Know Your Meme - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Know Your Meme is a web series originally from Rocketboom

Rocketboom

Rocketboom is a daily vlog produced by Andrew Baron that was most recently hosted by Meme Molly until August 25, 2011. Joanne Colan hosted from July 12, 2006 until April 17, 2009. In the intervening time between Colan and Molly, Caitlin Hill hosted a few episodes in April 2009...

which documents various Internet memes and other online phenomena, and also investigates new and changing memes through research and the scientific method. The website was acquired in March of 2011 by Cheezburger Network.

Website

The website, named Know Your Meme: Internet Meme Database, currently contains more than 500 confirmed meme entries. The Know Your Meme project started in December 2007 as a limited-run video series created by Kenyatta Cheese, Elspeth Rountree, Jamie Wilkinson

Jamie Wilkinson

Jamie “Dubs” Wilkinson is an internet culture researcher and software engineer. Wilkinson started Know Your Meme, a database of viral internet memes whilst working at Rocketboom in New York City...

, and Andrew Baron. In a manner similar to Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

, anybody with an account can submit meme entries to the website and submit relevant images that help further document the memes. The administrators have say over what gets confirmed and what gets "Deadpooled" or rejected. Some of the meme entries are graphic and Not Safe For Work. NSFW entries are given warnings. These warning may differ from consequences, such as bans. Know Your Meme also has a forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

section, along with a blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

and a shop.

The Know Your Meme web site and web series were acquired in March of 2011 by Cheezburger Network for an undisclosed seven-figure amount.

Episodes

Episodes of the Know Your Meme show average a few minutes in length. In a given episode the KYM staff describe memes and the history behind them. New episodes appear sporadically. Starting in 2010, breaking meme episodes have begun.

Season 2007

Episode	Meme Covered	Airdate
1	One Take	December 17, 2007
2	The Rickroll Rickrolling Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch; a person provides a hyperlink seemingly relevant to the topic at hand, but actually leads to Astley's video...	December 18, 2007
3	I Like Turtles	December 19, 2007
4	Miss Teen South Carolina Caitlin Upton Lauren Caitlin Upton , also credited as Caite Upton, is an American fashion model and a beauty queen from Lexington, South Carolina. While Miss South Carolina Teen USA, Upton became an Internet meme for her nonsensical response to a pageant question.-Career:Upton became Miss South Carolina Teen...	December 20, 2007
5	LOLCats Lolcat A lolcat is an image combining a photograph of a cat with text intended to contribute humour. The text is often idiosyncratic and grammatically incorrect, and its use in this way is known as "lolspeak" or "kitty pidgin"....	December 21, 2007
6	Technoviking Techno Viking Techno Viking is an internet phenomenon or meme based on a video from the 2000 Fuckparade in Berlin.The 4-minute video shot by experimental video artist Matthias Fritsch at the Fuckparade on 8 July 2000 begins with the title "Kneecam No...	December 24, 2007
7	Dramatic Chipmunk Dramatic Chipmunk Dramatic Chipmunk, also known by the more accurate title Dramatic Prairie Dog, is a popular Internet comedy viral video. The video is a five-second clip of the "chipmunk" turning its head while the camera zooms in and dramatic music is played.-Origins:The clip became widely known through uploads...	December 26, 2007
8	Reaction Videos & Piggyback Memes	December 27, 2007
9	Tay Zonday Tay Zonday Adam Nyerere Bahner , better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday, is an American musician, YouTube personality and voice actor. He is well known by listeners for his deep baritone voice whilst singing. He garnered mainstream exposure when his song "Chocolate Rain", and accompanying video on YouTube,...	December 28, 2007
10	Crank That (Soulja Boy) Crank That (Soulja Boy) "Crank That " is the debut single by American rapper Soulja Boy from his debut album souljaboytellem.com. It spent seven weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2007. The song is recognized by its looping steel pan riff. The song was originally produced on the program FL Studio before...	December 31, 2007

Season 2008

Episode	Meme Covered	Airdate
1	Cory's Sunglasses	February 6, 2008
2	tinaecmusic	August 1, 2008
3	All Your Base All your base are belong to us "All your base are belong to us" is a broken English phrase that became an Internet phenomenon or meme in 2000–2002...	August 15, 2008
4	Edgar's fall Edgar's fall Edgar's fall is a video that was uploaded to YouTube in March 2006 from Mexico. This internet meme has been one of the most popular videos in YouTube, with 21,872,668 viewings as of December 24, 2010.- History :...	September 5, 2008
5	O RLY? O RLY? O RLY? is an Internet phenomenon, typically presented as an image macro featuring a Snowy Owl. The phrase "O RLY?", an abbreviated form of "Oh, really?", is popularly used in Internet forums in a sarcastic manner, often in response to an obvious, predictable, or blatantly false statement...	September 10, 2008
6	FAIL	September 24, 2008
7	Boom Goes the Dynamite Brian Collins (reporter) Boom goes the dynamite is the nickname given to a college sportscast at Ball State University in March of 2005 that became an internet sensation...	December 22, 2008
8	The Iraqi Shoe Toss Muntadhar al-Zaidi Muntadhar al-Zaidi is an Iraqi broadcast journalist who served as a correspondent for Iraqi-owned, Egyptian-based Al-Bagh. , al-Zaidi works with a Lebanese TV channel....	December 23, 2008
9	Magibon Magibon Margaret Lillian Adams is an American Internet personality and YouTube celebrity on the video-sharing website YouTube. Magibon is also a member of the YouTube Partner Program.-Biography:...	December 24, 2008
10	The Lipdub	December 26, 2008
11	Disaster Girl	December 29, 2008
12	Political Memes of 2008	December 30, 2008
13	Project Chanology Project Chanology Project Chanology is a protest movement against the practices of the Church of Scientology by members of Anonymous, a leaderless Internet-based group that defines itself as ubiquitous...	December 31, 2008
14	Shiba Inu Puppy Cam Shiba Inu Puppy Cam The Shiba Inu Puppy Cam is a website that featured a live-streamed webcam trained on the puppy-pen for six newborn Shiba Inu dogs born on October 7, 2008...	December 31, 2008

Season 2009

Episode	Meme Covered	Airdate
1	Star Wars Kid Star Wars Kid "Star Wars Kid" is an Internet meme involving a video of a high school student from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, wielding a golf ball retriever in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber moves from the Star Wars films....	January 2, 2009
2	Boxxy Boxxy Catherine "Catie" Wayne , better known as the character Boxxy, is an American internet celebrity known for her highly energetic vlogs...	March 10, 2009
3	Numa Numa Numa Numa Numa Numa is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, most notably Numa Numa Song by Gary Brolsma, made for the song "Dragostea din tei" as performed by O-Zone. Brolsma's video, released in December 2004 on the website Newgrounds.com, was the first Numa Numa–themed video to gain widespread...	March 31, 2009
4	Yo Dawg	April 13, 2009
5	Christian Bale Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses.... Rant	April 16, 2009
6	Single Serving Sites	April 23, 2009
7	Peanut Butter Jelly Time	May 8, 2009
8	Creepy Chan Allison Harvard Allison Elizabeth Harvard is an American fashion model and internet celebrity. She is best known as the internet sensation "Creepychan." She was also the runner-up of the twelfth cycle of America's Next Top Model and is currently competing in Season 17 of America's Next Top Model "All...	May 28, 2009
9	Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat is an Internet meme. It consists of footage from 1984 of "Fatso", a cat owned by Charlie Schmidt of Spokane, Washington, wearing a blue shirt and "playing" an upbeat rhythm on an electronic keyboard. In reality, Fatso was manipulated by Schmidt...	July 7, 2009
10	Three Wolf Moon Three Wolf Moon Three Wolf Moon is a T-shirt featuring three wolves howling at the moon printed by the company The Mountain. The numerous false and misleading reviews for this on Amazon.com have become an Internet phenomenon...	July 30, 2009
11	Weegee	August 7, 2009
12	Bubb Rubb	August 17, 2009
13	David After Dentist David After Dentist David After Dentist is an internet phenomenon which started when David DeVore Jr.'s father posted a video on the internet of his reaction to anesthesia after he had been given oral surgery.- Video origins and publication :...	September 2, 2009
14	Geddan / Get Down	October 1, 2009
15	Where the Hell is Matt? Matt Harding Matthew "Matt" Harding , is an American traveler, video game designer, and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations...	October 8, 2009
16	Auto Tune Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal... (with special guest "Weird Al" Yankovic "Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts... )	November 10, 2009
17	Balloon Boy	November 18, 2009
18	Om Nom Nom Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...	December 18, 2009

Season 2010

Episode	Subject	Airdate
1	Advice Dog	January 29, 2010
2	Phonetic Translations Soramimi or ; is a Japanese term for homophonic translation of song lyrics, that is, interpreting lyrics in one language as similar-sounding lyrics in another language...	March 4, 2010
3	Epic Beard Man AC Transit Bus fight The AC Transit Bus fight was an altercation between two men aboard a transit bus in Oakland, California, in the United States, which took place on February 15, 2010, at approximately 3:00 p.m EST. The fight, featuring 67 years old Thomas A...	April 6, 2010
4	Joseph Ducreux Joseph Ducreux Joseph, Baron Ducreux was a French portrait painter, pastelist, miniaturist, and engraver, who was a successful portraitist at the court of Louis XVI of France, and was able to resume his career after the French Revolution... / Archaic Rap	April 13, 2010
5	Breaking Meme: Standing Cat	April 23, 2010
6	Breaking Meme: The Downfall of Downfall Downfall (film) Downfall is a 2004 German/Italian/Austrian epic war film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945.... ?	April 29, 2010
7	My New Haircut Growing Up Gotti Growing Up Gotti was an American reality television series that appeared on A&E. It featured the life of Victoria Gotti, daughter of Mafia boss John Gotti, and her three sons; Carmine Agnello, Jr., John Gotti Agnello, and Frank Gotti Agnello....	May 25, 2010
8	Magnets, How Do They Work? Miracles (Insane Clown Posse song) Miracles is a song written by Insane Clown Posse and Mike E. Clark for the duo's 2009 album Bang! Pow! Boom!. A music video was produced for the 2010 reissue of the album, dubbed the "Nuclear Edition". The song's lyrics focus on things experienced in everyday life and displaying an appreciation for...	June 12, 2010
9	Troll Bait Troll (Internet) In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...	July 1, 2010
10	Breaking Meme: Double Rainbow Double Rainbow (viral video) Double Rainbow refers to a viral video posted by Paul "Bear" Vasquez. The clip, filmed in his front yard just outside Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California, chronicles his sighting of and Stendhal syndrome-like reaction to a double rainbow...	July 9, 2010
11	Lying Down Game / Playing Dead	August 3, 2010
12	Antoine Dodson (Bed Intruder) Bed Intruder Song "Bed Intruder Song" is a song by The Gregory Brothers and Antoine Dodson , featuring Kelly Dodson. The song by the Auto-Tune the News creators features processed vocals of Antoine Dodson, who was talking to a news reporter about the attempted rape of his sister Kelly...	August 27, 2010
13	Leeroy Jenkins Leeroy Jenkins Leeroy Jenkins, sometimes misspelled Leroy Jenkins and often elongated with numerous additional letters, is an Internet phenomenon named for a player character created by Ben Schulz in Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The character became popular due to a video of the game that...	September 2, 2010
14	Over 9000! Vegeta is a fictional character and antihero in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 5 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z...	October 1, 2010
15	Brother Sharp	October 12, 2010
16	Creepypasta	October 29, 2010
17	Tenso	November 16, 2010
18	GI Joe PSAs	November 23, 2010

Season 2011

Episode	Subject	Airdate
1	Rage Comics	June 14, 2011
2	Philosoraptor	July 6, 2011
3	My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...	August 10, 2011
4	Breaking Meme: Chuck Testa	September 29, 2011
5	Hipster Memes	October 11, 2011
6	Occupy Wall Street	October 18, 2011
7	Minecraft Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...	November 2, 2011
8	60's spider man Spider-Man (1967 TV series) Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man comic book series, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko...	November 15, 2011
9	Pedobear Pedobear Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan. As the name suggests , it is portrayed as a pedophilic bear, and is used to mock pedophiles...	November 22, 2011

Special episodes

Episode	Subject	Airdate
N/A	The Game Show! Pwn, Win, or Fail!	March 25, 2009
N/A	KYM Meme Week: Geddan / Get Down	December 21, 2009
N/A	KYM Meme Week: Yo Dawg	December 22, 2009
N/A	KYM Meme Week: Auto Tune Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...	December 23, 2009
N/A	KYM Meme Week: Boxxy Boxxy Catherine "Catie" Wayne , better known as the character Boxxy, is an American internet celebrity known for her highly energetic vlogs...	December 24, 2009
N/A	KYM Meme Week: Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat is an Internet meme. It consists of footage from 1984 of "Fatso", a cat owned by Charlie Schmidt of Spokane, Washington, wearing a blue shirt and "playing" an upbeat rhythm on an electronic keyboard. In reality, Fatso was manipulated by Schmidt...	December 26, 2009

Recognition

TIME
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

magazine selected Know Your Meme among the 50 Best Websites of 2009.
New York Times Lens Blog listed "Know Your Meme Autotune Episode" as a must-see video on November 28, 2009.
In late 2009, The Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....

called Know Your Meme the best website of 2009.
On December 26, 2009 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

interviewed Kenyatta Cheese of Know Your Meme on the subject of internet memes.
Wired.com mentioned Know Your Meme in an article about Autotune.
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

's website cited KnowYourMeme.com when discussing the trend of the Bra Color Status Updates on Facebook.
MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

cited Know Your Meme on the subject of Balloon Boy and called the article "meticulously recorded".
Know Your Meme won a Streamy Award in 2010 for Best Guest Star in a Web Series. The site was also nominated for Best Hosted Web Series.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.