Who Is 'Garfielf'? Poorly Drawn Parodies Inspired By The 'Garfield' Comics Explained

Garfield's popularity with internet meme creators may only be rivaled by the sheer deluge of SpongeBob Squarepants content the internet generates. The beloved hungry ginger cat has been referenced, remixed and parodied well before the internet as we know it, but in 2013, one artist took the notion of parodying Garfield to a new artistic low, and a humorous high.

If you've seen an orange blob resembling a cat being called Garfielf, you may have stumbled upon the side of YouTube where his superiority reigns. Here's a recap of where the meme was born and how it spread.

Who Is 'Garfielf' And Who Made Him?

Garfielf comes from an intentionally poorly-drawn YouTube animation that parodies the well-known Garfield comics. The video was posted by a YouTuber named PilotRedSun, and he used MS Paint to draw a short Garfield-inspired animation.

The video is narrated using text-to-speech voices, using presets in VoiceForge named "Wiseguy" and "Jerkface." The video also contains the psychedelic rock song "Coc'n Rolla" by Begnagrad. As of 2023, the video has gathered over 14 million views.

How Did 'Garfielf' Become A Meme?

Various YouTubers took to the Garfielf video, replacing the text-to-speech voices with their own in some videos, and using the text-to-speech voices in non-Garfielf related videos as well. The voices and animation style became instantly recognizable to those who had seen the original video, and its popularity only made further iterations more viral.

What Are Some More Examples Of 'Garfielf' Inspired Parodies?

For the full history of Garfielf, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.