Beetlejuice What Are You Doing Just Hanging Around

2021exploitable videosemi-active

Published August 12, 2026

Beetlejuice What Are You Doing Just Hanging Around is a video meme featuring Beetlejuice, a Howard Stern Show personality, casually responding "Nothing... Me? Just hanging around" when asked what he's doing. Originating from a December 2021 Instagram video, it became a popular greenscreen template on TikTok in 2023 for depicting oblivious or caught-in-the-act scenarios.

Overview

Beetlejuice What Are You Doing Just Hanging Around is an exploitable video meme featuring Lester "Beetlejuice" Green, a personality known for his appearances on The Howard Stern Show1. In the clip, someone asks Beet what he's doing, and he responds with a deadpan "Nothing... Me? Just hanging around." The casual delivery paired with the absurdity of the response made it perfect for meme adaptations2.

The format works as a greenscreen template where creators overlay the Beetlejuice clip onto various scenarios. Most commonly, the meme depicts someone being caught doing something suspicious or embarrassing, with Beet's nonchalant answer serving as their oblivious response3. The template gained particular traction through CapCut, allowing users to easily insert themselves or other imagery into the scene.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Robert Rooney
Date
2021

The source video was posted on December 15, 2021, by Beetlejuice's manager Robert Rooney on his Instagram account @bobbyrooney1752. In the clip, Rooney interviews Beet in a hotel room, asking about his career and why he stopped associating with people from the boxing world. When asked "What are you doing?" Beet casually replies "Nothing... Me? Just hanging around." The original Instagram post accumulated around 18,500 views over the following year and a half2.

On December 28, 2021, TikToker @beetandsean reposted the video clip with the caption "Beetle explains why he went off the grid," which earned roughly 12.6 million plays3. That same day, TikToker @regancurtisdrift_98 posted the first meme using the video, captioning it "When you get caught doing something you shouldn't be"3.

How It Spread

The meme remained relatively dormant throughout 2022, though an emotional edit surfaced in June 2022 when TikToker @strictlydlx created a melancholic remix of the clip2. YouTuber Mr Random reposted this version with the title "Sad beetlejuice," gaining approximately 48,200 views1.

The Beetlejuice What Are You Doing meme exploded in popularity in April 2023. On April 3rd, @regancurtisdrift_98 responded to user requests by creating a sound version of his original December 2021 TikTok, which earned 1.5 million plays within 17 days3. The greenscreen template format emerged on April 16th when TikToker @koosh604 posted the first known use, gaining over 430,000 plays in four days2.

The trend accelerated rapidly after TikTok creator Figgy The Feline published a CapCut template on April 18, 2023, which received approximately 45,000 uses within just two days2. The CapCut integration made the template accessible to casual creators, fueling widespread adoption across TikTok throughout late April 2023.

How to Use This Meme

The Beetlejuice What Are You Doing template typically involves using the greenscreen effect to place yourself or an image behind Beet's clip. The format works best when depicting scenarios where someone has been caught in an awkward, suspicious, or compromising situation. Common setups include showing an embarrassing activity in the background while Beet's casual "just hanging around" response plays, creating comedic irony between what's happening and his unbothered demeanor. CapCut templates simplify the process, allowing creators to simply insert their chosen background imagery or video.

Frequently Asked Questions