This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021

2019Exploitable comicdead

Also known as: Comedy Died Out Around 2021 · History Museum Comic

This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021 is a 2019 Dave Whamond exploitable cartoon where internet users edit a museum display with absurd replacements.

"This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021" is an exploitable comic meme based on a 2019 editorial cartoon by Dave Whamond. The original panel depicts a man in a history museum explaining to children that comedy "died out around 2021" because too many people got offended. In December 2020, internet users began editing the museum display with absurd or ironic replacements, turning an earnest cancel-culture cartoon into a vehicle for surreal shitposting on Reddit and Twitter.

exploitable templatesironic memesabsurdist humor memescancel culture memesdelayed virality memes

Overview

The meme uses a single-panel editorial cartoon showing a man and two children at a history museum. They stand before a glass display case labeled "Comedy," and the man explains that comedy died out because too many people were getting offended2. The cartoon's original message was a straightforward take on political correctness. Internet users flipped the intent entirely by editing the display case to feature different subjects, objects, or images while keeping the man's explanatory dialogue as a template. The format thrived especially on r/ComedyNecrophilia, a subreddit dedicated to making bad content ironically worse through absurdist edits.

Cartoonist Dave Whamond published the original cartoon on June 10, 20192. The image showed a father figure and two kids touring a history museum, pausing at a display case containing "Comedy" with a caption lamenting its death-by-political-correctness. Whamond intended it as commentary on cancel culture.

The cartoon didn't get picked up as meme material for over 18 months. On December 22, 2020, Reddit user crayon-connoisseur02 posted the unedited cartoon to r/terriblefacebookmemes, framing it as a cringe-worthy boomer comic1. The post pulled in over 10,200 upvotes in two weeks. One day later, on December 23, Twitter user @urinalshitter reposted the image and collected over 16,700 retweets and 145,000 likes in the same period.

Also on December 23, Reddit user masonhil posted the first viral edit to r/ComedyNecrophilia, earning nearly 18,000 upvotes within two weeks. That edit cracked open the template. The r/terriblefacebookmemes post had identified the cartoon as bad content; masonhil showed what could be done with it.

Origin & Background

Platform
Dave Whamond's editorial cartoons (source comic), Reddit and Twitter (meme spread)
Key People
Dave Whamond, masonhil
Date
2019 (original cartoon), 2020 (meme format)

Cartoonist Dave Whamond published the original cartoon on June 10, 2019. The image showed a father figure and two kids touring a history museum, pausing at a display case containing "Comedy" with a caption lamenting its death-by-political-correctness. Whamond intended it as commentary on cancel culture.

The cartoon didn't get picked up as meme material for over 18 months. On December 22, 2020, Reddit user crayon-connoisseur02 posted the unedited cartoon to r/terriblefacebookmemes, framing it as a cringe-worthy boomer comic. The post pulled in over 10,200 upvotes in two weeks. One day later, on December 23, Twitter user @urinalshitter reposted the image and collected over 16,700 retweets and 145,000 likes in the same period.

Also on December 23, Reddit user masonhil posted the first viral edit to r/ComedyNecrophilia, earning nearly 18,000 upvotes within two weeks. That edit cracked open the template. The r/terriblefacebookmemes post had identified the cartoon as bad content; masonhil showed what could be done with it.

How It Spread

Edits piled up quickly after masonhil's initial post. On December 24, 2020, Twitter user @InvoxiPlayGames shared an edit that picked up over 470 retweets and 1,700 likes. Four days later, Reddit user dankxenon posted a version to r/ComedyNecrophilia that hit over 8,500 upvotes in a single week.

Through late December 2020 and into early January 2021, edits spread across Twitter, Reddit, and other platforms. The r/ComedyNecrophilia community drove most of the creative output, with users competing to produce increasingly surreal and layered versions. The template's appeal was its simplicity: swap the museum display, keep the caption structure, and the joke writes itself.

The meme's lifespan was concentrated. Most viral activity occurred in a roughly three-week window from late December 2020 to mid-January 2021. After that initial burst, usage dropped off sharply as the format exhausted its novelty.

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a simple process:

1

Start with the original cartoon showing the man and children at the museum display

2

Replace the "Comedy" label and display contents with your chosen subject

3

Optionally modify the man's dialogue to say "[subject] is something that died out around 2021" or a variation

4

The humor typically comes from the absurdity of what's placed in the display, the irony of the "died out" framing, or both

Cultural Impact

The meme's footprint is narrow but telling. It became a signature format on r/ComedyNecrophilia, fitting the community's core mission of repurposing bad content into ironic comedy. The original cartoon's earnest "comedy is dead" message made it an ideal target for the very communities it seemed to criticize. By flooding the format with surreal edits, users proved that comedy was doing fine, just not the kind the cartoonist had in mind.

The template also joined a broader pattern of boomer editorial cartoons being co-opted for ironic meme use. Comics with straightforward morals about technology, political correctness, or generational decline regularly end up on r/terriblefacebookmemes before getting the remix treatment.

Fun Facts

The original cartoon sat untouched for over 18 months before anyone used it as a meme template. Whamond published it in June 2019, but the first edit didn't appear until December 2020.

The meme's biggest boost came from r/terriblefacebookmemes, a community built to mock bad comics. Users flagged it as cringe, and then r/ComedyNecrophilia turned it into something else entirely.

The @urinalshitter Twitter repost that helped launch the format pulled 145,000 likes, dwarfing the engagement of the edits that followed.

Derivatives & Variations

Deep-fried edits:

Heavily distorted versions with lens flare, saturation, and emoji overlays, standard fare on r/ComedyNecrophilia

Recursive edits:

Versions where the museum display contains another meme inside another meme, creating nested joke structures

Topical swaps:

Edits replacing "Comedy" with specific cultural trends, platforms, or products that actually did decline around 2021

Frequently Asked Questions

This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021

2019Exploitable comicdead

Also known as: Comedy Died Out Around 2021 · History Museum Comic

This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021 is a 2019 Dave Whamond exploitable cartoon where internet users edit a museum display with absurd replacements.

"This Is Something That Died Out Around 2021" is an exploitable comic meme based on a 2019 editorial cartoon by Dave Whamond. The original panel depicts a man in a history museum explaining to children that comedy "died out around 2021" because too many people got offended. In December 2020, internet users began editing the museum display with absurd or ironic replacements, turning an earnest cancel-culture cartoon into a vehicle for surreal shitposting on Reddit and Twitter.

exploitable templates ironic memes absurdist humor memes cancel culture memes delayed virality memes

Overview

The meme uses a single-panel editorial cartoon showing a man and two children at a history museum. They stand before a glass display case labeled "Comedy," and the man explains that comedy died out because too many people were getting offended. The cartoon's original message was a straightforward take on political correctness. Internet users flipped the intent entirely by editing the display case to feature different subjects, objects, or images while keeping the man's explanatory dialogue as a template. The format thrived especially on r/ComedyNecrophilia, a subreddit dedicated to making bad content ironically worse through absurdist edits.

Cartoonist Dave Whamond published the original cartoon on June 10, 2019. The image showed a father figure and two kids touring a history museum, pausing at a display case containing "Comedy" with a caption lamenting its death-by-political-correctness. Whamond intended it as commentary on cancel culture.

The cartoon didn't get picked up as meme material for over 18 months. On December 22, 2020, Reddit user crayon-connoisseur02 posted the unedited cartoon to r/terriblefacebookmemes, framing it as a cringe-worthy boomer comic. The post pulled in over 10,200 upvotes in two weeks. One day later, on December 23, Twitter user @urinalshitter reposted the image and collected over 16,700 retweets and 145,000 likes in the same period.

Also on December 23, Reddit user masonhil posted the first viral edit to r/ComedyNecrophilia, earning nearly 18,000 upvotes within two weeks. That edit cracked open the template. The r/terriblefacebookmemes post had identified the cartoon as bad content; masonhil showed what could be done with it.

Origin & Background

Platform
Dave Whamond's editorial cartoons (source comic), Reddit and Twitter (meme spread)
Key People
Dave Whamond, masonhil
Date
2019 (original cartoon), 2020 (meme format)

Cartoonist Dave Whamond published the original cartoon on June 10, 2019. The image showed a father figure and two kids touring a history museum, pausing at a display case containing "Comedy" with a caption lamenting its death-by-political-correctness. Whamond intended it as commentary on cancel culture.

The cartoon didn't get picked up as meme material for over 18 months. On December 22, 2020, Reddit user crayon-connoisseur02 posted the unedited cartoon to r/terriblefacebookmemes, framing it as a cringe-worthy boomer comic. The post pulled in over 10,200 upvotes in two weeks. One day later, on December 23, Twitter user @urinalshitter reposted the image and collected over 16,700 retweets and 145,000 likes in the same period.

Also on December 23, Reddit user masonhil posted the first viral edit to r/ComedyNecrophilia, earning nearly 18,000 upvotes within two weeks. That edit cracked open the template. The r/terriblefacebookmemes post had identified the cartoon as bad content; masonhil showed what could be done with it.

How It Spread

Edits piled up quickly after masonhil's initial post. On December 24, 2020, Twitter user @InvoxiPlayGames shared an edit that picked up over 470 retweets and 1,700 likes. Four days later, Reddit user dankxenon posted a version to r/ComedyNecrophilia that hit over 8,500 upvotes in a single week.

Through late December 2020 and into early January 2021, edits spread across Twitter, Reddit, and other platforms. The r/ComedyNecrophilia community drove most of the creative output, with users competing to produce increasingly surreal and layered versions. The template's appeal was its simplicity: swap the museum display, keep the caption structure, and the joke writes itself.

The meme's lifespan was concentrated. Most viral activity occurred in a roughly three-week window from late December 2020 to mid-January 2021. After that initial burst, usage dropped off sharply as the format exhausted its novelty.

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a simple process:

1

Start with the original cartoon showing the man and children at the museum display

2

Replace the "Comedy" label and display contents with your chosen subject

3

Optionally modify the man's dialogue to say "[subject] is something that died out around 2021" or a variation

4

The humor typically comes from the absurdity of what's placed in the display, the irony of the "died out" framing, or both

Cultural Impact

The meme's footprint is narrow but telling. It became a signature format on r/ComedyNecrophilia, fitting the community's core mission of repurposing bad content into ironic comedy. The original cartoon's earnest "comedy is dead" message made it an ideal target for the very communities it seemed to criticize. By flooding the format with surreal edits, users proved that comedy was doing fine, just not the kind the cartoonist had in mind.

The template also joined a broader pattern of boomer editorial cartoons being co-opted for ironic meme use. Comics with straightforward morals about technology, political correctness, or generational decline regularly end up on r/terriblefacebookmemes before getting the remix treatment.

Fun Facts

The original cartoon sat untouched for over 18 months before anyone used it as a meme template. Whamond published it in June 2019, but the first edit didn't appear until December 2020.

The meme's biggest boost came from r/terriblefacebookmemes, a community built to mock bad comics. Users flagged it as cringe, and then r/ComedyNecrophilia turned it into something else entirely.

The @urinalshitter Twitter repost that helped launch the format pulled 145,000 likes, dwarfing the engagement of the edits that followed.

Derivatives & Variations

Deep-fried edits:

Heavily distorted versions with lens flare, saturation, and emoji overlays, standard fare on r/ComedyNecrophilia

Recursive edits:

Versions where the museum display contains another meme inside another meme, creating nested joke structures

Topical swaps:

Edits replacing "Comedy" with specific cultural trends, platforms, or products that actually did decline around 2021

Frequently Asked Questions