I just mailed you a bunch of Anthrax... CDs. I heard you were a big fan.
March 7, 2011 10:58 PM   Subscribe

 
As a frequent reader of the AdviceAnimals subreddit, it's hard not to notice these getting lamer with each subsequent iteration. Business Cat is genius, though.
posted by nasreddin at 11:06 PM on March 7, 2011


There's something deliciously meta about this "how to use Business Cat Meme" Business Cat Meme. It's the first meme I've laughed out loud at since Socially Awkward Penguin was new (10,000 internet years ago).

Something a boss does/something a cat does, indeed.
posted by 2bucksplus at 11:08 PM on March 7, 2011 [6 favorites]


I'm here to say that Business Cat is my favorite meme EVER.

Now I have to go catch that red dot.
posted by grapesaresour at 11:08 PM on March 7, 2011 [5 favorites]


I think many of the advice animals jokes are funny, but I also think some of the more popular ones (like Asian Father and Normal Black Guy or whatever) are straight up racist, and the Muslim one isn't helping.

I should probably thank the creators of these memees because they are what motivated me to customize my Reddits so as to not have to look at them, and in doing so I found a lot of cool stuff I didn't know was there.
posted by chaff at 11:09 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]


I know how to spell memes
posted by chaff at 11:10 PM on March 7, 2011 [1 favorite]


MeTa(MePaw?)ed
posted by KGMoney at 11:17 PM on March 7, 2011


It's all about the Lame Pun Coon.
posted by spiderskull at 11:28 PM on March 7, 2011 [7 favorites]


"Trending: Paula Deen Riding Things".

Vannevar Bush would be proud. Or horrified. Horriproud?
posted by egypturnash at 11:31 PM on March 7, 2011 [3 favorites]


"Trending: Paula Deen Riding Things".

I also love the fact that "exploitable" (noun) specifically means the type of meme where you cut something out of one picture and put it in another picture. That there is a technical (dialectical?) word for that more. Take that, English prescriptivists!
posted by NoraReed at 11:36 PM on March 7, 2011


I took a pic of a Bear Grylls product end cap the other day so that I can write something about drinking piss on it when I get back from vacation. Totally not proud.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 11:38 PM on March 7, 2011 [5 favorites]


My slow internet connections only loaded the first half of the Muslim guy pictures. They are rough when you only get half the story.
posted by Felex at 11:58 PM on March 7, 2011 [9 favorites]


Cats and Office Space references. I'm sold.
posted by arcticseal at 12:17 AM on March 8, 2011


OK, Paula Deen riding things is pretty great.

I mean, she's no Business Cat, but anything that encourages me to make animated gifs keeps me off the streets.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:35 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


It's all about the Lame Pun Coon.

There's a word for people who omit the rac in raccoon: "ist."
posted by Sys Rq at 12:45 AM on March 8, 2011 [6 favorites]


Peak advice animal is probably Foul Bachelorette Frog.
posted by jmhodges at 12:51 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


I am continuing to work in the March MODOK Madness medium to prove that anything meme-able can be MODOK-able. I see a Muslim Ordinary Dude something something in my future.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:54 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


Yay racism
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:35 AM on March 8, 2011


Hood Dad is my favourite relatively-recent one.
posted by nowonmai at 2:36 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]




the Muslim one isn't helping.

posted by chaff at 7:09 AM on March 8


It's sending up people who make bad assumptions about Muslims, no? It may not be doing it particularly cleverly but it seems like its heart is in the right place.

I wasn't too impressed with Business Cat until I saw "Dead mouse on your desk - you've earned it", at which point I snorked.
posted by Decani at 3:20 AM on March 8, 2011 [6 favorites]


I'm a fan of Paranoid Parrot, because they're all kind of true for values of me.

Also Business Cat is hilarious, while Business Dog is sad and dumb. Foul Bachelor Frog... There are no words.
posted by sugarfish at 3:34 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


The Muslim one is a bit lame. I suspect there's only so much humour one can squeeze out of that shtick.
posted by acb at 3:42 AM on March 8, 2011


Foul Bachelor Frog is like that part from The NeverEnding Story where the statues show who you really are. Only the bravest survive this test.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:01 AM on March 8, 2011 [7 favorites]


I"m bummed that Privilege Denying Dude's tumbler got taken down, it was my favorite.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 4:46 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


Insanity wolf (nsfw) is by far the best advice animal ever.
posted by Skorgu at 4:49 AM on March 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


NORAREED, YOU REALLY FAILED




























to consider how badly I am addicted to these stupid memes.
posted by orme at 5:12 AM on March 8, 2011 [7 favorites]


I'm getting over a cold, and Business Cat is sending me into painful wheezing/laughing/coughing fits.

"Dead mouse on your desk. You earned it."
"Hey, lets go out after work... and then come back in. And then go out again."
posted by Marla Singer at 5:28 AM on March 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


that part from The NeverEnding Story where the statues show who you really are.

I never understood how shooting deadly plasma balls at you shows who you really are beyond the narrow scope of your dodge feat.
posted by clarknova at 5:34 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


I swear the only reason Business Cat works ( and it works so well, for me) is the combination of the little die and the terribly serious blank kitty expression. Business dog looks like a dog making a dog face and wearing glasses, while you can totally hear Business cat's Bill Lumbergy voice in your head.
posted by The Whelk at 5:56 AM on March 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


Sigh, tie.
posted by The Whelk at 5:56 AM on March 8, 2011


Even More Sniglets

sigh-tie (n): the clothing you wear to a job you don't like but don't really hate either
posted by DU at 6:09 AM on March 8, 2011 [4 favorites]


I can't stop looking at these. Something is wrong with me.
posted by anoirmarie at 6:40 AM on March 8, 2011




My son has become a huge fan of memebase just to keep up with his favorite memes.

Great post title, btw.
posted by misha at 6:49 AM on March 8, 2011


Skorgu: Insanity wolf (nsfw) is by far the best advice animal ever.

I think there are a lot that are violent for the sake of violence, but this one amuses me.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:52 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


can't

stop
posted by The Whelk at 6:59 AM on March 8, 2011 [10 favorites]


These memes are bullshit. Scumbag Steve isn't even named Steve!
posted by Ad hominem at 7:06 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


I can sometimes relate to art school owl
posted by rottytooth at 7:09 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


Courage Wolf is basically Charlie Sheen's spirit animal. That has now taken over Charlie Sheen.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:19 AM on March 8, 2011 [8 favorites]


Elvis Costello Dog
posted by Legomancer at 7:22 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


Catnip is for closers only!
posted by tommasz at 7:35 AM on March 8, 2011


Insanity wolf (nsfw) is by far the best advice animal ever.

QFT
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:51 AM on March 8, 2011


There's a word for people who omit the rac in raccoon: "ist."

Because shortening a word by chopping off a syllable isn't completely natural? I'm pretty sure the non-racist meaning came first.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:03 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


OMG You can make your own business cat quip! See ya productivity!
posted by Mister_A at 8:28 AM on March 8, 2011


Business cat is addictive.
posted by misha at 8:37 AM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


I've always found advice style memes pretty bland, just random text with little play off a contextless picture. Except that Business Cat rocks!
posted by jeffburdges at 8:44 AM on March 8, 2011


sticherbeast: the statues zap you if you don't 'feel your own worth', then the mirror shows you who you really are.
posted by Makwa at 9:04 AM on March 8, 2011


sticherbeast: the statues zap you if you don't 'feel your own worth', then the mirror shows you who you really are.

then who i really am

is a guy who misremembered that scene

thereby killing

the joke
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:06 AM on March 8, 2011


this isn't really a post.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:09 AM on March 8, 2011


So, look at all of the lovely linked Business Cats.

Then look at this one.

...

I'll wait.

...


Right. Now your coworkers are wondering why you keep making stifled, snorting laughing noises.
posted by maryr at 9:10 AM on March 8, 2011 [6 favorites]


hm.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:12 AM on March 8, 2011


Foul Bachelor Frog is like that part from The NeverEnding Story where the statues show who you really are.

Do...do the statues blast you with piss?
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:55 AM on March 8, 2011 [6 favorites]


I dunno are you Bear Grylls?
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 AM on March 8, 2011


Well, if you're Bear Grylls, you're in luck for the statues, but when you look in the mirror, all you're going to see is a camera crew and some editing.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:09 AM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


I am skeptical about seeing "some editing," frankly.
posted by Mister_A at 10:40 AM on March 8, 2011


It's sending up people who make bad assumptions about Muslims, no?

I'm responding to this the next day but yeah not to be a huge party pooper but I have a problem with a big string of jokes of the form

[this ethnic or cultural minority] has [this really offensive stereotyoe] . . . HA just kidding I was actually saying something else!

It's one thing when it's a frog or a funny cat, but it's another when it basically becomes a way to sling out jibes like "blacks are violent" into the cultural ether. I know a lot of humor works this way, I don't know why these in particular bother me . . maybe it's the lack of context? It's just troubling somehow.
posted by chaff at 10:45 AM on March 8, 2011


Art school owl is almost making me spit my coffee, thank you rottytooth
posted by girih knot at 11:19 AM on March 8, 2011


I'm not feeling anyhting
posted by mrgrimm at 11:46 AM on March 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


You totally misled me, I was really looking forward to the superhero duo of ORDINARY MUSLIM GUY AND BUSINESS CAT! They fight crime.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 12:03 PM on March 8, 2011 [3 favorites]


My love for Business Cat should be evident in the sign I just made up for work (quasi-self-link). I'm sorry! I'm just so proud.

Somehow I came across this iteration, where it is claimed that the whole meme was invented by Chris Ward (Site includes "Corporate Cat" videos, which are weird, but cat + tie is pretty much always funny).
posted by Fui Non Sum at 1:41 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


yeah, never really got into image memes
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 2:54 PM on March 8, 2011


I'm in the Memes Are Hilarious boat, against my better judgement. My favorites of the last twenty minutes: Reasonable Emilio Estevez and Judgemental Bookseller Ostritch.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:59 PM on March 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


yeah, never really got into image memes

I am a bad man
posted by stet at 3:07 PM on March 8, 2011 [2 favorites]


Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich is absolutely hilarious.
posted by nooneyouknow at 3:25 PM on March 8, 2011 [5 favorites]


Freakonomics. Where are you flying?

Judgmental Bookseller Ostrich had me snorting coffee over the table. I have found a new meme.
posted by arcticseal at 3:56 PM on March 8, 2011


Business Cat: New Yorker Cartoon.
posted by ovvl at 7:46 PM on March 8, 2011


So my husband and I live under a rock and I didn't know about any of these. Mentioned them offhand assuming he'd roll his eyes at me--he hates LOLcats with a burning passion, just the other day he said to me and I quote "if there's any one thing you can point to to why the internet should be burned to the ground for the sake of future generations it's the horrifyingly irritating LOLcats"--and then he idly flipped through Business Cat images in bed just as we were about to go to sleep. He got to the "catastrophic" one and started hee hawing, and thennn he reached the one about the cheeseburger needing to be on the cat's desk yesterday and he lost.his.shit. Tears running down his cheeks, hyperventilating, choking for what felt like an eternity. Him finding it so damn funny when it's not THAT funny made me start laughing too, uncontrollably. The venn diagram of personal humor between couples never fails to amuse me...

anyway, the one that got me is Socially Awkward Penguin. Not in an out-loud-guffaw way at all but just...wincing pangs of amused recognition, so much so a whole bunch of them I was like "wait, that's SOCIALLY AWKWARD? Shit. Now I feel socially awkward about not knowing I was being socially awkward...ack." That penguin, bless its heart. It comforts me and lets me know I'm not alone in my clumsy blindness WRT social lubrication, but I may still be when it comes to cluelessness...
posted by ifjuly at 8:58 AM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Business Cat: New Yorker Cartoon.

Someone pointed out to me how the business cat meme fits the NY cartoon profile perfectly

SOMETHING A HUMAN (IDEALLY UPPER MIDDLE WHITE PROFESSIONAL WOULD DO) + SOMETHING AN ANIMAL DOES

I'm gonna go turn my memes into submissions now, brb.
posted by The Whelk at 9:09 AM on March 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


anyway, the one that got me is Socially Awkward Penguin

The ones where the penguin is subtly socially awkward (chair noise sounds like fart) are great; but 90% of the people miss the actual point of that meme, i.e. socially awkward situations don't make the penguin socially awkward.

Carry on.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:38 PM on March 11, 2011


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