Before SpongeBob SquarePants came along, Rugrats was Nickelodeon's longest-running and most popular cartoon. As such, it's had its fair share of parodies and homages in media.
Comic Strips
- In one Baby Blues comic Darryl says a philosophical sounding quote that turns out to be a (fictional) quote Chuckie said on the show. Wanda remarks that if he wants to be taken seriously, he shouldn't go around quoting cartoon characters. Coincidentally, E.G. Daily and Kath Soucie both had voice roles in the Baby Blues animated series.
- The Lockhorns: This strip
reveals that Leroy is a fan of the show. - Off the Mark:
- In this strip, a family of mummies goes shopping. One of the kids wants Rugrats bandages.
- These strips show Angelica Pickles, Tommy Pickles, and Phil and Lil DeVille at the Betty Rubble Center For Recovering Toons.
- In this strip, Tommy Pickles appears as one of the cartoon characters in a guide on how to create your own cartoon character.
- These strips feature the anatomy of both a toddler's brain and a parent's brain. Both of which feature a section for "What time Rugrats is on".
- In this strip
- One chapter of Shining and Sweet is named "Fifteen Miles in the Sun", after Grandpa Lou's endless rambles of walking fifteen miles in the snow. "Snow" is swapped out for "Sun" due to the chapter taking place in July.
- In The Institute, Avery Dixon is revealed to have a poster of Tommy Pickles in his bedroom.
- The Amanda Show:
- In the prologue of the first episode, Amanda arrives to her studio by helicopter, and the pilot asks her if she's one of the Rugrats. note
- In the "Blockblister" sketches, "Rag Rats" is one of the movies seen on the "New Releases" board.
- Kenan & Kel: In the prologue to "Fenced In", Kel tries to learn the episode's plot by reading the TV listings, but instead reads a description for Rugrats, which Kenan points out.Kel: On tonight's show, Tommy and Chuckie lose Angelica's hair scrunchie.
Music
- Chuckie Finster is named after the character of the same name.
- Jack Stauber will occasionally sample audio from Rugrats into his songs. He also claimed in an interview that Rugrats is his favorite cartoon and that he loves the art style (especially the designs from the pilot episode).
- The Angry Video Game Nerd: In his review of Tiger Electronic Handheld Games, one of the games shown in a Tiger Electronics catalog the Nerd flips through is based on the show.
- Drew Pickles is a prominent character in The Barney Bunch, and other characters have appeared in the series as well, such as Stu Pickles, Lou Pickles, and Chas Finster.
- Black Rhino Ranger's video "Hater comments are useful" has Spyro and Trigger Happy reenact the famous "chocolate pudding" scene.
- The Nostalgia Critic:
- In his Nicktoons review, the show is one of the Nicktoons that the Critic reviews.
- In his review of Monkeybone, the Critic deems the in-universe Monkeybone cartoon an abortive effort similar to Duckman and the post-movie seasons of the show.
- The Critic has reviewed The Rugrats Movie.
- SuperMarioLogan:
- In "The Remote!", Bowser Junior, Joseph and Cody watch an episode of the show where Angelica takes Tommy’s Reptar doll, and Chuckie punches her down the stairs as retribution.
- In "Finders Keepers!", Bowser Junior buys a star for $20,000.00 and names it "Reptar".
- In "The Test!", one of the incorrect answers to the "Who was the first president of the United States?" question on the titular test is "George Washingmachine".
- In "Cody's Butterfingers!", Cody is cast in a TV show called Hold that Baby, where he is asked to hold a baby for five seconds to win $10,000.00. Tommy Pickles appears as the baby that Cody tries to hold but accidentally drops. Everyone boos Cody for this, except for Angelica.
- The prologue to episode 85 of Animaniacs (1993) is a parody of the show's opening, with Yakko as Tommy, Wakko as Chuckie, Dot as Angelica, Skippy as Phil, Mindy as Lil, Buttons as Spike, Pinky and The Brain as the robot cat, Slappy Squirrel as Grandpa Lou, Dr. Scratchansniff as Stu, and Hello Nurse as Didi.
- In the prologue to the Arthur episode, "The Secret Lives of Dogs and Babies", Arthur and D.W. watch an Affectionate Parody of the show, with an Angelica-like character named Veronica and a Tommy-like character named Bucky. Phil and Lil and Chuckie-like characters were also present, but their names were not mentioned. Kate criticizes the show as unrealistic.
- Blue's Clues: In the video letter segment from "Blue Wants to Play a Game", the girl in the video can be seen wearing a dress with Angelica Pickles on it.
- One of the first promos for Cow and Chicken features the two titular characters sitting on chairs at a desk. The (unseen) Cartoon Network boss gives ideas for the plot of the show they'll be in. One of these is a parody of Rugrats entitled, "Carpet Bunnies", with a logo that strongly resembles the Rugrats logo. Chicken is seen dressed as Tommy, and Cow is seen dressed as Chuckie. While Cow squirts the screen with udder milk, the boss says, "Here's what we're thinking for your new show; Carpet Bunnies: Little tiny babies who can hardly talk but all this complicated stuff happens to them anyway." Chicken responds by saying, "That's stupid!".
- In the intro for season 1 or 2 of Dora the Explorer, a picture of Dil Pickles from Rugrats (1991) can be seen behind a green chair.◊
- Drawn Together: In "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist, Part II", during a pan of the living room while the housemates sort résumés, one of them has a photo of Tommy Pickles attached.
- The Fairly OddParents:
- In "Spaced Out", Cosmo finds a nickel and names it Phillip, even though he identifies her as a girl. This is a reference to a scene in "Together at Last", where Lil, who had lost her hairbow and was mistaken for Phil, finds a nickel in the couch.
- The TV movie, Channel Chasers has an Affectionate Parody called "Carpet Critters". Klasky-Csupo actually provided animation to their station-mates.
- Family Guy:
- In "Love Thy Trophy", Stewie seeks employement, and mentions that he squandered his munitions budget on an insipid Rugrats video.
- Boppo from "Give and Take" appears in a cutaway gag in "This Little Piggy" when Stewie tells Brian that he won't back down from a three-way with Cassandra, the way Boppo won't back down when threatened. When three hoods punch Boppo, they are upset that he won't take a dive in a boxing match. After Boppo pulls out a gun and shoots the hoods repeatedly, he takes his own life when threatened by the police.
- The Loud House:
- In the episode "Linc or Swim", Lou Pickles makes a cameo appearance. He is seen in the first community pool, alongside Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ms. Bitters from Invader Zim, Miss Fowl from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and Phil Shortman from Hey Arnold!.
- In "Driving Ambition", Lori and Bobby's future kids are shown in an Imagine Spot. Among them is a baby who resembles Tommy Pickles.
- In the sketch, "A Rugrats Joke" from the Robot Chicken episode, "Link's Sausages", Tommy mentions that he, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil had to cross a freeway, BASE jump off a cliff, and dodge bullets in a gang war to find his Reptar doll. When Didi finds them out in the street, she takes them home and beats Stu up for not keeping a close eye on them.
- In the TUGS segment, "Otis the Movie Star" from the Salty's Lighthouse episode, "Sound Off", Mr. Boffo and Mr. Socco tell Captain Star about their past movies, one of which is entitled, Tugrats.
