# Ironic Enjoyment Ironic Enjoyment, most widely known through the **Sickos Guy** meme, is a reaction image originating from a 2015 comic by Ward Sutton (writing as "Stan Kelly") for The Onion[1]. The image shows a disheveled man in a black "Sickos" shirt grinning through a window and saying "Yes… Ha ha ha… Yes!", and people use it to express gleeful amusement at situations that are objectively terrible, embarrassing, or chaotic. The meme found a second life in sports fandom, where the Sickos Committee became a beloved institution for celebrating awful football games[1]. ## Origin Ward Sutton created the character as part of his long-running "Stan Kelly" persona for The Onion. Kelly is a fictional middle-aged editorial cartoonist with strongly conservative views, and Sutton uses him to satirize fears about American societal decline[1]. Throughout Kelly's comics, various perceived threats to traditional values get labeled as "sickos," from teenagers listening to hip-hop to store managers who refuse coupons[1]. The specific Sickos Guy image comes from the February 16, 2015 comic titled "Painful Procedural," captioned "If Drugs Are Legalized"[1]. The scene shows a family of "honest viewers" and "innocent kids" reacting with horror as their favorite police procedural gets canceled because crime no longer exists. Outside the window, the man in the black "Sickos" shirt grins at the chaos. Sutton later explained that the character's black clothing and unkempt look were meant to signal villainy from Kelly's perspective[1]. - **Platform:** The Onion (original comic), Twitter (viral meme spread) - **Creator:** Ward Sutton (cartoonist, writing as Stan Kelly) - **Date:** 2015 ## Overview The Sickos Guy meme features a single panel cropped from a larger Onion editorial cartoon. In the image, a man with messy hair wears a black t-shirt labeled "Sickos" and peers through a window with a wide, unsettling grin. His speech bubble reads "Yes… Ha ha ha… Yes!" The original comic was a satirical take on drug legalization fears, but the cropped reaction image took on a life of its own[1]. People post Sickos Guy when they want to admit they're taking way too much pleasure in something going sideways. Bad sports scores, political embarrassments, corporate disasters, interpersonal drama. The format works because everyone recognizes the feeling of watching a trainwreck you can't look away from and quietly thinking, "This rules, actually." ## How It Spread While the original comic ran in 2015, the Sickos Guy panel gained traction as a standalone reaction image on Twitter over the following years. Users cropped the grinning window figure and paired it with screenshots of news headlines, tweets, or situations where someone was clearly taking inappropriate joy in misfortune[1]. By 2020, the meme had become a go-to political reaction image. Nitish Pahwa of Slate documented examples including mockery of Trump supporters' efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and reactions to Republican threats to boycott Georgia's Senate runoff elections[1]. The image worked across partisan lines, though it skewed toward users expressing schadenfreude at political opponents' self-inflicted problems. Sutton, who was frequently tagged when the meme circulated, said he was uncertain how it became a meme, calling its spread "a complicated and weird thing" and "mind-blowing"[1]. He expressed appreciation that the image was generally used humorously rather than maliciously, though he criticized unauthorized commercial use. Official Sickos Guy merchandise is produced through The Onion[1]. ## How to Use The Sickos Guy reaction works best when you're admitting to enjoying something you probably shouldn't: 1. Find a situation where something is going wrong for someone (a sports blowout, a political self-own, corporate chaos, a hilariously bad product launch). 2. Post the cropped Sickos Guy panel alongside a screenshot, link, or description of the situation. 3. The implied message is: "I am the Sickos Guy. I am watching this through the window and loving every second." ## Cultural Impact The Sickos Committee turned what started as a reaction image into an organized sports community with real-world effects. Their Iowa City food bank fundraiser showed the meme could translate online irony into charitable action[1]. Broadcast announcers referencing the meme on-air during bowl games marked a crossover from internet culture into traditional sports media[1]. Ward Sutton's relationship with the meme offers an interesting case study in creator engagement. Unlike many meme subjects who resist or resent their internet fame, Sutton actively supported the community use of his character while drawing a line at unauthorized commercial exploitation[1]. Official merchandise through The Onion gave fans a legitimate way to buy in. The 2026 French "Pervers" variant demonstrated the meme's ability to cross linguistic and cultural boundaries while keeping the core joke intact[1]. ## Fun Facts - Ward Sutton's "Stan Kelly" persona has been running at The Onion for years, targeting everything from hip-hop-listening teenagers to Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign as examples of "sickos" threatening American values[1]. - The Sickos Committee promotes its content under the philosophy that chaotic, low-scoring games between bad teams are genuinely more entertaining than top-ranked matchups[1]. - Quick Lane Bowl announcer Connor Onion's reference to the meme during a 10–9 halftime was one of the first times the Sickos format was acknowledged on a live sports broadcast[1]. - Sutton described the meme's spread as "mind-blowing" and said he still doesn't fully understand how one panel from a satirical comic became a universal reaction image[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Ironic Enjoyment / Sickos Guy? It's a reaction image from a 2015 Onion editorial cartoon by Ward Sutton (as Stan Kelly), showing a grinning man in a "Sickos" shirt peering through a window saying "Yes… Ha ha ha… Yes!" People use it to express amusement at bad or chaotic situations[1]. ### Where did the Sickos meme come from? The February 16, 2015 Onion comic "Painful Procedural" by Ward Sutton, written under the Stan Kelly pseudonym. The panel was cropped from a larger cartoon about drug legalization fears[1]. ### What does the Sickos meme mean? It expresses schadenfreude or inappropriate delight at something going wrong. Posting it signals "I know I shouldn't enjoy this, but I absolutely do"[1]. ### How do you use the Sickos meme? Quote-tweet or reply to a situation (bad sports score, political embarrassment, corporate failure) with the cropped Sickos Guy panel. The juxtaposition between the awful situation and the character's glee is the joke[1]. ### Is Ironic Enjoyment / Sickos still popular? Yes. The meme is still actively used on Twitter, Bluesky, and other platforms, with the 2026 French "Pervers" variant showing its ongoing adaptability[1]. ### Who is Stan Kelly? Stan Kelly is a fictional editorial cartoonist persona created by Ward Sutton for The Onion. Kelly is portrayed as a conservative, middle-aged cartoonist who blames "sickos" for societal decline[1]. ### What is the Sickos Committee? A Twitter account and community of college football fans created in 2020 from a sportswriter Discord server. They celebrate terrible football games and gave Iowa their 2022 "national championship" for finishing 130th out of 131 in total offense[1]. ### Did Ward Sutton approve of the meme? Sutton has expressed support for the humorous use of his character and blessed the Sickos Committee's non-commercial use, though he opposes unauthorized merchandise. Official Sickos Guy merch is sold through The Onion[1]. ### What is the French "Pervers" variant? A 2026 Bluesky adaptation that reskinned Sickos Guy as a French aristocrat with a "Pervers" shirt saying "Oui... hon hon hon... oui!" It spread during coverage of the Paris prosecutor's search of X's French offices over Grok-related content issues[1]. ### What is the Sens Sicko movement? Ottawa Senators fans adopted the Sickos Guy as their mascot during the 2020–21 NHL season, using it to express ironic enthusiasm for the team's losses as a path to better draft picks[1]. ## References 1. [Sickos]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/ironic-enjoyment Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library