About

Mike Wazowski Explaining Things refers to a still image from 2001 video game Monsters Inc.: Wreck Room Arcade in which character Mike Wazowski is shown complaining in front of characters Sulley and Roz. Online, the image has been circulated as an object-labeling meme, usually to illustrates situations in which someone is attempting to explain something.

Origin

In November 2001, the series of collectible mini-games Monsters Inc: Wreck Room Arcade was published by Disney Interactive.^[1] In the game intro, character Mike Wazowski is shown complaining about the rec room ("wreck room") to his work partner Sulley and is interrupted by character Roz.

Spread

On February 8th, 2019, Redditor EpicGamerDuck used a screenshot from the game, hosted by Moby Games,^[6] in a post to /r/me_irl subreddit. The post gained over 5,900 upvotes in three months (shown below).^[2]

In the following months, the image saw moderate spread as a format on Reddit, with notable examples posted in /r/dankmemes^[3] and /r/2me4meirl^[4] (shown below).

On May 9th, 2019, Redditor AbusiveBananaPeel used the image in a post which gained over 32,500 upvotes (shown below), prompting significant spread of the format on the platform in the following days.^[5]

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References