Ironic Memes

About

Ironic Memes are memes that are used satirically, usually by being deliberately humorless, crude or overused, as a way to both criticize meme or meme elitism cultures. Ironic memes often spawn as a response to overuse with time, usually due to "The Family Guy Effect," as well as to simply catch those with less internet experience off guard. The use of ironic memes often includes intentional overuse of older internet phenomena, like 1337 speak or Rage Comics, as well as the use of the word "meme" as a replacement for some parts of speech, such as nouns or verbs. Ironic memes trace back to roughly mid-2008 and were popularized on platforms like 4chan, YouTube and Reddit.

Origin

Although the exact first use of the term "ironic meme" online is unknown, the ironic fandom of Disney's Cory in the House beginning in mid-2008 with the remix video "Top 27 Anime Boobs," uploaded on August 23rd, 2008, by YouTuber^[1] TheSaltySaltySalt, serves as one of the earliest known examples of an ironic meme (shown below). Spawned from a running joke that referred to Cory in the House as an anime, this early ironic meme was originally created on 4chan's /v/ board and became the source of a tongue-in-cheek running gag following the release of a video game for the Nintendo DS based on the series. This video was first uploaded in 2007 but was deleted and reuploaded afterward, accumulating over 875,000 views, 5,700 likes, 3,500 dislikes and 1,700 comments in roughly 12 and a half years.

Photoshopped images of Cory and screenshots of the various dialogue screens from the game were widespread in early ironic meme culture, while the game itself was constantly used as a way of trolling whenever the leak of a new game was asked and as an ironic response in "favorite videogame" threads.^[2] This ironic humor then spread to Reddit shortly after, particularly to the /r/gaming and /r/askreddit subreddits.^[3]

Spread

On September 15th, 2008, the gimmick Twitter account Dril posted its first tweet with simply "no" as the only text, serving as an early precursor to ironic meme humor on Twitter.^[5]

On April 16th, 2009, YouTuber^[4] Richalvarez uploaded a Super Mario parody of Smash Mouth's "All Star," titled "Mario, You're a Plumber," which subsequently spawned another ironic fandom in early ironic meme culture. The video went on to garner over 1.6 million views, 13,000 likes and 2,700 comments in about 12 years (seen below).

On April 1st, 2013, the online imageboard 4chan launched the /s4s/ (shit 4chan says) board, an April Fool's Day joke imageboard created entirely for nonsensical shitposting. Despite this original purpose, the board was kept online after April Fool's Day. Besides hosting nonsensical posts, the board, also focuses on making "memes" out of things that otherwise would not be considered memetic material.

Types of Ironic Memes

Joke Fandoms

Joke fandoms refer to fandoms that have spawned to ironically over-praise material that others would see as humorless, crude and dull. These fandoms were created as a satire of several internet fandoms that are commonly marked by over-obsession and zealous devotion, as well as a large internet presence on sites such as Tumblr. Popular joke fandoms include the Shrek and Cory in The House fandoms, which each contributed to early ironic memes.

Dank Memes

Dank memes is a term usually used in a condescending manner to refer to in-jokes that, to the one who posts it, have lost their comedic value yet continue to be posted. The use of the word "dank" has its origins in drug culture as a synonym for "cool."

Deep-Fried Memes

Deep-Fried memes are a style of meme wherein an image is run through dozens of filters to the point where the image appears grainy, washed-out and strangely colored. Often, they're applied in memes popular on Black Twitter such as Real Nigga Hours and Spell ICUP Nigga.

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Surreal Memes

Surreal memes are a sub-genre of Ironic Memes that are artistically bizarre in appearance and whose humor derives from their absurd style. Though the difference between Surreal Memes and deep-fried memes and dank memes is subtle, certain qualities and characters, such as Layers of Irony, Meme Man, Mr. Orange and a minimalist style, are frequent markers of a surreal meme.

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Meta Usage

Throughout the ironic subculture, the word "meme" is commonly used to replace parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives and verbs, giving it a universal purpose. Another use of meta ironic memes includes the ironic praise of memes as the highest form of comedy, a way of life or the answer to philosophical questions.

Related Memes

Coaxed Into A Snafu

Coaxed Into a Snafu refers to a series of poorly drawn Rage Comic and Advice Animal character parodies captioned with variations of their associated catchphrases. The illustrations typically mock the perceived incorrect usage of internet memes, as seen on sites such as 9GAG and Reddit.

Montage Parodies

Montage parodies are a series of ironic video remixes that parody montage videos made by gamers to show off their skill. These videos often rely on generally unexciting footage as a basis and purposefully overuse EDM music, special effects, outdated internet meme references, gamer culture and stoner culture to remix the video.

Meme Man

Meme Man refers to a grey 3D rendering of a human head which functions as the mascot for the Facebook page "Special meme fresh." The head is frequently used in absurd edits, surreal memes and shitposting.

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OkBuddyRetard

OkBuddyRetard is a subreddit where users share ironic memes created to parody and satirize memes that they find to be normie or of poor quality. Memes in the subreddit typically parody image macros that use the impact font, which is associated with older memes and mainstream culture. These memes are generally captioned with nonsequiturs that are occasionally distorted through text overlays.

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Search Interest

Note: Because the "ironic meme" subculture is based in the popularity of other memes, a search interest chart on the term or its subsets does not accurately reflect its popularity.

External References.