Trash Can

A talking trash receptacle glimpsed on the streets of New New York, Trash Can is exactly what the name promises: a municipal robot going about its unglamorous business, ready to grumble or crack wise the moment the plot rolls past it. It wants no more than any street fixture wants — to be left to do its job.

Futurama's gag is that any object in its future can have an inner life and a chip on its shoulder, and Trash Can is a small, perfect example — a piece of city furniture given attitude in a single line by Tress MacNeille, whose knack for tossed-off vocal color turns a throwaway prop into a throwaway joke worth remembering.