What is We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This?

It is a reaction image of Tim Robinson wearing a hot dog costume while pretending he did not crash a hot dog-shaped car, taken from his Netflix show I Think You Should Leave.

Where did We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This come from?

The Hot Dog Car sketch in episode five of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, which Netflix released on April 23, 2019.

What does We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This mean?

People use it to accuse the target of a tweet of causing the very problem they are now complaining about, since the character blaming an unknown driver is obviously the driver himself.

How do you use We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This?

Reply to a self-serving statement, such as a company's apology or a politician's condemnation, with the hot dog costume still and the quote; Ilhan Omar used it on Exxon's climate tweet in December 2020.

Is We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This still popular?

Its peak was late 2020 during the Trump Postal Service and NFL moments, and it is still a familiar reaction image on Twitter and in sketch-fan circles.

We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This

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Published October 23, 2026

"We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This" is a reaction image taken from the Netflix sketch comedy I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, where a man in a hot dog costume insists he did not crash a hot dog-shaped car. By late 2020, Twitter users were replying with it to politicians and companies caught dodging blame, including Donald Trump's "SAVE THE POST OFFICE" tweet.

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Overview

A typical post captures a politician, executive or celebrity complaining about a problem they caused, then quote-replies with the still of Robinson in the hot dog suit and the line "we're all trying to find the guy who did this"1. The joke hinges on obvious deflection: the man in the photo is clearly the hot dog driver, so slapping the quote onto a real speaker accuses them of pretending they did not cause the thing they are now condemning1.

The full line in the sketch runs "we're all trying to find the guy who did this and give him a spanking," but the spanking tail is usually cut when people deploy it on Twitter2. Some versions post the costume photo without any caption, trusting readers to supply the quote themselves3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Netflix (source), Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Tim Robinson; @joesmith628

Date

2019

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson premiered on Netflix on April 23, 2019, and the "Hot Dog Car" scene appears in episode five of season one2. Robinson plays the man in the costume, insisting the group should track down whoever drove the hot dog-shaped car into a menswear shop while standing next to the wreckage in the suit1.

The earliest documented use as a reaction image came on October 17, 2019, when Twitter user @joesmith628 replied to director Duncan Jones with the screengrab4. Jones had quoted Mike Pence saying "I need to be spanked and spanked hard," which lined up with the sketch's full punchline5.

How It Spread

Through 2020, the image settled in as the default reply to any corporate or political statement that read as self-serving. On June 5, 2020, New York Times journalist Dave Itzkoff posted it under an NFL video of commissioner Roger Goodell saying "we, the NFL, condemn racism"6.

Writer Mike Drucker ran it on Donald Trump's August 17 "SAVE THE POST OFFICE" tweet after Trump had admitted to hobbling the Postal Service himself1. Writer Eric Snider then screenshot a Twitter timeline where three separate users in a row had replied with the same image to Trump's post7. The next day, Rebecca Onion wrote a Slate piece arguing that Trump was close to a real-world version of the hot dog man1.

On December 3, 2020, Rep. Ilhan Omar used the image in reply to an Exxon Mobil tweet claiming the oil company was working toward solutions on climate change8.

Timeline

2019-04-23

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson premieres on Netflix; the Hot Dog Car sketch airs in episode five of season one.

2019-10-17

Twitter user @joesmith628 posts the earliest known reaction-image use, replying to Duncan Jones with the hot dog costume still.

2020-06-05

Journalist Dave Itzkoff deploys the image under an NFL tweet of Roger Goodell condemning racism.

2020-08-17

Many Twitter users reply to Donald Trump's "SAVE THE POST OFFICE" tweet with the hot dog man image.

2020-08-18

Slate publishes Rebecca Onion's analysis of why the format fits Trump so often.

2020-12-03

Rep. Ilhan Omar quote-tweets Exxon Mobil's climate statement with the image.

How to Use This Meme

Quote-reply the target's complaint with the hot dog man photo and the "we're all trying to find the guy who did this" caption. The target is typically someone decrying a situation they themselves caused or benefited from, such as a company flagging an industry problem or a politician blaming a system they oversee.