About

Columbo is an American crime drama television series following the story of Lieutenant Columbo, a shrewd but inelegant homicide detective. Portrayed by actor Peter Falk and distinguished by multiple trademarks such as a beige raincoat, a peculiar way of speaking and his catchphrase "Just one more thing," Columbo is widely regarded as an iconic fictional character. In 2021, the series inspired Columboposting, a series of memes in which Columbo comments on various topics or unravels crimes committed by fictional villains in his characteristic manner.

Origin

Crime drama television series Columbo aired on NBC and then on ABC between 1968 and 2003 for 10 seasons and several extra episodes.^[1] The series follows the story of homicide detective Columbo. The main character, Columbo, has a number of gimmicks both in his appearance and manner and his way of work. For example, Columbo often teases his victims, leading to them incriminating themselves. The phrase "Just one more thing," often said by Columbo just as the criminal feels they got off the hook, is Columbo's trademark catchphrase (compilation video shown below).

The trend of using Columbo's manner of speech to humorously comment on various topics started with the gimmick Twitter account @smallercolumbo, created on July 10th, 2020.^[2] The account made humorous posts that copied Columbo's peculiar manner of speech and imagined Columbo being three inches tall.^[3][4][5]

While the account did not achieve widespread popularity, on October 20th, voice actor Gianni Matragrano voiced a number of memes posted by the gimmick account. The video received over 1,500 retweets, 3,600 likes and 37,900 views on Twitter^[6] and 391,000 views on YouTube^[7] in 10 months (shown below).

Spread

The format did not see further spread until March 17th, 2021, when Twitter^[8] user @eeeeeeeeeeeels made a humorous tweet in which Columbo investigated a slip of the tongue regarding retweeting and reblogging. The tweet received over 1,800 retweets and 6,200 likes in five months. On April 19th, 2021, Gianni Matragrano voiced the tweet, with the post gaining over 2,100 retweets, 6,000 likes and 56,300 views on Twitter^[9] and 338,000 views on YouTube^[10] in four months (shown below, left).

On May 7th, 2021, comedian Alasdair Beckett-King posted a YouTube^[11] video "If Columbo Were Anime" that received over 191,000 views in three months (shown below, right).

In May and June 2021, more similar memes were posted by Gianni Matragrano and other users.

The trend achieved further spread after June 23rd, 2021, when Tumblr^[12] user totalspiffage made a humorous post that gained over 32,000 likes and reblogs on the platform in two months (shown below). On July 17th, Matragrano then voiced the meme, with the video gaining over 48,000 views on Twitter^[13] and 290,000 views on YouTube^[14] in three weeks.

In early August 2021, memes in Columbo confronted various fictional villains, exposing their crimes, gained popularity in the /r/TwoBestFriendsPlay subreddit.^[15][16]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References