About

You're in a Cult, Call Your Dad is a catchphrase from the true-crime comedy podcast My Favorite Murder. Among fans of the show, the phrase is commonly used in memes, inside jokes and various pieces of merchandise.

Origin

On May 5th, 2016, Feral Audio released the My Favorite Murder episode "Definitely Not Episode 16."^[1] In the episode, which focuses on religious cults, host Georgia Hardstark says to listeners of the podcast who may be involved with the Church of Scientology, "You're in a cult, call your dad" (shown below).

Spread

Within months of the episode's posting, fans began using the phrase for various pieces of merchandise. For example, on August 19th, 2016, Tumblr ^[2] user lollylocket posted a sticker design that uses the phrase. The post received more than 1,000 notes in less than five years (shown below, left).

Among fans of the show, the phrase is frequently used to discuss issues regarding people who may not realize that they're involved with a cult or images or situations that resemble cults. For example, on January 31st, 2019, writer Anne T. Donahue retweeted ^[3] an article about a new clothing line, which mostly consists of shades of brown and beige work clothes. They wrote, "you're in a cult, call your dad." The post received more than 3,800 likes and 350 retweets in less than three years (shown below, center).

On August 5th, 2020, Redditor BugEyedBigSky used the phrase in the /r/myfavoritemurder^[4] subreddit to criticize the Trump administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The post received more than 3,100 points(96% upvoted) and 115 comments in less than one year (shown below, right).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References