90s Memes

Will Butler:

What's that meme fiends? It's Will from Be My Eyes and you're listening to Say My Meme, describing the internet's best memes for those of us who can't see them. This week, we're launching phase two of Say My Meme, which involves you. How do you get on Say My Meme, you ask? It's pretty easy. All you got to do is pull out your phone, record a voice memo of you telling us about your favorite meme and what it looks like. Then press share and send it in an email to hello@saymymeme.com. All the instructions are at saymymeme.com where you can find out more. Now, my wonderful co-host [Carolyn from Scribbly 00:00:38]. What's up, Carolyn? How you doing?

Carolyn:

What's up? Doing great.

Will Butler:

How's your week?

Carolyn:

Oh, it was great. Yeah. Filled with the 90's, all the greatest 90's memes. So it was a good one. I got to go back in time.

Will Butler:

I like to think that our new podcast has just now taken over your life and you spend your whole week just going down a rabbit hole of memes. Is that what you're doing now?

Carolyn:

That's exactly what it's becoming, because I find a good one and then I'm trapped reading all the taglines for that meme for an hour straight. I'm not lying about that. It's a lot of fun and it's taking over my life in a good way.

Will Butler:

You're a meme archeologist now.

Carolyn:

Exactly.

Will Butler:

So what are we doing this week? 90's memes. What makes in meme a 90's meme?

Carolyn:

Yeah. Well, I think just if they're about critical things that happened in the 90's. Just for all the people that lived that or maybe for educational purposes for the people who didn't.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Isn't it crazy that the 90's were more than two decades ago now?

Carolyn:

Yeah. I don't like to think about that.

Will Butler:

Well, how many have you got this week?

Carolyn:

I have five.

Will Butler:

Amazing. Okay. Well, should we just dive in?

Carolyn:

Yeah, let's do it. Okay. First one, teenage dream Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys stares at you through his golden locks. Next to this, a 90's class photo of your average middle school boy not pulling off the bleach blonde hair or the bowl cut. Tagline. What I thought it would look like, what it actually looked like.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Yeah. I was a kid for sure.

Carolyn:

Were you?

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Carolyn:

Yeah, what kind of 90's kid were you, Will?

Will Butler:

Oh my God. Well, I had jet black hair, so I was not pulling off Nick Carter. That's for sure. But I've wanted that. I wanted the locks so bad and I wanted to bleach my hair so bad but mom wouldn't let me.

Carolyn:

I mean, it was unfortunate for this kid, I think in the end. But I mean you remember this feeling, right?

Will Butler:

Oh yeah.

Carolyn:

You take the photo of whatever you want to look like to the hairdresser and you're like, "Do this," and then it just turns out like it's something completely different because you're an awkward middle school kid.

Will Butler:

Were you an awkward middle school, Carolyn?

Carolyn:

You know, yeah. Looking back on photos, I'm like, "Oh dear, you thought that looked good. It did not look good." Yeah.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah. So what does this get look like? Give me the alt text.

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah. So for a little more detail, Nick Carter's haircut, by the way, I feel like deserves a little more detail. It's part of down the middle and it's kind of falling effortlessly forward over his eyes and like hitting just at his cheekbones and he's looking up at the camera. So this is like the quintessential teenage heartthrob photo that everyone was gushing over in teen magazine. The other one is this kid and he's got this kind of like mild smile. He's got a round boyish face, a very dark eyebrows and which really just accentuate the bleached out hair with split ends combed down evenly all around his head and it's just like this perfect bowl.

Will Butler:

Oh gosh. Oh my goodness. It would be really annoying actually to have Nick Carter hair because it would just flop all over your face, right? It's all styled.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Oh, I so remember wanting that though. That was like really, really big deal. So he doesn't have the chiseled features of Nick Carter either?

Carolyn:

No, no. He's got the... I mean, he's not a chubby kid, but he's just got that round boyish face and he's very cute.

Will Butler:

I know it well.

Carolyn:

He's not seductive.

Will Butler:

Okay. Well, nice try. Nice try, guy. You did make it to meme land, though. So you did something right.

Carolyn:

Good point.

Will Butler:

What have we got for 90's meme umber two?

Carolyn:

All right. Get ready for this one. Little blonde girl plays a casual game of Guess Who? with a wild-eyed Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction.

Will Butler:

Let me think about that for a second. Little blonde girl plays a casual game of Guess Who?

Carolyn:

Yeah. Did you ever play Guess Who?

Will Butler:

So putting her hands over his eyes?

Carolyn:

No. If you remember Guess Who?, it's like each player has their tray with these images flipped up in front of them. Then the other person has to say, Oh, does this person... Is it a woman or is it a man? Or are they old? Are they young? A bunch of questions, yeah.

Will Butler:

Whoa. That is so 90's. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. It was like battleship, but with people, right?

Carolyn:

Yes, yes. So you have your person in front of you and they have to guess who that is just by the description of their features.

Will Butler:

I love it. Cool.

Carolyn:

So it's like 90's version of alt text and image descriptions. It's a wonder.

Will Butler:

Oh, wow. There we go. That would be a good exercise if you're doing an awareness training or something. Have everyone play Guess Who? Okay. So she's playing with Sam Jackson from Pulp Fiction.

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah.

Will Butler:

Bizarre. Okay.

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah. So if you picture Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction and get ready for this tagline. I'm going to be a little loud for this one, because there's really no other way to do it.

Will Butler:

Okay.

Carolyn:

Does he look like a bitch?

Will Butler:

Go on.

Carolyn:

Ah.

Will Butler:

This is a family podcast.

Carolyn:

I had to. This was like my hands down my favorite meme I found this week.

Will Butler:

Oh my God. Oh my God. Okay. Well, we've graduated into a new realm of Say My Meme. You hear that, Say My Memers. We're PG 13 now.

Carolyn:

Pretty big deal. Yeah. Okay. So do you know-

Will Butler:

Oh yeah, I remember the scene.

Carolyn:

The scene that I'm talking about.

Will Butler:

It's iconic. It's iconic. Marsellus Wallace. You know Marsellus Wallace? Does Marsellus Wallace look like a bitch?

Carolyn:

Yeah. Say what again?

Will Butler:

Well, then are you trying to [inaudible 00:07:30] like one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Say what again? Exactly. Hoo.

Carolyn:

Yeah. I mean, that's-

Will Butler:

So he's playing-

Carolyn:

Yeah. I mean that's... Yeah. Okay. The alt text is good for this one because whoever put this together did some great Photoshopping work. So for the alt text, it's the original cover of the board game Guess Who? A friendly looking blonde girl with a turtleneck and matching scrunchie smiles at her opponent, which is the body of a small child with Samuel L. Jackson's head Photoshopped on.

Will Butler:

No. Oh my God.

Carolyn:

It's Samuel Jackson is Jules Winfield, and his eyes are like wide with this intimidating level of intensity.

Will Butler:

Wow. Uttering that famous line from the movie. That's incredible. That is so good. Okay. I could see why you had to put that in there. That's like 90's on so many levels too, because it's that throwback game and then the iconic 90's movie.

Carolyn:

Yeah. I mean, it was perfect.

Will Butler:

Wow. Beautiful. That is a beautiful meme.

Carolyn:

I know. I learned a fun little trivia fact about this because I was going back to that apartment scene and researching it and it's actually considered to be what's called like... It's a movie trope called a noodle incident.

Will Butler:

What?

Carolyn:

So it's where because you don't really know why they're going to the apartment or what happened and there's not really a big backstory about it, but it's called a noodle incident because it means that something from the past is referred to, but it's never explained because it's too ludicrous for words. So I didn't know that and I thought it was pretty interesting.

Will Butler:

Wow. Noodle, where does that come from?

Carolyn:

Yeah. It's a term that they use for movies where it's like the style of the scene was a noodle incident.

Will Butler:

It's like when two characters are like, "Oh, the noodle incident," and it doesn't mean anything.

Carolyn:

It doesn't mean anything.

Will Butler:

But everyone's referring to it as if it was that incident. Yeah, yeah. I got it.

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah. Fun factor for you.

Will Butler:

Interesting. Interesting. That was great. Okay. Beautiful, wow. 10 out of 10 for that one. What's meme number three?

Carolyn:

All right. Class photo of a nerdy but happy teenage boy with braces in a plaid sweater vest. Gets onto Legends of the Hidden Temple as a Purple Parrot.

Will Butler:

Ooh. The Purple Parrots were kind of the underdogs, weren't they?

Carolyn:

Yes. I'm so glad you know that because I was like, "Wait a second. Why the Purple Parrot? Is it because of the purple background in the photo? What is the reason for this?" It turns out the Purple Parrots were notoriously unlucky and only made it to the temple 11 times in the entire show.

Will Butler:

Oh, really? So statistically the underdogs. I didn't realize that. So I just watched the show and I kind of had that... That's my gut instinct, but I didn't realize they really didn't win that much.

Carolyn:

No, they didn't. But they were far behind.

Will Butler:

Let's tell folks what Legends of the Hidden Temple is, though, because there's there's listeners who don't know.

Carolyn:

Yeah, exactly. So Legends of the Hidden Temple was this TV game show that actually only broadcast for two years from 1993 to 1995 on Nickelodeon. The way that it worked was there were six teams of two children, one boy, one girl, and they compete with one another by performing these physical stunts and answering questions based on history or mythology. If they win that round, then they get to go on this obstacle course through the temple to get to Olmec, which is the ultimate finishing point and then they win some sort of prize. So every 90's kid watching this show, I feel like, wanted to be on Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Will Butler:

Oh, yeah.

Carolyn:

Wanted to be on this team so bad. So this meme is like-

Will Butler:

This kid.

Carolyn:

Gets to be on Legends of the Hidden Temple, awesome. But you're a Purple Parrot, which means you're destined for failure.

Will Butler:

Oh God. It was like this big Aztec themed game show that just looked like the most fun thing to be in.

Carolyn:

Yes, yes.

Will Butler:

It was really beautiful.

Carolyn:

I mean, it's the reason that I set up obstacle courses in my parents' backyard.

Will Butler:

Yes, yes.

Carolyn:

I did this on a regular basis.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. This one almost doesn't even need an alt tag.

Carolyn:

No it doesn't. So the actual, if people know this meme out there, this meme is Bad Luck Brian, which has been used over and over again. It's a very, very popular meme and it's just this kind of like nerdy kid and he's got greasy skin and maybe a few pimples and he's has wide open mouth smile with a full set of braces. So he's just like your typical nerd, but the taglines for this meme series, it's very dark comedy meme where these tragic occurrences are always happening to Brian, but they are really, really funny.

Will Butler:

Do you have some more?

Carolyn:

Yeah. Yeah. So some of the ones I liked were I'm on a boat, Titanic.

Will Butler:

Oh, yeah.

Carolyn:

Or wins the raffle, Hunger Games. Oh, poor Brian.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad Luck Brian. Oh my gosh. I had no idea about Bad Luck Brian, and for all of our listeners out there, now you can seem like culturally relevant when someone has bad luck. Sorry, Brian.

Carolyn:

Yeah, exactly. This is what I was talking to you at the beginning of this episode where I got sucked in for an hour. They were Bad Luck Brian memes.

Will Butler:

Oh, my gosh.

Carolyn:

I must've been scrolling for, I don't even know, an embarrassing amount of time just laughing so hard at all the taglines.

Will Butler:

I love it. These 90's memes are great. Great. I mean probably because it's my... I grew up in the 90's, so.

Carolyn:

Right.

Will Butler:

What have you got for number four?

Carolyn:

All right. Two T-Rex movie dinosaurs bringing two very different vibes. The first is Rex from Toy Story with a kind smile and open arms. The second is the Jurassic Park T-Rex that just burst from his cage, screaming at you in the night. Tagline, me arriving at work willing to be a better person, me one hour later.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Sounds about right. Both iconic 90's dinosaurs too.

Carolyn:

Right?

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Carolyn:

Yeah. We can all relate to this where it's like, "Today's going to be a good day. I'm going to be great. I'm going to be a good person." Then all the stress hits and you're like, "Ah, nevermind."

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah. Anything additional in the alt text?

Carolyn:

If I were to add additional detail to this, it would just be like Rex from Toy Story has this really wide toothy smile. It's very earnest expression and his little dyno arms are raised in the air like he's saying, "Hooray." It's just very cute and he's standing in front of wallpaper with fluffy white clouds. So it's just like a very friendly image all around. The second one, yeah, is that scene from Jurassic Park where the T-Rex bursts out and she's walking between the two SUVs, Jurassic Park SUV's that are immobilized.

Will Butler:

Oh, ominous. Yeah. It's really interesting because they alt text really does add so much to the understanding of the meme, but it really does kill the vibe when you're trying to deliver the punchline.

Carolyn:

Totally. Yeah.

Will Butler:

So it's a balance between being like, let's make sure we do it... We explain it quickly so that people get it, but then let's dive into the detail.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Because there are, I mean these images have been carefully selected and there are details here that a sighted person would pick up on right away, or maybe they don't understand why is this so funny, why am I laughing so hard at this? Often, it's in the details that we can visually describe an alt text.

Will Butler:

Was that four? This is number five next?

Carolyn:

Yes. Okay.

Will Butler:

Okay, number five.

Carolyn:

A sweaty Chuck Norris in a denim muscle shirt gives you a very serious look. Tagline.

Will Butler:

[inaudible 00:16:36] picture.

Carolyn:

Chuck Norris can never fill out an online form because he will never submit.

Will Butler:

Yes. Walker, Texas Ranger.

Carolyn:

Yeah. It's so good. Did you ever watch it?

Will Butler:

Oh my gosh. I have not thought about... Oh yeah. I have not thought about Walker, Texas ranger in 20 years probably, since the 90's.

Carolyn:

I know, I know. Yeah. He's famous because he actually very skilled at martial arts and did some pretty impressive moves in that show, but it was just kind of silly overall, like other than the martial arts, which were very serious.

Will Butler:

Oh, yeah. Campy as all hell. So for those people who don't know what Walker, Texas Ranger is or who Chuck Norris is, let's get them the alt text so they can really picture this guy.

Carolyn:

Yeah. So a profile shot of Chuck Norris in a sleeveless button down denim shirt that is open at the chest. His skin is glistening with sweat and he's staring slightly down at the camera with a calm, confident expression and furrowed brow. So this is the moment where he's about to give you what's what, like a battle is about to ensue here. It's like the moment right before that where you crossed his line.

Will Butler:

The show was like he was a Texas Ranger, but he knew martial arts, right?

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah.

Will Butler:

So he would fight people and he was super bad-ass. That was the whole premise.

Carolyn:

Yeah. So he was part of the Texas Ranger Division and he used his martial arts skills to fight for justice and basically take down the bad guys. So that was his role. He was most famous for his roundhouse kick. That was his thing.

Will Butler:

Right, right. Oh yeah. That was always the climax of every episode when he did the flying roundhouse.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Wow.

Carolyn:

I mean, I'm going to have to practice my Chuck Norris roundhouse kick this weekend and really perfect it.

Will Butler:

You're a dancer, right? You could probably do one.

Carolyn:

I can probably pull it off, like a pretty decent one.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Wow. Well, Carolyn, these were the best memes we've had so far. I'm so, so impressed.

Carolyn:

Yeah, yeah. This one was fun. Maybe because, yeah, I'm definitely a 90's kid. It was such a good time. Before technology and all of that kind of took over our lives. There were these really cool things that happened that I'm glad I was a kid during that time.

Will Butler:

In the real world, when people lived in the real world.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Well, we're dating ourselves now, but thank you so much, Carolyn. I can't wait until next week. Let's give people a plug to submit their descriptions because I kind of want to see what other people can do.

Carolyn:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'd love to do that wild card episode where we just throw a bunch of random memes that were submitted, the best of the best. So yeah. Send us your memes. We'd love to hear them and we'd love to feature them.

Will Butler:

Don't make Carolyn do all the work. There's a lot of memes out there. You can't describe them all, Carolyn.

Carolyn:

I know. Help.

Will Butler:

All right, everyone. We'll see you all next week. Do you want to describe your favorite memes for our community? Send a voice memo to hello@saymymeme.com. That's hello@saymymeme.com.

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