The internet is currently flooded with legendary memes showcasing humans and animals from all around the world. Real people and animals live very real lives. Yes, it’s a simple and obvious fact, but to be honest, I don’t think about it much when I use memes in my everyday life.
What are the identities of these well-known meme heroes? How did their images become viral? Was it on purpose? Most importantly, how do these online legends appear nowadays? Would we recognize them if we happened to see them on the street? Let’s talk about it all today. Without further ado, Bored Panda invites you to scroll down and see how your favorite meme superstars have changed. And, as usual, remember to vote for your favorites.
#1 Success Kid (Sam Griner)
Laney Griner created the meme in 2007 after posting a photo of her kid, Sam, attempting to eat sand on Flickr. The photo initially went viral as a meme with the text “I Hate Sandcastles,” implying that the youngster had just destroyed another child’s sandcastle. Laney Griner apparently didn’t like the context of the meme because she thought it made her kid appear like a bully when, in reality, he liked sandcastles. But then came the “Success Kid” meme, which the lady welcomed. Since then, the shot has appeared in several advertisements, Hot Topic t-shirts, Xbox screensavers, and many more places.
#2 Grumpy Cat (Tardar Sauce)
Tardar Sauce, or Grumpy Cat, rose to fame when a couple of her images were shared on Reddit in late September 2012. The cat was noted for her perpetual grumpiness, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. The official Instagram account of Grumpy Cat has almost 2.5 million followers. Unfortunately, the cat died in May 2019 at the age of 7.
#3 Doge (Kabosu)
The meme became viral in 2013 and was inspired by a 2010 photo of the owner’s rescue-adopted Shiba Inu dog, Kabosu, which she posted on her personal blog. Kabosu is seen in the video seated on a couch, staring sideways at the camera with lifted eyebrows. Kabosu, who is now 15 years old, has an Instagram account.
#4 Disaster Girl (Zoe Roth)
Zoe’s father, Dave Roth, took the iconic photograph in 2004 when she was watching firemen contain a blaze two blocks away from their house in Mebane, North Carolina. Dave entered the image into a photography magazine competition in November 2007 and won. The shot was then featured in the magazine. Since then, Zoe’s photo has been photoshopped into photographs of numerous notable events, and it has gone viral on the internet. “I’d love for the meme to help me get into or pay for college in some way,” Zoe said a few years ago to Refinery 29. But, in the end, I want people to remember me for me.
#5 Side-Eyeing Chloe (Chloe)
Chloe first became famous on the internet in 2013 after YouTuber KAftC released a video titled “Lily’s Disneyland Surprise… AGAIN” that showed two sisters, Lily and Chloe, responding to the news of a surprise trip to Disneyland on their way to school. While Lily is in tears of delight, Chloe is seen gazing right into the camera with a concerned expression on her face, as if she’s not sure what’s going on. If you want to see more of Chloe and how much she’s transformed, follow her personal Instagram account, which has over 580k followers.
#6 Blinking White Guy (Drew Scanlon)
Drew Scanlon is the man that appears in this classic meme. The GIF is from a live broadcast taken in 2013, while Drew Scanlon was a video producer at Giant Bomb, a prominent gaming website. Scanlon saw editor-in-chief Jeff Gerstmann playing Starbound, a two-dimensional action-adventure game, during one of the team’s weekly “Unprofessional Fridays” events. “I’ve been farming with my h*e,” Gerstmann explained. Scanlon responded with the now-famous “Blinking White Guy” look.
#7 Harold Hiding The Pain (András Arató)
The meme depicts András Arató, a senior stock photography model, with a facial expression that appears to convey suppressed agony. When a stock photo with DreamTime’s watermark was uploaded on the Facepunch forum in September 2011, the meme was formed. András Arató presented a TedTalk in Kyiv, Ukraine, in September 2018, where he recounted his life as a “meme-hero.”
#8 Roll Safe (Kayode Ewumi)
The meme is based on the 2016 BBC Three mini-documentary series “Hood Documentary,” in which the actor Kayode Ewumi’s character is shown pointing to his head and smiling after claiming that he considers a lady “beautiful” because “she’s got wonderful brains.” Kayode Ewumi is now 27 years old.
#9 Bad Luck Brian (Kyle Craven)
This photo became a meme after Ian Davies posted a yearbook photo of his buddy Kyle Craven on Reddit in January 2012 with the message “Takes driving test…?.?. obtains first DUI.” Kyle apparently wiped his face with a sweatshirt to make it red and smiled obnoxiously before shooting the shot. The meme is often used to show a wide range of bad, embarrassing, or embarrassingly bad things that happen.
#10 Ridiculously Photogenic Guy (Zeddie Smith)
The “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy” meme depicts Zeddie Smith, a runner in the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run. The photo attracted a lot of attention online after computer engineer Will King, who took it, uploaded it on Reddit, where others thought the man was quite attractive. Over 45,000 people voted for the photo.
#11 Confused Nick Young (Nick Young)
The image of NBA star Nick Young is a screenshot from an episode of the YouTube video series “Thru The Lens” from 2014. At one moment, Nick has a puzzled face as his mother claims he was “a clown” when he was younger.
#12 Trying To Hold A Fart Next To A Cute Girl In Class (Michael McGee)
The meme began in 2014 when Reddit user aaduk ala posted a photo to the /r/funny subreddit captioned “Trying to hold a fart next to a pretty girl in class.” “Well, the person who shot the photo has been a good buddy of mine since I first moved out here to Texas, so he knew I could make that expression whenever I wanted,” Mike McGee said to Unilad. So he asked me to make the expression for a hilarious Twitter caption. He posted it, and it went viral, maybe two or three months later.
#13 First World Problems (Silvia Bottini)
Silvia Bottini, the woman from the “First-World Problems” meme, is an award-winning Italian actress.
#14 Good Luck Charlie (Mia Talerico)
A moment from the Disney Channel episode “Good Luck Charlie” inspired the “Good Luck Charlie” meme. The photos and GIFs are frequently used as synonyms for “I’m not sure.”
#15 Overly Attached Girlfriend (Laina Morris)
In 2012, a YouTuber called Laina Morris produced a video in which she sang a spoof version of Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” with unique lyrics that were viewed as clingy. The video was posted in reaction to Justin Bieber’s announcement of an online singing competition to promote his celebrity cologne “Girlfriend.” Unfortunately, Morris has had to deal with some severe privacy concerns since becoming a meme, such as strangers seeing her personal Facebook page and chatting with her friends, as well as others attempting to obtain her college records. Morris announced her retirement from YouTube in 2019.
#16 Aliens Are To Blame For Everything (Giorgio Tsoukalos)
Giorgio Tsoukalos, a Swiss-born writer, ufologist, TV presenter, and producer, is the man behind the popular meme. The man is well known for his appearances on the TV show “Ancient Aliens.” Giorgio believes in the “pseudoarchaeological” idea that ancient astronauts from other planets talked to ancient people.
#17 Sweating Jordan Peele (Jordan Peele)
The popular gif/photo was created in September 2013, following the third season premiere of “Key and Peele” in the United States. The meme was based on a scene in which Jordan Peele plays a guy who starts to sweat uncomfortably when his fiancee asks him about what he does online.
#18 Ermahgerd (Maggie Goldenberger)
The “Ermahgerd” (a rhotacized rendition of “oh my god”) meme initially appeared in a post titled “Just a book owner grin…” on March 14th, 2012. The photograph depicts a little girl called Maggie Goldenberger, who was about 11 years old at the time. Maggie said she took the photo in fourth or fifth grade when she and her classmates were truly into playing dress-up.
#19 Scumbag Steve (Blake Boston)
The image was taken from the cover of the rap group Beantown Mafia’s album “Ma Gangsta,” and it was initially shared on Reddit in January 2011. The image depicts a man called Blake Boston, commonly known as “Weezy B.” In an interview with Know Your Meme, Blake mentioned that the photo was initially shot by his mother. I have no regrets in my life, regardless of what I do. I can utterly screw up on anything and not feel bad about it. Because at the end of the day, that makes me who I am, so I wouldn’t go back and erase anything if I were to go back in time, “the man said in an interview with RoughDraft TV.
#20 A Schoolboy In A Swamp (Igor Nazarov)
Igor Nazarov, a 16-year-old Russian kid, became famous on the internet in 2016 after a photoshoot captured him in the middle of a swamp at a desk wearing a suit. The photograph was taken in order to be entered into the most unique photo contest for a $277 award.
#21 Dramatic Dmitry (Vladimir Brest)
The “Dramatic Dmitry” photographs are actually from Russian singer Vladimir Brest’s album Paranoia. In April 2011, the album was released. “I, for one, am typically optimistic. But I want my music to be associated with these memes. It’s also unfortunate that the majority of the images are indecent. All of this is visible to youngsters. I don’t want to be associated with the degeneration and corruption of the next generation. ” Back in 2013, the musician told Progorodsama.
#22 Hipster Barista (Dustin Mattson)
The meme first appeared in 2011 on the website Quickmeme, with the comment “I got this tattoo for my love of coffee. I got this one because it’s ironic.” “I find it disheartening and regrettable that so much attention was given to an attempt to make a mockery of the culinary sector and the professional barista. “To me, it’s striking that we laud farm-to-table cuisine, craft beer, and cocktail mixology, but have little regard for the specialty coffee business and the individuals who work in it,” Dustin said in an Eater.com interview.