Tony Kornheiser's "Why"

About

Tony Kornheiser's 'Why' is an image macro series featuring a stillshot of American sportscaster Tony Kornheiser and the lower third caption reading "Why." In discussion forums and imageboard communities, Kornheiser's pictures are often used as reaction images to patronize others' opinions or viewpoints.

Origin

Tony Kornheiser is an American sportswriter and talk show host who is best known as the host of his radio program The Tony Kornheiser Show and the co-host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. According to Encyclopedia Dramatica,^[2] the original image of Kornheiser was uploaded on 4chan’s /sp/ board in late 2009, featuring a stillshot of Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon debating the Indianapolis Colts’ decision to rest Peyton Manning in a game against the New York Jets during an episode of Pardon The Interruption.

Across the bottom of the screen, the partially visible lower third caption read “Why did the Colts give up?” (shown below). The juxtaposition of Kornheiser’s self-complacent facial expression with the word ‘WHY’ instantly came off as unexpected and humorous, soon derailing the thread from the original topic to photoshopping Kornheiser’s face onto other pictures

Spread

On December 30th, 2009, a thread featuring several Kornheiser image macros was submitted to the /sp/ board on 4chan,^[5] which received over 300 responses prior to being archived. On January 8th, 2011, IGN Forums^[4] member MonsterTurbine submitted a thread about the meme, questioning why it had not reached the IGN community. On February 21, YouTuber Tommy Phillips uploaded a video featuring a slideshow of different Kornheiser image macros, accompanied by a background song repeating the phrase "Why?" (shown below).

On June 22nd, a thread was created in the /sp/ board on 4chan^[1] requesting other users to respond using only image macros featuring screen shots from Pardon the Interruption.

Notable Examples

Cigar Guy Photo

On October 29th, 2010, Redditor UnicornsAreReal submitted a post titled "This is why I love PTI" to the /r/sports^[3] subreddit, which featured a photograph of Kornheiser dressed as the Cigar Guy from the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales, United Kingdom (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post received over 190 up votes and 25 comments.

Search Interest

External References