About

Relax Liberals, It's Called Dark Humor is an ironic usage of a catchphrase that grew popular on TikTok in August of 2023. The meme generally takes the form of childish wordplay followed by the assurance "Relax liberal, it's called dark humor." An example of such a joke is "Replace the "p" in "part" with an "f," or "Remove the "ha" from "happiness." Early iterations of the joke often used Joker imagery, not unlike the Gamer Joker meme. The format is related to Take It Easy, Globehead, They're Just Flat Earth Memes.

Origin

On June 29th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @fatherdimm posted a video clip of the Joker with text that read, "DO NOT remove the "ine" from "fine art." Relax l*berals, it's called DARK HUMOUR." The post gathered over 2 million plays and 300,000 likes in nearly 4 months (seen below, left).

On June 30th, TikToker^[2] @yousuckatapextrs_1 posted a similar video, showing a scene from the Jordan Peele movie Get Out alongside text that read, "Liberals when they replace outs in outsmarts with F. Relax liberals it's called dark humor." The post gathered over 700,000 plays and 70,000 likes in nearly four months (seen below, right).

Precursor

The format borrows its structure from the Take It Easy, Globehead, They're Just Flat Earth Memes meme that first achieved popularity in 2019, spawning the Take It Easy, X, They're Just Y snowclone.

Spread

On July 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[3] @talupes posted a video showing Joker footage with a caption that read, "Warning: Joke. What do you call a dog in Ohio? Zawg. Relax liberals, it's called dark humor." The post gathered over 500,000 plays and 80,000 likes in nearly four months (seen below, left). On August 2nd, TikToker^[4] @femurbreakr posted a version of the meme, gathering over 1.4 million plays and 280,000 likes in three months (seen below, right).

On August 3rd, TikToker^[5] @bkaza514 posted a video following the trend and gathering over 800,000 plays and 140,000 likes in two months (seen below, left). On September 23rd, TikToker^[6] @theyhatemax_ posted a meme subverting the catchphrase, writing, "If Global Warming is real why don't men get periods. Relax liberals, this is called a brain tumor." The post gathered over 500,000 plays and 116,000 likes in a month (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References