About

Firmly Grasp It is a line said by Patrick Star in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in which he instructs Squidward Tentacles to firmly grasp a jellyfish net. The scene has been used in numerous redraw memes and parody videos..

Origin

On July 31st, 1999, season 1 episode 3a of SpongeBob SquarePants titled "Jellyfishing" premiered in the U.S. In the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick bring an injured Squidward jellyfishing. Patrick asks him to firmly grasp a jellyfish net, but Squidward can't since his hands are bandaged. Patrick gets upset and stabs the jellyfish net through Squidward's bandages and possibly his hand. On July 13th, 2013, YouTube^[1] user Emma Andros uploaded the scene. It received more than 1.3 million views in nine years (shown below).

Spread

Over the course of the 2010s, many edits of the scene have been uploaded to YouTube. For example, on December 25th, 2016, YouTube^[2] user CheeseGlace uploaded an Ear Rape version of the scene. It received more than 587,000 views in six years (shown below, left). On April 3rd, 2018, YouTube^[3] user Zero Sponge uploaded the Japanese dubbed version of the scene. It received more than 384,000 views in four years (shown below, right).

On December 16th, 2015, YouTube^[4] user BigfootBeto uploaded an SFM video of Team Fortress 2 characters reenacting the scene. The video received more than 100,000 views in seven years (shown below, left). On December 20th, 2015, YouTube^[5] user thespecialkeys uploaded an animation project using the scene as reference. The video received 52,000 views in seven years (shown below, right).

On February 18th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user @niwakawaiii uploaded an image of The Idolmaster character holding a brush, compare it to the SpongeBob scene. The tweet received more than 13.4 likes and 5,000 retweets in two years (shown below, left). On August 16th, 2021, Reddit^[7] user AnnieApple_ uploaded an image of an Animal Crossing character grasping a net similar to how Squidward grasped the jellyfish net to the /r/AnimalCrossing subreddit. The post received more than 1,600 upvotes (shown below, center). On February 28th, 2022, Reddit^[8] user SpaceNoodle12 uploaded an image of a Genshin Impact character grasping a fork to /r/Genshin_Memepact subreddit. The post received more than 5,700 upvotes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References