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Christ, What An Asshole
About
Christ, What an Asshole refers to a frequently used caption in parodies and remixes of comic strips, particularly the one-panel comics published by the New Yorker. The phrase undercuts attempts well-constructed joke writing by focusing on the behavior of the comic's subject. The original blog posits that the phrase can be applied to any New Yorker cartoon, while others say it extends to just about any comic.
Origin
Blogger Charles Lavoie created the first "Christ, What an Asshole" comic in a 2006 blog post entitled "How 'Christ, What an Asshole!' is the Answer to the New Yorker Magazine Caption Contest."[1] The blog takes a number of comics published by the New Yorker and replaces the caption with "Christ, what an asshole." The blogpost sets up that these would be a proper entry for the New Yorker caption contest, a monthly call for submissions from New Yorker readers.
Spread
The comic went viral online, with many websites, including Boing Boing, [2] Gawker [3] and Wonkette[4] covering the popularity of the comics.
On March 31st, 2010, Redditor [7] norrsson posted about the catchphrase in the /r/funny subreddit. The post received more than 440 points (85% upvoted) and 100 comments.
On April 16th, 2010, Boing Boing[9] linked to a collection of variations of the meme from RobertSinclair.net.[10] The collection featured versions of other famous comics strips, like Marmaduke and Family Circus, which feature the caption (examples below). They wrote, "It was recently theorized that all New Yorker cartoons could be captioned
with 'Christ, what an asshole' without compromising their comedic value. I discovered this is true of virtually all comics, old and new."
Since the mid-2000s, the caption has become a catchphrase online, used to express feelings of contempt towards another.[5] blog comment, as in this response to a post on Rick Perry. It also seems to have potential for crossing over into other memes.
On June 17th, 2012, ArsTechnica[6] published comments by Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor at the New Yorker, regarding how many people actually submit the phrase to the caption content. He said that those submissions are rare. "A total of 27 times for the first 332 contests, and there were 23 contests in which it occurred."
Various Examples
Related Memes
What a Misunderstanding
On December 21st, 2009, Tumblr [8] user what-a-misunderstanding launched a blog that features New Yorker cartoons captioned with the expression "What a misunderstanding?" The blog insinuates that any New Yorker cartoon caption can be replaced with the phrase.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wayback Machine – Christ, What an Asshole!
[2] Boing Boing – Recaptioning New Yorker cartoons with Christ, what an asshole!
[3] Gawker – Correct Answer to 'New Yorker' Cartoon Contest Discovered!
[4] Wonkette – We're Gonna Keep This Up 'till We Get an Embassy Bombed
[5] Balloon Juice – Bobo on Perry
[6] ArsTechnica – “Christ, what an asshole” is only .001% of New Yorker caption contest subs
[8] Tumblr – what-a-misunderstanding
[9] Boing Boing – Every comic is funnier with "Christ, what an asshole" for a punchline
[10] Robert Sinclair – I discovered this is true of virtually all comics, old and new:
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