About

Big Brain Kowalski is a two-panel reaction image macro featuring screenshots of the character Kowalski from the animated television series Penguins of Madagascar. The top image shows the character with a normal skull shape and his tongue sticking out, and the bottom image shows Kowalski smiling with an enlarged head. The images are usually juxtaposed by increasingly verbose expressions (similar to Tuxedo Winnie the Pooh).

Origin

On February 26th, 2011, the episode "Brain Drain/Right Hand Man" of Penguins of Madagascar premiered.^[1] In the episode, Kowalski attempts to boost his brainpower through a science experiment. The experiment leaves his skull engorged (clip below).

The earliest known usage of the meme was posted on October 14th, 2018 by Redditor^[3] Diamorphine330ml in the /r/dankmemes subreddit (shown below).

Spread

On January 8th, 2020, Redditor ^[2] yardenep47 posted a two-panel template for Big Brain Kowalski. The post received more than 4,600 points (98% upvoted) and 25 comments in less than two days (shown below).

That day, Redditor^[4] shared a variation in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit. The post received more than 19,000 points (89% upvoted) and 75 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below, center). Additionally, Redditor^[5] WeakWrecker shared a variation about the conflict between the United States and Iran. The post received more than 13,000 points (96% upvoted) in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

Not available.

External References