COVID Memes

Will Butler:

You're listening to Say My Meme, the podcast that describes the Internet's best memes for those of us who can't see them. I'm Will from Be My Eyes, and I'm joined today as I am every Monday by my cohost, Caroline from Scribely. So you listened to both the memes this week?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh yeah. Pretty good. Pretty good. I loved them.

Will Butler:

Krispy Kreme. Pretty weird. That one.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

I had to listen to that one a few times to really fully understand it, but it was like also stuck in my mind.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh yeah. Like the juicy Krispy Kremes but in the form of like a man's stomach.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Really, really strange. And then of course our singing, our first singing meme, our first musical meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Mad props. I mean, let's just hope for everyone's sake. I never have to sing any memes on this show because it would not be pretty. It would not go that well.

Will Butler:

Are song or parody song memes a thing? I think you might have just walked into this one Caroline.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I'm going to have to explore this because probably. I mean, there are all sorts of memes, so I would not be surprised.

Will Butler:

I feel like making parody songs is a passion project for a lot of people. Right? People love altering the lyrics to songs and there's got to be a whole genre of meme out there.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I mean, that's taking it to the next level, but we're going to have to have them back on to sing it because I just, I can't. [Laughs 00:01:41]

Will Butler:

We're going to have to hire a whole meme choir.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Meme choir, such a good idea. [laughs 00:01:50]

Will Butler:

What, what memes have you been thinking about this week?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Well, we're going to get into some COVID memes because I think last week was the anniversary of when things got real in the States. I mean, COVID was around for a while, as we all know, but yeah, that was the official date. We all started taking it seriously.

Will Butler:

Okay. Now you've got me worried though. Because how are these memes? Should we put a trigger warning in here, are these memes going to offend people?

Caroline Desrosiers:

I think people will be all right. I mean, there are so many terrible things about COVID. Right. But there are also just kind of these moments that we all experienced this year that are completely unique to 2020. And I'd say that's the primary focus. So I don't think people should be too worried.

Will Butler:

I'm sure there's a fair share of dark ones out there, but it sounds like these are ones that don't poke fun at people's misfortunes.

Caroline Desrosiers:

No. There are, there really are a lot of dark COVID memes. Which is part of meme culture, but I try to avoid those at least for now. You know, we're still very much in it.

Will Butler:

We're still delicate.We're not out of the woods yet.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes.

Will Butler:

Okay. Awesome. How many have we got today? We have five. Alright. Let's do it. Okay. COVID meme number one.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Chunky baby. Reflecting on its visit to chunky town Tagline: Me after I eat all of my quarantine snacks in one night.

Will Butler:

[laughs 00:03:39] Yeah. Seriously.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Did you, did you go through that?

Will Butler:

Yeah. I remember stocking up the first time and being like, well, this lasts me three weeks, if everything goes to shit, and then I think I was back at the grocery store, four days later or something.

Caroline Desrosiers:

[laughs 00:04:00] I think that was a lot of people. I mean, I remember the word, or the words hunkering down, "hunker down!" Being thrown around left and right. And people were shopping so they could hunker down. And then I feel like everyone just went home and ate all of that.

Will Butler:

Yeah. How many people do you think have on their calendar, this week, a reminder to cancel their MasterClass subscription.

Caroline Desrosiers:

[laughs 00:04:27] Right. I've learned everything I want to know. [crosstalk 00:04:35] And I will not be renewing. Yeah, totally.

Will Butler:

I would like to see the spike in subscriptions from one year ago this week.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my gosh. All of those good intentions. Like "I'm going to learn so much, I'm going to be a better person."

Will Butler:

Yep. [crosstalk 00:04:48] So what is this baby? Is he covered? Is there just snacks everywhere?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my gosh. No. So it's actually all in what this baby looks like. And he's really a very plump baby. He's about seven months old, chubby arms and legs. And there are segments of baby fat, every three inches or so. So he just has rolls upon rolls. And he's sitting on the carpet with this very interested kind of innocent expression. And one hand is wrapped around a finger on the opposite hand, kind of in their lap. And because of that, their shoulders are slumped in and forward and slightly pushing together. It's very prominent saggy, baby boobs,

Caroline Desrosiers:

[crosstalk 00:05:39] Which I very, very cute, but just like "you know what? I eat all my snacks and it's not a surprise."

Will Butler:

That is a very cute COVID meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right. See, you know, very gentle. No worries here. [laughs 00:05:59]

Will Butler:

Yes. Okay, what's meme number two?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Alight. This one's for all the parents out there, and I'm going to take actually this, the description of these images from the perspective of a child. So keep that in mind. [crosstalk 00:06:17] Nice lady with a bird sings to me. Scary lady with bottles sings to herself. Tagline: parenting during the coronavirus shutdown, day one versus day three.

Will Butler:

[laughs 00:06:36] Wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

So, I think this one requires a little bit more, more detail, but basically it's like Mary Poppins versus Ms. Hannigan from Annie. So they're like side-by-side images.

Will Butler:

Okay. Yeah. And like day one versus day three, how about day 367, or whatever we're on?

Caroline Desrosiers:

I don't think we should, we should have an image of that. It's messy. Right? Like, Oh, he's just like, I feel for all the parents out there that had to deal with working from home and then also their kids, homeschooling their kids and just having them run around the house. That was tough.

Will Butler:

Anybody, any of us who think we had it rough during this lockdown, just need to talk to our parent friends and they will set us straight. For sure.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Exactly. Very humbling. [crosstalk 00:07:42] Right. [crosstalk 00:07:42] Yeah. So maybe a little more detail for this one. [crosstalk 00:07:49] Okay. So, the Mary Poppins image is from the spoonful of sugar scene. So in this scene, she's singing to the children and she catches a bird on her finger out the window. And then she brings that bird inside. It's a robin and she's singing with the robin. Right. And in this image, she's just beaming. And she's very put together in her nanny outfit and neatly styled hair, and is just looking so pleasant. And then this juxtaposed against the second image, which is the 1982 movie, Annie, when Carol Burnett, as Ms. Hannigan is singing the little girl's song. And if you remember that song, it's just all about being surrounded by little girls. And she's like walking around her bedroom drunk. And it's just like, I can't take it anymore. Some of her lines are a little violent. She wouldn't actually go through with it. Let's hope, but she's fantasizing about like taking revenge on these little girls that are making her life a living hell.

Will Butler:

Oh my God. Yeah. Okay. I get it now. This is definitely a cultural reference meme where it's like, you, you have to be a deep appreciator of classic films and then you'll instantly get it when you look at it. Right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, exactly. And this one is for a little bit of trivia. This one actually is definitely relevant to COVID. Because something interesting I learned is that the spoonful of sugar song was actually inspired by the polio vaccine. Do you know about this? [crosstalk 00:09:40] Yeah. So the writers who were Richard and Robert Sherman, brothers, they were working for Disney and composing the music for Mary Poppins. And Walt Disney had rejected their song. They had already submitted for this scene, which was called "Through the Eyes of Love" because he wanted something that was like a little more fun and snappy. And so they were kind of struggling to come up with "okay, what, what would this song be?" And then one of them has a kid. One of their kids comes home and they had their polio vaccine earlier that day. And the dad asks the son, "did it hurt?" Assuming it was a shot. And the son responds that it didn't because he took it in the form of a sugar cube and he swallowed it. So he kind of like an idea then pop into his head, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way. [crosstalk 00:10:39] And it was all about a vaccine. So I was like, bam, there you go.

Will Butler:

Wow. That's insane. That is truly a pandemic meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right? Yeah. Through and through.

Will Butler:

Wow. That's crazy. What, so that would have been in the thirties or forties or something like when did Mary Poppins come out?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh, I thought it was, oh it was, okay I have it here. It was 1964.

Will Butler:

Oh, okay. Okay. Wow. [crosstalk 00:11:10] Fascinating. Wow. [crosstalk 00:11:11] It's such an education. Say My Meme is always, I always learn so much.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right? Yeah.

Will Butler:

Well honestly, more than I learned in a lot of other things. [Laughs 00:11:24]

Caroline Desrosiers:

And it's in a way that we can all enjoy in the form of memes.

Will Butler:

Right. We do our research on Say My Meme. [crosstalk 00:11:32] Alright. Number three. Is this the one with the clip?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. So get ready.

Will Butler:

Do you want me to cue it up?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I think the reason why we're doing audio is because this is such a cult classic character, and I'm going to try to deliver this punchline, but I really think it would better to play the audio. So maybe we'll do that first and then we can play the track. Okay.

Will Butler:

Okay. Alight. Cool.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Alright. Image description: A middle-aged man looks like a dopey clown who forgot all their makeup at home. Tagline: When people ask why you take so many naps "Because when you're sleeping, there's no lonely times just dreams."

Will Butler:

[laughs 00:12:22] Oh my God.

Caroline Desrosiers:

So, this is going to make very little sense if you don't know Dr. Steve Brule.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Wait. So yeah, I'm ashamed to say I don't, this is something I've completely missed out on, but if I don't know him, I'm going to assume that some of our listeners don't know him. So give me this. Give me the rundown on Dr. Steve Brule.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, so this is actually John C. Riley playing this character, Dr. Steve Brule on Adult Swim's, Check It Out. And this is a total cult classic. Like if you know it, you're probably laughing hysterically right now, listening to this. But if you haven't, basically it's a very like low-budget, public access style TV show. And Steve Brule is this naive, awkward character who just simply examines various parts of everyday life. And it has some suggestions for you. And he gives these special reports with helpful tips. And for this one, he's giving you tips on how to go about living, and living is in quotes, living on your lonesome. Right. So he's just running through his various suggestions on different things you can do if you're living alone and you're trying to feel better.

Will Butler:

Yeah. That's real. Yeah. This one's really hitting home for me. So, is it one of those memes where it's like, there's the tagline up top and then there's the captions from the actual show, that is the punchline?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Exactly right. Yeah. So yeah, this is an actual line from the episode and it's, yeah, it looks like a caption at the bottom and it's just a screen grab of him, making this kind of dopey expression and what he looks like, just so you can visualize is he has brown poofy hair and he's wearing this very plain gray collared shirt, oval shaped glasses. And his chin is slightly raised. And he's got this facial expression, like he's a bit confused or lost, which if people know Steve Brule, that's almost always the case. And he's got these heavy lidded eyes. It looks like a little sleepy almost, and his high forehead and big hair, kind of to me, make him look like a clown. So hence the dopey clown reference.

Will Butler:

Yeah. John C. Riley, major clown vibes. For sure.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I just love that he did this. So we have two audio clips. [crosstalk 00:15:21] One is the full version, and one is the short version. And you pick which one you want to play.

Will Butler:

Let's just run the full version. Why not?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Let's do it.

Dr. Steve Brule:

[music 00:15:43] Dr. Steve Brule with a special report on living on your lonesome. Do you live alone like I do? Well guess what? There's stuff you can do to make it not be so awful. [music 00:15:55] Number one, take number one, spend a lot of your time on Sunday making sandwiches for the rest of the week. Then you're prepared, you turkey. The second tip is go to bed early, you doofus. Because when you're sleeping, there's no lonely times. It's just dreams. You can make up your own puzzles. It's not any more complicated than that. Just make up your own puzzles, take a picture of these, like from your stuff and cut it into pieces, then you won't know how the heck to put it back together. And it's a homemade puzzle of yours. [music 00:16:42]

Will Butler:

[laughs 00:16:45] Oh my God.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I'm tearing up right now. I, Oh, he's just so funny. I love it.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Yeah. I have. Can I tell you a secret? [crosstalk 00:17:06] I've made my own puzzles. I've spent a really insane amount of time during the pandemic, cutting up construction paper into pieces and making art with it. It's insane how much time. I've made puzzle. Like for Valentine's day, I made my girlfriend a puzzle out of paper. I totally am this person.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my gosh. That's so great. That's your COVID hobby and you just revealed that. That's fantastic. And you did that without even any instruction from Steve Brules, so good on you.

Will Butler:

Well, I'm not going to lie. I think the sandwich idea is genius. I am so tired of making a sandwich every day. I think I'm going to pre-make my sandwiches.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my God. Do it. It will help so much when, because during the week we're definitely all over it. Like every day. Yeah. So, who wants to make a freaking sandwich in the middle of the day?

Will Butler:

Sometimes, you've got to be your own mom, you know?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So I strongly advise going down this YouTube black hole and just listening to Steve Brule because I feel like you don't even really need to watch it because he has so much just in his character, but he has more helpful tips for you. So something you can do to waste time during the work hour, or maybe when you're making your sandwich.

Will Butler:

Amazing. Now was this, this was a pre-COVID show or was it, [crosstalk 00:18:55] or did it come out this year?

Caroline Desrosiers:

This is pretty old. It must be over 10 years old.

Will Butler:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. It was a while ago.

Will Butler:

So a good example of someone reaching back into the cultural trash heap. So to speak. [laughs 00:19:15]

Will Butler:

And pulling something out that's relevant to pandemic times.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. More than enough to work with there. So yeah. [crosstalk 00:19:22]

Will Butler:

Beautiful. Wow. Okay. Meme number four.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Alright. Now this is a meme within a meme. So this is interesting. First time we've ever done that.

Will Butler:

Meta meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Meta meme. Alright. When you're riding a roller coaster and you were required by Japan to scream inside your heart. Tagline: Japan reopens theme parks, but bans screaming on any roller coasters due to coronavirus. And above the image, it's just the word people.

Will Butler:

I get like a general vibe from this meme, but I don't think I fully understand it.

Caroline Desrosiers:

There's no way really to provide, I think, a short description of this. Because there's so much going on. [crosstalk 00:20:17] So for context, this is something that actually happened. Right. Because they wanted to keep the same park open, but they worried about people openly screaming on rollercoasters and spreading coronavirus. So [crosstalk 00:20:33] I think they decided just to be funny about it and they're like "Please scream inside your heart." But then that became such a meme because people are like "Oh yeah, COVID that's basically my whole year is screaming inside my heart." It's like, that's the tagline for 2020.

Will Butler:

Oh yeah,[crosstalk 00:20:59] oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, they were setting themselves up. But Japanese, like the culture, or they have this remarkable ability to like come up with these phrases, that are usually in English, that are so funny. And so, and I almost wonder sometimes if they're doing it intentionally, because it's like, they're just so poetic and bizarre.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know. Yeah. I feel like it's a really unusual way to say it. I've never heard any, you could maybe expect like scream inside your head. Right. But scream inside your heart. Yeah. You're right. There's like some poetry to that.

Will Butler:

So it's a meme inside of meme?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So let me give you more detail here. So basically the image is like a roller coaster loop action shot. You know how sometimes they take your picture when you're at one of the scariest moments. So just picture that. [crosstalk 00:22:00] And then it's featuring a photo-shopped image of this famous high school kid that's been made into a meme and this is the actual title. Okay. So this, this high school kid meme is called, trying to hold a fart in next to a cute girl in class. And it's famous because this kid he's got like an extremely strained face, like several veins popping out from his head. And it's, his head is lurched forward. And they're like, tendons in his neck are also visibly popping out as well. And it looks like he's been holding his breath for too long or I don't know, he's just trying to end it all or something because he's so uncomfortable. But there's this girl sitting next to him. And so people joke that this is just like in a quiet room, trying to hold in, whatever you're dealing with.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Screaming inside your heart.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. And I was thinking, dang, that's like the perfect image to go with screaming inside your heart because that is exactly what he's doing. Yeah. And that meme, the high school kid meme it's often paired with really funny taglines, like when you're a vegan and you haven't told anyone in eight minutes ,or introverts when you're in class and you've already coughed twice and then feel another one coming. [laughs 00:23:36]

Will Butler:

[inaudible 00:23:39]

Caroline Desrosiers:

I mean, just like I can't hold it in anymore. Like going to burst.

Will Butler:

Wow. That's amazing.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Meme within a meme. I've been intimidated by this, but there are quite a few out there, where it's both, you have to know both memes to understand it.

Will Butler:

Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I don't think I fully understand it, but we'll make it the artwork for this episode, so that folks can really, really take a hard look at it if they so desire.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. That's a good idea.

Will Butler:

Alright. Number five.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Number five, a cat hiding in your building. Doesn't want to leave its cozy corner, but then is found and slowly dragged out by a human. Tagline: People working at home in sweatpants, Pfizer.

Will Butler:

And we're the cat, and Pfizer is the person dragging it. Oh my gosh. So true. [crosstalk 00:24:43]

Caroline Desrosiers:

I love this one. I love this one because it's a sequence of four images and it's just this progression. And I just love that they captured this moment. Because this adorable cat, by the way, really, really cute. This cat has decided to wedge, wedge itself into a corner up against a window pane. It almost looks like a storefront. So it's, as cats do it picked this really weird tight space to just kind of hang out in. And it's completely vertical against this window pane. So you're kind of seeing its belly and his arms are tucked around his neck and he's just stuck, but fine with it. And on that, they have text overlaid on top of the cat. Like, this is what this means. People working at home in sweatpants. So that's the first image. And then the second one, it's a person like reaching into grab at the cat and grab its paw, but the cat is resisting, kind of pulling away, like "No! I want to stay here," and then the human's labeled Pfizer.

Caroline Desrosiers:

[crosstalk 00:26:00]

Will Butler:

Yeah. I kind of wonder if psychologically, if I need to get rid of the sweatpants that I've been wearing this past year, because I've developed such a relationship with them. [laughs 00:26:20]

Will Butler:

And it's almost like, it almost feels like I need to move on or something.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right. Yeah. Just too comfortable. [crosstalk 00:26:32] Really. [crosstalk 00:26:33] Like it's starting to affect you.

Will Butler:

Yeah. There is a weird psychology to it.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh man. Yeah. I'm with you there, but we're not back out in the world yet. So maybe just a little while longer with the sweatpants.

Will Butler:

Just like another week, another two weeks in the sweatpants, then I'll start.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. And then when your vaccine appointment comes up, you can just go in your sweatpants. And maybe that's the last time. And it's a nice transition.

Will Butler:

Goodbye sweats. Until next time. Well, from the greatest pain and suffering comes laughter. It's, a well-documented phenomenon, and it has been a tough year, but I'm glad that the meme economy has not slowed down because of it.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh no. Yeah. It's like sometimes the best thing you can do is just try to laugh and find those things that make you feel better. Laugh at yourself, laugh at other people, laugh at the situation. Because that's just life. I mean, sometimes it's just like times get really hard and you're like, well, what else can I do?

Will Butler:

Make a meme. So we've got some exciting stuff coming up in coming weeks, we've got some guests I think, and we've got more listeners submissions for you pouring in. Just absolute deluge of submissions. So please submit yours as soon as possible if you want to get on the show anytime soon, because oh my gosh, we're just flooded with submissions. And also, Caroline, I think we wanted to put out a call for folks who wanted to make a meme, right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Definitely. We had a few people get an idea that they wanted to make their own, and I think that's so cool. Yeah, making some fresh memes.

Will Butler:

Would you offer up your services to those folks who might be interested in coming on, and sort of work shopping a meme or two?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh absolutely. Yeah, if you send an email to hello@saymymeme.com and talk about wanting to create your own, let's get in touch, and we'll figure out a good image, or a good tagline. And you know, sometimes it helps to brainstorm. So yeah. Happy to help.

Will Butler:

Caroline, our trusty meme interpreter, and now meme dealer.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Getting serious.

Will Butler:

Cool. Well alright, everyone. Thank you for listening. Have a great week and we'll see you next Monday.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Thanks everyone.

Will Butler:

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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