About

Wait A Minute, There Was No Cane in Citizen Kane refers to an exploitable meme inspired by a Simpsons scene where Lisa looks at a case displaying the "cane from Citizen Kane," only to realize that there is no such thing. The image has inspired memes where people replace the item in the display case to joke about movie titles, such as the "wick" from John Wick, or the "gear" from Metal Gear Solid.

Origin

The Simpsons episode "Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner" aired on October 24, 1999.^[1] The episode featured a scene where Homer, Bart, and Lisa go to a mall and see a cane in a glass case. Lisa comments "Oh, look, there's the cane from Citizen Kane," only to correct herself and say, "Wait a minute… there was no cane in Citizen Kane!"

Spread

The earliest known meme edit of the "Cane From Citizen Kane" scene is a My Little Pony edit that was posted to Derpibooru^[2] on November 26th, 2013 (seen below, left). On June 17th, 2017, Redditor^[3] /u/urinalcake666 posted an edit of the meme that read, "The Wick from John Wick," gathering over 1,000 upvotes in seven years (seen below, right).

On July 28th, 2019, Redditor^[4] /u/lolstaz posted an edit showing Lisa looking at the "grapes" from The Grapes of Wrath, gathering over 1,000 upvotes in five years (seen below, left). On November 26th, 2023, Redditor^[5] /u/IAmOnFyre posted a Rime of the Frost Maiden edit of the meme (seen below, right).

On July 5th, 2024, X^[6] user @beepupkin posted a version of the meme that read, "The Dog From Dog Day Afternoon," gathering over 23,000 likes in three days (seen below, left). On July 6th, X^[7] user @Nitroid posted a version of the meme that read, "The Gear From Metal Gear Solid," gathering over 100,000 likes in two days (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References