Famous Memes Then And Now

ah memes who doesn't love them from the dankest image macros to your mom's facebook memes there's something for everyone yet what we tend to forget is that memes are often real people with real lives so what's it like being a meme how does one become a meme and what happens after you've become a meme let's find out as we take a look at some famous memes then and now bad luck brian let's take a trip back to 2012. you were probably still poking around on facebook while also being completely convin

ced that the world's about to end it was probably about this time when you first saw kyle craven's 2005 yearbook photo or as it were bad luck brian this was of course the meme that shows a brace-faced teen who according to the captions often finds himself in hilariously humiliating situations like throwing his own birthday party and not being invited despite the meme's central focus experiencing some awful hypotheticals the real-life kyle actually has a great sense of humor he was in on the joke

from the start having posed with an intentionally goofy smile for this yearbook photo little did kyle know however that his intentionally terrible portrait would give birth to a little baby brian who'd become one of the greatest memes ever half a decade after the photo had been taken it's 2012 and kyle's school chum ian davies makes a meme from the photo and uploads it to reddit ian created the character of an unlucky guy hence the subsequent name bad luck ryan ian's original meme joked about g

etting a dui on a driving test but it wasn't until another reddit user recaptioned the photo with a trusty old poop joke that bad luck brian began to capture the internet's imagination with millions of people sharing jokes at brian's expense now 16 years on and the man behind the meme kyle craven is all grown up from getting his braces off to even having a wife and two kids it seems things aren't so bad after all after his school days kyle went on to graduate in construction management which ser

ves him well at his father's construction company what's more his infamous yearbook photo really has proven to be the money shot as he's secured a countless merchandising deals from board games and walmart t-shirts to even featuring in mcdonald's online marketing it seems lady luck really is on brian's side now success kid ah a magnificent vintage meme success kid ranking among other dust-covered meme ancestors like bad luck brian success kid is just one of those memes that speaks to a bygone er

a of memeology yet it lives on as one of the founding fathers it began in 2007 with a snapshot of 11 month old sammy griner at the beach with a fistful of sand and a face full of pride the meme was hatched sammy's mom laney uploaded the photo to flickr where it was initially perceived as a kid who hates sand castles however the focus soon shifted to his proud faced and pumped fist which matched perfectly with text prompts about small personal victories leading to the name success kid in 2012 the

photo was licensed and has since brought the family considerable revenue through a range of merchandising deals not only that but the meme is so powerful that it's even saved a life yep in 2015 sammy's dad justin was in need of a kidney transplant and by the power of the meme the family raised over one hundred thousand dollars for the surgery on a gofundme page now that's what i call success kid sammy is now 15 and looks a whole lot different and besides being success kid these days he's also c

ool kid as he enjoys art music and skateboarding no word on whether he still hates sand castles though overly attached girlfriend oh justin bieber isn't he so dreamy oh i mean lame so lame anyway did you know that he's kinda responsible for one of the greatest memes ever picture this it's 2012 hormonal teens swoon in the masses for bieber they call themselves beliebers um where did you get that picture anyway jb held a competition where fans could parody his hit song boyfriend but from the persp

ective of the girlfriend this inspired then 21 year old lena morris to create an overly attached girlfriend parody with wide eyes and a wider unnerving grin laina's parody about obsessively stalking and controlling her boyfriend rapidly became viral amassing more than 170 000 views in its first day and it wasn't long before screenshots of lana's face were characterized to the overly attached girlfriend memes we know today but where is lena now locking men up in her basement not quite the now 30

year old has hung up the old wide eyes and murder you in your sleep smile for eight years she rode the wave of youtube success but in a video titled breaking up with you tube uploaded july 2019 she said farewell revealing the toll content creating had taken on her mental health but the hustle wasn't over cashing in on her meme lena managed to sell the macro image as an nft in april 2021 for four hundred and eleven thousand dollars and if you're wondering what is an nft it's essentially a digital

signature or token that the creator can assign to their intellectual property officially certifying it as the original although how meaningful paying to own the original copy of a meme that can be downloaded online for free is well that's up to you to decide nfts aside lena is still very much active on instagram and aside from short comedy skits she blesses the world with regular pics of her dogs gilly and biscuit and i have to say being an overly attached dog mom seems a much healthier option

than the meme that made her famous disaster girl if you've ever wondered what happens if you don't buy cookies from the girl scouts who knock on your door then look no further jokes aside the girl pictured in this classic disaster girl meme is actually five-year-old zoe roth who to my knowledge is neither a girl scout nor fire starter in a buzzfeed interview the now 22 year old revealed the true origins of the hilariously sinister looking image she explained that someone in her neighborhood want

ed to clear their land so they donated their house to the fire brigade for a test burn zoe's dad and amateur photographer saw this as a perfect photo op and asked zoe to pose in front of the house fast forward to 2008 and his photo won a competition in the jpeg photography magazine having gained attention from this it began to circulate the internet with humorous fake context added by text overlays before the roths knew it the photo had gone viral going by the memes you might assume zoe now resi

des in a women's house of detention but she's actually a graduate of the university of north carolina after ironically studying peace war and defense not only that but she's even managed to strike a 486 thousand seven hundred sixteen dollar fortune after selling her meme as an nft back in april 2021. seems like a lot to pay sure but would you dare to say no to that fiery gaze i think not side eyeing chloe disgust confusion anger that's exactly how you want your kid to react when you surprise the

m with a disneyland trip right well back in 2013 two-year-old chloe clem became a viral meme due to her relatable side-eye expression after being told the news that she was going to disneyland chloe glared into the soul of the internet in a video that now boasts over 20 million views now while it's more likely chloe was just startled rather than angered by the revelation her reaction still made for great meme material and was made into a gif by tumblr users this was brought to wider attention so

on after in a buzzfeed article and thus the side-eyeing chloe meme was born but has chloe managed to turn that frown upside down well the now 11 year old is doing regular things for her age like making slime with updates occasionally being shared on the youtube channel run by her mom then speaking of chloe's mom going by this recreation of her daughter's famous photo you can see where chloe gets it from what's more the pair have hatched a cunning plan to capitalize on chloe's signature side eye

they plan to take their meme to the nft market with bids starting at fifteen thousand dollars and while mom wants to use the money to put chloe through college chloe says she'd like to use the money to buy a pony and ironically build her own disney world which just goes to show even someone with a reaction as bitterly disgusted as side eye chloe can have a change of heart over time nian cat in early 2011 our meme sesters were yet to imagine a flying rainbow farting pop-tart cat but for the great

er good of mankind that was all about to change 2011's very own michelangelo chris torres has since explained how it began with a charity fundraiser he was taking part in a drawing live stream where viewers could make requests as they hurled different words towards him he decided to make an amalgamation of them all which resulted in a rainbow farting pop-tart cat the doodle was great but as he slept that night chris literally had dreams of taking it to the next level he claims as soon as he woke

up he began creating the 8-bit animation we now know as nian cat and the best part is barring its pop-tart body and flying abilities the cat was inspired by chris's own russian blue marty the good news is that chris also recently sold the meme as an nft raking in a whopping 587 thousand dollars the bad news however is that in november 2012 marty the muse for nian cat sadly passed away though i'd like to think that he's somewhere up there still flying high charlie bit my finger these days youtub

e is overflowing with content heck it's what keeps me in a job yet in the olden days of youtube watching a baby bite his older brother's finger was enough to keep us entertained for hours in may 2007 british father howard davies carr uploaded a video of his two sons harry and charlie as a way to keep in touch with their godfather who lived in america the hilarious video which centers around harry getting his finger bitten by charlie quickly caught more than just their godfather's attention as it

gained 92 million views in its first two years it became the platform's most viewed video in 2009 with 130 million views as of mid-2021 the video had snapped up a mind-blowing 886 million views but what are things like for the davies carr family now well the boys are all grown up charlie the finger chomper is now 14 and harry the finger chompy seventeen neither have delved into a career of cannibalism they're still at school so we're yet to see what they'll pursue though charlie has enjoyed his

taste of internet fame and plans to become a vlogger well harry likes the idea of becoming an engineer in may 2021 the family sold the video as an nft for a staggering 760 999 coincidentally to the same guy who also bought disaster girl and overly attached girlfriend removing it from youtube as part of the process and while memes may seem like a dumb purchase like precious artworks they're predicted by some to hold their value and become more valuable over time though if you ask me that's a mig

hty fine picasso collection you have will always sound slightly more impressive than damn son then some tasty memes have you ever had a dream if memes were poetry then this next entry one of my personal favorites would be the work of shakespeare but i'll let the video do the talking have you ever had a dream that that you um you had you you could you do you would you want you you could do so you you do you could you you want you want him to do you so much you could do anything couldn't have put

it better myself this meme's origins began in 1999 when an hbo production for a video adaptation of the children's book good night moon visited a little lad named joe crickle's school to audition kids joe was keen to audition but when interviewed things took a turn when asked about dreams joe attempted to reference a line from one of his favorite movies hercules haven't you ever had a dream something you wanted so bad you'd do anything though joe's interpretation was hardly oscar-worthy after be

ing invited to the screening joe was surprised to see that his audition had been used as a blooper the audience erupted into laughter but joe was left woefully embarrassed twelve years later in 2011 youtuber lololark uploaded the clip and since then it has been reposted and gained over 78 million views but what's this little dreamer doing now according to his linkedin profile joe is now founder for his own company far east coast llc where he successfully works generating and signal boosting soci

al media content which goes to show if you ever have a dream that that you um you you had you you what you you uh i give up blinking white guy if you looked up the expression what the heck you'd probably be presented with a picture of drew scanlon's face or rather blinking white guy it is after all the most accurate display of bafflement humanity has produced to date but as memes often are it was a string of unrelated events that led to the inception of this classic meme it's 2013 and drew makes

his routine appearance on the youtube channel giant bomb while playing the game starbound one of the players commentates i've been doing some farming with my ho it was this double entendre that prompted drew to perform his iconic blinks the meme is first thought to have been used in 2015 in a comment on neogaf a video game discussion forum it wasn't until 2017 that the memes spiked in popularity when it began being repurposed for various reactions on twitter these days almost a decade since the

original video aired drew looks a little different with grown-out hair and beard plus of course a little bit of age the drew doesn't get recognized very often he even says most folks don't realize he's the guy from the famous meme but with great meme comes great responsibility and drew used his meme gained fame to raise over 78 thousand dollars for the national multiple sclerosis society proving that everything can change in a blink distracted boyfriend if you type famous memes into google one

of the first ones you'll see is none other than distracted boyfriend a true masterpiece gifted to us by stock photography created by stock photographer antonio guillaume the photo was taken in 2015. in an interview with wired guillaume said he planned to create a series of stock photos exploring infidelity but in a playful and fun way fast forward to 2017 and the shutterstock image was posted to a turkish progressive rock facebook group the meme centered around phil collins favoring pop music ov

er progressive rock and it was from there that distracted boyfriend came to symbolize preference for something you want over something you already have upon discovering they'd been memed the models and gem were astonished by its virality with guillaume even claiming to not know what a meme was little is known about where the models are now but when they are is an entirely different question allow me to explain in a weird glitch of the matrix people have discovered a vintage edition of distracted

boyfriend the shot comes from charlie chaplin's 1922 film payday and the resemblance is uncanny time travel or not it's clear to see no matter the time or place human beings never quite seem satisfied with what they already have hide the pain harold in the land of the memes stock photography really is the gift that keeps on giving and if you ask me andra charato's series of stock photos or should i say hide the payne herald is the eighth wonder of the world while on holiday andros uploaded a fe

w selfies to social media which caught the attention of a stock photographer who was clearly after a someone is pointing a gun at me kinda smile after tracking andrus down they produced hundreds of stock photos which showed andras in a variety of situations and occupations andres later explained how he became tired of having to smile during the shoots which is why his smile looks like it's causing him grave pain while the first use of these images can be traced back to 2011 the fictional charact

er harold is thought to have been born in 2014. in a 4chan thread that year users created a narrative about an unhappy and silently hateful man who's working as a stock photography model spawning the nickname hide the pain harold when andras initially discovered people were taking his photos out of context and adding funny text he wasn't best pleased stating i'm not a funny guy though upon reflection andras now takes it in his stride and embraces his meme status he says that he sees the joy he b

rings to people's lives and how happy they are when they spot him in public and with a smile that infectious it's no surprise please kill me doge the story of doge is truly one of rags to riches after being born at a japanese puppy farm that was eventually shut down by the authorities this shiba ino was sent to the animal shelter it was there that she would be adopted and named kabusu by her new mom atsuko sato in 2010 atsuko uploaded photos of kabosu to her personal blog though there was one pa

rticular shot that grabbed people's attention the name doge was first assigned to the cute pooch in 2010 after a reddit user reposted the photo with the intentional misspelling to a small but positive response then in 2012 more photos of kabosu were posted to the tumblr blog sheba confessions where they were overlaid with broken english phrases in comic sans such as wow and so scare these phrases seem to fit the inner mind of a dog bizarrely well and the meme's popularity began to increase it wa

s in august 2013 though when for some reason a group of 4chan users raided the tongue-in-cheek patriotic subreddit or murica with dozens of images of doge that things began to really take off and unlike previous clashes between reddit and 4chan there was little opposition the meme instead being embraced and spreading across the web like wildfire since her rise to fame doge has not only entered the hearts of millions but the cryptocurrency market in case you've been living under a rock bitcoin th

e original cryptocurrency is essentially a digital currency that can be exchanged for traditional money and in 2013 software engineers billy marcus and jackson palmer created their own cryptocurrency with dogecoin yep doge is basically royalty her face plastered on her own virtual penny in november 2021 the og doge kabosu turned 16 as she celebrated with her 375 000 instagram followers wow so fame such like doge big star gavin ah 2013 a simpler time back when vine still existed and for all you g

en zers vine was essentially the tick tock of my day many stars rose on the platform but none more meme worthy than gavin thomas making his debut in 2013 when he was just two and a half gavin found fame through his uncle nick mastodon's vines his cameos on nick's vine account were extremely popular thanks to his hilariously expressive facial expressions and the occasional seemingly fake smile that could rival hide the pain heralds at times naturally people in their droves began turning screensho

ts of gavin into memes usually with the text mentioning some uncomfortable situation that matched gavin's expressions gavin's mom kate later explained how she never expected any of the extensive popularity but that it was great to see so many people show love for her son these days gavin is looking a little more mature a now nine-year-old boy we can assume he's grown out of those adorable ninja turtles pajamas he's also acquired an astonishing 1.6 million followers on his own instagram where he

keeps his fans happy with regular gavin content often co-starring his chickens the great thing is now that he's approaching his teenage years when gavin inevitably experiences all those cringe-worthy teen moments everyone goes through in high school they'll be able to use his own baby photos for the perfect reaction gifts roll safe like gavin coyote iwomi is another meme legend who found fame using vine coyote created the character rhys smith who due to his initials had given himself the nicknam

e roll safe with his lisp and various shenanigans he was presented as a lovable idiot and unintentionally became a meme coyote's vine character was such a hit that he accepted an offer to develop roll safe in the form of an online mockumentary series produced by bbc yet there was one memeable moment in particular that stuck out first screenshoted and utilized as a text reaction shot by the footy humor twitter account in 2016 a simple yet impactful grin and tap on the head is all it would take to

blast roll safe into meme royalty the meme soon spread being used to express clever thinking either as a gesture of outsmarting someone or sarcastically when jokingly presenting an obvious dumb idea as smart by 2017 the meme had rolled safe to success but in 2022 what's coyote doing now well much to fans disappointment coyote never continued the roll safe character even after reportedly being offered big bucks to do so coyotes explained in interviews how in his view leaving fans wanting more wo

uld maintain the value of the character not only this but his clear comedic ability also left him in high demand leading to other projects such as the bbc tv sitcom enterprise which coyote wrote and starred in and nothing says roll safe like the kind of outsmarting that elevates someone from a meme to a tv star feel old yet ironically the very topic of this video memes then and now has itself become a meme therefore i'd be remiss not to delve into it a little often with the caption feel old yet

this variety of memes shows both memes stars and celebrities jokingly paired with an older lookalike the results while completely fictional can be pretty convincing though most of the time they're just hilarious that being said i have to admit i'm still not convinced some of these aren't the real deal i mean you're telling me that sid from toy story and actor will poulter aren't the same person just existing in alternate universes and whatever happened to that peanut butter baby that took vine b

y storm well what if i told you he grew up into youtuber rhett mclaughlin of red and link i'd be lying of course but the resemblance is uncanny as for john cena he's so committed to the whole you can't see me bit he's now turned fully invisible and draco malfoy now i know this one's a stretch but if hypothetically harry potter and draco were to have a rap battle let's just say i know who i'd put my money on i just like to clarify that malfoy isn't the real slim shady although if he is he should

probably stand up so which meme origin story surprised you the most let me know down in the comments and as always thanks for watching [Music] you