2015 has been a spectacularly successful breeding ground for all sorts of memorable gags and memes, from a Pizza Rat through that wretched Dress to the Rarest of the Pepes (not on this list, sorry), which is kind of odd, considering our texting and social media posts are supposed to get more advanced. Think about it, we’re using emojis/pictures/GIFs/videos to relay a massive amount of feelings and reactions! We went from expressive Shakespearean and Dickensian texts to a simple “lol”, or “tears of joy emoji” in less than a few hundred years (said a kettle to the pot).
Anyway, enough preaching, let’s see what crazy ideas the internet has “adopted” in 2015! It was really hard for me to choose only 10 memes, as there were dozens upon dons of them, but here they are (in no particular order, because they’re all equally important):
10. The Pizza Rat
Imagine a hard-working dad (or mom), coming back from work, noticed a 300 lbs chunk of gold, so, of course, he’d bring it home even if he can’t lift it. This pretty much sums up what happened to this brave and inspiring rat. He didn’t give up, didn’t back down, he just kept pulling that slice of magnificent NY pizza. This was enough to inspire millions of people on social media. And with this much support the rat would’ve ran for the president if it wasn’t for his arch-enemy Trump. Imagine the world where Trump would lose to the Pizza Rat.
9. What are thooooose?
This one’s pretty basic and a lot of people feel it’s not even funny. To some extend I do agree, but it took over the internet (Vine in particular) by storm! This was literally everywhere in my feed. This and “Why you lying”. God, I love those. It’s simple, it’s fun and, most importantly, it’s harmless. What’s not to love?
8. Netflix and Chill
Users on Reddit, Imgur, Twitter and every other social media dealing with pictures have been exploiting this meme as hard as they could for the past few months. It’s quite self-explanatory, if you understand human nature, sexual innuendos and know what Netflix is. Here are some of the best uses of this meme:
7. Why you lying?
Just… watch this video and you’ll see what’s up. Seriously, this one’s pretty stupid but it works perfectly!
6. The Dress meme
Oh my god, the Dress! It broke the internet, probably caused a few divorces, some murders and created a couple of Churches. #TeamBlueAndBlack
5. Shia Labeuf’s “Just Do It”
What do you mean you’ve never heard of this meme? This is unacceptable! You simply have to see the original video and all the glorious memes it helped generate. People who know a thing or two about Shia, know he can be quite eccentric (like that time when he binge-watched all of his movies with a bunch of people in a theatre), so him giving an inspirational speech in front of a green screen, and screaming “Do IT!” doesn’t sound as surprising.
4. Unexpected John Cena
It’s pretty much the same as getting Rick Rolled before 2015. Now it’s JOHN CENA! *music starts playing*
Yeah, this one should not be done on paper.
3. Left shark
Remember Katy Perry’s Super Bowl performance? It was amazing! And the fact the left shark was awkwardly dancing to Katy’s song made it even better. The internet exploded, putting the poor shark guy into every imaginable GIF and picture long after everyone forgot who Katy Perry was.
2. Steve Harvey/Miss Universe 2015
This one’s quite recent, but in this short time it’s ruffled a lot of virtual internet feathers. American comedian Steve Garvey announced the wrong Miss Universe 2015 (Miss Colombia instead of Miss Philippines), and had to go back on stage take the crown from the wrong Miss U and apologize. Needless to say this was one of the most memorable screw-ups of 2015.
1. Prattkeeping
Chris Pratt – the man, the legend… Andy Dwyer – is, in my opinion, one of the best comedians out there. Last year he tussled with Ronan the Accuse in “Guardians of the Galaxy”, this year, he’s taming raptors and kicking giant mutant dino asses in “Jurassic World”, capturing a memorable moment of him standing before the animals with his arms stretched out, trying to keep them chill. The pose went viral even before the movie was released! The meme spread from zookeepers and museum workers through Ant-Man and all kindergarten teachers, as they imitated the “chill” pose in their own environments. Just google #Prattkeeping!
