# Meme Dad

Meme Dad is a 2012 advice animal image macro built from a Reddit photo of a 38-year-old man crying with laughter as he discovered internet memes for the first time. The format spawned over 1,900 caption variants in which the character finally 'gets' the joke behind every other advice animal.

## Origin
On June 1st, 2012, a Redditor posted the source photo to /r/Funny under the title 'My dad recently discovered memes. He's 38 and he's laughing so hard that he's crying'[1]. The thread hit the front page and pulled in more than 16,600 upvotes and roughly 1,300 comments before being archived[4].

The same day, Redditor hiddenxninja2 uploaded the first image macro version of the photo, titled 'New Meme Dad,' to /r/AdviceAnimals with a caption riffing on Socially Awkward Penguin[6]. That first macro only picked up 7 upvotes at launch, but it set the template every later entry followed.

- **Platform:** Reddit (/r/Funny photo, /r/AdviceAnimals macro)
- **Creator:** hiddenxninja2
- **Date:** 2012

## Overview
The source photo shows a middle-aged man laughing hard enough to bring on tears, snapped by his son the first time he sat down to scroll through Reddit's meme catalog[1]. Once cropped into an advice animal, the caption format locked into a two-line template: a top line reading 'Oh [meme name]' and a bottom line delivering a wide-eyed observation about that meme's running joke[4].

Most entries have Meme Dad puzzling out the punchlines of other advice animals. An early macro paired him with Socially Awkward Penguin, and the version that broke the series onto Reddit's front page cracked Condescending Wonka with a warm 'you're always so sarcastic'[2]. The humor works because the character reads as a genuinely delighted outsider figuring out a subculture that longtime Redditors treat as second nature, rather than a target of mockery[3].

## How It Spread
For the next four days, dozens of Meme Dad macros hit /r/AdviceAnimals without breaking through to the front page[4]. That changed on June 5th, 2012, when Uproxx and Buzzfeed both wrote the series up as a fresh meta-meme about memes, driving new eyes to the template[2][3]. The following day, a Meme Dad macro explaining Condescending Wonka became the first entry from the series to hit Reddit's front page.

Throughout the rest of 2012, the character kept showing up on Pop Hangover and the parenting site Like A Dad, which framed him as a stand-in for real fathers catching up on their kids' internet slang[7]. By June 2013, the dedicated Meme Dad page on Quickmeme held more than 1,900 user submissions[5], placing him alongside the other advice animal templates that defined that era of Reddit.

## How to Use
The template typically pairs the headshot of the laughing man with a two-line caption. The top line commonly reads 'Oh [meme name]' addressing another advice animal by name, and the bottom line delivers an earnest observation about that meme's core joke, played straight as if Meme Dad just worked it out for himself[4].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Meme Dad?
Meme Dad is a 2012 advice animal image macro featuring a laughing 38-year-old man, captioned as if he is affectionately figuring out the joke behind other memes[1].

### Where did Meme Dad come from?
The source photo was posted to /r/Funny on June 1st, 2012, and hiddenxninja2 turned it into the first image macro on /r/AdviceAnimals the same day[6].

### What does Meme Dad mean?
The character reads as a warm outsider getting into Reddit humor for the first time, with each macro captioned to show him finally 'getting' another advice animal like Condescending Wonka[2].

### How do you use Meme Dad?
Pair the laughing headshot with a top line reading 'Oh [meme name]' and a bottom line offering a naive observation about that meme's usual joke[4].

### Is Meme Dad still popular?
Peak activity ran from June 2012 through 2013, when the Quickmeme page held over 1,900 submissions; today it sits in the classic advice animal catalog rather than active rotation[5].

## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/>)
2. [https://uproxx.com/webculture/meme-watch-oh-meme-dad-you-get-all-the-memes/](<https://uproxx.com/webculture/meme-watch-oh-meme-dad-you-get-all-the-memes/>)
3. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/](<https://www.buzzfeed.com/>)
4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/meme-dad](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/meme-dad>)
5. [https://www.quickmeme.com/Meme-Dad](<https://www.quickmeme.com/Meme-Dad>)
6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/>)
7. [https://likeadad.net/meme-ing-like-a-dad/](<https://likeadad.net/meme-ing-like-a-dad/>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/meme-dad
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library