About

I'm Nobody Now is a series of redraws and memes based on a post to the /r/moustache subreddit in which a Redditor shared a before and after photo of himself with a handlebar moustache and without, his partner crying on his shoulder in the before image and kissing his cheek in the after. The post was made by Redditor u/JustinCaseVI in December 2018 and became the subject of redraws and memes over the following years.

Origin

On December 30th, 2018, Redditor u/JustinCaseVI posted an image to /r/moustache^[1] consisting of a before and after photo of himself. The before photo shows him smiling with a moustache, goggles and a hood, his partner kissing his cheek. The after photo shows him without a moustache and dressed normally, his partner kissing his cheek while he looks miserable. The post gained over 8,600 upvotes in six years.

On April 30th, 2022, the Redditor made an update post to /r/moustache^[8] in which he shared new photos of himself with a beard and clarified why he had to shave in the first place, writing:

We are still together and two kids deep. So she can’t leave me despite my looks!

Maintaining a well groomed moustache is hard when you have a family, so my last post was probably “peak moustache” for a while. But it will be back when my daughters are in their teens.

Until April 2021 I was an airline pilot and now I work at an office, so that guy from twitter was correct. Thank you COVID.

Thank you for your upvotes and comments, it has meant a lot to me during this last confusing year.

Spread

The post gained viral spread over the following years and became the subject of redraws and memes. On May 30th, 2023, X^[2] user @bejabberz posted a My Hero Academia Earsermic ship pairing redraw of the image, garnering over 3,800 likes in a year.

On June 29th, the original screenshot was then posted to the subreddit /r/197^[3] by u/Plushielizard, garnering over 14,000 upvotes in a year.

On July 4th, 2024, X^[4] user @fabstdraws posted a redraw that gained over 800 upvotes in a year (shown below). On August 23rd, the original post was reposted to /r/ComedyHell,^[5] garnering over 5,900 upvotes in a year. On June 17th, it was then reposted to Threads,^[6] garnering over 400 likes in two months.

On August 28th, X^[7] user @go_succ_an_egg posted the original meme as a reaction image in response to a post comparing Fortnite's old design style to the game's new design style, garnering over 55,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References