Loadsamoney

1985catchphraseclassic

Published September 5, 2026

Loadsamoney is a Cockney character and 1988 novelty single created by British comedian Harry Enfield, built around a boastful plasterer waving fistfuls of cash. The character skewered Thatcher-era yuppie greed on Channel 4, then found a second life online decades later after Tripwire Interactive's 2009 shooter Killing Floor turned the catchphrase into a running in-joke among PC gamers.

catchphrase memesbritish memesgamingdelayed virality memesaudio memes

Overview

Loadsamoney is built around one image: a smug South London plasterer fanning a wad of twenties at the camera and shouting the title phrase in a thick Cockney accent1. Harry Enfield played the character straight enough that some viewers missed the satire, treating the vulgar money-waver as an aspirational figure rather than a jab at 1980s greed3.

Online, the joke shrank from a full sketch to a single audio clip. The 'LOADSAMONEY!' shout is used as a caption or voice line whenever someone acquires cash, especially inside video games, and the 1988 single supplies the backing track for endless montages and parodies2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Channel 4 television (origin) / YouTube and Killing Floor (viral revival)
Creator
Harry Enfield
Date
1985

Harry Enfield debuted the Loadsamoney character on Channel 4's Saturday Live in 1985, part of the British answer to Saturday Night Live3. Enfield built a stable of characters for the show, but the plasterer, who boasted about his wages while waving cash at the audience, became the breakout act and moved with Enfield onto the follow-up series Friday Live.

In 1988 Enfield recorded 'Loadsamoney (Doin' Up the House)', a novelty rap single in character1. The track peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and Enfield performed it on Top of the Pops, pushing the catchphrase from a comedy circuit joke into mainstream British slang for the Thatcher-era nouveau riche3.

How It Spread

For roughly two decades Loadsamoney stayed a British cultural reference. The revival came from an unexpected direction: Tripwire Interactive's cooperative shooter Killing Floor, released in 2009, is set in southern England and cast Cockney voice actors for the playable mercenaries4. Killing zombies drops cash for teammates to pick up, and one of the pickup voice lines is a shouted 'Loads of money!' clearly modelled on Enfield's delivery5.

Killing Floor players started digging up the original 1988 music video on YouTube and filling the comments with in-jokes from the game1. The clip picked up hundreds of thousands of views on the back of that traffic, and the phrase leaked into other multiplayer games including Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 whenever a player wanted to gloat about gold or kill rewards3.

On 5 July 2012, Tripwire made the tribute official by releasing a downloadable Killing Floor character called Harold Lott, a lottery-winner in a pinstripe suit who trails pound notes behind him as he runs6. The DLC sealed Loadsamoney's status as a shared reference between British comedy fans and a generation of PC gamers who had never seen the original sketches.

How to Use This Meme

The typical use is a reaction: paste the shouted 'LOADSAMONEY!' clip, or the chorus of 'Doin' Up the House', over any footage of someone counting cash, cashing out a trade, or winning an in-game jackpot. In gaming clips it often accompanies a big loot drop or a killing streak that pays out currency5.

Frequently Asked Questions

Loadsamoney

1985catchphraseclassic

Published September 5, 2026

Loadsamoney is a Cockney character and 1988 novelty single created by British comedian Harry Enfield, built around a boastful plasterer waving fistfuls of cash. The character skewered Thatcher-era yuppie greed on Channel 4, then found a second life online decades later after Tripwire Interactive's 2009 shooter Killing Floor turned the catchphrase into a running in-joke among PC gamers.

catchphrase memes british memes gaming delayed virality memes audio memes

Overview

Loadsamoney is built around one image: a smug South London plasterer fanning a wad of twenties at the camera and shouting the title phrase in a thick Cockney accent1. Harry Enfield played the character straight enough that some viewers missed the satire, treating the vulgar money-waver as an aspirational figure rather than a jab at 1980s greed3.

Online, the joke shrank from a full sketch to a single audio clip. The 'LOADSAMONEY!' shout is used as a caption or voice line whenever someone acquires cash, especially inside video games, and the 1988 single supplies the backing track for endless montages and parodies2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Channel 4 television (origin) / YouTube and Killing Floor (viral revival)
Creator
Harry Enfield
Date
1985

Harry Enfield debuted the Loadsamoney character on Channel 4's Saturday Live in 1985, part of the British answer to Saturday Night Live3. Enfield built a stable of characters for the show, but the plasterer, who boasted about his wages while waving cash at the audience, became the breakout act and moved with Enfield onto the follow-up series Friday Live.

In 1988 Enfield recorded 'Loadsamoney (Doin' Up the House)', a novelty rap single in character1. The track peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and Enfield performed it on Top of the Pops, pushing the catchphrase from a comedy circuit joke into mainstream British slang for the Thatcher-era nouveau riche3.

How It Spread

For roughly two decades Loadsamoney stayed a British cultural reference. The revival came from an unexpected direction: Tripwire Interactive's cooperative shooter Killing Floor, released in 2009, is set in southern England and cast Cockney voice actors for the playable mercenaries4. Killing zombies drops cash for teammates to pick up, and one of the pickup voice lines is a shouted 'Loads of money!' clearly modelled on Enfield's delivery5.

Killing Floor players started digging up the original 1988 music video on YouTube and filling the comments with in-jokes from the game1. The clip picked up hundreds of thousands of views on the back of that traffic, and the phrase leaked into other multiplayer games including Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 whenever a player wanted to gloat about gold or kill rewards3.

On 5 July 2012, Tripwire made the tribute official by releasing a downloadable Killing Floor character called Harold Lott, a lottery-winner in a pinstripe suit who trails pound notes behind him as he runs6. The DLC sealed Loadsamoney's status as a shared reference between British comedy fans and a generation of PC gamers who had never seen the original sketches.

How to Use This Meme

The typical use is a reaction: paste the shouted 'LOADSAMONEY!' clip, or the chorus of 'Doin' Up the House', over any footage of someone counting cash, cashing out a trade, or winning an in-game jackpot. In gaming clips it often accompanies a big loot drop or a killing streak that pays out currency5.

Frequently Asked Questions