When most college students say the words “Adult Swim” they are not talking about an adult’s time in the pool, they are talking about Cartoon Network’s popular line-up of anime and mature cartoons almost every night of the week.

The shows on “Adult Swim” are aimed at adults and are popular with college students for many reasons including the smart, dirty humor students say they can relate to.

“Adult Swim” runs Saturday through Thursday starting at 10 p.m. On Saturday, the block consists mainly of anime shows like “Inuyasha” and “Full Metal Alchemist.” Sunday consists almost entirely of comedy shows, including popular fan favorites such as “Family Guy” and “Futurama.” According to www.adultswim.com, one of the highest rated shows on “Adult Swim” is “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.”

The “Aqua Teens” are three food products living in a rundown house in New Jersey. The main characters are Master Shake, a big, lazy milk shake, Frylock, a giant container of fries with the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes and Meatwad, a giant, slimy meatball.

Whenever they’re not bothering their neighbor Carl, a fat, dirty, New Jersey native who loves fast cars and easy women, they are dealing with threats from villains like the Mooninites: two-dimensional aliens from the moon who commit crimes on Earth like shoplifting and arson.

Another popular show on Adult Swim is “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.” Harvey was once a Hanna-Barbera superhero who was forced to follow a career as lawyer, defending other more famous cartoon characters. In one episode, he defended Shaggy and Scooby Doo after they got arrested for smoking marijuana.

One reason students tune in is to unwind in the evening hours.

“It’s something that you can enjoy and it’s one way to relax at the end of the day,” said Richard Hunt, sophomore computer information systems major.

The shows on “Adult Swim” use off-the-wall humor to get laughs.

One particular episode of “Aqua Teen” deals with Meatwad and Carl becoming addicted to candy after listening to music of kid rapper Emcee Pee Pants. Viewers later find out that Meatwad and Carl are part of a subliminal messaging trick by Emcee Pee Pants who is actually an insane eight-foot spider wearing a diaper. The spider uses Meatwad and Carl’s sugar-filled blood to power a drill that will borough straight to hell and unleash demons to run a global diet pill pyramid scheme.

Another factor that viewers enjoy is the quantity of dirty and politically incorrect jokes.

“(‘Adult Swim’) is not afraid to break the rules a little bit and it strays from your average comedy TV show,” said Tim Mailhiot, a freshman secondary education major.

Some students have their own theories on why the shows are so popular.

“You can relate to that network; you really can’t relate to any other network,” said freshman Mike Medick. “(The creators) really know the people who watch.”