Michael Bay’s new ambitious project is to take "Skibidi Toilet" mainstream

There comes a time as we all age where we just have to say, “Nah, thanks, I’m good” to the latest niche viral trend. The Charli XCX “Apple” dance, Hawk Tuah Girl, Skibidi Toilet… not everything is meant for everyone, you know? Often, the most peaceful option is to just tune out and let the younger subculture enjoy their inexplicable subcultural shared language. Except, sometimes Hollywood gets its claws in and tries to take a meme mainstream. According to Variety, Michael Bay is developing Skibidi Toilet for some kind of traditional entertainment format. So now we need to figure out what “Skibidi Toilet” is. 

Adam Goodman, CEO of Invisible Narratives (previously described as a shopping and entertainment company “at the intersection of the creator economy, the crypto economy and the entertainment business”), told Variety that Bay has been “working very closely” with Skibidi Toilet creator Alexey Gerasimov “to really professionalize the kind of back engine of this, to make sure, if we ever decide to go film or television, that this is kind of lifted beyond just the resources that creators have on the internet.” Invisible Narratives has already partnered with Gerasimov on merchandise, and now they’re “in talks” about possible film and television adaptations. 

For those who were living in a state of blissful ignorance, Skibidi Toilet is a webseries on hosted Gerasimov’s YouTube channel DaFuq!?Boom!. The first video was a decontextualized, vaguely creepy, sort of funny rudimentary animation of a head popping out of a toilet singing an unintelligible remix of “Give It to Me” by Timbaland and “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Bulgarian artist Biser King. At first it was just a weird meme, but it spawned into a full series of post-apocalyptic horror about the ongoing battle between the singing Skibidi Toilets and the Camera Men (humanoid figures with cameras for heads). Episodes are typically under five minutes long, but the series has developed particular characters and a whole lore of its own. DaFuq!?Boom! has more than 40 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views. 

With that kind of success, it’s easy to see why Hollywood types would come sniffing around, trying to capitalize on someone’s home-grown, organic success. But trying to translate what’s funny or interesting about an Internet subculture into traditional formats is a difficult task. Early Internet characters like Fred or Miranda Sings never figured out how to crack the mainstream. Web series that did manage to make the jump (like, say, Broad City) were ones that more closely resembled those traditional formats in the first place. Taking something as utterly specific and based in niche Gen Alpha humor as Skibidi Toilet is a different proposition entirely. 

But Bay and co. have a vision. Goodman suggested a possible live action/animated hybrid in the narrative vein of John Wick or District 9. “If we find a partner in this that really believes there’s opportunity for this to grow and to really see the storytelling grow and for this to be where we hope this can be, then film and TV seems like a natural extension for us,” the CEO said. Truthfully, it doesn’t seem like a very natural extension for Skibidi Toilet at all, but best of luck!