Content Warning: Portions of this entry make mention of suicide, which some may find difficult or upsetting. If you need support or are dealing with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website or call 1-800-273-8255.

About

Laughing Guy Feigning Suicide or Laughing Guy Pretending to Kill Himself is a viral video of TikToker @justinsilvajr feigning the intention to commit suicide by jumping off a balcony, drinking bleach and setting himself on fire while laughing it off. The video, filmed as a parody of the It's Totally Okay To Let Your Goofy Side Shine Through video, later became popularized as a reaction meme format in video and GIF captions.

Origin

Sometime after June 23rd, 2022, TikToker @justinsilvajr posted an It's Totally Okay To Let Your Goofy Side Shine Through meme in which he feigned intention to commit suicide through various means, including jumping off a balcony, drinking Clorox bleach and setting himself on fire, all while smiling and laughing to demonstrate that it was his "goofy side" (reupload^[1] shown below). The TikTok, which has since been deleted, is a parody of the original It's Totally Okay to Let Your Goofy Side Shine Through by TikToker^[2] Andrew Curtis (_@andrewcurtiss), first posted on June 23rd, 2022.

Spread

On August 11th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @allreactionvids posted the video, captioning it with a description of its content. The video, which was then used as a video caption format, gained over 29.1 million views, 750 retweets and 5,700 likes in one year (shown below).

A man smiling and laughing pretending like he’s gonna jump from a balcony, drink bleach and set himself on fire pic.twitter.com/pB1bdJ1tUM

— all reaction videos (@allreactionvids) August 11, 2021

The video has been used in memes at least since August 2021. For example, on August 19th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @s7n_14 posted a meme that gained over 1,300 retweets and 4,300 likes in one year (shown below).

Les cours reprennent dans 2 semaines pic.twitter.com/7WV3vsvy4b

— 𝒔𝒍𝒏’ (@s7n_14) August 19, 2021

The video achieved viral popularity as a video caption format in July 2022 after July 18th when Twitter^[5] user @mitskifilmss posted a meme about actress Anya Taylor-Joy getting married that received over 8,900 retweets and 79,200 likes in four months (shown below).

anya taylor joy is married congrats baby pic.twitter.com/Z5qtWIFUJ9

— reign εїз (@mitskifilmss) July 18, 2022

In the following months, more memes using the video received viral spread, particularly among stans and sports fans.

Various Examples

today after checking the price of anything i'm invested in pic.twitter.com/TIxNQ5Ri46

— Puff Yachty ⛵️ (@PuffYachty) August 19, 2022

“ponytail junhui waved at me” “ponytail junhui smiled at me” “i looked at jun while he was tying his hair up” pic.twitter.com/rYoz34c7E2

— effe (@minghuiarte) September 3, 2022

Anyone who drafted Cam Akers right now

pic.twitter.com/A0poCXhyfg

— Alex Caruso (@AlexCaruso) September 9, 2022

Search Interest

External References