Don Toliver, Dr. Nefario Comparisons

About

Don Toliver, Dr. Nefario Comparisons is a series of memes comparing the appearance of musician Don Toliver during his performance of "Too Many Nights" at Rolling Loud 2024 to the Despicable Me character Dr. Nefario. At several moments during the performance, which went viral in early May 2024, Don Toliver's chin and face, combined with his sunglasses, reminded users of Dr. Nefario, inspiring videos on TikTok comparing the two. It also inspired more general memes comparing Toliver to other characters and mocking his appearance through lip dubs.

Origin

On March 18th, 2024, the Rolling Loud YouTube^[1] channel uploaded a video of Don Toliver's full performance at Rolling Loud Cali 2024, garnering over 531,000 views in two months (shown below). Around the 32:00 mark, while Toliver sings "Too Many Nights," the camera zooms in on his face several times, showing him sweating, wearing sunglasses and singing. This is the moment that would gain viral spread as a meme.

On April 28th, TikToker^[2] @tyllauhhh1 posted a clip from the performance with an image of Dr. Nefario from the Despicable Me series added underneath his face, captioned, "Don look like Dr. Nefario," garnering over 2 million views in four days (shown below). This is the earliest known meme comparing the two.

Spread

The video inspired further memes poking fun at Don Toliver's looks and comparing him to Dr. Nefario and other characters, with some also expressing curiosity over why musician Kali Uchis is with him. On April 29th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @ollie4927 posted an AI-generated video of Nefario singing over Toliver, garnering over 2.1 million views in three days (shown below, left).

On May 1st, TikToker^[4] @dogwithabeard_ posted a video comparing him to Slimer from Ghostbusters, garnering over 180,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

On the same day, X^[5] user @jotmanjotman posted side-by-side images of Toliver and Dr. Nefario, writing, "why tf is tiktok saying don toliver looks like dr nefario from despicable me 😭," garnering over 7,100 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on May 1st, 2024, TikTokers^[6][7] @diionkrasniiqii and @kbbethuggin2 posted lip dub videos using a filter to alter their chin to resemble Toliver's in the video and captions both comparing him to Dr. Nefario and wondering how he "bagged" Kali Uchis, garnering over 4.1 million views and 4.8 million views, respectively, in a day (shown below, left and right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References