A John Mulaney Meme Perfectly Describes Movies, Bands, Plays, Professional Athletes, And Everything Else

If you don’t already know who comedian John Mulaney is (how), he’s a guy you’ve seen a bunch of places without realizing it. He’s the the co-creator of the Stefon character on SNL, the voice of Spider-Ham, and he’s shared the perfect analogy about Donald Trump and has strong feelings about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also the inspiration for a meme that can come in handy for describing so many fandoms, from music to movies to plays and even baseball players and professional wrestlers.

The origin of the meme came from Anja Reese last year, when she shared a Twitter thread of captioned screencaps of John Mulaney, describing famous musicals with Mulaney quotes from his stand up specials. Later in the year, YouTuber True Virgo made a nearly five minute-long version of Othello using John Mulaney clips. We’ll get to those examples in a moment, but first let’s talk about how the meme really took off this week.

Exactly one year after Reese’s original thread, Twitter user Ayrbee started a similar meme which then sparked several imitators over the past few days. Ayrbee’s thread summarized “pop punk bands of the 2000s as John Mulaney quotes,” and there were several fitting examples:

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Fall Out Boy pic.twitter.com/UTDKkEZLZz

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Panic! At The Disco pic.twitter.com/wAnXhR2riD

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Alkaline Trio pic.twitter.com/QBHJL3FLwz

— Todd Riley (@TyRosati) January 29, 2019

Green Day pic.twitter.com/uEz7IOuAnY

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Blink-182 pic.twitter.com/TRA0rSOEoH

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Brand New pic.twitter.com/pl54cPJI34

— Yikes On Bikes™️ (@ayrbee) January 28, 2019

Good Charlotte pic.twitter.com/X3CGWtAec7

— Tyler Magazzu (@Tyler_Magazzu_) January 29, 2019

evanescence pic.twitter.com/MzLaZFBLEr

— my kimmical romance (@kimmi_page) January 29, 2019

weezer after the blue album pic.twitter.com/5OlCYzDOEX

— my kimmical romance (@kimmi_page) January 29, 2019

Several other Twitter users then applied John Mulaney quotes to their own favorite topics. James McKenna used them to describe professional wrestlers:

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

ronda rousey pic.twitter.com/fTIrk5Gn5W

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

jack gallagher pic.twitter.com/Y7vSl5KF2l

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

hulk hogan pic.twitter.com/DKcrZgDfQe

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

the new day pic.twitter.com/KsZKlXrv6O

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

dean ambrose pic.twitter.com/tFvj05zeXa

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

i didn’t add this initially to the wrestlers as mulaney quotes thread.

but this is 100% ric flair. pic.twitter.com/D7G19g7KPF

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

sami zayn pic.twitter.com/jJWc6wgZOK

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

kevin owens pic.twitter.com/l7H74q2tC9

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

And a joke thread about professional wrestlers wouldn’t be complete without one for Vince McMahon:

— james mckenna (@chillhartman) January 30, 2019

Then Amanda Smith came along to describe the 2018 Dodgers as John Mulaney quotes:

— Amanda Smith (@AmandaRTubbs) January 31, 2019

Cody Bellinger pic.twitter.com/XStgAkpPnX

— Amanda Smith (@AmandaRTubbs) January 31, 2019

Kyle Farmer pic.twitter.com/V4IsN4j87N

— Amanda Smith (@AmandaRTubbs) January 31, 2019

Corey Seager’s instagram pic.twitter.com/rwojJbRd0x

— Amanda Smith (@AmandaRTubbs) January 31, 2019

It wasn’t only modern music getting parodied. Liora Strong applied John Mulaney quotes to classical composers:

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Mozart pic.twitter.com/9O1WEdZ15u

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Wagner pic.twitter.com/PsnepIJsA2

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Shostakovich pic.twitter.com/o72Fv1hS2n

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Debussy pic.twitter.com/MFtEDuwE5Q

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Beethoven pic.twitter.com/Ga9ZxTcbF6

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Copland pic.twitter.com/MB5fWMaEPl

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

Sousa pic.twitter.com/3nhikejoLo

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 30, 2019

OMG FINE TCHAIKOVSKY STOP ASKING pic.twitter.com/nmMJ0i3wZ9

— Liora Strong (@liorastrong) January 31, 2019

Returning to the meme that started it all, here are some of our favorites from Anja Reese‘s original thread summarizing musicals (and movies) with John Mulaney quotes:

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Les Misérables pic.twitter.com/s212GRVixF

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Avenue Q pic.twitter.com/smvjl8avyJ

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Hamilton pic.twitter.com/omThxc5rer

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Rent pic.twitter.com/SVeUEain3z

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Rent pic.twitter.com/Y6B5h26EVC

— Charlie should’ve removed his spooky name sooner (@barit0wned) July 3, 2018

Chicago pic.twitter.com/Ii6x38A8zb

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Matilda pic.twitter.com/hBgd2OgySP

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Billy Elliot pic.twitter.com/6wo1UV3BfK

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 28, 2018

Sweeney Todd pic.twitter.com/l1wC5lQu8G

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 29, 2018

Sweeney Todd option 2 pic.twitter.com/3Mj8FBGUgR

— Marisa Helene (@misa3913) July 3, 2018

The Wiz pic.twitter.com/aqeolLgABG

— Josh Trattner (@JTratts) July 1, 2018

The Music Man pic.twitter.com/QwlhMtPhBg

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 29, 2018

Kinky Boots pic.twitter.com/iiLWRlTCKZ

— anja (@lildolewhip) June 29, 2018

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark pic.twitter.com/14ZoxFkRH7

— Marisa Helene (@misa3913) July 3, 2018

And finally, here’s an impressive Mulaney re-enactment of Shakespeare’s Othello. This might as well happen: