About

Patrick That's a Gun refers to a series of video remixes based on a scene from a 2000 episode of SpongeBob Squarepants in which SpongeBob asks Patrick Star to get a jar so he can show him how to open it. Instead, Patrick pulls out another item, usually a gun, and uses it. Notably, this episode also contains the No, This Is Patrick meme.

Origin

On November 16th, 2000, Season 2 episode 23a of SpongeBob Squarepants aired, titled "Big Pink Loser."^[1] In the episode, Patrick is disappointed that he has never won an award while SpongeBob has won so many. To help his friend, SpongeBob decides to teach Patrick how to do basic tasks. At one point in the episode, he tries to teach Patrick how to open a jar. He asks Patrick to get a jar, but instead he picks up a pickle, followed by a spatula, his pants, then SpongeBob himself (shown below).^[2] Eventually, he manages to open the jar, believing he broke it.

On October 4th, 2019, @conkface uploaded an edit of the scene to Twitter^[3] in which Spongebob tells Patrick to get a jar, but instead, he brandishes a handgun. Spongebob says, "Patrick, that's a gun," to which Patrick answers, "yes." There's a cut to an exterior drawing of the Krusty Krab as a shot goes off inside, followed by screams and transition music (shown below).

Spread

@conkface's video spread through various reposts. For example, on October 7th, 2019, Keanu Paler reuploaded the video to YouTube, garnering over 1.5 million views in roughly a year.^[4] On November 4th, xchrisxwoodsx reuploaded the video to YouTube garnering over 2.8 million views.^[5]

The video inspired a number of other original edits based on the scene. On November 24th, SpongeSicle uploaded a re-animated version of the meme to YouTube,^[6] garnering over 835,000 views in just over a year (shown below).

On December 7th, 2020, Tom XN uploaded a version of the meme referencing John Cena to YouTube,^[7] garnering over 6,200 views in 2 months (shown below, left). The next day, Tom XN uploaded a version of the meme with a grenade instead of a gun to YouTube,^[8] garnering over 200,000 views in a comparable span of time (shown below, right).

On December 9th, conkface reuploaded the original meme to their channel^[9] titled, "Patrick that's a gun (but it's uploaded by the original creator)" after noticing the large view counts reuploads were gaining.

On January 19th, 2021, Aozolai uploaded a version of the meme where Patrick brandishes a rocket launcher rather than a gun to YouTube,^[10] garnering over 4.8 million views in 2 weeks (shown below, left). On January 28th, XDMEME uploaded a version with an AK-47 to YouTube,^[11] garnering over 818,000 views in 5 days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References