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Where Did 'Captain, It's Wednesday' Come From? The 'What A Week, Huh?' Comic And Meme Explained
It seems like every week has some cause for social media users to post this comic around Wednesday: Captain Haddock, seemingly quite drunk, asking Tintin from The Adventures Of Tintin comic book series, "What a week, huh?" with Tintin responding, "Captain, it's Wednesday."
Those of you with some pop culture knowledge may know that something about this meme isn't quite right. First of all, the quotes are very unlike Tintin, and second, the joke isn't even originally from Tintin.
So what's the story behind this reaction image? Here's the journey of how this meme came to be.
Where Does 'What A Week, Huh?' Come From?
If "Captain, it's Wednesday" doesn't sound right to you, that's because the joke originally read, "Lemon, it's Wednesday."
That's right, the joke is originally from 30 Rock, with the character Liz Lemon (portrayed by Tina Fey) saying, "What a week, huh?" and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) responding, "Lemon, it's Wednesday."
The scene first aired in 2009 and saw some use as a 30 Rock meme in the years since, however, it's become far less prevalent than the Tintin version.
Why Is Tintin In The 'What A Week, Huh?' Meme Now?
As you might expect, the original The Adventures of Tintin panel that hosts the meme does not have the same dialogue.
On June 21st, 2017, Tumblr gimmick account Incorrect Tintin posted the panel we know today, setting the meme up to be posted on Wednesdays for the rest of time (or at least the next seven years).
Despite the dialogue coming from a completely different source than Tintin, the Incorrect Tintin edit went on to inspire dozens of memes as users online used it as exploitable redraw format and replaced the two characters with others from pop culture.
The meme has proven to be an ever-reliable day-of-the-week meme, arguably even supplanting its predecessor, It is Wednesday, My Dudes, perhaps due in large part to weeks being exceptionally exhausting by Wednesday multiple times for many in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
For the full history of What a Week, Huh?, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
