If you don’t already know who comedian John Mulaney is (how?), he’s a guy you’ve seen a bunch of places without realizing it. He’s the the co-creator of the Stefon character on SNL, the voice of Spider-Ham, and he’s shared the perfect analogy about Donald Trump and has strong feelings about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also the inspiration for a meme that can come in handy for describing so many fandoms, from music to movies to plays and even baseball players and professional wrestlers.
The origin of the meme came from Anja Reese last year, when she shared a Twitter thread of captioned screencaps of John Mulaney, describing famous musicals with Mulaney quotes from his stand up specials. Later in the year, YouTuber True Virgo made a nearly five minute-long version of Othello using John Mulaney clips. We’ll get to those examples in a moment, but first let’s talk about how the meme really took off this week.
Exactly one year after Reese’s original thread, Twitter user Ayrbee started a similar meme which then sparked several imitators over the past few days. Ayrbee’s thread summarized “pop punk bands of the 2000s as John Mulaney quotes,” and there were several fitting examples:
My Chemical Romance pic.twitter.com/4rt8xZCYuK
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
Fall Out Boy pic.twitter.com/UTDKkEZLZz
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
Panic! At The Disco pic.twitter.com/wAnXhR2riD
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
Alkaline Trio pic.twitter.com/QBHJL3FLwz
— Todd Riley (@TyRosati) January 29, 2019
Green Day pic.twitter.com/uEz7IOuAnY
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
Blink-182 pic.twitter.com/TRA0rSOEoH
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
Brand New pic.twitter.com/pl54cPJI34
— Autumn Thee Season | BLM ๐ (@lyktheseason) January 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/Tyler_Magazzu_/status/1090200688276193280
https://twitter.com/kimmi_page/status/1090281482311139328
https://twitter.com/kimmi_page/status/1090280425279377414
Several other Twitter users then applied John Mulaney quotes to their own favorite topics. James McKenna used them to describe professional wrestlers:
finn balor pic.twitter.com/JoXy2GkZRM
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
ronda rousey pic.twitter.com/fTIrk5Gn5W
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
jack gallagher pic.twitter.com/Y7vSl5KF2l
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
hulk hogan pic.twitter.com/DKcrZgDfQe
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
the new day pic.twitter.com/KsZKlXrv6O
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
dean ambrose pic.twitter.com/tFvj05zeXa
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
i didnโt add this initially to the wrestlers as mulaney quotes thread.
but this is 100% ric flair. pic.twitter.com/D7G19g7KPF
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
sami zayn pic.twitter.com/jJWc6wgZOK
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
kevin owens pic.twitter.com/l7H74q2tC9
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
And a joke thread about professional wrestlers wouldn’t be complete without one for Vince McMahon:
vince mcmahon pic.twitter.com/ov7tcCnLSi
— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019
Then Amanda Smith came along to describe the 2018 Dodgers as John Mulaney quotes:
Chase Utley pic.twitter.com/qfX2fI2vAJ
— Amanda Smith (@AmandaSmithSays) January 31, 2019
Cody Bellinger pic.twitter.com/XStgAkpPnX
— Amanda Smith (@AmandaSmithSays) January 31, 2019
Kyle Farmer pic.twitter.com/V4IsN4j87N
— Amanda Smith (@AmandaSmithSays) January 31, 2019
Corey Seagerโs instagram pic.twitter.com/rwojJbRd0x
— Amanda Smith (@AmandaSmithSays) January 31, 2019
It wasn’t only modern music getting parodied. Liora Strong applied John Mulaney quotes to classical composers:
J.S. Bach pic.twitter.com/bMt8gRSWZq
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Mozart pic.twitter.com/9O1WEdZ15u
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Wagner pic.twitter.com/PsnepIJsA2
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Shostakovich pic.twitter.com/o72Fv1hS2n
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Debussy pic.twitter.com/MFtEDuwE5Q
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Beethoven pic.twitter.com/Ga9ZxTcbF6
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Copland pic.twitter.com/MB5fWMaEPl
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
Sousa pic.twitter.com/3nhikejoLo
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 30, 2019
OMG FINE TCHAIKOVSKY STOP ASKING pic.twitter.com/nmMJ0i3wZ9
— pumpkin spice shmatte (@leeoruh) January 31, 2019
Returning to the meme that started it all, here are some of our favorites from Anja Reese‘s original thread summarizing musicals (and movies) with John Mulaney quotes:
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012331721524686853
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012333771671134210
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012333497929945095
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012331895294693379
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012335423769776130
Rent pic.twitter.com/Y6B5h26EVC
— La Gwenerentola (Rossini, 1817) (@barit0wned) July 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012334079319134208
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012333156018647040
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012333367143133184
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012519827720822784
Sweeney Todd option 2 pic.twitter.com/3Mj8FBGUgR
— Marisa (((ืืืจืฉื ืขืื ื))) (@misa3913) July 3, 2018
The Wiz pic.twitter.com/aqeolLgABG
— Josh Trattner (@JTratts) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012524464389656576
https://twitter.com/lildolewhip/status/1012527718607605761
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark pic.twitter.com/14ZoxFkRH7
— Marisa (((ืืืจืฉื ืขืื ื))) (@misa3913) July 3, 2018
And finally, here’s an impressive Mulaney re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Othello. This might as well happen:
(Via Anja Reese, True Virgo, Yikes On Bikesโข, Vulture, James McKenna, Amanda Smith, and Liora Strong)