Where's The Funny

About

Where's the Funny?, also known as Looking for the Funny, is a sarcastic catchphrase used to criticize another's sense of humor.

Origin

The origin of "where's the funny" is unknown. One of the earliest known usages of the expression was on the episode "Super Zeroes" of Powerpuff Girls, which aired October 20th, 2000.^[1]

In the episode, the character Bubbles (voiced Tara Strong) says, "Ooooh, I'm all tormented! Where's the magic? Where's the funny? You need to read…"

One of the earliest known usages of the phrase as a meme in GIF using images from the anime series _Fullmetal Alchemist _ was published by FunnyJunk ^[2] user diamonhead on July 14th, 2011 (shown below).

Spread

The phrase, along with references to users "looking for the funny," grew in usage throughout the internet, including the aforementioned FunnyJunk, Imgur and Reddit. One of the most popular early variations of the phrase in memes features the character Hugh Neutron from the cartoons series Jimmy Neutron searching a house asking "Where's the funny?" On July 21st, 2016, Tenor.com^[3] user shizzle408 published the GIF with the caption "When you go on a admins page" (shown below, left).

The phrase has also been used in a series of memes in which memers accuse others of "forgetting the funny." These have taken many forms, including examples featuring the meme character Doge, such was the case with Redditor^[5] federic0_S_2 's November 17th, 2019 post in the /r/dogelore subreddit. The post received more than 11,000 points (100% upvoted) in less than one year (shown below, center).

GIFs of characters "looking for the funny" grew in popularity over the next half decade. Much like the Full Metal Alchemist and Jimmy Neutron GIFs, usually consist of characters in mid search. For example, on January 14th, 2020, Redditor ^[4] ViriViri77 posted a GIF of Superman searching the frame of the meme with the caption, "Me looking for the funny in your meme." The post received more than 8,200 points (98% upvoted) in less than two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References