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Adult Swim Pranked Fans with a Bizarre Mini-Episode of 'Rick and Morty'

It's a weird one.

Last year, Adult Swim premiered the highly anticipated third season of
Rick and Morty on April Fools' Day. This year Adult Swim closed out its traditional April Fools' Day programming with a mini-episode that wasn't touched by creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, amid reports that season four hasn't yet begun production.

Australian YouTuber Michael Cusack, known for sex- and violence-fueled viral animations like YOLO, directed the ten-minute prank video called "Bushworld." An Australian Rick and Morty stumble through an alternate dimension full of kangaroos, football, and snakes. Adult Swim has hired up-and-coming animators to direct non-canonical Rick and Morty adventures for years, but "Bushworld" is one of the largest and grossest yet. Peep the short below.

It feels a lot like Roiland's Rick and Morty prototype, The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti with its janky animation style and wildly unhealthy relationship between the titular characters. In an apparent throwback to the original short, Rick tries to suck Morty's dick to remove snake venom, and that's just one of the gross and unexpected shockers crammed into Cusack's surreal, violent take on Rick and Morty.

"Bushworld" viewers predictably love it or hate it, likely depending on their familiarity with Adult Swim pranks and impatience for Rick and Morty season four. Harmon has revealed in tweets and interviews that he and Roiland have yet to start working on new episodes while they negotiate a new contract for the blockbuster animated series, which shattered Adult Swim's ratings records last year. According to writer Ryan Ridley, the next season of canonical adventures could air as late as 2019.

Follow Beckett Mufson on Twitter.