Dramatic Reading — Scanned angry misspelled breakup letter addressed to 'Dear Loser, Chris' with the heading #7083

Dramatic Reading

2006audio formatclassic

Published November 13, 2026

Dramatic Reading is the comedy of performing badly written text or boring material aloud in a mock-Shakespearean voice. The format exploded on YTMND in 2006 when user boomaga uploaded a theatrical performance of Eric Bauman's cease-and-desist letters to the site. By late 2006, YTMND filled with fan-made dramatic readings of Star Wars screenplays and MySpace breakup letters.

ytmnd memes audio memes mid 2000s memes fan fiction memes so bad its good memes

Overview

Readers rely on contrast: amateur fan fiction or misspelled rants delivered with the gravitas of a Shakespearean monologue1. Performers typically preserve every error in the source, sounding out 'u' as literal 'you' and reading run-on sentences without breaks to maximize the absurdity. Audio posts on YTMND paired the recordings with static images or slow-panning shots of the text being read, letting viewers follow along as the narrator delivered each typo with solemn authority.

The genre split between two main sources: real documents written by non-writers (angry emails, cease-and-desist letters, personal ads) and badly written fiction, especially fan work for Halo, Star Wars, and anime properties2. Delivery usually imitates classical stage acting or BBC news anchors, which clashes with content about MySpace breakups or Jedi Knights to produce the joke.

Origin & Background

Platform
YTMND
Date
2006

Dramatic readings predate the web by decades. Peter Sellers recorded a Laurence Olivier-style version of The Beatles' 'A Hard Day's Night' in 19653, and sci-fi conventions had been passing around Jim Theis's 1970 novella The Eye of Argon as a party game, challenging readers to finish without laughing.

Online, user boomaga adapted the tradition in 2006 with 'The Bauman E-mails: A Dramatic Reading,' a recording of Eric Bauman of Ebaumsworld.com sending cease-and-desist letters to YTMND users1. The childish insults paired with boomaga's theatrical delivery held YTMND's top spot for several weeks.

How It Spread

After the Bauman E-mails post, YTMND users produced spinoff posts quoting its most memorable lines, including 'FBI Cyber Terrorism Unit,' 'Neil Bauman Can't Read Acronyms,' and 'Stop in the Name of LOL'3. 'Star Wars, Dramatic Reading' then applied the same approach to George Lucas's screenplay2, 'KOTST Dramatic Reading and Reflection' covered Knights of the Old Republic fan fiction, and 'A Dramatic Reading from Myspace' turned personal profile text into comedy4.

Fan fiction became a favorite target, with 'Halo: Halos In Space' and 'Lucky Star: The Rise of Konata' ranking among the site's best-remembered dramatic reading posts from 20075. Side genres included dramatic readings of deviantART complaints ('an angry note from deviantart dramatically read'), Chinese bootleg Batman subtitles, and generic breakup letters, which showed how far the format could stretch while keeping the same comedic engine.

Timeline

1965

Peter Sellers records a Shakespearean reading of The Beatles' 'A Hard Day's Night,' an early example of comedically dramatic reading.

1970

Jim Theis's novella 'The Eye of Argon' is published in OSFAN issue 10 and spreads through sci-fi conventions as a laughing-challenge party game.

2006

'Peta People Smart!' is posted on YTMND as one of the earliest dramatic reading entries on the site.

2006

User boomaga posts 'The Bauman E-mails: A Dramatic Reading' on YTMND and holds the top spot for several weeks.

2006

Spinoff posts excerpting notable Bauman lines, including 'FBI Cyber Terrorism Unit' and 'Stop in the Name of LOL,' appear on YTMND.

2007

Fan fiction dramatic readings including 'Halo: Halos In Space' and 'Lucky Star: The Rise of Konata' go up on YTMND.

How to Use This Meme

Pick a text with maximum earnestness-to-quality mismatch, like fan fiction, an angry email, or a personal ad, then read it aloud slowly in a deeply serious theater voice. Common practice includes keeping every spelling and grammar mistake verbatim, often pronouncing acronyms letter by letter and sounding out shorthand like 'u' or 'ur' as full words.

Frequently Asked Questions