About

Detective Pikachu Dancing is an image macro and GIF series based on a viral video of the Pokémon character Pikachu from the 2019 film Detective Pikachu dancing. Additionally, some online remixed the video, setting Pikachu's dance to other music.

Origin

On May 7th, 2019, Detective Pikachu the YouTube account Inspector Pikachu posted a bait-and-switch video of Pikachu dancing for roughly 90 minutes. Within two days, the post received more than 14 million views (shown below).

Spread

That day, following the video's release, Twitter user @luulubuu posted a video of the dancing Pikachu juxtaposed with a sketch from the American sketch comedy series Key and Peele, which they believe was the basis for the dancing Pikachu's choreography. Within two days, the post received 77,000 retweets and 217,000 likes.

Detective Pikachu recreated my favorite Key & Peele sketch and my jaw is on the floor pic.twitter.com/1OKjz9Urgq

— 🏳️‍🌈Lulu🏳️‍🌈💐🍔⚡💪 (@luulubuu) May 8, 2019

Key and Peele star Jordan Peele retweeted^[2] the video comparison and joked "Cease and desist." The post received more than 33,000 retweets and 222,000 likes in two days (shown below).

That day, people began remixing the video. For example, Twitter user @zigstripes posted a variation set to the A-Ha song "Take On Me". The post received more than 33,000 retweets and 81,000 likes in two days (shown below).

I hate that this is the music I hear when I see pikachu dancing pic.twitter.com/sZYQ3Zq9An

— KAYCEE @ TCAF. Now with CHAOTIC ENERGY (@zigstripes) May 8, 2019

Some used the video as a reaction image macro. On May 9th, Redditor ^[1] Lmnja posted an Oompa Loompa Celebrating meme with the dancing Pikachu as the punchline on the /r/dankmemes subreddit. Within 24 hours, the post received more than 57,000 points (94% upvoted) and 280 comments (shown below).

Several media outlets covered the meme, including Bustle,^[3] SyFy,^[4] Mashable, ^[5] Nerdist,^[6] PopBuzz^[7] and more.

Various Examples

Pikachu but he's dancing to Toxic by Britney Spears pic.twitter.com/lPfXKz3xFT

— Jarod🌷 (@Mousstery) May 8, 2019

here's 41 seconds of Detective Pikachu dancing to Roman Holiday at hyperspeed pic.twitter.com/pmNEv6FdbX

— Adam Moussa (@adamjmoussa) May 8, 2019

Search Interest

External References