# This Man Fish React Him > This Man Fish React Him is a 2022 Discord reaction meme where Popeye says "this man above me, fish react him," prompting users to spam emoji reactions—a format that spread virally across Reddit, iFunny, and TikTok. "This Man, Fish React Him" is a Discord reaction meme built on the template "this man above me, X react him," where users ask others to spam a specific emoji reaction on someone's message. The format first appeared on Tenor in mid-2022, but the version featuring Popeye with the caption "this man above me, fish react him" broke out across Reddit, iFunny, and TikTok in late 2022 and 2023, turning a niche Discord bit into a widely recognized joke. ## Origin The earliest known "react him" GIF was uploaded to Tenor by user iron_man_1337 sometime around July 2022[2]. It featured a GIF of Thanos raising his blade, captioned "This man, nerd react him," likely referring to the nerd emoji. The format caught on quickly among Tenor's GIF-sharing community, which feeds directly into Discord's built-in GIF picker[2]. - **Platform:** Tenor (GIF format), Discord (usage context) - **Creator:** iron_man_1337 (Tenor, earliest known "react him" GIF), u/Swatbot69 (Reddit, Popeye "fish react" version) - **Date:** 2022 ## Overview The meme follows a simple call-and-response format native to Discord. A user posts an image macro or GIF of a character, usually captioned "this man above me, [emoji] react him." Other users then pile onto the message above the image with the specified emoji reaction. The joke works because Discord lets users add emoji reactions to any message, so the instruction creates a coordinated pile-on that floods someone's post with a specific emoji. The most iconic version uses an image of Popeye the Sailor Man paired with a fish emoji, giving the meme its name[2]. ## How It Spread Through August 2022, variations of the template spread across Tenor. Users uploaded GIFs with different emoji instructions: "crab react him" appeared on August 4th, "penis react him" on August 5th, and a monocle emoji version on August 18th[2]. The meme's life outside Discord began picking up in late 2022. On October 26th, Twitter user @skitkattl posted a screenshot showing how the format plays out in a Discord server[2]. A month later, on November 23rd, Redditor u/Swatbot69 posted the now-iconic Popeye image macro captioned "This man above me, fish react him" to r/memes, where it picked up over 60 upvotes across the following nine months[2]. The real breakout came in May 2023. On May 8th, Instagram user dankest_crusader shared a screenshot of the fish react meme being used in a Discord conversation, pulling in around 200 likes[2]. The next day, the same screenshot hit iFunny and took off, racking up over 11,000 smiles in roughly three months[1]. The iFunny repost sparked a wave of riffs on the format, including jokes about cat-versus-dog debates where users invoked the fish react as a punchline[1]. On May 30th, TikToker @lightfootactor posted a video recreating the fish react meme in a live-action skit, which pulled over 823,000 views in just over two months[2]. The TikTok crossover brought the joke to an audience that had never used Discord, turning a platform-specific inside joke into a more broadly recognized format. ## How to Use The format works best on Discord but has been adapted for other platforms: 1. Pick a character image or GIF (Popeye is the classic choice, but any recognizable figure works). 2. Caption it with "This man above me, [emoji] react him," replacing [emoji] with any Discord emoji. 3. Post it in a Discord channel directly below another user's message. 4. Wait for other users to pile the specified emoji reaction onto the message above yours. ## Fun Facts - The original "react him" format used Thanos, not Popeye. The fish-and-Popeye combination that gave the meme its most common name came months later[2]. - The iFunny repost of the meme outperformed the Instagram original by a factor of roughly 55x in engagement (11,000 smiles versus 200 likes)[1][2]. - The meme is one of the few formats that only fully works on one platform (Discord) due to its dependence on the emoji reaction feature, yet still managed to go viral on platforms where that mechanic doesn't exist[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "This Man, Fish React Him"? It's a Discord meme format where users post an image (usually Popeye) captioned "this man above me, fish react him," prompting others to spam fish emoji reactions on the message above[2]. ### Where did "This Man, Fish React Him" come from? The "react him" format originated on Tenor around July 2022 with a Thanos GIF by user iron_man_1337. The Popeye fish version was posted to Reddit's r/memes by u/Swatbot69 on November 23rd, 2022[2]. ### What does "This Man, Fish React Him" mean? It's an instruction for Discord users to add a specific emoji reaction (typically the fish emoji) to the message posted directly above the image[2]. ### How do you use "This Man, Fish React Him"? Post the Popeye image (or any character variant) below someone's Discord message. Other users then add fish emoji reactions to that person's message, creating a comedic pile-on[2]. ### Is "This Man, Fish React Him" still popular? The meme peaked in mid-2023 when it crossed over to TikTok and iFunny. As of the TikTok breakout period, the @lightfootactor recreation alone had over 823,000 views[2]. ### Why is Popeye used in the fish react meme? Popeye's connection to the sea and seafood makes the pairing with the fish emoji a natural fit. The character's bold, commanding visual style also works well for the "instruction" format of the meme[2]. ### What was the first "react him" meme? The earliest documented version was a Tenor GIF by iron_man_1337 featuring Thanos captioned "This man, nerd react him," uploaded around July 2022[2]. ### How did the meme spread to TikTok? TikToker @lightfootactor posted a live-action recreation on May 30th, 2023, which hit over 823,000 views and introduced the format to audiences unfamiliar with Discord[2]. ## References 1. [Daviti Yesterday at PM People, which one do you prefer, dog or cat? 12 Noobiu Yesterday at PM This Fish react him - iFunny]() 2. [This Man, Fish React Him - Know Your Meme]() 3. [List of Internet phenomena]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/this-man-fish-react-him Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library