Harp Darp

2010rage comic faceclassic

Harp Darp, also known as Herp Derp, is a rage comic face that first appeared on Reddit's f7u12 subreddit in May 2010 as a self-deprecating joke about a poorly drawn character2. The blank-eyed, lolling-tongue expression became shorthand for stupidity across the rage comic scene and even inspired a browser extension that replaced YouTube comments with strings of "herp derp"1.

rage comicsfacial expression memessubreddit origin memesslang memesearly 2010s memes

Overview

Harp Darp, also known as Herp Derp, is a rage comic face drawn with a blank stare, a lolling tongue, and a slack expression that reads as pure vacant confusion1. Users deploy it whenever a character in a comic panel says or does something obviously dumb, which made it a staple of the rage comic golden age on Reddit and Tumblr2.

The phrase itself works two ways. Sometimes it labels a person as unintelligent, and sometimes it fills in for a word the speaker can't remember, functioning like "thingamajig" or "whatchamacallit"1. That flexibility is why "herp derp" outlived the drawn face and stuck around as generic internet slang for anything nonsensical.

Visually the character comes in a few flavors. The earliest version had thick eyebrows, but by August 2011 an eyebrow-less variant was circulating on f7u12 and became almost as common as the original1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (f7u12)
Creator
ULJarad
Date
2010

The face first showed up in a comic titled "Rage Comic FFUU" posted to the f7u12 subreddit by Redditor ULJarad on May 11th, 20101. In that original strip, the face is actually the punchline of a joke about how poorly it's drawn, not a stand-alone reaction2.

The name "harp darp" got attached about five months later, on October 11th, 2010, when a Reddit post titled "Harp Darp poop on my car" paired the face with a photo of a bird-splattered car window1. That post cemented the face and phrase together for the rest of its run.

How It Spread

By April 12th, 2011 the meme had its own single-serving site, HarpDarp.com, which loaded nothing but a giant picture of the face1. Ten days later on April 22nd, 2011, an Urban Dictionary user named SaladOnTop submitted the first definition of the phrase, locking in the "unintelligent person" reading3.

The face went fully mainstream on August 10th, 2011 when a comic called "Anytime one of my friends says something dumb now" hit the front page of f7u12 and pulled 8,847 upvotes before being archived1. From there it jumped tags on FunnyJunk, Tumblr, and Memebase, mostly under the "herp derp" spelling1. Etsy seller Alexa De Lima started carving custom rubber stamps of the face and other rage comic characters on November 16th, 20111.

The biggest crossover moment came on January 18th, 2012, when web developer Tanner Stokes released a Firefox extension that replaced every YouTube comment on a page with random strings of "herp derp"2. Chrome, Safari, and Opera versions followed later that year, and Stokes finally retired the plugin in March 2025 after more than a decade of use2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Harp Darp

2010rage comic faceclassic

Harp Darp, also known as Herp Derp, is a rage comic face that first appeared on Reddit's f7u12 subreddit in May 2010 as a self-deprecating joke about a poorly drawn character2. The blank-eyed, lolling-tongue expression became shorthand for stupidity across the rage comic scene and even inspired a browser extension that replaced YouTube comments with strings of "herp derp"1.

rage comics facial expression memes subreddit origin memes slang memes early 2010s memes

Overview

Harp Darp, also known as Herp Derp, is a rage comic face drawn with a blank stare, a lolling tongue, and a slack expression that reads as pure vacant confusion1. Users deploy it whenever a character in a comic panel says or does something obviously dumb, which made it a staple of the rage comic golden age on Reddit and Tumblr2.

The phrase itself works two ways. Sometimes it labels a person as unintelligent, and sometimes it fills in for a word the speaker can't remember, functioning like "thingamajig" or "whatchamacallit"1. That flexibility is why "herp derp" outlived the drawn face and stuck around as generic internet slang for anything nonsensical.

Visually the character comes in a few flavors. The earliest version had thick eyebrows, but by August 2011 an eyebrow-less variant was circulating on f7u12 and became almost as common as the original1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (f7u12)
Creator
ULJarad
Date
2010

The face first showed up in a comic titled "Rage Comic FFUU" posted to the f7u12 subreddit by Redditor ULJarad on May 11th, 20101. In that original strip, the face is actually the punchline of a joke about how poorly it's drawn, not a stand-alone reaction2.

The name "harp darp" got attached about five months later, on October 11th, 2010, when a Reddit post titled "Harp Darp poop on my car" paired the face with a photo of a bird-splattered car window1. That post cemented the face and phrase together for the rest of its run.

How It Spread

By April 12th, 2011 the meme had its own single-serving site, HarpDarp.com, which loaded nothing but a giant picture of the face1. Ten days later on April 22nd, 2011, an Urban Dictionary user named SaladOnTop submitted the first definition of the phrase, locking in the "unintelligent person" reading3.

The face went fully mainstream on August 10th, 2011 when a comic called "Anytime one of my friends says something dumb now" hit the front page of f7u12 and pulled 8,847 upvotes before being archived1. From there it jumped tags on FunnyJunk, Tumblr, and Memebase, mostly under the "herp derp" spelling1. Etsy seller Alexa De Lima started carving custom rubber stamps of the face and other rage comic characters on November 16th, 20111.

The biggest crossover moment came on January 18th, 2012, when web developer Tanner Stokes released a Firefox extension that replaced every YouTube comment on a page with random strings of "herp derp"2. Chrome, Safari, and Opera versions followed later that year, and Stokes finally retired the plugin in March 2025 after more than a decade of use2.

Frequently Asked Questions