Futurama is full of characters that fans absolutely love, even if they only make a few appearances throughout the entire show. One of those is Morbo, the obnoxious, loud, and frankly quite evil alien news anchor who pops up on the show's parody news channel throughout its run.
Alongside his human co-anchor Linda, Morbo manages to extract comedy from just how little he fits in with the humans he's reporting to and how often it causes him to blow up unnecessarily. The results are some hilariously subversive moments, and some laugh-out-loud quotes that all fans will recognize.
"A Deep Male Voice And Huge Throbbing Forehead Veins."
Season 5, Episode 13, "Into The Wild Green Yonder"
Futurama is a parody of absolutely everything, the news included. in fact, that level of satirical irreverence is one of the things fans are most hoping for in the reboot. In an episode where the show tackles feminism, Morbo's fellow news anchor Linda finally asks why he gets the lead story every single night. His hilarious answer exposes the sexism of the arrangement while also satirizing the idea of the classic nightly news anchor that many tend to mythologize. It's not one of the loudest Morbo moments, but it's still one of the most unexpected.
"May Death Come Quickly To His Enemies."
Season 2, Episode 3, "A Head In The Polls"
One of the funniest ongoing gags with Morbo is his close relationship with Richard Nixon. Given that Morbo is an unapologetically evil misogynist who wants to take over the world, the implications there are strong. After Richard Nixon wins the presidency of Earth due to his giant metal robot body, Morbo quickly becomes the first to congratulate him.
Just like viewers imagine evil rulers talk to each other, he mostly focuses on Nixon swiftly crushing his foes, and the matter-of-fact delivery makes it even more funny.
"A Gigantic Ball Of Garbage Will Destroy Their Puny City."
Season 1, Episode 8, "A Big Piece Of Garbage"
In one of Futurama's best episodes that will never get old, a climate change analogy where future Earth deals with the short-sightedness of present Earth, Morbo delivers one of the episode's most blunt gut-punching lines.
The giant ball of garbage is in fact coming back from space to make an impact with New New York, and for most of the episode, the outlook is just as bleak as Morbo makes it seem. The line is even followed up by one of many subtle digs from the anchor about the superiority of LA to NNY.
"Earthlings Do Not Yet Know The Meaning Of Suffering."
Season 2, Episode 4, "Xmas Story"
In one of Futurama's Chsiatmas episodes, there is something viewers will no doubt be familiar with: a news broadcast highlighting an emotional story related to the holiday season. While Futurama is no stranger to making fans cry, they take a different approach to this story. In the show's quest to constantly subvert expectations, Morbo gets the punchline.
In one short quip, he re-establishes his hilarious relationship with the people on earth and turns the discourse surrounding those who are "less fortunate" on its head. It's another line that paints Morbo as a villain, and yet it's hard not to love him for it.
"Hello Little Man, I Will Destroy You!"
Season 3, Episode 7, "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid"
In another great episode of the show where alien brains zap away the intelligence of almost everyone on Earth, Linda and Morbo get the unfortunate role of showing just how widespread the epidemic is. The pair is having trouble doing their regularly scheduled broadcast, focusing more on their spiny chairs and shiny teleprompter than the actual news.
When Morbo confesses that he can't remember how to pronounce the "human letter T," things sort of go completely off the rails. At the end of the scene, Morbo threatens to destroy the very letter T itself in one of his most absurd but hilarious moments on the show.
"Belligerent And Numerous"
"Season 2, Episode 3, "A Head In The Polls"
Another responsibility Morbo has on the show aside from just his anchor duties is to host the various political debates that pop up throughout the show's lifespan. This means, of course, that he gets to interact some more with his BFF Richard Nixon. In this episode, after displaying some blatant media favoritism, he has a back-and-forth with Nixon that doesn't end how viewers expect.
The phrase "How's the family?" isn't a difficult one to answer and yet Morbo's response is both laugh-out-loud funny and indicative of his continuous inability to align himself with the humans occupying the planet he lives on.
"All Humans Are Vermin In The Eyes Of Morbo."
Season 2, Episode 3, "A Head In The Polls"
Morbo often flirts with his lack of understanding and flat-out disdain for the customs and people of Earth, but in some of his most memorable outbursts, he just says exactly what he means. It often comes completely out of nowhere as well, given how sharp of a contrast there often is between Morbo and his co-host Linda, who almost always plays it pretty straight.
In this explosion which spawned one of his most well-known quotes, Morbo just lays it all out there, bookending a story with a short phrase that lets the viewer know exactly what he's thinking and making for one of the best quotes in Futurama history.
"In Lighter News, The City Of New New York Is Doomed."
Season 1, Episode 8, "A Big Ball Of Garbage"
Another of Linda and Morbo's quips at the expense of New New York and in favor of LA comes in yet another episode where Professor Farnsworth almost causes the destruction of the show's city local. After transitioning in from another story, Morbo slips in this hilarious one-liner, flipping the classic new anchor transition "in lighter news" on its head.
While he's never shy about his distaste for New New York, this might be the one point on the show where it comes across as flat-out hate, and it couldn't be funnier.
"DOOOOOM"
Season 6, Episode 10, "The Prisoner Of Benda"
Arguably the most well-known Morbo moment in the show's entire history, this one short interaction informs pretty much everything that would make Morbo and Linda such a great pairing: his supervillain-like arrogance, his hatred for humanity (but insistence on still doing his job as a reporter), and most of all, the hilarious dichotomy between the performances of the two.
All get set up at this moment and paid off time and time again throughout the entire show. If Morbo's eruptions are one of Futurama's best running gags, this is the gag at its most poignant and comically genius.
"This Reporter Applauds The Demise Of The Human Species."
Season 5, Episode 5, "The Beast With A Billion Backs"
Given Morbo's absurdity, it's funny to even hear him musing on the idea that he doesn't want to editorialize a story with his own bias. Throughout the show, viewers often get much more of Morbo and Linda's perspective on the news than they get any actual news.
But this joke combines that absurdity with Morbo's well-documented disdain for humans in a way that is perfectly witty. It's one of the quotes that feels like it represents Morbo the best, and it also happens to be hilarious on top of that.
Source:gamerant.com