Out Pizza the Hut

About

Out Pizza the Hut is a catchphrase used in a series of surreal and ironic memes, which warns against trying to "out pizza the hut," describing the consequences experienced by those who attempt to do so. It was inspired by Pizza Hut's slogan, "No One OutPizzas The Hut," which started in 2016. The phrase was first used on Twitter in 2016 but increased in usage within ironic Reddit communities in October 2019.

Origin

In 2016, the fast-food pizza chain Pizza Hut started using a new slogan at the end of their television commercials that stated, "No One OutPizzas The Hut." This is evident in two 2016 advertisements that both include the slogan, reposted to YouTube on October 7th, 2016, by the YouTuber Liviu Marica. The video (shown below) amassed roughly 41,500 views over the course of five years.

Likely as a response to the new Pizza Hut ads, Twitter^[1] user DustinCriderMMA tweeted on September 22nd, 2016, "I personally think a few places out pizza the hut. Just my opinion though," serving as the earliest known online use of the phrase. The tweet (shown below) received only two likes in six years.

Spread

The phrase was used sporadically on Twitter going into 2017 and 2018. An early example of an "out pizza the hut" tweet comes from Twitter^[2] user TheRealTomDomol, who tweeted on September 20th, 2016, "Rest assured. Chuck Norris would easily out pizza the Hut" (shown below, left). On November 10th, 2016, Twitter^[3] user JustinMWollman tweeted, "You can't out pizza the hut," with an attached image of a pizza monster, earning nine likes in five years (shown below, right).

In mid-2019, "out pizza the hut" memes picked up in abundance due to the reference's prevalence on Reddit's /r/OkBuddyRetard. On August 16th, 2019, Redditor ProfAlbertEric posted a meme to /r/okbuddyretard,^[4] receiving over 350 upvotes for it in three years (shown below, left). On October 10th, 2019, Redditor Lonesome-Bones posted a meme to /r/okbuddyretard,^[5] earning over 670 upvotes in three years (shown below, right).

On November 7th, 2019, a meme using Jeffery Epstein's mugshot was posted to /r/okbuddyretard^[6] by Redditor ztrppy, gaining roughly 20,900 upvotes over the course of three years (shown below, left). The meme went viral enough to inspire an Instagram copycat, posted by Instagram^[7] account b4pis on November 12th. It earned roughly 8,300 likes, also over three years (shown below, right).

More Out Pizza The Hut memes appeared across platforms like Reddit^[8] going into 2020 and 2021, becoming increasingly absurd in nature. Video memes incorporating the catchphrase also landed on YouTube, like a video posted by YouTuber JakeMac on November 26th, 2019, titled, "[ASMR] Yoda tries to Out Pizza the Hut." The video (shown below, left) received roughly 171,000 views in three years. On March 18th, 2020, a cartoon was posted by YouTuber Cheetoh Studios that received roughly 136,800 views in two years (shown below, right).

GIF Captions using the catchphrase were also uploaded to iFunny, like one posted by iFunnier^[9] Aurelius on November 1st, 2019, that used a Thanos GIF and received over 460 smiles in three years (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References