Rant: Spent 2 hours remixing a meme and the punchline fell totally flat at the party

So I was at my friend Dave's cookout last Saturday in Austin. I took that old "Distracted Boyfriend" meme and redid it with our friend group's inside jokes about who keeps stealing leftovers from the office fridge. Thought it was genius, you know? Printed out a few copies and brought them. Handed one to Dave and he just stared at it for like 10 seconds and said "I don't get it." Nobody laughed. The joke was too specific I guess. Has anyone else spent time on a remix that bombed hard? What did you do differently next time?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilychen13d ago

Figure out what you actually wanted people to feel when they saw it. Was it a laugh of recognition or a "hey that's funny on its own" kind of thing? If it only works if you also explain the joke out loud, you already lost most of your audience. Next time try making a version that still makes sense if you don't know who stole the yogurt. Test it on one friend first before printing out copies.

king.lisa13d ago

Oof, been there. Test your memes on one friend first before you commit to printing.