Dat Boi

2016Image macro / catchphraseclassic

Also known as: Here Come Dat Boi · O Shit Waddup

Dat Boi is a 2016 absurdist image-macro meme featuring a 3D green frog riding a unicycle, paired with the catchphrase "here come dat boi! o shit waddup!

Dat Boi is a meme featuring a 3D green frog riding a unicycle, paired with the catchphrase "here come dat boi! o shit waddup!" It blew up across social media in spring 2016 and stood out for having no connection to any TV show, movie, or relatable situation. The frog's pure absurdity made it one of the defining memes of 2016, and its quick revival in early 2017 turned it into a symbol of internet nostalgia culture.

2016 memesabsurdist humor memescatchphrase memesgif memesbrand participation memes

Overview

Dat Boi is a low-resolution 3D green frog balanced on a unicycle, typically shared as an animated GIF. The frog rolls into frame accompanied by the text "here come dat boi!" followed by "o shit waddup!" as if someone spots it and greets it with wild excitement2.

The humor is entirely self-contained. There's no setup, no reference to get. A widely shared copypasta put it best: "Dat boi is a completely self-made meme. So many other memes are based in nostalgic childrens shows, funny faces, relatable situations, or references. Not dat boi. Dat boi is completely absurd"1.

The name "dat boi" (a colloquial pronunciation of "that boy") originated from an edited news screenshot posted online2. The catchphrase format had a separate beginning. In June 2015, Tumblr user phalania posted "here come dat boi!!" alongside a Pac-Man image with the caption "o shit waddup!" The original post was later removed, but reblogs pulled in over 75,800 notes within a year3.

The Pac-Man connection went deeper. The "Here Comes Pacman" animation traced back to a segment of the Bloodhound Gang song "Mope"2. The frog graphic itself came from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, a clip art library. According to Animation Factory employee Ryan Hagen, designer Josh Doohen created the original frog GIF2.

On April 3, 2016, the Facebook page "FreshMemesAbout the Mojave Desert and Other Delectable Cuisines" posted the unicycling frog with the caption "here come dat boi!!!!!! / o shit waddup!"3. That post fused all the pieces together, and the meme took off.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr (catchphrase origin, 2015), Facebook (combined format, 2016)
Key People
Josh Doohen, phalania
Date
2016

The name "dat boi" (a colloquial pronunciation of "that boy") originated from an edited news screenshot posted online. The catchphrase format had a separate beginning. In June 2015, Tumblr user phalania posted "here come dat boi!!" alongside a Pac-Man image with the caption "o shit waddup!" The original post was later removed, but reblogs pulled in over 75,800 notes within a year.

The Pac-Man connection went deeper. The "Here Comes Pacman" animation traced back to a segment of the Bloodhound Gang song "Mope". The frog graphic itself came from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, a clip art library. According to Animation Factory employee Ryan Hagen, designer Josh Doohen created the original frog GIF.

On April 3, 2016, the Facebook page "FreshMemesAbout the Mojave Desert and Other Delectable Cuisines" posted the unicycling frog with the caption "here come dat boi!!!!!! / o shit waddup!". That post fused all the pieces together, and the meme took off.

How It Spread

Dat Boi ripped through social media in the weeks that followed. Tumblr blogs created and shared variations of the frog-and-greeting format throughout April 2016, and the meme quickly spilled onto Twitter, where it picked up even more traction.

Mainstream adoption was fast. MTV News posted a Dat Boi image to Instagram in May 2016. Nintendo tweeted its Star Fox character Slippy Toad alongside the Dat Boi frog on May 13. Denny's tweeted the frog rebranded as "Dat Busboi," and Roblox's official account retweeted a fan-made GIF of the character. The Guardian featured the meme in its "Month in Memes" column for June 2016.

Not everyone was on board. In May 2016, some Facebook users argued that "here come dat boi" was an appropriation of African-American Vernacular English. Several groups discouraged sharing the meme as a result.

The meme even reached international politics. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union used a Dat Boi meme during the 2016 federal election, and SBS Comedy published a satirical article claiming the frog was the most popular candidate for Prime Minister among young Australian voters.

Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie took notice too. In a June 2016 interview with Comic Book Resources, Furie said he was "devastated" to learn that Dat Boi had "begun to overshadow Internet Pepe".

### The 2017 Revival

By late 2016, overexposure had killed Dat Boi the way it kills most viral memes. The frog had been the "inexplicable meme darling of spring 2016," and then it was gone.

In mid-March 2017, Reddit's r/me_irl brought it back. Users reposted classic images and created new variations. The standout moment came on March 20, when user thederpytroller made a separate post for each letter of "O Shit Waddup" and the subreddit upvoted all 11 posts to the front page so the phrase could be read in order.

A copypasta celebrating the meme's unique nature appeared on r/copypasta around March 18, arguing that Dat Boi was "evidence that humans can stare into the meaningless void of eternity and force their own meaning onto it".

The Daily Dot called the comeback "very unusual for a dead, played-out meme to crawl, or unicycle, out of the grave". Their analysis framed the revival as a reaction to political turmoil, noting that the frog was a relic from "a slightly more carefree time" before the death of Harambe and the election of Donald Trump.

Platforms

Reddit4chanTwitterTumblr9gag

Timeline

2010-01-01

Original frog on unicycle image first appears online

2017-01-01

Largely abandoned by community

2018-01-01

Dat Boi reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2019-01-01

Brands and companies started using Dat Boi in marketing

2021-01-01

Dat Boi entered the broader pop culture conversation

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The standard Dat Boi format works like this:

1

Post an image or GIF of the unicycling frog (or something approaching in a similar way)

2

Add the caption "here come dat boi!" (often with extra exclamation marks)

3

Follow with "o shit waddup!" as the reaction

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Dat Boi stood out in 2016 partly because of what it wasn't. In a meme landscape dominated by Spongebob screenshots and captioned reaction images, a random clip art frog on a unicycle with zero context felt genuinely new.

Kenyatta Cheese, co-founder of Know Your Meme, called Dat Boi "a piece of culture" in an interview with Vice. Model Josh Ostrovsky mentioned the meme in a PopSugar interview, admitting "obviously I love Dat Boi". Nickelodeon worked both catchphrases into meme-themed segments of its 2016 Kids Pick the President programming.

The Daily Dot's analysis of the 2017 revival connected the meme to Mark Fisher's concept of hauntology. They argued that Dat Boi, "made from a previously undiscovered piece of early-2000s clip art, was a rare exception" to the constant recycling of pop culture references in meme creation. The frog's death and revival were, in this reading, symptoms of internet culture being "stuck in a loop, running out of future".

Fun Facts

The unicycling frog was clip art from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, designed by Josh Doohen.

A Twitter user found the exact same frog graphic in an AP Physics 1 Essentials textbook on page 179 and posted about it on May 4, 2016.

Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie told Comic Book Resources in June 2016 that he was "devastated" Dat Boi was overshadowing his character.

The "here come dat boi / o shit waddup" phrasing was originally paired with Pac-Man, not a frog, tracing back to the Bloodhound Gang's song "Mope".

Urban Dictionary users define Dat Boi simply as "a green frog thats on a unicycle".

Derivatives & Variations

Deep-fried and heavily distorted versions of the image

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Mashups combining Dat Boi with other 2016-era memes

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Variations placing the frog in different contexts or backgrounds

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Text-based references and quotes from the meme

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Frequently Asked Questions

Dat Boi

2016Image macro / catchphraseclassic

Also known as: Here Come Dat Boi · O Shit Waddup

Dat Boi is a 2016 absurdist image-macro meme featuring a 3D green frog riding a unicycle, paired with the catchphrase "here come dat boi! o shit waddup!

Dat Boi is a meme featuring a 3D green frog riding a unicycle, paired with the catchphrase "here come dat boi! o shit waddup!" It blew up across social media in spring 2016 and stood out for having no connection to any TV show, movie, or relatable situation. The frog's pure absurdity made it one of the defining memes of 2016, and its quick revival in early 2017 turned it into a symbol of internet nostalgia culture.

2016 memes absurdist humor memes catchphrase memes gif memes brand participation memes

Overview

Dat Boi is a low-resolution 3D green frog balanced on a unicycle, typically shared as an animated GIF. The frog rolls into frame accompanied by the text "here come dat boi!" followed by "o shit waddup!" as if someone spots it and greets it with wild excitement.

The humor is entirely self-contained. There's no setup, no reference to get. A widely shared copypasta put it best: "Dat boi is a completely self-made meme. So many other memes are based in nostalgic childrens shows, funny faces, relatable situations, or references. Not dat boi. Dat boi is completely absurd".

The name "dat boi" (a colloquial pronunciation of "that boy") originated from an edited news screenshot posted online. The catchphrase format had a separate beginning. In June 2015, Tumblr user phalania posted "here come dat boi!!" alongside a Pac-Man image with the caption "o shit waddup!" The original post was later removed, but reblogs pulled in over 75,800 notes within a year.

The Pac-Man connection went deeper. The "Here Comes Pacman" animation traced back to a segment of the Bloodhound Gang song "Mope". The frog graphic itself came from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, a clip art library. According to Animation Factory employee Ryan Hagen, designer Josh Doohen created the original frog GIF.

On April 3, 2016, the Facebook page "FreshMemesAbout the Mojave Desert and Other Delectable Cuisines" posted the unicycling frog with the caption "here come dat boi!!!!!! / o shit waddup!". That post fused all the pieces together, and the meme took off.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr (catchphrase origin, 2015), Facebook (combined format, 2016)
Key People
Josh Doohen, phalania
Date
2016

The name "dat boi" (a colloquial pronunciation of "that boy") originated from an edited news screenshot posted online. The catchphrase format had a separate beginning. In June 2015, Tumblr user phalania posted "here come dat boi!!" alongside a Pac-Man image with the caption "o shit waddup!" The original post was later removed, but reblogs pulled in over 75,800 notes within a year.

The Pac-Man connection went deeper. The "Here Comes Pacman" animation traced back to a segment of the Bloodhound Gang song "Mope". The frog graphic itself came from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, a clip art library. According to Animation Factory employee Ryan Hagen, designer Josh Doohen created the original frog GIF.

On April 3, 2016, the Facebook page "FreshMemesAbout the Mojave Desert and Other Delectable Cuisines" posted the unicycling frog with the caption "here come dat boi!!!!!! / o shit waddup!". That post fused all the pieces together, and the meme took off.

How It Spread

Dat Boi ripped through social media in the weeks that followed. Tumblr blogs created and shared variations of the frog-and-greeting format throughout April 2016, and the meme quickly spilled onto Twitter, where it picked up even more traction.

Mainstream adoption was fast. MTV News posted a Dat Boi image to Instagram in May 2016. Nintendo tweeted its Star Fox character Slippy Toad alongside the Dat Boi frog on May 13. Denny's tweeted the frog rebranded as "Dat Busboi," and Roblox's official account retweeted a fan-made GIF of the character. The Guardian featured the meme in its "Month in Memes" column for June 2016.

Not everyone was on board. In May 2016, some Facebook users argued that "here come dat boi" was an appropriation of African-American Vernacular English. Several groups discouraged sharing the meme as a result.

The meme even reached international politics. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union used a Dat Boi meme during the 2016 federal election, and SBS Comedy published a satirical article claiming the frog was the most popular candidate for Prime Minister among young Australian voters.

Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie took notice too. In a June 2016 interview with Comic Book Resources, Furie said he was "devastated" to learn that Dat Boi had "begun to overshadow Internet Pepe".

### The 2017 Revival

By late 2016, overexposure had killed Dat Boi the way it kills most viral memes. The frog had been the "inexplicable meme darling of spring 2016," and then it was gone.

In mid-March 2017, Reddit's r/me_irl brought it back. Users reposted classic images and created new variations. The standout moment came on March 20, when user thederpytroller made a separate post for each letter of "O Shit Waddup" and the subreddit upvoted all 11 posts to the front page so the phrase could be read in order.

A copypasta celebrating the meme's unique nature appeared on r/copypasta around March 18, arguing that Dat Boi was "evidence that humans can stare into the meaningless void of eternity and force their own meaning onto it".

The Daily Dot called the comeback "very unusual for a dead, played-out meme to crawl, or unicycle, out of the grave". Their analysis framed the revival as a reaction to political turmoil, noting that the frog was a relic from "a slightly more carefree time" before the death of Harambe and the election of Donald Trump.

Platforms

Reddit4chanTwitterTumblr9gag

Timeline

2010-01-01

Original frog on unicycle image first appears online

2017-01-01

Largely abandoned by community

2018-01-01

Dat Boi reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

2019-01-01

Brands and companies started using Dat Boi in marketing

2021-01-01

Dat Boi entered the broader pop culture conversation

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The standard Dat Boi format works like this:

1

Post an image or GIF of the unicycling frog (or something approaching in a similar way)

2

Add the caption "here come dat boi!" (often with extra exclamation marks)

3

Follow with "o shit waddup!" as the reaction

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Dat Boi stood out in 2016 partly because of what it wasn't. In a meme landscape dominated by Spongebob screenshots and captioned reaction images, a random clip art frog on a unicycle with zero context felt genuinely new.

Kenyatta Cheese, co-founder of Know Your Meme, called Dat Boi "a piece of culture" in an interview with Vice. Model Josh Ostrovsky mentioned the meme in a PopSugar interview, admitting "obviously I love Dat Boi". Nickelodeon worked both catchphrases into meme-themed segments of its 2016 Kids Pick the President programming.

The Daily Dot's analysis of the 2017 revival connected the meme to Mark Fisher's concept of hauntology. They argued that Dat Boi, "made from a previously undiscovered piece of early-2000s clip art, was a rare exception" to the constant recycling of pop culture references in meme creation. The frog's death and revival were, in this reading, symptoms of internet culture being "stuck in a loop, running out of future".

Fun Facts

The unicycling frog was clip art from the Animation Factory Essential Collection 3, designed by Josh Doohen.

A Twitter user found the exact same frog graphic in an AP Physics 1 Essentials textbook on page 179 and posted about it on May 4, 2016.

Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie told Comic Book Resources in June 2016 that he was "devastated" Dat Boi was overshadowing his character.

The "here come dat boi / o shit waddup" phrasing was originally paired with Pac-Man, not a frog, tracing back to the Bloodhound Gang's song "Mope".

Urban Dictionary users define Dat Boi simply as "a green frog thats on a unicycle".

Derivatives & Variations

Deep-fried and heavily distorted versions of the image

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Mashups combining Dat Boi with other 2016-era memes

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Variations placing the frog in different contexts or backgrounds

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Text-based references and quotes from the meme

A variation of Dat Boi

(2016)

Frequently Asked Questions