The definitive Nannerpuss mascot positioned on a stack of pancakes atop a plate with red background.

Nannerpuss

2009Commercial mascot / viral ad characterdead

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: Nannerpus · Banana Octopus

Nannerpuss is a puppet mascot from a 2009 Denny's Super Bowl commercial, featuring a banana carved to look like an octopus with googly eyes, sitting atop a stack of pancakes and singing a jingle. The ad aired during Super Bowl XLIII and drove a 1,679% spike in traffic to Denny's website6. Despite a brief burst of fan-made remixes and fan art, Nannerpuss faded quickly from the broader meme landscape, making it a beloved but short-lived piece of late-2000s internet culture1.

super bowl memes advertising memes earworm memes late 2000s memes ytmnd memes

Overview

Nannerpuss, a puppeted banana peel carved to resemble an octopus, with a single googly eye and a mustache, perched on a stack of pancakes3. The character appeared in a Denny's television spot structured as an ad-within-an-ad: Nannerpuss represented a silly, childish breakfast mascot, complete with a catchy jingle ("Nannerpuss, Nannerpuss, my name's Nannerpuss"), before a deep-voiced narrator cut in to pitch Denny's Grand Slam as a "serious breakfast" alternative2. The name is a portmanteau of "nanner" (slang for banana) and "puss" (short for octopus)3.

The joke of the commercial was self-aware: Denny's wanted to position itself above goofy mascot advertising while simultaneously using a goofy mascot to grab attention2. As the ad blog The Avocado put it, the strategy was to create "a weird, colorful, attention grabbing mascot," then shove it aside and claim "that's not what we're about"2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Television (Super Bowl XLIII broadcast), YouTube / YTMND (viral spread)
Key People
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Date
2009

Nannerpuss debuted during Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009. The commercial was created by the Goodby, Silverstein & Partners advertising agency and marked the first time Denny's had purchased ad time during the Super Bowl3. The character was designed to represent a typical whimsical children's breakfast, set up as a contrast to Denny's Grand Slam meal3.

The spot promoted a free Grand Slam breakfast event scheduled for the following Tuesday, February 3, 20093. That promotion drove massive results: Denny's website traffic jumped by 1,679% on game day, far outpacing every other Super Bowl advertiser6. Compete and TNS Media tracked that Frito-Lay saw a 313% increase and PepsiCo managed 199%, but nobody came close to Denny's numbers6. An estimated two million people showed up at Denny's locations for the free meal3.

How It Spread

Within hours of the Super Bowl broadcast, a Twitter account was created for Nannerpuss, replying to confused viewers who had just seen the ad3. Denny's official website made the video available for download and encouraged sharing3. On February 6, a YTMND page built from the commercial went up and pulled in nearly 18,000 views, with several other YTMND remixes following that month3.

By February 10, Nannerpuss had its own Urban Dictionary definition4. Coverage spread across AdWeek, Serious Eats, and The Hot Dish over the following weeks5. AdWeek noted that YouTube was "awash in clips built around the catchy but grating jingle," including mashups with Christian Bale's infamous on-set rant and various fan edits5. In May 2009, a user on the Craftster forums posted a hand-knitted Nannerpuss with felt pancakes3.

The character picked up a Facebook fan page that eventually reached over 11,000 likes3. Advertising blog Ad Nauseous nominated the commercial for Ad of the Year in late 2009, and in early 2012, the Daily Beast included it on a list of the 20 most effective Super Bowl ads3.

But the hype was short-lived. Google search interest for Nannerpuss and its alternate spellings peaked sharply in February 2009 and dropped off almost immediately3. Compete's tracking showed that interest in Super Bowl ads in general "dropped to almost zero within the first two days after the game"6.

Frequently Asked Questions