he finds is entitled "Birds, Bees & Sweaty Palms." The "birds and the bees" is, of course, an old idiom for the facts of life (specifically, how to make more of it) and sweaty palms are something people tend to get when they're near someone they're attracted to.
As you might have guessed, Eddy does not end up on a hot date with Nazz that night. It turns out that he misheard: Nazz goes over to his house because his parents hired her to babysit him. Oops.
Chicks galore
As Eddy and Edd gather things from Ed's room in "Little Blue Ed, they stumble upon a magazine entitled "Chicks Galore." As the number-one magazine aficionado on the show, Eddy is deeply proud to see Ed following in his footsteps — and a tiny bit angry that Ed has been holding out on him all these years. Giddily, he opens it ... only to be vastly disappointed.
The magazine contains dozens of photos of literal chicks — as in baby chickens. This is, of course, not what Eddy was expecting. Edd and Eddy peer at it, and discover some fairly gross photos of chicks in the process of hatching. They are rightfully disturbed, and quickly put the magazine down. "I didn't even know they had magazines like that," Eddy mutters. But what did he expect? Edd's obsession with chickens is a long-running joke the oddball kid takes entirely seriously. The magazine is never seen again, and honestly, that's probably for the best.
Bananas and apples
Even when the Eds aren't around, they manage to cause a ton of trouble. This is evidenced in the episode "See No Ed." The other kids in the cul-de-sac are hanging out together when they suddenly realize that the Eds are nowhere to be found. At first, they rejoice in this fact, because it means they don't have to deal with their scams. But eventually, they come to worry about what happened to them. They soon stumble upon a banana-strewn lot with a banner that says "Chimp Wurld" stretched across its entrance. The kids believe they're safe in entering it, because there aren't any Eds around to ask for money.
One by one, the kids fall victim to the shoddy craftsmanship of the theme park. For example, a huge pile of bananas lands on top of Rolf, who promptly complains about "the weight of the bananas crushing [his] apples."
Given the implication of that line, it's really pretty remarkable how well Rolf keeps his composure. Kevin, in contrast, runs away instead of helping his friend in that moment. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Sextants are funny
The Eds' last adventure is chronicled in the 2009 TV movie, Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show. It sends the Eds on an epic quest to locate Eddy's big brother. As it was the series' final installment, the people in charge clearly thought they could get away with some pretty explicit jokes.
As they try to find the gag factory they believe will lead them to Eddy's brother, Edd takes out a device known as a sextant to determine where they should go next. Upon hearing the word "sextant," Ed and Eddy burst into laughter and ask Edd to repeat the word. Edd obliges — and then realizes why they've asked.
The movie is an appropriate send-off for the beloved Eds. It was clearly allowed to get as crazy and meta as possible, evidenced by Eddy saying things like, "Oh yeah, didn't we win an Emmy for that episode?" From the unforgettable animation to the physical gags, the movie is everything fans wanted out of an Ed, Edd n Eddy finale, right down to the dirty jokes.