Saturday Morning Cartoons

Will Butler:

You're listening to Say My Meme, the podcast that describes the Internet's best memes for a blind audience. I'm your co-host will Butler from Be By Eyes, and I'm joined by Caroline Desrosiers from Scribely. Caroline and I met face to face for the first time ever yesterday, which tells you a lot about this new virtual world we're living in. And, I think we learned that memes are easier to describe with a drink in your hand.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's... It takes the pressure off.

Will Butler:

So fans, if we start sounding a little different, if you start to hear the clink of glasses, it's because we've moved the Say My Meme recording sessions to happy hour. Caroline, what sort of memes are we working on with this week?

Caroline Desrosiers:

We have some really fun memes this week because they're all about Saturday morning cartoons of your childhood.

Will Butler:

Ugh, yes. And, we were just talking last week about how difficult it is to do film based memes, like memes that are about movies. So, we decided to punish ourselves and do cartoons.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know. Yeah. I don't know why that's always the case, but it's like, "Oh, I have an idea. Why don't I take on this super challenging topic?"

Will Butler:

Well, this is probably an episode for folks who actually saw these cartoons. So, don't feel too bad if the cartoons go over your head. But, maybe in the course of our discussion, you'll learn about some cartoons, some old school cartoons, to go binge on if you're not ready to leave the house again this weekend. What did you find out there, Caroline? When you were looking for cartoon memes?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Well, there are actually a lot. People love to make memes out of cartoons. And of course, there are a lot of nostalgic memes out there. So, they really weren't hard to find. And, it was kind of fun dipping back into the nineties and the two thousands, and what was on at the time.

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

And I was like, "Oh yeah." So, I don't know. I'm partial to all of these cartoons featured this week.

Will Butler:

Yeah. There's a great new documentary called The Orange Years about the golden era of Nickelodeon. And, it made me realize that you and I were really growing up right at that time when cartoons were really blowing up. That was like Doug, and Rugrats, and Rocko's Modern Life. These were cartoons that really started a whole new era of cartoons for adults in America.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Totally. Yeah, yeah. They were really something special, it felt like. Maybe every generation says that, but I love cartoons.

Will Butler:

Exactly. It wasn't Archie and Jughead, that's for sure. But okay, so let's dive in. What's our first Saturday morning cartoon meme?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Okay. First up is actually SpongeBob Squarepants, which is still on. I learned that. That's amazing.

Will Butler:

Like still running new seasons?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, yeah.

Will Butler:

Wow. Oh my gosh.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Or at least the Wikipedia page said present, but yeah. SpongeBob. And yeah, SpongeBob is featured a lot in memes, definitely. So, this particular meme is all about our tendency as humans to be a bit dramatic or exaggerate about very minor tasks that don't really require a lot of effort, right?

Will Butler:

Yeah, I know a few people in my life who are like that.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes, I think we all do, yeah. So, picture a very... like a tired SpongeBob, and he's standing up, holding his breath, kind of puffing out his cheeks, like balloons, and he's clearly doing this long slow exhale. You know that exhale you do when you're really milking the moment.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah. I'm trying it out. Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So, picture that image and the caption is, "Me after I put the fitted sheet on the bed by myself."

Will Butler:

Honestly, I do feel like a war hero after I get the fitted sheet on the bed by myself. I'm like, "Where's my medal, y'all? Where's my star of honor?"

Caroline Desrosiers:

It hurts. It hurts me sometimes. This particular meme series is supposed to be about something kind of minor like that and exaggerating how difficult it is. But, when I read this caption I was like, "No, that's actually difficult." Fitted sheets. That's like evil.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, so there are other ones of SpongeBob like... using SpongeBob to talk about people who exaggerate?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Totally. This one is just called the Tired SpongeBob meme and people use it often. And, I don't think it matters, but he's naked.

Will Butler:

Well he's a sponge, Caroline.

Caroline Desrosiers:

He's a sponge, but he has square pants, and they're not pictured here.

Will Butler:

I will have to look into that. Is that the Photoshop job or is that from the cartoon?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Well, if you want to look it up, it's from season one, actually. They went way back. And, for people who are meme fans out there, a few seconds after this frame is the Savage Patrick meme. So, I'm just going to drop that for those who know that. But, I found that interesting. Season one included two of the most famous SpongeBob memes of all time.

Will Butler:

Wow, that's for the real memeheads, wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Okay. What else have we got?

Caroline Desrosiers:

All right. Next up, Powerpuff Girls.

Will Butler:

Oh my Gosh.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Did you ever watch it?

Will Butler:

Yeah, I remember Powerpuff Girls.

Caroline Desrosiers:

But basically, they're, a trio of sisters with super powers, and there's three of them, and they all wear different colors. One is Blossom, one is Bubbles, and one is Buttercup. And, they all have kind of different personalities. So, this meme is about Bubbles, and she's kind of like the ditsy, naive, sweet one, but she's also famous for getting crazy angry and aggressive. Just going off like a rocket.

Will Butler:

Oh yeah, she was like the Hulk Powerpuff girl, yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, she likes to lose it. So, this meme is about being in an argument, and let's just say Bubbles plays to win.

Will Butler:

Okay.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Okay. So, side-by-side images showing Bubbles' volatile moods. At first, she's in this fiery rage, and the next thing you know, she's pouting on a bed. So, it's the two sides of Bubbles. And, the caption above the image reads, "When you're mad at him versus when he's mad at you." And, the pouting Bubbles says, "I don't like arguing. Why can't we all just get along instead of fighting and arguing? I'm sensitive, you know."

Will Butler:

I'm already realizing... I'm realizing something deeper about cartoons. They really are an opportunity for us to take a hard look at our emotions in an honest way that... Nevermind. Anyway, they're just cartoons. That's a great one. What else have we got?

Caroline Desrosiers:

All right. Next up is a personal favorite of mine and it requires a little bit more explanation to get the joke, so you kind of have to bear with me, but it's about Pinky and the Brain.

Will Butler:

Oh, one of my faves.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Love it, yeah. So, for listeners who are not familiar with this show, it's about two talking mice that work at Acme Labs and their names are Pinky and the Brain. And, I don't know Will if you remember any lines from the theme song, but it's one of those themes songs that explains the entire show.

Will Butler:

One is a genius, the other's is insane.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I have had that song stuck in my head for three days now ever since I saw this.

Will Butler:

Well, now you got it stuck in my head. Thank you.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, so there you go. You're going to have a lovely weekend with that one. But, yeah. So, every night, as explained in the theme song, Brain talks Pinky into helping him take over the world, even though their plan always fails by morning. So, they're continuously hatching these plans for world domination. And, as you pointed out Will, one mouse is a genius and the other is insane.

Caroline Desrosiers:

So, this meme is basically a play on the definition of insanity. So, the quick description is a confident, sinister Brain stands next to a happy, foolish Pinky who seems to be hanging on Brain's every word. And Brain says, "Pinky, when reality says, 'Give up,' insanity whispers, 'Let's try that shit one more time.'"

Will Butler:

Oh my God. That's what Brain is saying to Pinky?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Oh my God. It's so sinister.

Caroline Desrosiers:

It really is. But yeah, of course the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. And of course, they're always pursuing world domination and they never get over that.

Will Butler:

I think some might would call that insanity. Some may just call that being the CEO of a company.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right, actually, yeah. That's a really fair point.

Will Butler:

I think you have to have some degree of insanity in order to run a successful company.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my God. That's so true. And now, I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about that now.

Will Butler:

Yeah, we need to do entrepreneurial memes at some point.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh, totally. Totally.

Will Butler:

I love Pinky and the Brain. Thank you for that one.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know. I love that one. So good. Did you know it was produced by Steven Spielberg?

Will Butler:

No.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Not even kidding.

Will Butler:

What?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, yeah. He was doing cartoons and he also directed Rugrats.

Will Butler:

What?

Caroline Desrosiers:

I didn't even know about that because I didn't care as a kid, of course. But then, in looking back at these cartoons it's like, "Oh yeah. Produced by Steven Spielberg right at the end of the Pinky and the Brain intro.

Will Butler:

Whoa.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

That makes me love it even more. That's amazing. Wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

That's such a good piece of trivia. Good. Nice one. Okay. These are great. What else have we got?

Caroline Desrosiers:

All right. Next one is for Hey Arnold! fans.

Will Butler:

Oh, Hey Arnold!

Caroline Desrosiers:

Hey Arnold!

Will Butler:

Oh, this is great. I love this. What is the Hey Arnold! Meme? Football head.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, you don't really need to know the show to get it, honestly. But, this one is basically about that feeling or reaction we have when we're filtering search results on the web, oddly enough. So, just think about that.

Caroline Desrosiers:

But, it's Helga Pataki, reading a book, looking frustrated and angry at its contents, and the caption text above the image reads, "Me when I sort by new." And then, Helga says, "What is this crap?"

Will Butler:

Wait, I don't know if I totally get this one.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. It's really like, "Man, they made a meme out of this?"

Will Butler:

It's like a really deep Internet... Wait, so is it... So, you're looking at search results, and you sort by, and you click new, how does that affect your search results?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Because you can sort by relevance, or sort by popular, or you can sort by old, you can sort by new. And to me, this reminds me of trying to sort for memes actually. And, if you sort by new, you'd be like, "What is this crap?" And then, if you go back, then you find the gems.

Will Butler:

New doesn't necessarily mean good.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Exactly, yeah.

Will Butler:

All right.

Caroline Desrosiers:

So it's... You know what I mean? I guess all you need to know is Helga Pataki was pretty angry on the regular.

Will Butler:

Oh well, she was the... Refresh my memory. She was Arnold's crabby friend or something?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Will Butler:

Was she a bully? She was a bully?

Caroline Desrosiers:

She bullied him for sure, but then she was secretly in love with him, and had a shrine in her room, and worshiped the ground that he walked on.

Will Butler:

Right, Helga's an emblem for attitude.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, she's got a short fuse.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Hey Arnold!

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Do we have a couple more?

Caroline Desrosiers:

We do. Okay. I feel like I have to prepare you for this one, but of course it's going to be weird because it's about Ren and Stimpy.

Will Butler:

I'm ready. I'm ready for it. Ren and Stimpy was always... that was the one I couldn't be caught watching because I would get in trouble.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, and... Yeah, exactly. So, for the listeners, the show follows the unusual adventures of Ren, who's a hyperactive, sociopathic, Chihuahua, and Stimpy, who's this very good natured kind of brainless cat. So, they're friends. It's About their adventures. And, their experiences are often really gross, right Will? They involves all the things kids love, like boogers, and farts, and fur balls, and jars of spit.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

And it was a little violent too, right?

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah. It was kind of effed up. The cartoon was crazy.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, it really was. I actually... I want to look up the creators of Ren and Stimpy because... and if they're okay.

Will Butler:

Yeah. They're probably raving on Twitter about men's rights or something.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I bet, yeah.

Will Butler:

I'm sorry. I don't know anything about them. I don't know who they are. That's it. All right. So, what have we got? What's the Ren and Stimpy meme?

Caroline Desrosiers:

So, it's basically an observation meme about how parents always seem to think the cartoons their kids are watching are just too much.

Will Butler:

Oh, there you go. Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So, picture a crazed Ren using a giant handsaw to saw through a log that Stimpy is happily balancing on his butt. So, he's sawing through this log, and clearly going to get to Stimpy at some point. But, the caption is, "Millennial parents bitching about SpongeBob and Peppa Pig like we didn't grow up on this wild shit."

Will Butler:

Exactly. That's what I'm saying. It was crazy. That show was nuts. I don't know what Peppa Pig is though. Do you?

Caroline Desrosiers:

That's a new one. And, I tried to find memes, and I can't find any Peppa pig memes. So, listeners maybe send us some good ones. Maybe it's just too new. I don't know. Yeah.

Will Butler:

Interesting, wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. It's a crazy fricking image and I feel like we got away with watching this show because parents just couldn't stand to look at it or something. This is just nonsense, crazy nonsense. But, what we were actually being exposed to is these violent images.

Will Butler:

Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of times cartoons for kids are designed to please the kid, but then have some dirty jokes hidden in there for the parents. But, I feel like this was a totally inverted version of that. It was all nasty. So much so that parents just were like, "Get it away from me."

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, exactly. Worried about what will happen to their own brain if they watch this.

Will Butler:

Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Do we have one more?

Caroline Desrosiers:

We've got one more and I'm not even going to introduce it because it's all about the twist. It's amazing.

Will Butler:

All right.

Caroline Desrosiers:

All right. So, picture Goofy wearing a white shirt and a red bow tie, and he has a shocked expression on his face. Caption: Me licking the knife after I'm done. The other surgeons:

Will Butler:

Maybe not so great if you're a surgeon.

Caroline Desrosiers:

No, no. I love this meme because I thought of peanut butter and jelly, and a butter knife.

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

And then, when they dropped "The other surgeons," it's like, "Oh, oh God." Yeah, nevermind.

Will Butler:

So, the goofy image, classic as it may be, this is not really... You don't need to know the cartoon. You just need to know that goofy is looking a little perturbed.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, he is. He's shocked, slack jawed, really surprised at something. And yeah, you don't really... the image is not really that important. It's more about that tagline.

Will Butler:

I'm so impressed by all of these cartoon memes. Seriously.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Aren't they great?

Will Butler:

Yeah, they're really good. You were all worried. You were like, "Oh, I don't know if these are going to work."

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, well, I just needed to channel my inner child. Get back to this cartoon mindset.

Will Butler:

No, they're amazing. Every week I continue to be so shocked and impressed at the quality of memes that we're serving up here. So, thank you again, Caroline, and I'll see you next week.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, later.

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