About

Pumpkin Guy, also known as Guy Yelling Pumpkin, is a viral video and catchphrase of a disabled man shouting the word "pumpkin" during a YouTube video when asked what his favorite vegetable is. The force at which he says the word, combined with his pitch and facial expression, led to it being used as a meme that would spike in popularity every Halloween and Spooktober since it began appearing in early 2021. Its usage has fluctuated between being used as a jumpscare inside other memes, as well as just having the phrase edited to be faster or slower in YouTube edits.

Origin

On January 29th, 2021, YouTuber ThatBritishGuy^[1] uploaded a video titled "Whats Your Favorite Vegetable" before showing several people with various disabilities answering the question. Halfway through the video, after the answer "peas" is given, the word "pumpkin!" is shouted with gusto by one of the men.

This upload (shown below) received 1.1 million views in three years, while a similar reupload that took off the intro and outro that was posted a month later received 3.8 million views in a similar timeframe.

Shortly after the video's release, many different content creators attempted to create their own memes using Pumpkin Guy. On February 19th and 21st, YouTubers Dougie^[2] and Jhgreen28^[3] both uploaded early meme examples to YouTube in which the Pumpkin Guy is used in a tense, scary way. This is done in both videos by including the echo from the original video, as well as having Pumpkin Guy appear as a jumpscare and shouting the word "pumpkin," with both videos attaining over 150,000 views in three years, respectively (shown below, left and right).

Spread

After the initial edits of the context, the video began to be changed in different ways while still being uploaded. On February 21st and March 7th, 2021, YouTubers BigBlue^[4] and Meaning of Life^[5] both uploaded their own variations of the original video.

BigBlue's version, which focused on the different types of vocal adjustment that could be made to the original sound clip, received over 340,000 views in three years, while Meaning of Life's version, which was only about speeding it up slightly faster and faster, received over 104,000 views in three years (shown below, left and right).

The meme saw relatively little spread over the following years, only seeing usage when it was near October as a part of Halloween or Spooktober edits. In 2024, it saw a spike before Halloween as it was used in a viral example by TikToker zendaddy247,^[6] who used it in a Subtle Foreshadowing meme and earned over 1.1 million likes in five days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References