What a Time to Be Alive — Grocery store freezer doors with a cartoon illustration of an elderly bearded man beside shelves of frozen food and bagged ice

What a Time to Be Alive

1998catchphraseclassic

Published October 5, 2026

"What a Time to Be Alive" is a sarcastic catchphrase lifted from a 1998 Simpsons scene where Abe Simpson's friend Jasper mistakes a grocery store freezer for a cryogenic chamber and declares the line after finding a moon pie. YouTube uploads of the clip in 2011 kicked off years of ironic image-macro usage, with the phrase slapped onto trivial product innovations and screenshots of absurd internet behavior.

catchphrase memes simpsons sarcasm memes consumer culture memes delayed virality memes

Overview

"What a Time to Be Alive" is a sarcastic reaction line that gets stapled to screenshots and photos of underwhelming product launches, minor technological updates, or baffling human behavior1. The joke rides on Jasper's wide-eyed sincerity in the original scene, so the phrase hits hardest when the thing being celebrated is actually dumb, pointless, or dystopian. Think Triple Double Oreos, child safety doorknob covers, or Facebook statuses about using phone cases while skipping condoms46.

The format is loose. Sometimes people pair the line with a still of Jasper himself, sometimes they just drop it as a caption under a photograph with no Simpsons imagery at all2. The second usage mode flips the sarcasm into mild awe at how absurd the modern world is, closer in tone to "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" than to pure mockery5.

Origin & Background

Platform
The Simpsons (TV) / YouTube and Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
The Simpsons writers; meme spread anonymous
Date
1998

The line comes from The Simpsons Season 9 Episode 17, "Lisa the Simpson," which originally aired on March 8th, 19985. In a subplot, Abe Simpson's friend Jasper climbs into a grocery store freezer in a confused attempt at cryogenic hibernation. He gets thawed out almost immediately, spots a moon pie snack on a shelf, assumes decades have passed, and marvels, "Moon pie. What a time to be alive"5.

The scene stayed a cult favorite for over a decade before migrating online. On April 21st, 2011, YouTuber ichibanjin uploaded a clip of the moment, which racked up more than 245,000 views and 320 comments within its first three years1.

How It Spread

The quote jumped off YouTube into dedicated fan spaces starting late 2011, when a Facebook page named "Moon Pie, What a Time to Be Alive" was launched on December 6th5. A year later, on December 19th, 2012, Redditor Pointland32 posted a photograph of a grocery store freezer with a Jasper decal to r/TheSimpsons, where it pulled in over 2,000 upvotes before being archived2.

In 2013 the phrase broke containment. On June 16th, Tumblr user the-pietriarchy posted a set of internet meme tattoo photos captioned "what a time to be alive," which picked up over 32,600 notes in the following nine months3. Just over a month later, on July 24th, 9gag featured a Triple Double Oreo cookie package under the same caption, pulling upwards of 17,800 upvotes4.

By fall, aggregator sites were using it as a reusable headline. Cheezburger's FAILBlog ran a "What a Time to be Alive" post on September 9th, 2013, mocking a Facebook status about smartphone cases and unprotected sex6. On November 1st, Redditor horneymonkey123 submitted an ad for a child safety doorknob cover to r/tumblr with the same tag, which gained over 1,600 upvotes and 20 comments in four months7.

Timeline

1998-03-08

The Simpsons Season 9 Episode 17 "Lisa the Simpson" airs, introducing Jasper's moon pie line.

2011-04-21

YouTuber ichibanjin uploads a clip of the Jasper freezer scene, which draws over 245,000 views in three years.

2011-12-06

A Facebook page titled "Moon Pie, What a Time to Be Alive" is launched.

2012-12-19

Redditor Pointland32 posts a photo of a grocery freezer with a Jasper decal to r/TheSimpsons.

2013-06-16

Tumblr user the-pietriarchy posts meme tattoo photos captioned "what a time to be alive," collecting over 32,600 notes.

2013-07-24

9gag highlights a Triple Double Oreo package with the caption, pulling 17,800+ upvotes.

2013-09-09

Cheezburger's FAILBlog runs a "What a Time to be Alive" post about smartphone case irony.

2013-11-01

Redditor horneymonkey123 submits a child safety doorknob cover ad to r/tumblr with the catchphrase.

How to Use This Meme

The typical setup pairs a photo of something trivial, dystopian, or ridiculous with the caption "What a time to be alive." Common conventions include screenshots of oblivious social media posts, pictures of excessive product packaging or snack-food innovations, and shots of mundane modern conveniences treated as miracles46. The joke lands when the reader can tell you are not actually impressed.

Frequently Asked Questions