About

"Updog" is a made-up term based on a wordplay of the colloquial expression "what's up, dog?" that is commonly used as a practical joke to elicit the question "what's updog?" from someone, to which the prankster typically responds with the punchline "Nothing. What’s up with you?"

Origin

The exact origin of the joke is unclear. On December 6th, 2000, Ars Technica Forums^[4] member Col. Forbin submitted a variation of the prank to a thread titled "jokes that make you groan and/or wanna smack your forehead."

Spread

On May 1st, 2003, Urban Dictionary^[1] user hairy chonch submitted an entry for "up dog," defining it as a "corny joke." On January 19th, 2006, Season 2 Episode 13 of The Office was broadcast, which features a variation of the joke during the show's opening skit (shown below).

On February 13th, 2011, League of Legends Forums^[5] member renticletape submitted a post joking that "Updog is way too powerful" in the MOBA game. On April 10th, 2013, Redditor youre_a_big_guy submitted several multi-pane Game of Thrones image macros featuring various updog jokes (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gained over 3,000 votes (88% upvoted) and 240 comments on /r/gameofthrones.^[3]

On December 19th, 2014, BuzzFeed^[6] published a listicle titled "The 21 Greatest Updogs of 2014," highlighting various social media posts referencing the joke. That month, the parody communications platform Updog.pw^[2] was launched. On August 6th, 2015, the GameGrumps uploaded a animated skit about the joke (shown below). Within nine months, the video received upwards of 3.2 million views and 2,800 comments.

Search Interest

External References