The internet of 2010 is a lot different than the internet of 2019. Facebook hadn’t been politicized. Twitter wasn’t Donald Trump’s playground. Instagram was brand new and nobody was calling themselves an “influencer.” But even as a handful of for-profit platforms tightened their grip on online culture (and Netflix began using memes as a marketing strategy), it’s no stretch to say that the funniest shit of the decade happened in Twitter threads, YouTube videos, Vine clips, comment sections, and Tumblr posts.
To celebrate the good in what’s often a bad place, we combed through our timelines, our camera rolls, and our Twitter likes in search of 100 extremely online things that brought us joy, bafflement, and everything in between this decade. This list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it presented in any specific order. It is, much like your timeline, curated chaos.
1. Demi Adejuyigbe makes beautiful music
Comedy writer Demi Adejuyigbe’s Twitter is always a delight, but it’s especially so when he’s got a new video to share. In recent years, Adejuyigbe’s become best known—and rightfully so—for his hilarious theme-song parodies. But real Demi-heads also love him for his annual remix of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “September,” which he’s been posting every September 21 since 2016. [Katie Rife]
2. Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris demands sex gifs
The only thing better than Dean Norris tweeting out the words “sex gifs” on May 22, 2018 is that the tweet remains there, proud and defiant, to this day. Anybody else would’ve deleted it or, like another luminary on this list, bent over backwards to explain why it’s not what it looks like. As such, we salute Dean Norris for having no shame, and we grudgingly respect his refusal to detail how he came about tweeting what was clearly meant for the search bar. We just hope that in the 18 months since his search began, he’s found what he was looking for. [Randall Colburn]
3. Slender Man rises in Marble Hornets
Marble Hornets, a spooky, DIY web series that ran from 2009 to 2014, didn’t create the Slender Man myth, but its virality and homespun iconography most certainly helped popularize it. Across 87 entries on its main channel, as well as 39 more on a separate one, creator Troy Wagner unspooled a compelling mythos that served to dovetail with the obsessions of the burgeoning Creepypasta movement. [Randall Colburn]
4. Stephen A. Smith asks us to “TAke a look, y’all”
There are some tweets that enter the canon of all-time greats the moment the author hits “send.” ESPN screaming head Stephen A. Smith’s 2015 tweet imploring his followers to “TAke a look, y’all: IMG_4346.jpeg” is one of those tweets. It is a breathtaking encapsulation of the unique blend of supreme confidence, loudness, and wrongness that has defined Smith’s career. Though some have tried, we’ll probably never learn exactly what image the man who gets paid millions to bellow about Lamar Odom allegedly smoking crack was trying to share with the world. But, like a digital version of the suitcase from Pulp Fiction, perhaps the specific content of IMG_4346.jpeg is best left to the imagination. [Gabe Worgaftik]
5. “Steamed Hams” is turned inside out
What was once an amusing scene from a golden-era Simpsons episode turned into a point of fascination for the web’s most irony-poisoned shitposters around the turn of the decade. Since then, reimagining “Steamed Hams” has turned into a challenge to see who can waste the most time breaking it into a million pixels. Our favorites? That time it met “All Star.” That time it became a Super Mario Maker level. And, of course, that time Jeff Goldblum played Principal Skinner. [Randall Colburn]
6. @Dril is the internet
There is no parody of the miserable, angry, depraved, and profane online ecosystem that can compare to @dril, an account that migrated to Twitter from Something Awful and promptly began embodying the very act of scrolling in the funniest possible way. [Randall Colburn]
7. Chuck Tingle pounds butts
Who is Chuck Tingle? He’s probably not who he claims to be, which is an “erotic author and Tae Kwon Do grandmaster (almost black belt) from Billings, Montana.” But no matter who he is, Tingle’s a sweetheart, a stalwart LGBTQIA+ ally whose catchphrase is “love is real” and who wants the deepest desires of his “buckaroos” validated by his absurdist erotic fantasies, or “tinglers.” That’s easily achieved if your deepest desire happens to be getting pounded in the butt, a favorite phrase of Tingle’s that reached its pinnacle with the e-publication of Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt in 2015. [Katie Rife]
8. Britney Spears ponders global warming, Lady Gaga in less than 140 characters
In a vacuum, this 2014 tweet from Britney Spears is astounding—a succinct encapsulation of the most boring people on Twitter (i.e., bad takes and bland observations in the same breath). The real story, which reminds us that Twitter was very different in 2014, is much less interesting. It should also absolve Spears of any dunking—in context, it’s clear she does not think global warming is a good thing. But, still, the tweet is the tweet. And, on its own, the tweet is brilliant. [Randall Colburn]
9. Mia Farrow ponders Donald Trump, Myst in less than 280 characters
While we now know the reason for Spears’ 2014 tweet, this Mia Farrow missive from 2019 remains deliciously enigmatic. It also contains a bad, if sweetly naive, take—that the world is somehow good-hearted enough to not vote Trump into office again—but it also contains a very good one as the 73-year old declares 1993’s Myst to still be “one of the BEST video games.” This, friends, is what we call a “whiplash tweet.” We can’t imagine there ever being one better. [Randall Colburn]
10. The Rap Board
Nowadays, websites all want to be the next Facebook or Amazon—media platforms, international mega-corporations, and geopolitical power players. Maybe instead more websites should aspire to be like The Rap Board, where the only thing you can do is you can click on Lil Wayne’s head and have him shout “Young moolah, baby!” The Rap Board is a throwback to a bygone era of the internet where simple diversions like soundboards flourished and the thrill of discovering odd little sites with odd little purposes was still alive. [Randall Colburn]
11. The “Rains Of Castamere” fall
The key to finding a truly great Red Wedding reaction video is to check the date it was published. If it’s on or around June 2, 2013, you’ve probably got a winner. People are still making them—some Houses never truly die—but now odds are they know something’s coming. Back then, the person who knew what was up was the person holding the camera, who’d watched already or read the book. The person watching? No clue. You can’t see the screen, but you can somehow still see the shivving of poor, pregnant Talisa on the face of the person doing the watching. Then you hear Catelyn’s body hit the floor, and our hero turns to the camera with a “what the fuck just happened?” ready on their lips. Unlike Game Of Thrones itself, the ending of a Red Wedding reaction video is likely to be very satisfying. [Allison Shoemaker]
12. The Olsen twins want pizza, eternal darkness
They knew they had written a catchy jingle, but no one involved with You’re Invited To Mary-Kate & Ashley’s Sleepover Party expected “Gimme Pizza” to have much of an afterlife. Despite the odds, it has, starting with its re-emergence on YouTube in 2008, then followed by philipmserious’ original YouTube remix in 2010, followed by thousands more chopped ’n’ screwed versions underlining the Lovecraftian horror of it all. [Katie Rife]
13. Jurassic Park meets a melodica
Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park not only boasted the most groundbreaking CGI of its time, but it was also instrumental in the rise of DTS’ digital surround sound technology. To this day, the film remains a sumptuous spectacle, a thrilling blend of jaw-dropping effects and crack storytelling. Kudos to this rebel and his garbage melodica, then, for reducing all of that grandeur into one absurdly perfect joke. [Randall Colburn]
14. Megan Amram declares “Today was the day Donald trump finally became president”
Beginning on May 15, 2017, writer-performer Megan Amram has been doing something very simple: She manually tweets out the sentence, “Today was the day Donald trump finally became president.” At first, it was the kind of generally funny observation that traded on the obvious fact that this incompetent buffoon very much did not become presidential-like on that day, or any day. But then she continued, ad nauseam, sending out the same statement, until it became a beautiful running commentary on the joke that is our political situation. An Emmy for Megan, indeed. [Alex McLevy]
15. Plums in the icebox
William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just To Say” is a classic among middle school English teachers hoping to teach students that early 20th-century poets could be just as fantastically passive aggressive as anybody else. But who could have expected that Williams’ chilly, highly coveted produce would inspire so many gleeful literary mutations, overwhelming Twitter with tales of plums, iceboxes, and every possible permutation between them? [William Hughes]
16. “It’s fuckin’ nice out”
Young King Dave, the big, weed-loving boy, died in 2018, but the masses are still blazing big doinks in his honor. Bonus points if you’re doing it “in Amish.” [Randall Colburn]
17. We are all pizza rats
A day of navigating soupy, poisoned air and crumbling infrastructure inevitably leads us to our hovels, which we stagger into with greasy, comforting garbage dangling from our lips. How, then, could we not relate to the humble journey of the viral pizza rat? Or its cohort, trash bag rat? Or even this cockroach with a cigarette? We’re all just vermin, comforting ourselves with actual junk. [Randall Colburn]
18. Gremlins 2 gets the scholarship it deserves
In an age where you can literally get a doctorate in pop culture, why not an Institute Of Gremlins 2 Studies? Often dismissed as a mere Looney Toons-inspired romp, Joe Dante’s 1990 film is actually an ontological statement complex enough to give Heidegger an ulcer, as the Institute’s anonymous director—who describes the Institute as “more important… than any official academic institution”—has been breaking down in detail since its launch in December 2017.
19. The eternally memed life of SpongeBob
Though this particular underwater cartoon universe was already legendary in its own right, the internet has managed to solidify the immortality of Spongebob Squarepants and the entirety of Bikini Bottom. Thanks to the malleability of the beloved Nickelodeon mainstay, the decade has shown us that there is an appropriate Spongebob reaction for just about every situation. That’s certainly one way to secure cross-generational appeal. [Shannon Miller]
20. Save us from this sorority recruitment video
Sorority recruitment videos have definitely upscaled over the past few years into elaborate, long-form promos that may as well double as ads for hair extensions and canned cocktails. So now the viral 2016 video of Alpha Delta Pi Texas seems almost quaint, even as it remains terrifying. Maybe it’s the cheerful yet vaguely threatening welcome by the three recruitment captains: “We’ve been waiting for you all summer and we’re so glad you’re finally here!” who then open a door to reveal the stuff of nightmares—countless hands attempting to draw you into a Panhellenic world from which you’ll never escape. [Gwen Ihnat]
21. “Retire bitch”
For proof that Twitter’s troubles have nothing to do with a lack of sufficient characters per tweet, look no further than Danny DeVito’s perfectly succinct command to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: “retire bitch.” That’s it, that’s the tweet—it’s not a plea for civility from the late Scalia or any other request for consideration beyond getting the fuck off the bench after making a career of writing invective-filled dissents on everything from marriage equality to healthcare. Twitter users continue to sound DeVito’s call; there are few shady politicians who haven’t had it lobbed at them. [Danette Chavez]
22. Mario, Luigi, and Wario get nipples, genitalia
Society’s always been horny for cartoons, but the gaming gods leaned into it this decade, forcing us to gaze at shirtless, nipple-bearing versions of Mario and Wario, not to mention Luigi’s crotch bulge. Or, hey, maybe it’s always been like this—also resurfaced of late is a comic from the ’80s proving, once and for all, that it’s’a penis beneath those overalls. [Randall Colburn]
23. 10-hour video loops push YouTube to its most absurd limits
Back in 2011, YouTube made a quiet but substantial shift in their video guideline policies, allowing an uploaded clip’s maximum length to top out at 10 hours. People soon took notice, and really, really got into abusing the privilege, first with someone looping Nyan cat for 600 minutes. Now, lo and behold, there are hundreds of inane hours available for psychological stress self-testing, from 10 hours of Psyduck freaking out to Andre 3000 yelling “Alright!” during “Hey Ya!” until your ears bleed. [Andrew Paul]
24. Fake Jon Taffer account barrels into role-play Twitter trysts
Something magical happened in March 2015: Some anonymous soul started a Twitter account that adopted the persona of red-faced Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer, then used it only to barge in on people with anime avatars having cyber-sex on Twitter. “You’re on the job! Act professional! This is freakin’ ridiculous!” shrieked the first post. Sometimes the account’s sex-hungry targets would play along, which always pleased this digital Taffer. “Thanks to my friends at Xenios, I installed a state-of-the-art 2-Touch POS System,” he told one horny account. An enigma, the account quit after just two days, but its 60 perfect posts live on. [Randall Colburn]
25. How good is Tom and Lorenzo’s costume design analysis? It’s great, Bob
In 2010, fashion bloggers and cultural critics Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez got it into their heads that they wanted to celebrate Mad Men’s impending fourth season by writing a piece about the best Betty Draper costumes of the show. But what about Joan? And Peggy? And Trudy? That initial Betty piece never happened and T Lo tackled them all—first breaking down the costumes by character and later by episode. Many, many thousands of words later, the last edition of Mad Style coincided with the series finale “Person To Person,” an episode in which a costume became key to understanding it, and thus the series as a whole. Invaluable cultural criticism, one screencap at a time. [Allison Shoemaker]
26. ol Donny Trump
Written in 2016 and relevant to this very day, writer, gamer, and Twitter menace Jesse Farrar’s (now-deleted) tweet is the decade’s most prophetic. [Randall Colburn]
27. Bee Movie sped up
The 2007 release Bee Movie has always been super weird. But then somebody had to cut it “20000x faster” and create a new cottage industry of Bee Movie memes—“The Bee Movie But Without Bees” and “The Bee Movie But Every Time They Say Bee We Explain The Deal With Bee Movie” are but two examples. There’s also the above clip, in which some wiseass sped up the audio every time the movie says the word “bee,” which is, as you might imagine, a lot. [Saloni Gajjar]
28. Comedy has a white male problem
The brilliance of this 2016 Medium post is what lies beyond its headline, which, to be clear, is purposely calibrated to ensure people click on it with foam dripping from their bared fangs. One of the best punchlines of the decade. [Randall Colburn]
29. Gamer Grandma is the opposite of #GamerGate
Gaming, a very good thing, is consumed by lots of bad things (gatekeepers and racists, mainly). It’s good to know, then, that gentle, amiable souls like 66-year old GrndPaGaming and 82-year old Grandma Shirl are out here providing an oasis of calm for weary gamers. Grandma Shirl, whose bread and butter is the open world of Skyrim, is an especially good follow, as she’ll often treat viewers to readings from one of the many fantastical tomes littered throughout Tamriel. [Randall Colburn]
30. “Pants On The Ground”
Next to Kelly Clarkson, the best thing American Idol gifted the world is “Pants On The Ground.” Performed by 62-year-old contestant Larry Platt, he dedicated his original song to those folks who wear the pants way too low. His accompanying dance instantly went viral, and the parodies and homages came fast and furious. Fans of The Office might agree that the song was likely the inspiration for Andy Bernard’s failed audition for America’s Next A Capella Sensation. [Saloni Gajjar]
31. Prince tweets 2 u
In 2012, a few years after the Purple One claimed the internet was “completely over,” comedian and writer Jake Fogelnest channeled his inner purple one into a perfect parody Twitter account full of fake Prince tweets. Full of short statements on the topics of funk, mystery and produce easily read in Prince’s voice, it all kicked off with the initial promise: “i’m prince. i want 2 tweet 2 u. follow me in the purple afterglow.” [Kevin Cortez]
32. KFC follows 11 Herbs and Spice Girls on Twitter
Subtlety is a rarely prized quality in the world of online branded content. God bless KFC, then, for crafting the rare joke that you actually have to look for, instead of having it shouted down your throat by that hateful Wendy’s creature. Playing off one of its old slogans, the company’s official Twitter account follows exactly 11 guys named Herb, plus the Spice Girls. The joke is excellent; the restraint sublime. [William Hughes]
33. “A full-on double rainbow all the way across the sky!”
Forgive the hackneyed expression, but we must protect Yosemitebear62 at all costs. The YouTube user’s (real name: Paul Vasquez) joyful, wildly exuberant reaction to a beautiful (though not uncommon) quirk of nature is so pure, so totally lacking in cynicism, that it could induce a little second-hand embarrassment. But why be embarrassed? Sure, there’s something funny about the off-camera weeping, but it’s a good kind of ridiculous. “Double rainbow” is the double rainbow of viral videos. It’s so vivid! What does it mean?! [Allison Shoemaker]
34. The brands are tweeting about depression
It was kinda cute when the #NuggsForCarter movement went viral and Wendy’s donated a bunch of money to charity, but the stunt’s virality became co-opted by the brand, thus spawning hundreds of sub-par imitators, resulting in a world in which Steak-Umm is woke and MoonPie is a shit-poster. The whole sorry experiment reached its nadir, however, when SunnyD scrambled from the back of the fridge to declare “I can’t do this anymore.” Like capitalist vultures, other brands—MoonPie, Pop-Tarts, and Uber Eats, among others—swooped in, sensing a viral moment. But it was Little Debbie who took the, um, snack cake by tweeting out suicide prevention tips before deleting that post post-haste. Much like its preservative-packed snacks, however, the original tweet lives on. [Randall Colburn]
35. Old people writing on a restaurant’s Facebook page
In 2012, Stefan Heck created a short-lived Tumblr page that offered nothing more than what its title promised: Old people writing on the public Facebook pages of chain restaurants. From the woman demanding Red Lobster’s page “get out of my Facebook account” to the man posting “my son” on LongHorn Steakhouse’s, the 23 glorious pages of posts whisk us back to a time before our angry, befuddled elders discovered 4chan. [Randall Colburn]
36. Let the dogs drive stick
On the one hand, when you think about it, it’s sort of insane that anyone is allowed to drive a car—a big metal box you can just hop on into and hurl at 100 miles an hour in whatever direction you please. On the other hand, is there any reason dogs shouldn’t be allowed in on the fun too? Well, yeah, maybe there is, but that didn’t keep these New Zealand maniacs from teaching a bunch of dogs how to drive stick in 2012. Are they good at it? No, not really. Is there a point to this? Unclear. Do they look cool as hell? Absolutely. At the very least, they’re probably less likely than we are to refresh Instagram while changing lanes. We say let good boys roll. [Gabe Worgaftik]
37. Dang it, Bobby, these King Of The Hill and Fresh Prince glitch remixes got life all twist-turned upside down
We’re not sure which came first, but honestly, that makes sense given the warping of space and time experienced while watching these glitched-out reworkings of old King Of The Hill and Fresh Prince Of Bel Air episodes. Created by DurhamrockerZ, both video series ostensibly provide abridged episodes of ’90s nostalgia imbued with enough digital decay and ridiculous non-sequitur edits to keep you glued to your screens, trying to catch all the small bits of insanity sprinkled throughout. [Andrew Paul]
38. Cursed Images curse us with joy
Three months. 360 tweets. Each perfect. Each raising more questions than one could ever hope to answer. This account should be a museum. [Randall Colburn]
39. The “Curvy Wife Guy” celebrates body positivity in the worst possible way
At the nexus of overly enthusiastic “girlfriend guy,” body positivity, and oversharing lies Robbie Tripp—the dude who so eagerly, obnoxiously, and creepily celebrated his wife’s “curvy body” on Instagram that he became infamous for doing so. Tripp was extensively ridiculed for his decision to post a normal couples photo of himself and his wife along with a paragraph praising her features in excessive detail along with some self-pitying background about how, “as a teenager” he was “teased by my friends for my attraction to girls on the thicker side”—the kind of “girls that the average (basic) bro might refer to as ‘chubby’ or even ‘fat.’” Tripp’s tragic backstory does not compare to whatever his wife must’ve felt when everyone on the internet read her husband’s post. [Reid McCarter]
40. “I don’t know her”
This perfect quote and ubiquitous meme epitomizes two things: pettiness and celebrity drama. Now, not all feuds stand the test of time, but Mariah Carey’s delivery of “I don’t know her,” earnest as can be, about Jennifer Lopez certainly did. The beauty of this meme is that it took place in the early 2000s, before social media had the power it does today, and yet, boom, it’s one of the memes of the following decade. [Alani Vargas]
41. The young what?
What does one do when faced with a show called The Young Pope? It sounds fake, like a 30 Rock parody, but the HBO project turned out to be quite an interesting series (a follow-up is on the way). Nobody knew that, however, when the sheer incongruity of the title—popes aren’t young!—inspired a bored Twittertariat to insert the premise into just about any pop staple they could conjure. A delightful instance of infectious, inoffensive riffage. [Randall Colburn]
42. The refreshing water memes of /r/HydroHomies
Initially inspired by a shitpost on /r/4panelcringe, /r/HydroHomies evolved into a pool of Redditors who really fucking love water. It’s the superior drink of choice for all humans, sure, but for /r/HydroHomies, it’s the exaggeration of staying hydrated, the use of reusable bottles, and being a dirty slut for water that makes this normally dull topic so damn funny. [Kevin Cortez]
43. Dat Boi is absolutely that boy
The 3D image of a unicycling green frog blew up on the internet in early 2016, blessing us with a new meme that became an instant classic. A play on the phrase “that boy,” dat boi was usually followed by users asking “o shit waddup.” The main idea is to express chillness that matches the frog’s expression. Or as it says in the New York Magazine’s in-depth explanation of the meme, “his relaxed demeanor projects the kind of imperturbable mellowness you would expect in someone called Dat Boi.” [Saloni Gajjar]
44. Too Many Cooks thrives in the era of too much content
It aired in the middle of the night on Adult Swim, but Too Many Cooks would never have permeated the zeitgeist if it hadn’t spread like wildfire online. Created by Casper Kelly, the short lampooned the turn-and-smile plasticity of ’90s sitcoms credits before devolving into a violent, genre-bending nightmare that essentially reflects pop culture’s evolution from harmless, siloed programming to pervasive, incestuous content. [Randall Colburn]
45. Trump will never stop yelling
Trump yelling over the sound of the lawnmower as a disinterested kid cuts the White House grass isn’t the defining picture of the Trump presidency, but it’s definitely the most relatable—who else feels as if our president’s wet bellow tends to cut through whatever else is making noise in our lives? [Randall Colburn]
46. Trixie and Katya, skinny legend and glorious crone, talk about things
Do not attempt to pick the best episode of UNHhhh. There is no best episode of UNHhhh. There is just a series of UNHhhhs. A web series that led to a TV series that then became a web series again, UNHhhh’s formula is simple: Take two drag queens, put them on stools in front of a green screen, give them a loose theme—maybe, sort of, they’ll probably leave it behind—and then let them crack each other the fuck up. Watch them in sequence or don’t. Watch them with a loved one or a pet, or watch them alone in your room at top volume because you can’t take the silence anymore. Will you survive the night? No idea. But you, like “a golden envelope full of hot, sweaty meat” Katya and “a hot toe” Trixie Mattel, you’ll wind up laughing, confused, and hot. [Allison Shoemaker]
47. Shia LaBeouf gets his own musical
“Shia LaBeouf, Live” is brilliant. The mega-viral production on YouTube found the perfect subject, what with Shia LaBeouf having spent the majority of this decade begging to be memed. The song itself is absurdly good, and the performance is so epic that you, too, might sense Shia chasing you through the woods. And LaBeouf appearing in the video? The drama of it all? Perfection. [Alani Vargas]
48. Kurt Eichenwald has a very reasonable explanation for why he was browsing tentacle porn
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald, not content just to wrap himself in the slimy apathy of political centrism, apparently has a deep fascination with being stuck between all sorts of other damp entities, too, as a truly unfortunate photo that accidentally revealed his interest in tentacle pornography showed. While Eichenwald assured everyone that this shot of his desktop—you know, the one with a browser tab open to a notorious tentacle porn video—was only visible because, we shit you not, he and his kids “were trying to convince my wife that ‘tentacle porn’ existed,” his justification stunk of sweaty desperation. A fevered Twitter thread elaborating on this excuse, as you’d expect, did little to reverse one of the most devastating self-owns in internet history. [Reid McCarter]
49. They did surgery on a grape
It began with this video, which is actually neat in how it demonstrates the precision of an Illinois hospital’s da Vinci surgical system. The concept of doing surgery on a grape, however, was too stupid for it not to begin tumbling from mouths like so much upchucked wine. [Randall Colburn]
50. The gym bros try to figure out how many days are in a week
The internet, above and beyond anything else, is a place to say to strangers, “You are wrong. The end.” Rarely, however, does that exchange come in as entertaining a form as back in 2015, when we all discovered a bodybuilding forum in which a number of jacked-up bros got into an argument over how many days are in a week. It doesn’t seem like it could be, but it really is that simple. Trying to explain how to work out every other day and have the math, um, also work out, results in a shockingly long thread containing such gems as someone named “bango skank” getting all “pedantic,” not to mention the classic sign-off, “You, my bright friend, are el wrongo.” [Alex McLevy]
51. Babadook becomes a gay icon just because
Technically, the Babadook was outed by Netflix, which (according to Tumblr legend, anyway) mistakenly filed Jennifer Kent’s 2014 film under “LGBTQ” on its menu in late 2016. But luckily for the reclusive shadow-monster/physical manifestation of overwhelming grief, he was welcomed by the LGBTQ community, which has embraced him as one of their own via memes, fan art, and parody accounts. After the “gay icon” concept really took off in pride month of 2017, he even got a boyfriend: It’s Pennywise the Clown. Even wilder? The film getting a rainbow-colored Blu-ray release for Pride Month. [Katie Rife]
52. The tea has been spilled by Anton Chigurh
Twelve years on, the Coens’ No Country For Old Men remains an indelible work of American fiction, a terrifying testament to the persistence of evil in the modern world. Embodying that evil to great effect is Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh, which is why a 2018 tweet in which @shrekpisssIave pairs Chigurh’s rasp with the jargon of cancel culture still makes us laugh. Chigurh might not seem so scary when he tells Josh Brolin’s “thirsty mayo ass” that he’s “canceled and that’s it, chief,” but a few viral tweets can sometimes threaten more than a captive bolt stunner ever could. [Randall Colburn]
53. Ghostface Killah threatening Action Bronson in sweatpants
After rapper Action Bronson told ESPN’s SportsNation in 2015 that “[Ghostface Killah]’s not rapping like this no more,” Ghostface decided that he had enough of the vocal comparisons. In a six-minute vertical video, a sweatpants-wearing Ghostface Killah sent shots at Bronson over Teddy Pendergrass’ “Be For Real,” warning the rapper: “Don’t let me hang you from fucking a rope and gut you like a pig and leave you out to dry.” Bronson promptly apologized. [Kevin Cortez]
54. Adorable kids, annoyed parent
It’s every work-from-home parent’s worst nightmare: The invasion of your noisy kids into your Skype meeting or conference call. But few have had an epic intrusion like Professor Robert Kelly when the BBC interviewed him about South Korean policy in 2017. First, his 4-year-old daughter bust into his office with a bravado the rest of us could only envy, followed by her 9-month-old brother cruising along in a baby walker. Kelly’s wife dove into the room to try to retrieve the kids, but the damage had already been done. It had also been broadcast to delighted parents across the world, many of whom could painfully relate. [Gwen Ihnat]
55. The rise of the Yodelin’ Walmart Boy
Respect the hustle. In March 2018, Mason Ramsey went viral after yodeling Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues” in an Illinois Walmart. Within hours, it seemed, the 11-year old buckaroo had branded himself on social media and inked a deal with Atlantic Records. Since then, he’s charted with a hit single, collaborated with Lil Nas X, and lent his voice to the Angry Birds sequel. That first performance, however, may always be his best. [Randall Colburn]
56. “A knife!”
Behold, a perfect video in four glorious seconds. Each detail adds to the story: The beer pong ball flying through the air. That inexplicable zoom in, as if the person holding the phone wanted to confirm that it was a knife with the camera, not the human eye. The kid’s jubilant face. His path, which makes it seem as though he’d been doing laps around the pool with “A Knife!” forever. As with many things, it’s better when the mystery is left intact, but not even the reassuring details can diminish the perfection of this thing. [Allison Shoemaker]
57. Shit Girls Say
Like any good internet story, this one started with a Twitter account. Kyle Humphrey and Graydon Sheppard started Shit Girls Say in 2011 as a means of poking fun at the generic conversations most (white) girls usually have. The account and tweets became massively popular and led to a lot of hyper-specific spin-offs, including Shit Black Girls Say and Shit Liz Lemon Says. Humphrey and Sheppard then moved their skills to YouTube, creating an original web series with the same name. Juliette Lewis even swung by. [Saloni Gajjar]
58. The Garfield cenobites of “I’m Sorry Jon” have such Monday sights to show you
Not long after the internet made damn sure everyone knew Jon definitely drank dog semen once, a subreddit emerged from the void that simply must be seen to be believed… and, um, worshipped. r/ImSorryJon is an online community celebrating Garfield having “abandoned His limited form” and assumed his rightful mantle as cosmic, Lovecraftian elder god. First centered on weird horror reworkings Jim Davis’ classic comic strip characters, r/ImSorryJon now features a whole host of bonkers Yellow King-meets-Disney fan art for your perusal. [Andrew Paul]
59. Meet me in Temecula
Countless people have found themselves Mad Online in the past decade, but none have done it as well as Twitter user @MyTweetsRealAF, the man who spent Christmas Day 2014 driving 35 minutes to Temecula, California, in an attempt to physically fight Twitter user @SnottieDrippin, all to defend the honor of Kobe Bryant. The fact that @SnottieDrippin was himself celebrating Christmas with his family in Arizona that day did not deter this dude from getting in his car, driving to Southern California anyway, and flipping the bird at a sign. As with all internet beef, of course no one came close to actually fighting anyone else, but this man did release a not-entirely-awful diss track before eventually deleting his account. He may be gone, but his real AF tweets will never be forgotten. [Gabe Worgaftik]
60. Warrior toddler summons attack bird
Speaks for itself. Fear this child. [Randall Colburn]
61. Hiddleswift by the sea
Throughout Taylor Swift’s career, the world has been very, very concerned with the pop star’s peripatetic dating life, the subject of so much of her music. No fling, however, enraptured the tabloids quite like her dalliance with English thespian and Hollywood Loki Tom Hiddleston. Their love flamed out, alas, but from the ashes rose this beautiful, perfect tweet, the only reminder we’ll ever need of that very dumb news cycle. [Randall Colburn]
62. Dark Stock Photos
A dad smoking cigarettes with a baby. A man gesturing towards a glowing toilet bowl. Father Time wielding an axe. Who asked for these? Someone, presumably, and the Dark Stock Photos account has done the Lord’s work by chronicling these and many, many more. [Randall Colburn]
63. Smudge Cat becomes a meme twice
Many cats vied for our clicks this decade: Lil Bub, Grumpy Cat (RIP), Maru, the wonderfully named Princess Monster Truck. Compared to those celebrity kitties, Smudge Cat is a dark horse. But Smudge edges out his more famous contemporaries by becoming a meme twice, first as the “he no like vegetals” cat, and then as the confused target of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong’s wrath in the “woman yelling at cat” meme. Smudge also gets points for the unplanned nature of his fame, as Smudge’s people didn’t reveal his name until more than a year after his first brush with virality. They’ve since introduced Smudge Cat merch, so the whole thing isn’t as pure as it used to be. But he’s still a good cat. [Katie Rife]
64. Old people, to the regret of their families, discover emojis
Social media has done its very best to erode the idea that wisdom comes with age. Nowhere is this clearer than in a subreddit devoted to the most unfortunate, emoji-filled examples of stuff old people post. From messages announcing the death and terminal illness of family members against background banners covered with cry-laughing or heart-eyed emojis to the declaration “I have been accused of being a racist at work” next to a bunch of party balloons, theses posts make a strong argument against the apparent kindness of helping a grandparent set up their own Facebook account. [Reid McCarter]
65. Summer fun Leo
No photo of Leonardo DiCaprio escapes the eye of the internet, but this 2014 shot of the actor running around shirtless on a hot summer day, water gun clutched in a state of euphoria—and the memes that followed—takes the ice cream cake. [Saloni Gajjar]
66. The youth symbolize the spirit of the age by eating Tide Pods
As adulthood drew nearer for millennials, they began daring each other to eat Tide Pods—delicious little nuggets of laundry detergent—as a last, parting shot of nihilistic joy before the Zoomers arrived to succeed them with unfathomably strange new forms of culture. Banned from recording the Challenge on most social media, the aged millennials still emerged triumphant in the end by seeing none other than Glenlivet recognize (i.e. capitalize) on youth culture with more sophisticated, adult forms of Pod-savoring, leaving us to wonder how future executives will monetize inevitably fucked-up new Gen Z trends, like huffing arsenic on TikTok as the oceans swallow global cities. [Reid McCarter]
67. A truly inspired voice break in musical history
We sang the praises of this particular voice break clip last year, as one of our pop-culture gifts to the world, but much like any solid fail video, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, both to those who have yet to hear it, and those just looking for a delightful reminder of how perfectly someone’s voice breaking onstage can be timed. We’re still not sure what musical this high-school-looking performance is from, but we’re guessing the actual line isn’t the one it sure sounds like this girl is singing, which is: “It’s a gift from me to hellllllllll,” complete with satanic throat growl. God bless us, every one. [Alex McLevy]
68. The same picture of Dave Coulier every day
Since November of 2011, The Same Picture Of Dave Coulier Every Day tumblr has delivered exactly that: A picture of comedian and Full House star Dave Coulier. The same picture of Dave Coulier. Every single day. Disinterested in evolving mores and technological advancements, the Tumblr has remained steadfast, proudly refusing to pivot to video, adopt a more user-friendly format, or acknowledge Coulier’s resurfacing on Netflix’s execrable Fuller House. A port in a storm, The Same Picture Of Dave Coulier Every Day tumblr is perhaps the only consistent thing left in this tumultuous world. [Randall Colburn]
69. A heartwarming amateur documentary about befriending a feral cat
This 20-minute short about an older gentleman working to befriend a feral cat is genuinely one of the most compelling (and soul-reviving) documentaries of the past decade. Uploaded by MyBackyardBirding, “Feral Cat Documentary” is exactly what it sounds like—a homemade video about a guy who normally posts amateur bird-watching clips becoming heavily invested in trying to convince a cat he’s its friend. It’s odd, it’s adorable, it’s just, Jesus, it’s so damn cute… but it’s also legitimately fascinating. [Andrew Paul]
70. A colorful dress divides the internet
On February 26, 2015, the same day that a pair of runaway llamas in Arizona unified the internet, one diabolical dress managed to undo all semblances of peace with one cursed question: Is it black and blue, or gold and white? The polarizing image and the chaos it inspired would pave the way for a few copycats, like these poorly lit sneakers, but none would have quite the same impact. Though it was later confirmed that the garment was indeed black and blue, the damage was already done. Some friendships still haven’t recovered. [Shannon Miller]
71. Meet Yanny. Or is it Laurel?
The aural version of the white-gold vs. blue-black dress debate was 2018’s Yanny vs. Laurel. Though the two words/names did not appear to resemble each other very much, apparently they had similar acoustic features, so that two different people would hear two different words when hearing the viral Yanny/Laurel audio clip. As with the dress controversy, part of this could be attributed to age, as the sounds in Yanny were at a higher frequency, making them easier for younger listeners to hear. Nonetheless, 47% of the Internet picked Yanny, 53% picked Laurel, and all of us listened to a nonsense audio clip way too many times. [Gwen Ihnat]
72. “Abandoned By Disney,” a Creepypasta classic
The extremely online horrors of the Creepypasta movement were in full swing by 2013, when one if its best entries oozed into your inbox. “Abandoned By Disney,” written by Christopher Howard Wolf, is about a Disney resort called Mowgli’s Palace that opened briefly before abruptly shuttering and getting scrubbed from history. Like any good Creepypasta, it thrives not only dread but also a straight-faced, fact-forward telling that teases the idea it just might be true. It’s not, but there’s still no feeling like when you read, “Hey… Wanna see my head come off?” for the first time. [Alani Vargas]
73. “Johny Johny Yes Papa” is coming for your children
Leave your kid alone on YouTube for two minutes and they’ll somehow veer from whatever Sesame Street skit they’re watching into some algorithm-juking bit of sing-songy nightmare fuel. Likely, they’ll end up watching some variation of “Johny Johny Yes Papa,” a bizarre song about a dad reprimanding his child for eating sugar. What’s most horrifying, though, are the animations built around the song, which often just feel… wrong. Like, “isn’t that the dad from Family Guy?” wrong. [Randall Colburn]
74. The wonderfully weird Mondo Mascots of Japan
In 2016, the U.K.’s Chris Carlier started a website, Instagram and Twitter account called Mondo Mascots to showcase images and videos of the weird world of mascots in Japan. From Kibicchi, a literal walking ear of corn, to Kan-chan, a mascot of Ichijiku Pharmaceuticals that produces fig-based laxatives and enemas, there is no shortage of bizarre and, most importantly, completely adorable examples. [Kevin Cortez]
75. David Lynch Teaches Typing does just that, but at what cost?
A more recent entry into the list, last year’s David Lynch Teaches Typing is Rhino Stew Production’s loving, 8-bit ode to pure, Lynchian madness, which somehow translates extremely well to pixelated graphics. Initially disguised as what its title implies, DLTT slowly but surely devolves into a weird as hell horror show, complete with bunny masks, maniacal laughter, undulating bugs—all while improving your speed skills on the keyboard. Great job, kiddo! [Andrew Paul]
76. “But you didn’t do anything”
We’ve all been Sailor Moon in this meme, pulling the weight and yet getting none of the credit. “But you didn’t do anything” is not, of course, what she actually says in the anime—Usagi is much too enamored with Mamoru to see him do anything wrong—but the implication is there. Sure, Tuxedo Mask has his moments but his usefulness basically amounts to saying something sassy, stalling a bit, and then dipping. Just like so many dudes. [Alani Vargas]
77. Lil B puts a curse on Kevin Durant
Before hip-hop had the extremely online characters of JPEGMAFIA and teejayx6, there was Lil B the BasedGod. NBA legend Kevin Durant made the mistake of dissing Lil B 2011, and, for his sins, was subsequently cursed by the rapper. The two went on with a viral beef for a few years before Lil B lifted “THE BASEDGODS CURSE”, then cursed him again with a diss track called “F*ck KD (KEVIN DURANT DISS).” Was the Thunder then playing their most embarrassing game of the season a coincidence? We doubt it. [Kevin Cortez]
78. Time comes for us all, including Gamemaster Anthony on his 40th birthday
Gamemaster Anthony marked his 33rd birthday in 2008 by logging onto a message board and announcing his special day to a community of fellow video game fans. “BRING IT IN, GUYS!!” he wrote before conjuring up the fantasy image of “every character from every game, comic, cartoon, TV show, and book reality” arriving “with everything for a HUGE party.” The tradition continued for years, gaining details as it went, until the big 4-0 saw our boy toasted as “a nerd’s nerd” and announcing that, at last, he was “officially OLD!” After having watched his big kid party celebrated every year for almost a decade, Gamemaster Anthony’s 40th made all of us, not just him, recognize the ceaseless march of time. [Reid McCarter]
79. Raccoon Todd finds a new use for Twitch
Between the swatting, confessions of adultery, and “heated gaming moments,” game streamers can get a bad rap, sometimes deservedly so. But then there’s Raccoon Todd, a man who has unlocked the true potential of the Twitch platform: streaming no video games whatsoever in favor of staying up all night to watch the raccoons who live in his backyard. Sure, you’ll come for Todd feeding the raccoons, but you’ll also stay for Todd feeding the raccoons, because that’s the only thing going on here. No raids, no racism, just raccoons. [Gabe Worgaftik]
80. A strong contender for world’s worst tweet
Just because you’re a leftist doesn’t mean you can’t also be a callous narcissist: Take the woman who tweeted in the early days of Trump’s presidency that she was “so over white men’s entitlement” that she was “not sad” that a 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator at a Disney resort in Florida because “his daddy ignored signs.” If making the death of a toddler about you isn’t a signal to log off, we don’t know what is. [Katie Rife]
81. Man will only stop eating photo of Jason Segel when Jason Segel eats photo of him
In early 2017, YouTuber Noah Maloney began a foolhardy endeavor: He would eat a photo of faous person Jason Segel every day until Segel ate a photo of him. Maloney was likely hoping to achieve a virality akin to the girl who took a cutout of Danny DeVito to prom, prompting the actor to bring a cutout of her to the It’s Always Sunny set. Sadly, that never happened—Segal isn’t a very online guy—but he kept it up until July of that year, presumably when doctors told him his intestines were covered in papercuts. But it’s the failure of the endeavor that makes it so good, especially when Maloney’s fierce commitment was rooted in absurdity from moment one. “I cannot stress enough that this is not fueled by anything,” he said at the time. Bless you, son. And bless your poor guts. [Randall Colburn]
82. He’s gonna blow
Perhaps the hardest thing to do in this TMI era is to say nothing at all. That’s difficult when news, takes, and tweets never stop getting beamed into our eyeballs. This photo of a clenched, veiny-headed kid began as a gag about holding in a fart next to a cute girl, but it’s since evolved into the best illustration we have for how hard it is to shut up when there’s already too many people talking. [Randall Colburn]
83. All things Vic Berger
Vic Berger, a thirtysomething video artist out of Pennsylvania, understands that as awful as our reality is, it’s also—in its own twisted way—too stupid to not be funny. Using filters, sound effects, and a few well-timed zooms, Berger’s brilliant, ever-viral videos illuminate the most minute of physical, behavioral, and vocal tics to highlight the innate absurdities of modern politics, religion, and celebrity. Of late, he’s often traded satire for activism by poking a hole in the right-wing victimization narratives of hate groups like the Proud Boys. [Randall Colburn]
84. Everyone is horny
An abbreviated list of stuff people wanted to fuck this decade: Thanos, Venom, Ted Bundy, Elastigirl, the Lost In Space robot, Abe Lincoln, a kangaroo, and Tony The Tiger. And, still, nobody will fuck this frog. [Randall Colburn]
85. Outraged mom reads Vince Staples lyrics in disgust
With our big, dumb, pussy-grabbing president in the White House and “free speech” being the right-wing cause of the moment, the idea of someone clutching their pearls over dirty rap lyrics feels almost quaint. That’s likely what fueled the spread of this 2016 video, in which a woman tearfully, dramatically reads every word (including the n-word) from rapper Vince Staples’ “Norf Norf”—sample rhyme: “We can dip, fuck in the whip, slide right back”—as she laments the danger such filth poses for the nation’s youth. Can you imagine this being what scares you most about our society? [Randall Colburn]
86. The exquisite fail that is Potato Jesus
In 2012, an amateur artist tried and failed to restore a damaged fresco depicting Christ wearing a crown of thorns by Spanish painter Elías García Martínez, resulting in a cartoonish mug that people swiftly dubbed “Potato Christ.” It’s been memed, parodied, and replicated to death, but, nearly eight years later, the transformation of an artwork so solemn into something so stupidly ugly remains indelible, if only for the sheer disparity between the two images. [Randall Colburn]
87. Ted Cruz liked a porn tweet on 9/11
There’s nothing wrong with liking a porn tweet, but when you posit yourself as a moral arbiter and anti-masturbation ambassador, you’re going to get owned. In 2017, Texas senator Ted Cruz, perhaps the saddest and most craven of Trump’s sycophants, got caught liking a porn tweet. Better yet, this patriotic American did it on the anniversary of 9/11. Cruz, never one to let recognizable shades of humanity color with his anti-women, anti-LGBTQ agenda, wasted absolutely no time throwing his team under the bus. [Randall Colburn]
88. Da Share Z0ne, meme master
For every good meme, there’s at least three dozen bad ones—sloppy, overstuffed tapestries with eagles, flags, and the word “triggered.” Nobody is as versed in this specific kind of artwork as Da Share Z0ne, a gonzo account that’s been pumping out parodic knock-offs at a steady clip for years now. They’re often funny, usually horny, and, as is appropriate, extremely depressed. [Randall Colburn]
89. “… he just… he tweeted it out”
The Trump administration has moved the goalpost of public decency and what constitutes presidential conduct so many times that news that once felt like a bombshell has since turned into the kind of thing that people just… tweet out. That’s what happened to The New York Times’ Jared Yates Sexton, who saw a story he’d worked on for a year deemed irrelevant after Donald Trump Jr. just up and published email correspondence between his dad’s campaign and stoogies of Vladimir Putin. Sexton’s memorable response (see above) has since been adopted by anyone, either seriously or not, who feels they’ve been scooped in the dumbest way possible. [Randall Colburn]
90. Joe Rogan interviews Joe Rogan
There’s a certain cadence to an interview with Joe Rogan, who, via his massively popular podcast, has interviewed perhaps more big names than anybody this decade. But, whether he’s talking to Alex Jones or Elon Musk, he can almost always ease them into his signature stoned, easygoing pace, which is both honored and parodied in this perfect mashup. You’d think he had a twin, this thing is so seamless. [Randall Colburn]
91. Jose Canseco’s Twitter account is weird
In his heyday, Jose Canseco was a heartthrob, a power hitter, and a steroid abuser. Now, the MLB all-timer tweets about aliens, time travel, mermaids, potatoes, and why he should be president of the moon. Does it make any sense? Absolutely not. Will we keep reading? Absolutely. [Randall Colburn]
92. Why isn’t every day Back To The Future Day?
On July 5, 2010, Total Film magazine falsely tweeted out that it was the day that Marty McFly travels to the future in Back To The Future II. Everyone believed it. The tweet went viral. When acknowledging their mistake, Total Film jokingly shared a photoshop of the Delorean dashboard reading July 5, 2010 instead of the correct date of October 21, 2015. More people believed it. In 2012, another photoshop emerged. Everyone believed it again. And again. And again. And they’ll believe it again, should anyone feel like reigniting the hoax—there’s even a website for it. We’re all dupes. [Randall Colburn]
93. Ralph Wiggum is in danger
The Simpsons’ golden years continue to pay off, with this decade’s best example being an image of Ralph Wiggum obliviously observing, smile on his face, that he’s in danger. If the “This is fine” dog exists to chronicle the feeling of life in a world on fire, Ralph serves as the next step: The knowledge that you’re not only “not fine,” but you’re also about to go down with the ship (or bus, in this instance). [Randall Colburn]
94. Perfectly cut screams
“Always leave ’em wanting more,” spoke one wise soul. This is a lesson the Perfectly Cut Screams Twitter account knows all too well. When these clips end—almost always abruptly—the story is only just beginning. [Randall Colburn]
95. The Winter Soldier fight syncs perfectly to “Toxic,” other fight scenes follow
YouTube is rife with videos replacing the music from popular film and TV scenes with alternate selections, but they rarely pair up as well as the causeway fight scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Britney Spears’ earworm “Toxic.” The sync matches so well, in fact (check that pause in both the music and the action as Natasha Romanoff waits under the bridge for the perfect moment to strike back), that other sequences soon followed, including the elevator fight from the same film—which shockingly works almost as well. [Alex McLevy]
96. The definition of a good Twitter account
Being online has changed language. This is not up for dispute. Things we used to say online we now say in real life (or, as you’ve probably said in real life, “IRL”). Kudos, then, to the dang dictionary—specifically, Dictionary.com, which boasts a prolific Twitter account that specializes in diffusing arguments about the evolution in language and trolling the ever-loving hell out of dumb, dumb president. [Randall Colburn]
97. Milkshake Duck is the phrase we didn’t know we needed
Speaking of the dictionary, the phrase “milkshake duck” was verified in the tome early in 2018 after becoming a meme thanks to a 2016 tweet from the brilliant @pixelatedboat. Defined as “a person who is initially viewed positively by the media but is then discovered to have something questionable about them which causes a sharp decline in their popularity,” the phrase was basically willed into existence by a culture that will inevitably see the skeletons hidden in their hero’s closets. [Randall Colburn]
98. “Now That’s What I Call Rushmore”
Filmmaker Wes Anderson is a master of the form, but his soundtracks, typically comprised of the melancholic folk-rock of the ’60s and ’70s, are his secret weapons. What happens to a film like Rushmore, then, when you swap out The Creation and Cat Stevens with Spin Doctors and Smash Mouth? Filmmaker (and online prankster) Kentucker Audley showed us, and it ain’t pretty. [Randall Colburn]
99. We’re all sloppy for 30-50 feral hogs
Sometimes the Internet is a place to ask strangers for advice. Like what to do with those 30-50 feral hogs that storm your backyard while your kids are playing? In his still-pinned August 2019 tweet, user Willie McNabb pitched his “legit” query” to “rural Americans” and to date has received over 5,000 responses. Some are pretty simple (“fence,” “surrender,” “samurai”) and many point to the fact that McNabb appeared to be crafting an argument for having an assault rifle. Still, just the thought of 30 to 50 rural hogs swarming our yards gave us all a new dumb meme to obsess over, like we didn’t have enough to worry about in 2019. [Gwen Ihnat]
100. Vine compilations
Vine, a social network that specialized in ultra-short video, was the perfect app for our times. a content-rich repository suited for overstimulated brains capable of processing only the most bite-sized bits of absurdity, It all collapsed near the end of 2016. The clips, thank god, live on via dozens and dozes of YouTube compilations. They’re perfect to put on when you’re stoned in front of the TV with nothing to watch. [Randall Colburn]