Mario The Idea Vs Mario The Man — A photograph of Phil Jamesson's Philosophy 101 essay titled 'Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man' with red pen grading marks.

Mario The Idea Vs Mario The Man

2022Copypasta / image macro / comedy essayclassic

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: Perchance Essay · The Perchance Meme

"Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man" is a deliberately terrible fake philosophy essay written by comedian Phil Jamesson, posted to Twitter on February 18, 20221. The essay, which explores different "philosophical perspectives" of Super Mario in the most unprofessional way possible, went viral for its absurd phrases like "crushing turts" and repeated misuse of the word "perchance," picking up over 611,000 likes and spawning a wave of voiceover videos and memes2.

mario absurdist humor memes copypasta memes pseudo intellectual memes 2022 memes

Overview

The meme centers on a photograph of the first two paragraphs of a purposely awful philosophy essay titled "Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man." The essay is formatted to look like a graded college paper, covered in a professor's red-pen annotations expressing increasing frustration and confusion1. The paper opens with the line "Everyone knows Mario is cool as fuck" (annotated as "horrible opening" by the professor) and goes downhill from there, referring to Koopas as "turtles," "turts," and eventually "turty"2.

What makes the essay instantly recognizable is Jamesson's repeated, incorrect use of the word "perchance" at random intervals. The professor's note on the first instance reads "You can't just say 'perchance,'" which became one of the most quoted lines from the meme1. The essay receives a comically oversized "F" grade1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Key People
Phil Jamesson
Date
2022

On February 18, 2022, comedian Phil Jamesson (Twitter handle @PhilJamesson) posted a photograph of the essay to Twitter2. The piece was written to be as sloppy and unorganized as possible while maintaining a veneer of philosophical ambition. It features comparisons between Mario and Dr. Pepper, the phrase "Keep it up, baby!" inserted as a non sequitur, and a bizarre coined term "the lifekind" that leaves the fictional professor at a loss for words1.

The essay does contain one briefly coherent argument near its end: Mario is called a hero for risking his life, but since he can buy extra lives with coins, he doesn't actually risk anything, making him "a one percenter of a more privileged variety"1. The professor marks this point as "fine" before Jamesson loses the thread completely1.

Jamesson confirmed the essay was fake in a YouTube video posted on February 24, 2022, which also discussed sequel culture and picked up over 170,000 views within 10 months2.

How It Spread

The meme blew up the same day it was posted. On February 18, Twitter users flooded the replies with memes riffing on "you can't just say 'perchance,'" and the full essay text was copied to Reddit's r/copypasta2. The tweet accumulated over 611,000 likes and 69,000 retweets over the following 10 months2.

The next day, February 19, Elon Musk apparently shared the post on Twitter with the caption "Wario term paper," then deleted it2. On the same day, YouTuber Seedy uploaded a voiced-over reading of the essay that pulled in over 36,000 views2.

The voiceover trend became the meme's second wave. On February 22, Instagram user turtle.meme.god posted a voiced-over version that hit 220,000 views, and it was reposted to YouTube where it grabbed another 197,0002. The biggest reading came from YouTuber Jeaney Collects on February 27, whose version racked up over 1.9 million views in 10 months2.

A meme posted to Reddit's r/whenthe on February 20 picked up over 430 upvotes2. The essay's phrases leaked into general internet slang, with "perchance" becoming a standalone punchline in meme culture.

How to Use This Meme

The meme gets used in a few different ways:

- Quoting directly: Drop "perchance" into any statement where it makes no sense. The humor comes from the word's misplacement. Example: "I'm going to get lunch. Perchance." - Professor's red pen format: Write an obviously bad take or statement and annotate it with mock professor comments like "You can't just say 'perchance'" or strings of question marks. - "Everyone knows X is cool as fuck": Swap Mario for any subject to open a faux-philosophical analysis. Often paired with the professor's "horrible opening" note. - Voiceover readings: Record a dramatic reading of the essay or write an original essay in the same style, complete with red-pen corrections. - Turty/turts vocabulary: Reference Koopas or turtles using Jamesson's escalating nicknames in any Mario-related discussion.

The template typically works best when the writer commits fully to the style: pseudo-intellectual tone, random non sequiturs, and a single word or phrase repeated incorrectly throughout1.

Cultural Impact

The essay struck a nerve because it perfectly parodies a specific type of bad college writing that most people recognize. The fictional professor's annotations add a second layer of comedy, creating a call-and-response dynamic between increasingly unhinged writing and increasingly exhausted feedback1.

Urban Dictionary entries for the essay describe it as "the best work of literature ever," praising words like "Turts," "Turty," and "Perchance" as carefully chosen3. The voiceover trend on YouTube and Instagram gave the meme legs well beyond its original screenshot format, turning it into a performative piece where creators competed to deliver the most dramatic reading2.

"Perchance" as a standalone joke entered broader meme vocabulary, used in contexts far removed from Mario. The word now functions as a punchline signaling pretentious misuse of language.

Fun Facts

The essay's full text is visible in the original photo. TV Tropes notes: "What you're seeing is the entire essay, by the way"1.

The professor's reaction to "the lifekind" is simply "What."1

Jamesson never swears again in the essay after the opening "cool as fuck," making it a precision F-strike1.

The professor's response to "Keep it up, baby!" is just five question marks1.

Elon Musk's "Wario term paper" tweet referencing the essay was posted and deleted within the same day2.

Derivatives & Variations

Voiceover videos:

Multiple creators produced dramatic readings of the essay, with Jeaney Collects' version hitting 1.9 million views[2].

"You can't just say perchance" reaction format:

Used as a reply to any overly casual or nonsensical statement online[2].

r/copypasta text:

The full essay was posted as copypasta on Reddit the same day it went viral[2].

Professor annotation memes:

Users created their own fake graded essays with red-pen comments in the same style[1].

Frequently Asked Questions