Monke

2016Photoshopped image / copypasta / shitpost philosophysemi-active

Also known as: Le Monke

Monke is a 2016 photoshopped image of an obese orangutan with a bewildered expression known as Le Monke, which later spawned the anti-civilization "Return to Monke" meme and "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta.

Monke is a deliberate misspelling of "monkey" that became an umbrella term for primate-related internet humor, most notably through the "Le Monke" meme. Le Monke is a photoshopped image of an obese orangutan with a bewildered expression that first appeared on 4chan's [s4s] board in January 20162. The term later expanded to include the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta videos in 2019 and the broader "Return to Monke" anti-civilization shitposting philosophy4.

primate memes4chan memesphotoshop memescopypasta memesabsurdist humor memes

Overview

The term "monke" covers several overlapping memes unified by primate imagery and absurdist humor. The most recognizable is Le Monke, a heavily photoshopped photograph of an orangutan from Indonesia's Surabaya Zoo2. The edit exaggerates the ape's facial features into a confused, almost human expression that became irresistible material for shitposting. A second major branch is the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta, a crude comedic monologue about defecation that got paired with the Le Monke image in video form2. The third use is the broader "monke" as internet slang for monkeys and apes in general, often invoked in phrases like "Return to Monke," which expresses a tongue-in-cheek desire to reject modern civilization and revert to primate simplicity4.

The orangutan in the original photograph lived at the Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia and was photographed by Flickr user em de a in 20092. Someone later photoshopped the image to give the ape a distorted, almost melancholic expression.

The earliest known pairing of this edited image with the words "le monke" appeared on January 21st, 2016, when an anonymous user posted it on 4chan's [s4s] (Shit 4chan Says) board2. The name drew from two traditions: "le monkey face," an older rage comic drawing, and the ironic use of the French article "le" that 4channers used to mock Reddit's posting style1.

Separately, on October 29th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user wrote a lengthy, absurd copypasta about defecation on the /b/ board2. This "Uh Oh Stinky" text would later become inseparable from the Le Monke image.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan [s4s] board (Le Monke image), 4chan /b/ board (Uh Oh Stinky copypasta)
Key People
em de a, Real Human Bean
Date
2016

The orangutan in the original photograph lived at the Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia and was photographed by Flickr user em de a in 2009. Someone later photoshopped the image to give the ape a distorted, almost melancholic expression.

The earliest known pairing of this edited image with the words "le monke" appeared on January 21st, 2016, when an anonymous user posted it on 4chan's [s4s] (Shit 4chan Says) board. The name drew from two traditions: "le monkey face," an older rage comic drawing, and the ironic use of the French article "le" that 4channers used to mock Reddit's posting style.

Separately, on October 29th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user wrote a lengthy, absurd copypasta about defecation on the /b/ board. This "Uh Oh Stinky" text would later become inseparable from the Le Monke image.

How It Spread

On March 3rd, 2016, a YouTuber named lemonke uploaded a video featuring the still image set to "Requiem for a Dream," picking up 35,000 views and 1,260 likes within three months. On March 15th, 2016, YouTube user Real Human Bean posted a video narrating the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta over the Le Monke image, which accumulated over 364,200 views in three years.

The meme hit Facebook on May 26th, 2016, when a dedicated Le Monke page launched and pulled in more than 11,000 likes in under two weeks. Two days later, Redditor Theniallmc created r/lemonke as a curation hub for the meme. The Daily Dot covered the meme on June 2nd, 2016, noting that Le Monke had already displaced SpongeGar as the reigning absurdist meme of the moment.

By mid-2016, at least one 4chan user was already complaining that "normie" Facebook groups had co-opted Le Monke, a reliable sign the meme had crossed over from imageboard niche to mainstream shitposting.

The meme experienced a major second wave starting in late May 2019, when the "Uh Oh Stinky" narration video resurfaced across ironic meme communities on Instagram, iFunny, and Reddit. On January 22nd, 2019, YouTuber Jab50Yen had posted "Uh Oh Town," a mashup of the Stinky narration with Pokémon Red/Blue's Lavender Town theme, which hit 278,000 views in nine months.

TikTok propelled Le Monke to a new audience in September 2019. User @c0ckandballcouture uploaded an "Uh Oh Stinky" remix on September 10th, and the audio spread to over 135,000 TikTok videos within a month. On September 28th, TikToker @gabriela.bee posted a video of herself hiding from Le Monke that racked up 806,700 likes and 36,000 shares in two weeks. The same day, @jeyjeygardi's Le Monke TikTok pulled 537,300 likes, and the next day @yellowasia's video connecting Le Monke with Harambe collected 412,000 likes.

The broader "monke" slang took on a life of its own through Urban Dictionary definitions emphasizing "Return to Monke" as a pseudo-philosophical stance and "Where banana?" as a catchphrase. The Viagra Boys even released a song titled "Return to Monke" on their 2022 album Cave World.

Platforms

4chanRedditTwitterTikTokDiscord

Timeline

2015-10-01

An anonymous 4chan user wrote the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta on 4chan's /b/ board, which was later narrated by YouTube user Real Human Bean over the Le Monke image in March 2016, creating the meme's most popular video format.

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Monke memes work best when they are low-effort and pointless on purpose. The common thread is absurdist simplicity.

1

Use the photoshopped orangutan face as a reaction image in response to something confusing, stupid, or absurdly relatable

2

For 'Uh Oh Stinky' posts: pair the image with the copypasta text or audio, either standalone or as a soundtrack over unrelated footage

3

For 'Return to Monke' memes: create comparison memes showing civilized misery versus primate bliss, or caption a primate photo with 'reject modernity, return to monke'

4

For 'Where banana?' posts: place that one-line caption over any primate image to express simple, unmet desires

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Daily Dot's 2016 coverage described Le Monke as a meme so "bizarrely" pointless that "even a heartless meme assassin" couldn't bring themselves to kill it, framing it as a worthy successor in the lineage of absurdist internet humor. The meme's connection to Harambe (the gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016) gave it additional emotional weight during the summer of 2016, when primate-related memes dominated internet culture.

The "Return to Monke" philosophy expanded beyond shitposting into broader cultural commentary, with the Viagra Boys adopting it as a song title on their 2022 album. Urban Dictionary entries reflect how "monke" entered internet vocabulary as both a term of worship-like reverence and a shorthand for rejecting complexity.

Fun Facts

The real orangutan lived at Indonesia's Surabaya Zoo, a facility that has faced international criticism for its conditions. The unedited photo looks remarkably different from the meme version.

The Daily Dot noted the irony of Le Monke rising to fame right after Harambe's death, suggesting the internet's collective gorilla grief may have fueled sympathy for a photoshopped orangutan.

The "le" prefix comes from 4chan users mocking Reddit's early habit of using French articles in rage comics, making Le Monke a meme born partly from inter-platform rivalry.

The Uh Oh Stinky copypasta predates the Le Monke image by several months, originating on 4chan's /b/ board in October 2015 before being grafted onto the orangutan in 2016.

The Viagra Boys named a track "Return to Monke" on their 2022 album Cave World.

Derivatives & Variations

Monke civilization rejection memes

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Primal monke variations

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Monke vs modern comparisons

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Frequently Asked Questions

Monke

2016Photoshopped image / copypasta / shitpost philosophysemi-active

Also known as: Le Monke

Monke is a 2016 photoshopped image of an obese orangutan with a bewildered expression known as Le Monke, which later spawned the anti-civilization "Return to Monke" meme and "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta.

Monke is a deliberate misspelling of "monkey" that became an umbrella term for primate-related internet humor, most notably through the "Le Monke" meme. Le Monke is a photoshopped image of an obese orangutan with a bewildered expression that first appeared on 4chan's [s4s] board in January 2016. The term later expanded to include the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta videos in 2019 and the broader "Return to Monke" anti-civilization shitposting philosophy.

primate memes 4chan memes photoshop memes copypasta memes absurdist humor memes

Overview

The term "monke" covers several overlapping memes unified by primate imagery and absurdist humor. The most recognizable is Le Monke, a heavily photoshopped photograph of an orangutan from Indonesia's Surabaya Zoo. The edit exaggerates the ape's facial features into a confused, almost human expression that became irresistible material for shitposting. A second major branch is the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta, a crude comedic monologue about defecation that got paired with the Le Monke image in video form. The third use is the broader "monke" as internet slang for monkeys and apes in general, often invoked in phrases like "Return to Monke," which expresses a tongue-in-cheek desire to reject modern civilization and revert to primate simplicity.

The orangutan in the original photograph lived at the Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia and was photographed by Flickr user em de a in 2009. Someone later photoshopped the image to give the ape a distorted, almost melancholic expression.

The earliest known pairing of this edited image with the words "le monke" appeared on January 21st, 2016, when an anonymous user posted it on 4chan's [s4s] (Shit 4chan Says) board. The name drew from two traditions: "le monkey face," an older rage comic drawing, and the ironic use of the French article "le" that 4channers used to mock Reddit's posting style.

Separately, on October 29th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user wrote a lengthy, absurd copypasta about defecation on the /b/ board. This "Uh Oh Stinky" text would later become inseparable from the Le Monke image.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan [s4s] board (Le Monke image), 4chan /b/ board (Uh Oh Stinky copypasta)
Key People
em de a, Real Human Bean
Date
2016

The orangutan in the original photograph lived at the Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia and was photographed by Flickr user em de a in 2009. Someone later photoshopped the image to give the ape a distorted, almost melancholic expression.

The earliest known pairing of this edited image with the words "le monke" appeared on January 21st, 2016, when an anonymous user posted it on 4chan's [s4s] (Shit 4chan Says) board. The name drew from two traditions: "le monkey face," an older rage comic drawing, and the ironic use of the French article "le" that 4channers used to mock Reddit's posting style.

Separately, on October 29th, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user wrote a lengthy, absurd copypasta about defecation on the /b/ board. This "Uh Oh Stinky" text would later become inseparable from the Le Monke image.

How It Spread

On March 3rd, 2016, a YouTuber named lemonke uploaded a video featuring the still image set to "Requiem for a Dream," picking up 35,000 views and 1,260 likes within three months. On March 15th, 2016, YouTube user Real Human Bean posted a video narrating the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta over the Le Monke image, which accumulated over 364,200 views in three years.

The meme hit Facebook on May 26th, 2016, when a dedicated Le Monke page launched and pulled in more than 11,000 likes in under two weeks. Two days later, Redditor Theniallmc created r/lemonke as a curation hub for the meme. The Daily Dot covered the meme on June 2nd, 2016, noting that Le Monke had already displaced SpongeGar as the reigning absurdist meme of the moment.

By mid-2016, at least one 4chan user was already complaining that "normie" Facebook groups had co-opted Le Monke, a reliable sign the meme had crossed over from imageboard niche to mainstream shitposting.

The meme experienced a major second wave starting in late May 2019, when the "Uh Oh Stinky" narration video resurfaced across ironic meme communities on Instagram, iFunny, and Reddit. On January 22nd, 2019, YouTuber Jab50Yen had posted "Uh Oh Town," a mashup of the Stinky narration with Pokémon Red/Blue's Lavender Town theme, which hit 278,000 views in nine months.

TikTok propelled Le Monke to a new audience in September 2019. User @c0ckandballcouture uploaded an "Uh Oh Stinky" remix on September 10th, and the audio spread to over 135,000 TikTok videos within a month. On September 28th, TikToker @gabriela.bee posted a video of herself hiding from Le Monke that racked up 806,700 likes and 36,000 shares in two weeks. The same day, @jeyjeygardi's Le Monke TikTok pulled 537,300 likes, and the next day @yellowasia's video connecting Le Monke with Harambe collected 412,000 likes.

The broader "monke" slang took on a life of its own through Urban Dictionary definitions emphasizing "Return to Monke" as a pseudo-philosophical stance and "Where banana?" as a catchphrase. The Viagra Boys even released a song titled "Return to Monke" on their 2022 album Cave World.

Platforms

4chanRedditTwitterTikTokDiscord

Timeline

2015-10-01

An anonymous 4chan user wrote the "Uh Oh Stinky" copypasta on 4chan's /b/ board, which was later narrated by YouTube user Real Human Bean over the Le Monke image in March 2016, creating the meme's most popular video format.

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Monke memes work best when they are low-effort and pointless on purpose. The common thread is absurdist simplicity.

1

Use the photoshopped orangutan face as a reaction image in response to something confusing, stupid, or absurdly relatable

2

For 'Uh Oh Stinky' posts: pair the image with the copypasta text or audio, either standalone or as a soundtrack over unrelated footage

3

For 'Return to Monke' memes: create comparison memes showing civilized misery versus primate bliss, or caption a primate photo with 'reject modernity, return to monke'

4

For 'Where banana?' posts: place that one-line caption over any primate image to express simple, unmet desires

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Daily Dot's 2016 coverage described Le Monke as a meme so "bizarrely" pointless that "even a heartless meme assassin" couldn't bring themselves to kill it, framing it as a worthy successor in the lineage of absurdist internet humor. The meme's connection to Harambe (the gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016) gave it additional emotional weight during the summer of 2016, when primate-related memes dominated internet culture.

The "Return to Monke" philosophy expanded beyond shitposting into broader cultural commentary, with the Viagra Boys adopting it as a song title on their 2022 album. Urban Dictionary entries reflect how "monke" entered internet vocabulary as both a term of worship-like reverence and a shorthand for rejecting complexity.

Fun Facts

The real orangutan lived at Indonesia's Surabaya Zoo, a facility that has faced international criticism for its conditions. The unedited photo looks remarkably different from the meme version.

The Daily Dot noted the irony of Le Monke rising to fame right after Harambe's death, suggesting the internet's collective gorilla grief may have fueled sympathy for a photoshopped orangutan.

The "le" prefix comes from 4chan users mocking Reddit's early habit of using French articles in rage comics, making Le Monke a meme born partly from inter-platform rivalry.

The Uh Oh Stinky copypasta predates the Le Monke image by several months, originating on 4chan's /b/ board in October 2015 before being grafted onto the orangutan in 2016.

The Viagra Boys named a track "Return to Monke" on their 2022 album Cave World.

Derivatives & Variations

Monke civilization rejection memes

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Primal monke variations

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Monke vs modern comparisons

A variation of Monke

(2020)

Frequently Asked Questions