Meme using the catchphrase / is he stupid meme.

Is He Stupid? / Is She Smart?

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Updated Mar 24, 2023 at 05:38PM EDT by Zach.

Added Mar 16, 2023 at 02:01PM EDT by Mateus.

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About

Is He Stupid? or Is She Stupid? is a catchphrase and phrasal template that started on the /r/okbuddychicanery subreddit in which users ironically ask about certain plot details of the Breaking Bad universe lore, calling out the villain Gus as "stupid" for complaining about a worker's cooking skills for his facade-restaurant. The trend became popularized in February 2023, inspiring other fandoms to post memes of plot details that the main character could've easily solved. As the trend expanded into March 2023, other variations of the phrase setup emerged, particularly Is He Smart? and Is She Smart?, among others.

Origin

On May 4th, 2022, Redditor u/Lebind[1] shared a picture of a Better Call Saul scene from season six episode four in which the villain Gus is commenting about an employee’s cooking skills not being fit for the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant. Redditor u/Lebind added the image in the subreddit /r/okbuddychicanery[2] with the caption "I was watching BrBa and got to this scene, ¿Why the does gus give a shit if Walt can cook a fucking chicken? ¿Is he stupid?" The post garnered 67 upvotes and six comments in a year (seen below).


r/okbuddychicanery Posted by u/Lebind 10 months ago I was watching BrBa and got to this scene, ¿Why the does gus give a shit if Walt can cook a fucking chicken? ¿Is he stupid? 68 upvotes 6 comments He's not up to Pollos standards.

Spread

On February 5th, 2023, Redditor u/Encajado[3] shared a picture of a Batman: Arkham Knight scene in which Batman is looking over the city after the villain Scarecrow activated a device that shrouded the entire city in a deadly fear gas. User u/Encajado added the image in the lore recap section of the /r/BatmanArkham[4] subreddit with the caption "Why doesn't Batman just call the Justice League for help? Is he stupid?" The post[5] received 5,500 upvotes and 550 comments in one month (seen below).


r/Batman Arkham. Posted by u/Encajado 1 mês ago Lore Recap Why doesn't Batman just call the Justice League for help? Is he stupid? 5557 upvotes 550 comentários BATMAN ¹8

The trend was initially kept on the /r/BatmanArkham subreddit but spread to other subreddits and fandoms in early March 2023. For instance, Reddit[6] user /u/POKing99 uploaded an image to the /r/lotrmemes subreddit on March 11th, depicting Frodo from The Lord of The Rings with the caption "Why does he keep getting stabbed? Is he stupid?" The post (seen below) received 5,400 upvotes and 304 comments in five days.


r/lotrmemes. Posted by u/POKing99 4 dias ago Lord of the Rings Why does he keep getting stabbed? Is he stupid? 5437 upvotes 304 comentários

The /r/MortalKombat subreddit community also joined the trend, with a post mocking Raiden's reasoning for killing Liu Kang in the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. Uploaded on March 15th by Redditor[7] /u/DeadshotCanTwine, the post (seen below) garnered 890 upvotes and 144 comments in a day.


Why did Raiden kill Liu Kang? Is he stupid? Question Jobumy OCAGE What did you do?!

Twitter[8] users also got on board in the trend, like @Sxmureye who, on March 14th, shared an image of Ace's execution in the One Piece anime with the ironic caption "Why didn’t Ace just get up and leave? Is he stupid?" The tweet received 3,690 likes and 171 retweets in two days (seen below).


Samureye @Sxmureye. Follow Why didn't Ace just get up and leave? Is he stupid? 12:40 PM - Mar 14, 2023 3.6K Reply ↑ Share

Other variations of the phrase also spread in March 2023, such as "is she not smart?" For example, on March 19th, 2023, Redditor Terraknor posted one such meme using this version on the /r/FireEmblemHeroes[11] sub, receiving over 580 upvotes in five days (seen below).


Why did she take a fatal blow by jumping in front when Dagr can clearly defend herself? Is she Nótt smart? Nótt Skip ...Heh. Sorry, Dagr, but I think...it's time for me to go....and for you to find your own way... }

Is He/She Smart?

Additional counter-versions to the original "is he/she stupid?" memes emerged going into late March 2023. For example, Redditor[10] IndependentUpper5965 posted one using the caption "Is he smart?" on March 20th, receiving over 1,700 upvotes in four days (seen below, left). On March 24th, Redditor Existing-One-3199 posted another example to the /r/freefolk[9] subreddit, receiving over 1,800 upvotes in 12 hours (seen below, right).


Why did 17 stop universe 2 from transforming? Is he smart? How could you interrupt it?! How did Arya know Daenerys was actually a murderer? Is she smart? I know a killer when I see one

Various Examples


r/okbuddychicanery. Posted by u/Afterwut 5 horas ago Why did Saul quit being a lawyer to work at a cinnabon? Is he stupid? 36 upvotes - 2 comentários 8 r/silenthill . Posted by u/NoWeAreVenom 3 dias ago Meme Why didn't James just apologize? Is he stupid? 932 upvotes - 59 comentários r/Tekken. Posted by u/Trem45 2 dias ago Shit Post Why doesn't Jin just shoot Kazuya with a gun? Is he stupid? 270 upvotes 58 comentários по G r/Devil May Cry Posted by u/gorogorogoro-chann 3 dias ago Question Why is Dante in DMC2? Is he Stupid? 554 upvotes 60 comentários 9. Yellow @Yellow_SB2. Follow Why can't Vegeta Blue command grab crouching opponents, is he stupid? 10:09 PM . Mar 14, 2023 sugaryspireyuri Д @nyaramitan3 . Follow Why doesn't Peppino just eat Pizzaface, is he stupid? 11:40 AM. Mar 14, 2023 Ⓡ

Search Interest

External References

[1] Reddit – u/Lebind

[2] Reddit – r/okbuddychicanery

[3] Reddit – Encajado

[4] Reddit – BatmanArkham

[5] Reddit – Is he stupid? Origin post

[6] Reddit – POKing99

[7] Reddit – DeadshotCanTwine

[8] Twitter – Sxmureye

[9] Reddit – r/freefolk

[10] Reddit – r/Ningen

[11] Reddit – r/FireEmblemHeroes

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