Home » Funny

The 50 Funniest
Memes In The History
Of The Internet
BY ASHLEY HUBBARD | JULY 16, 2021 | UPDATED ON OCTOBER 7, 2022 | 3
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Can you remember life before

memes? If you’re under 30,
probably not. If you’re over 30,
you probably remember when
memes were handwritten with
feather quills atop postcard-sized
works of art. And you need to
restock your eye cream.

To pay tribute to some of the most

culturally important works of art in
the history of humankind, are the
funniest memes of all time.

And because facts are important

on the Internet, we’ve also
included where the memes
originated, which should the
information prove useful at your
next What Do You Meme? party.

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The Funniest Memes on the

Internet
1. American Chopper Argument

American Chopper was a reality TV

show featuring Orange County
Choppers, a custom motorcycle
company in New York. Instead of
us getting to watch custom paint
drying on choppers, it highlighted
the toxic relationship between Paul
Teutel, Sr. and his son, Paul Teutel,
Jr.

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Tensions rose and gifted us with

this particularly heated scene,
which became the genesis of the
meme and also our current exit
interview strategy.

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2. Woman and Cat Yelling

On the left is Taylor Armstrong

from The Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills in 2011, pointing and
yelling at someone or some poorly
arranged flower vase. On the right
is a cat named Smudge, who is
clearly offended that you said he
“needed a salad.”

Armstrong isn’t really screaming at

Smudge (because that fluffball
could never do anything wrong),
but the photo combo, which was
originally created by
@MISSINGEGIRL, became a meme
minefield for opposing opinions.
Those exist on the Internet?

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3. Scumbag Steve

We’ve all had one too many

“Steves” in our lives. If you
haven’t, please give us the number
of the devil who bought your soul,
because we have an offer to make.

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The image itself actually first

appeared on the cover of an album
by a group called Beantown Mafia
in which “Steve,” AKA Blake
Boston, was a rapper. Even better,
the original photo was taken by
Blake’s mother.

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4. Distracted Boyfriend

Perusing stock photo websites is

our pastime, just behind watching
Dr. Pimple Popper videos. Sure, we
need better hobbies, but we’re not
alone in this because the
Distracted Boyfriend meme is the
result of a stock photo that
exploded the internet.

It makes for a pretty timeless

meme since we’re always
distracted by something. Oh look,
another popping video!

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5. Grumpy Cat

Grumpy Cat graced the Internet’s

presence for the first time on
Reddit in 2012 and went viral
within hours. Unfortunately,
Grumpy Cat (aka Tardar Sauce)
died in 2019, but her spirit, frowny
face, and place in the Meme Hall of
Fame live on forever.

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6. Crying Dawson

The CW teen drama Dawson’s

Creek provided us with a lot of
entertainment in the late 90s. And
this close-up of Dawson’s (James
Van Der Beek) face, has been used
to sarcastically display remorse,
sorroy, or pity. Seriously, just “cry
us into a creek” already.

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While the “True Love” episode

aired on May 24, 2000, it was this
four second YouTube video
uploaded in 2006 that really set
the meme in motion. Even better,
Van Der Beek was such a good
sport about it that he fake-wept for
the entire internet in 2011.

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7. Philosoraptor

The Philosoraptor meme features a

velociraptor asking life’s most
important questions. In 2008, the
original illustration was released
and copyrighted by artist Sam
Smith as a t-shirt design. No, not
that Sam Smith. Not that one
either. Or that one….

It’s hard to know for sure who was

the first person to place text over
the design and turn into the meme
monster it is today, but thank
goodness they did or we might all
still be full of existential dread
even more than we are now.

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8. Success Kid

While many memes may be used

to be condescending or to mimic
people, Success Kid is generally
super positive and helps celebrate
all those wins in life.

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The ironic thing is the original

photo was not showing success,
but rather frustration. Taken by
photographer Laney Griner of her
then 11-month-old son Sammy in
2007, the photo went viral after
she posted it on her Flickr account.
How do we explain this…it’s like an
early version of Instagram?

It wasn’t until 2011 that one of the

earliest Success Kid memes was
uploaded to Reddit. And if that’s
not enough for positivity, the
sensation of the meme was used to
generate enough donations for
Sammy’s dad’s kidney transplant in
2015. Success, indeed!

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