# Blue Grinch

Blue Grinch / That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow is an oddly specific image macro that pairs excited characters with a non sequitur caption about an upcoming knee operation. Starting as a squirrel joke in early 2021, the gag found its definitive form when a blue-tinted Grinch face took over Instagram and Reddit in late 2022, racking up over 85,000 likes on a single grubburd repost.

## Origin
The earliest known version of the meme appeared on MemeCreator.org sometime before April 2021, showing a squirrel holding its arms up in triumph above the knee surgery caption[1]. On April 6, 2021, Instagram account stupid.fricken.meme reposted a cropped version of the squirrel image, which picked up more than 1,300 likes over the following two years[1].

On August 2, 2021, Redditor ZyeAxe posted a Drake-based variant of the caption to r/okbuddyretard, the earliest known swap of the character inside the format[3]. The same day, the r/Kneesurgerymemes subreddit opened as a home for new entries[1]. The blue Grinch itself was not involved yet; that character arrived through a separate Instagram meme page, blinch.feels, which spent 2022 posting edits of a blue-tinted version of the character before plugging him into this caption.

- **Platform:** MemeCreator.org / Instagram (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2021

## Overview
Blue Grinch / That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow is an ironic image macro where a happy or celebratory character sits above the caption 'That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow'[1]. The absurdity is in the mismatch: nobody is excited about orthopedic surgery, so pairing giddy expressions with a dreaded appointment reads as the exact wrong emotion for the moment. The blue-tinted Grinch face, drawn from the 'blinch' meme page on Instagram, is the version most people recognize[2].

Typical posts stick to the base format with little text variation, so the humor rides entirely on which cursed happy face sits above the caption. Early entries ranged from a cheering squirrel to a Drake 'liking' pose, while later ones layered in self-aware riffs about sending the Grinch picture to one's own surgeon[3]. On the dedicated subreddit r/Kneesurgerymemes, posts began referencing the blue Grinch version itself as the canonical form rather than just reusing it[1].

## How to Use
A typical post keeps the caption 'That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow' exactly as written and swaps only the image above it. The common convention is to pick a character or animal whose expression reads as pure, uncomplicated joy, then let the clash with a dreaded medical appointment do the work. Later entries often include a meta layer, such as showing someone texting the blue Grinch image to a surgeon[4].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Blue Grinch?
Blue Grinch / That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow is an ironic image macro pairing an excited character, most popularly a blue-tinted Grinch, with the caption 'That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow'[1].

### Where did Blue Grinch come from?
The caption first appeared on a MemeCreator.org squirrel image sometime before April 2021, with the blue Grinch version arriving on the Instagram page blinch.feels on March 14, 2022[1].

### What does Blue Grinch mean?
The joke flips the expected reaction to dreaded medical appointments, pairing joyful faces with the knee surgery line so the mismatch reads as absurdist, ironic complaint[1].

### How do you use Blue Grinch?
Keep the caption 'That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow' exactly as written and swap the image for a character whose expression reads as unambiguous joy, such as the blinch.feels blue Grinch face[2].

### Is Blue Grinch still popular?
The meme peaked in late 2022 and early 2023, with the blue Grinch version earning over 110,000 likes on a February 2023 blinch.feels post before settling into classic status on dedicated subreddits[4].

## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddyretard/comments/owa5ej/i_love_my_knees_surg/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddyretard/comments/owa5ej/i_love_my_knees_surg/>)
2. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGR_l-vVvc/?hl=en](<https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGR_l-vVvc/?hl=en>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/blue-grinch-that-feeling-when-knee-surgery-is-tomorrow](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/blue-grinch-that-feeling-when-knee-surgery-is-tomorrow>)
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyspecific/comments/ycd5y3/best_meme_of_the_year/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyspecific/comments/ycd5y3/best_meme_of_the_year/>)
5. [https://www.instagram.com/p/CodZ0fQPu2X/?hl=en](<https://www.instagram.com/p/CodZ0fQPu2X/?hl=en>)
6. [https://twitter.com/MemeHut1990/status/1648529063160721413](<https://twitter.com/MemeHut1990/status/1648529063160721413>)

---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/blue-grinch-that-feeling-when-knee-surgery-is-tomorrow
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library