Memes are a central part of millennial and Gen Z humor. They can be almost anything, including a photo, video, or another piece of media like a screenshot. The point is they spread and spread fast to users all over the internet.
Memes started in the mid-2000s. Back then, they were pretty innocuous. While they were good for a chuckle, they weren’t the kind of thing you wanted to collect in a Dank Meme Stash. Nonetheless, that’s when many memes we still see today became famous.
The people in viral memes are enjoying (or not enjoying) an odd kind of fame. They’re known around the world but they didn’t ask for it. Some of them didn’t even know they were famous until they saw their image online.
Everyone has a different reaction to fame like that. Some of these meme celebrities (memelebrities?) have embraced their online image to the fullest. Some use it as a platform to talk about important issues. Yet others have gone on to have successful careers in acting or music. And well, some of them aren’t fond of the spotlight.
As Zoe Roth (that’s Disaster Girl to you) says, “I ultimately want people to know me for me.”
Not a whole lot is known about the man the internet knows as “Good Guy Greg.” He’s reported to be in the commercial fishing business and he looks pretty thrilled about it.
Zoe Roth was watching a live training exercise for firefighters back in 2004 when her dad captured this photo of her. Her devilish expression made her go viral, and she’s now known as Disaster Girl.
These days, Roth has an active Instagram where she occasionally parodies the meme. She jokes that it would be nice if she could make money off it, even using it to pay for college. But ultimately, she’s just Zoe.
In 2013, a video entitled “Lily’s Disneyland Surprise…AGAIN” was uploaded to YouTube. In it, two sisters get the news they’re going to Disneyland. One of them breaks down into tears while the other sister, Chloe, struck this expression that ultimately went viral.
The meme instantly became a symbol for “I don’t know” after it depicted a still from the show “Good Luck Charlie.” The actress, Mia Talerico, has since grown up and is now continuing to pursue a career in acting.
A Japanese Shiba Inu dog not only became a meme but started a new “language.” In 2010, Atsuko Sato shared pictures of her dog on her blog, with one particular photo attracting attention because of the dog’s pose and expression.
You might think this meme has been around forever, but it only started seven years ago in 2012. Laina Morris was participating in a contest that Justin Bieber had announced to promote his perfume line “Girlfriend.” Morris’ over-the-top performance quickly captured attention and turned her into a meme.
These days, Morris has an active YouTube channel, although she struggled with some stalking and privacy issues after becoming a meme. However, things seem to have died down and she’s enjoying being an internet personality.
Ridiculously Photogenic Guy’s real name is Zeddie Smith. In 2012 he was taking part in Cooper River Bridge Run when he passed a photographer. Smith flashed him a smile, resulting in a photo that went viral.
Smith takes the attention in stride, saying he doesn’t mind being the source of jokes as long as they’re in good spirits. He jokes that he’s experienced the most flattering way to go viral online, and he probably has!
In 2014, one of Michael McGee’s classmates took a photo of him and posted it to Reddit with the caption “Trying to hold a fart next to a pretty girl in class.” In spite of the embarrassing caption, McGee doesn’t mind the attention — he just wishes it earned him some money!
Grumpy Cat became beloved by millions of people around the world for her angry expression, but she was actually a happy, sweet-natured cat. She had feline dwarfism as well as an underbite which caused her unusual expression.
Grumpy Cat, whose real name was Tardar Sauce, enjoyed several years of fame. She even toured the world and received gifts. Sadly, she passed away in May of 2019 at the young age of seven.
This character may be known to the internet as Bad Luck Brian, but his real name is Kyle Craven. The viral photo is his seventh-grade class photo, which Craven intentionally goofed up to anger his teachers.
These days, Craven still enjoys a bit of internet fame. He has an active presence on both Twitter and YouTube. He’s even starred in commercials (in his meme persona, of course).
The subject of this throwback photo is Maggie Goldenberger, a nurse who says the picture was taken while playing dress-up with her friends in elementary school. She doesn’t mind the attention, although it’s got to be overwhelming at times!
Believe it or not, the lady who’s become a universal symbol for people overreacting to minor problems is already famous — in Italy. She’s an award-winning actress named Silvia Bottini who often pokes fun at her meme fame on Instagram.
This meme character is known as Scumbag Steve and is used as a trope for someone scummy and irresponsible. The photo surfaced in 2011 when this image of Blake Boston dressed in “rapper clothes” went viral.
Boston might be known to the internet as a scumbag, but he has embraced the image and runs active social media pages. He says he doesn’t regret his life and wouldn’t change it if he could.
This extremely popular meme is Drew Scanlon, the former video producer at gaming website Giant Bomb. During a live stream, Scanlon reacted to an inappropriate joke made by the editor-in-chief with this expression, which soon went viral.
The Hipster Barista meme is a way to mock all things hipster, especially those that strike posters as pretentious or hypocritical. The picture is actually of Dustin Mattson, a professional barista who’s come to terms with the meme since it surfaced in 2011.
Mattson doesn’t love all the jokes made using his photo. However, he says they inspire him to be a great barista and forge new paths in the world of gourmet coffee.
The meme character known as Salt Bae is actually Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe. He went viral after sharing an Instagram video of himself preparing and seasoning a piece of steak with flair. Gökçe is thrilled at his internet fame.
McKayla Maroney was already well-known as an American gymnast when she competed at the 2012 Olympics. After winning silver, her displeased expression was captured by a photographer and quickly gained attention.
Unlike many other meme characters, not much is known about the character known as Sudden Clarity Clarence. The photo was taken at the 2009 Schoolies Festival in Australia and became a meme of a man having an obvious) epiphany.
Yes, this lady might look like she’s solving some complex equations in her head but she’s actually a Brazilian actress. The photo is a screengrab from the soap opera “Senhora do Destino.”
This photo is a still from the BBC documentary #HoodDocumentary. It features actor Kayode Ewumi, who continued to have a successful acting career — even though his launch to fame was just pointing to his head.
The meme character, known as Hide the Pain Harold, is a Hungarian stock photo actor named András Arató. He gained attention back in 2011 when people pointed out that he appeared to be suppressing unhappiness under a smile.
Arató loves being a meme and has developed a large following on his social media pages. He’s also appeared on Russian-language television and hosted Q&A sessions with fans.
The “Aliens” meme is used to mock conspiracy theories with posters often coming up with more and more ridiculous theories. The man depicted in Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, who does indeed believe in aliens.
Tsoukalos not only hosted the show “Ancient Aliens,” but he also founded the Ancient Astronaut & SETI Research Association. He believes that humans and aliens interacted millennia ago before the start of recorded history.
This meme comes from a video of rapper Conceited who struck this pose during a rap battle with Jesse James in 2013. Conceited himself has used the meme several times on his Instagram page.
When social media personality Kalin Elisa posted a posed photograph of herself in 2018, she also posted this photo with the caption “When your knees are crying after you’ve squatted for the gram.”
She has no problem being a meme and was happy to see herself go viral. Elisa regularly shares the memes on her own social media pages with different funny captions.
In 2014, a 6-year-old boy name TerRio went viral after he performed a dance known as “Ooh Kill ‘Em.” The video propelled him to stardom. Since then, he released a music video and has become known as a celebrity of the Vine era.
This adorable little girl is showing a lot of sass and that’s what she’s become known for. Oh, but she’s also American singer and rapper Cardi B who gets a kick out of being a meme.
Confused Nick refers to Nick Young of the NBA. The photo comes from a 2014 episode of “Thru the Lens” where Young reacted to his mother calling him a clown. These days, Young’s career seems to be dying down.
When Jeremy Meeks was arrested in 2014 on felony weapons charges, his mugshot went viral because of his attractiveness. Although his family was not amused, Meeks said he appreciated the attention but wanted everyone to know he wasn’t a criminal.
The IKEA monkey went viral in 2012 for, well …being a monkey loose in IKEA. But the internet fame got him taken from his owner who was not permitted to keep an exotic pet. He was moved to a primate sanctuary in Ontario.
Antoine Dodson gained attention in 2010 after giving an interview about an attempted assault on his sister. The interest in Dodson prompted national conversations regarding sexual assault and racism.
Dodson himself embraced his overnight fame, starting his own social media pages and eventually a Kickstarter campaign for a project called “The Antoine Dodson Experience.” These days, he’s a musician who’s still active online.
In 2016, Danielle Bregoli appeared on the Dr. Phil show with her mother. When audience members started to laugh at her, Danielle challenged them to a fight, saying “Catch me outside, how about that?” Her accent, however, intrigued the internet. What she said came out as “Cash me outside, how bout dah?”
The clip made Danielle a meme and propelled her to fame. These days, she’s known as rapper Bhad Bhabie who released an album called 15. Her single “Hi Bich” was in the Hot 100 for 2018.
Gavin was only 2.5 years old when he went viral. His uncle took a video of him playing with a lizard with his expression alternating between surprise and fear. The expressions made him a meme.
Gavin is now 8 years old and his family’s social media pages keep the internet abreast of his life. He’s been described as “the internet’s kid,” who we all get to watch grow up.
In 2015, Viner Nicholas Fraser uploaded a Vine that showed himself listening to a lie, then performing a parody of “Too Close” with the lyrics “Why the f**k you lying?” Since then, Fraser has released a full-length parody video.
Roxanne Chalifoux went viral after a picture of her playing piccolo in her high school band was captured. She was emotional thinking about her final performance as a senior. The meme became so big that it landed her on Jimmy Fallon.
His real name is Sam Griner. He was catapulted to fame at the age of 11 months when his mom uploaded a photo to Flickr of him eating sand. She was disappointed by the memes that depicted him as a bully but likes the positive ones.
Sam is now about 13 years old. Despite his early fame, his life is like that of pretty much any other teen. He often gets embarrassed about being meme-famous, though he was willing to take a beach picture striking his famous pose.
Good Girl Gina became known in 2011 as the female version of Good Guy Greg. No one knew who she was until 2013 when model Emma Katherine revealed her identity. But she says memes aren’t big in her native country of Denmark so her life hasn’t changed much.
Memes are a central part of millennial and Gen Z humor. They can be almost anything, including a photo, video, or another piece of media like a screenshot. The point is they spread and spread fast to users all over the internet.
Memes started in the mid-2000s. Back then, they were pretty innocuous. While they were good for a chuckle, they weren’t the kind of thing you wanted to collect in a Dank Meme Stash. Nonetheless, that’s when many memes we still see today became famous.
The people in viral memes are enjoying (or not enjoying) an odd kind of fame. They’re known around the world but they didn’t ask for it. Some of them didn’t even know they were famous until they saw their image online.
Everyone has a different reaction to fame like that. Some of these meme celebrities (memelebrities?) have embraced their online image to the fullest. Some use it as a platform to talk about important issues. Yet others have gone on to have successful careers in acting or music. And well, some of them aren’t fond of the spotlight.
As Zoe Roth (that’s Disaster Girl to you) says, “I ultimately want people to know me for me.”
