Top 10 Memes of 2017

Script written by Nathan Sharp

Top 10 Memes of 2017

These just keep getting more entertaining. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top Ten Memes of 2017.

For this list, we’ll be looking at memes that gained traction and popularity throughout 2017. It doesn’t matter if the meme was actually created before 2017 – as long as it gained and maintained popularity throughout the year, it’s eligible.

#10: Roll Safe

If you want to encourage someone to think critically, or mock the hell out of them for failing to do so, roll out this meme. In it, the actor Kayode Ewumi from the British comedy webseries “Hood Documentary” taps his temple and gives a wide smile to the camera in a confident gesture, communicating the message “Use your head”. At the end of 2016, Twitter user @FootyHumor uploaded a picture of the gesture complete with a joke about starting a fight with your girlfriend after which you can then go play video games, and the meme snowballed from there into 2017.

#9: Kids Interrupt BBC Interview

This is why you should always lock your door when conducting a live, and very serious, interview on the BBC. In the original video, Professor Robert E. Kelly, a poli-sci professor in Korea, was analyzing South Korean politics via Skype, when his adorable daughter burst into the room with great gusto. It soon escalated, slapstick style, when she was followed by her toddler brother in his mobile playpen, and then their mother, who desperately tried to remove the children while the prof tried to keep his composure. The hilarity gained millions of views, spawned many a gif, and even a cartoon. The Internet can have good wholesome fun sometimes.

#8: Redbone

If there’s another thing the internet loves, it’s Childish Gambino. The “Redbone” meme stems from Childish Gambino’s song of the same name, which quickly grew in popularity when it appeared in Jordan Peele’s incredibly successful “Get Out.” It started as just a song, but then a Twitter user named @chloestixx posted a heavily-muted remix of the song with the caption “What Redbone would sound like while you’re making out in the bathroom of a house party.” Various remixes soon spread throughout the Internet, most of which followed the “What Redbone would sound like…” template. To quote another 2017 hip hop star: Damn.

#7: Drew Scanlon Reaction

No, this is not Michael C. Hall. The reaction, aka white guy blinking, is a hilarious gif of podcaster Drew Scanlon, which originated from a video feature called “Unprofessional Fridays” by gaming website Giant Bomb. Scanlon, picture-in-picture, reacts to a gamer innocently uttering the phrase, “I’ve been doing some farming with my hoe.” The gif, which isolated just Scanlon from the video, has been around since 2015, but didn’t become uber-popular until 2017, when it started to be used to indicate bafflement or offense towards an opinion or statement on Twitter. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s always good for a laugh.

#6: Dancing Hot Dog Snapchat Filter

Snapchat filters are always a good time, and they make for some hilarious videos to send to your friends. However, perhaps none took the Internet by storm faster and harder than the dancing hot dog. The filter was an immediate hit in 2017, and videos featuring the boogieing hot dog then flooded Instagram and YouTube. Side note: Imagine someone trying to decipher the previous sentence back in, say, 1998. There really wasn’t anything online that the Snapchat hot dog couldn’t infiltrate, and it made for an especially wild period on social media.

#5: Meryl Streep Singing

Sometimes the simplest memes are the funniest. Meryl Streep was photographed screaming something at the 2015 Screen Actors Guild awards, and, surprisingly, it took a couple of years for the Internet to get its hands on the picture. But then, the deluge. The most common variations were music-themed memes, with Streep heckling, singing or shouting hilariously misheard or phonetic spellings of song lyrics. There’s just something particularly entertaining about one of the greatest actresses of all time incorrectly crooning along with, say, Alicia Keys or R.Kelly.

#4: Salt Bae

When your meme hits the mainstream Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine, you know you’ve made it. The salt bae meme comes from a video of Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe in which he very, very dramatically sprinkles salt over a steak he has just chopped. The video quickly gained millions of views, and many parodies followed. Salt bae has released many videos of himself working out and elaborately preparing various grilled meats, so fresh memes seem likely to keep coming.

#3: Distracted Boyfriend

Distracted Boyfriend’s cultural impact is undeniable. Also known as Man Looking at Other Woman, this meme involves a stock photo of a man turning around to gawk at a passing attractive woman while his girlfriend stares at him in disbelieving disapproval. The Internet hivemind immediately began to Photoshop the image with various overlaid captions to convey the idea that something - or someone - new has stolen your attention at something or someone’s expense. Examples include socialism over capitalism, memes over productivity, and even those elaborate S letters that kids draw over normal S’s. It can serve as both an innocent meme and social commentary, but no matter how it’s spun, it’s often hysterical.

#2: Cash Me Ousside / Howbow Dah

Daytime TV is always good for a laugh - or a cry - and it helped spawn one of the year’s best memes. This one stems from an episode of “Dr. Phil” that saw the combative and disturbingly coarse 13-year-old Danielle Bregoli threaten the audience with the now-famous phrase. Image macros with Danielle conveying annoyance at slightly irritating and relatable instances began spreading throughout social media in late 2016 and early 2017, leading to newfound fame - and infamy - for the young teen. She soon signed a deal for a reality TV show and released a hip hop single. You see,Internet? This is what happens when you create silly memes.



Before we unveil our top picks, here are a few honorable mentions.



Mocking SpongeBob



The Floor is Lava / Hot Lava Game



Expanding Brain



Cracking Open a Cold One with the Boys



Kellyanne Conway’s Oval Office Couch Photo

#1: Trump’s First Order of Business

2017 was President Donald Trump’s first year in office, and what a glorious year for public affairs memes it was. If it wasn’t Tiny Trumps, it was Trump’s First Order of Business, which is arguably the funniest and most politically scathing meme of the year. This was widespread Photoshopping of Trump showing off his recently-signed executive order, with many hilarious and inappropriate images taking its place, including Dickbutt and a childish drawing of a cat. The possibilities were endless, both for silly humor and searing political satire, and they rarely disappointed. Sad!