How Do We Tell Him?

About

How Do We Tell Him refers to a catchphrase and exploitable image macro from SpongeBob SquarePants after the character Squidward Tentacles thought SpongeBob had eaten a pie with a bomb filling. The meme template was then used online to show when someone is getting into something new, while innocent and naive, not knowing that there is a darker part to whatever the new thing is. In late 2020, the format emerged online and continued to spread over the following year.

Origin

On January 27th, 2001, the SpongeBob SquarePants season two episode 24A titled "Dying For Pie" was released. In the episode, the character Squidward Tentacles unknowingly bought a pie that had explosive bomb filling as a gift for SpongeBob. Squidward is then terrified after thinking SpongeBob had eaten the pie and realizing that he should explode by the end of the day.

Squidward: Yes, Hello Doctor? Hospital? Won't Do Any Good? Eleven Times? Oh he's a goner, how do we tell him?

A video of this scene was uploaded to YouTube^[9] by the channel Daily Cartoons on April 24th, 2021, gaining 22,000 views in five months (shown below).

On November 7th, 2020, Redditor^[1] Worr-GMS uploaded the first known screenshot of the episode utilizing the caption "how do we tell him?" to the /r/SpongebobMemes subreddit. The post received just 40 upvotes in six months, and on March 12th, 2021, Twitter^[2] user @reactjpg reposted the photo (shown below).

Spread

The catchphrase and format were popularized among Indonesian Facebook users in early 2021 as reactions to innocent people who are getting into something new but didn't know what was going to happen next. For example, on March 5th, 2021, the Facebook^[3] page Kamu Suka Meme uploaded the first-known meme in Bahasa, with the caption translating to "Finally, I can cosplay as Saitama from One-Punch Man in the first panel, while Squidward and Mr. Krabs are depicted as his cancer specialist and parents saying "how do we tell him?" The post received 84 reactions and 52 shares (shown below, left) in five months.

The most popular variant was posted on April 5th, 2021, by Facebook^[4] page Ｋｅｓｅｈａｒｉａｎ　ｄｉ　UM, who uploaded the meme with caption "I want to graduate from high school quickly then go to college, because there is no homework" on the first panel. The post received more than 1,800 reactions and 900 shares in four months (shown below, right).

On May 30th, 2021, Redditor^[5] Somaxs uploaded an English version of the meme using Fire Emblem Heroes characters to the /r/FireEmblemHeroes subreddit. The post received 542 upvotes in three months (shown below, left). The most upvoted example was shared on July 7th, 2021, by Redditor^[6] isthatyouregg, who uploaded the meme to the /r/HollowKnightMemes subreddit. The post received more than 7,700 upvotes in two months (shown below, right).

The scene and catchphrase have continued to be used as meme references since. On May 1st, 2021, Twitter^[7] user @kyjuan06937780 uploaded Sonic the Hedgehog fan art using reference from @reactjpg's tweet. The tweet received 168 likes and 34 retweets in three months (shown below, left). On August 24th, 2021, Redditor^[8] heteroboi uploaded a Polandball related meme and used the scene as a redraw reference to the /r/Polcompball subreddit, receiving 513 upvotes in one month (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Templates

External References