Chicanery Copypasta

Confirmed 126,496

Part of a series on Better Call Saul. [View Related Entries]

About

Chicanery Copypasta, also known as "I Am Not Crazy" Copypasta and Chuck McGill's Testimony, refers to a monologue uttered by Better Call Saul character Chuck McGill in which he, during his courtroom testimony, loses his composure and spews out crazy-sounding accusations against his brother Jimmy. The monologue has been used as a copypasta in which various people accuse others of scheming and plotting against them, with the scene also inspiring video remixes, video captions and other memes.

Origin

On May 8th, 2017, episode five "Chicanery" of season 3 of the drama television series Better Call Saul premiered.^[1] In the episode, the character Chuck McGill testifies against his brother Jimmy and has a mental breakdown during questioning, bursting out with accusations against his brother, which makes him appear paranoid and unhinged. That day, AMC uploaded^[2] the clip to their YouTube account, where the scene received more than 1.2 million views in three years (shown below, left; alternative version shown below, right).

I am not crazy! I know he swapped those numbers! I knew it was 1216. One after Magna Carta. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just – I just couldn't prove it. He – he covered his tracks, he got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him. You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This chicanery? He's done worse. That billboard! Are you telling me that a man just happens to fall like that? No! He orchestrated it! Jimmy! He defecated through a sunroof! And I saved him! And I shouldn't have. I took him into my own firm! What was I thinking? He'll never change. He'll never change! Ever since he was 9, always the same! Couldn't keep his hands out of the cash drawer! But not our Jimmy! Couldn't be precious Jimmy! Stealing them blind! And he gets to be a lawyer!? What a sick joke! I should've stopped him when I had the chance! And you – you have to stop him! You-

On May 11th, 2017, an anonymous 4chan^[3] user posted the monologues to a /tv/ thread (post shown below).

Spread

The copypasta, while occasionally posted, did not receive variations until the release of season 5 of the series in early 2020. On March 18th, 2020, following the premiere of Better Call Saul episode "Dedicado a Max", a 4chan^[4] user posted the earliest found modified version of copypasta, a meme referencing the episode (shown below, left). On April 20th, 2020, another 4chan user posted^[5] a version of the copypasta parodying foreign adaptations of popular shows (shown below, right).

The copypasta format first achieved notable popularity in late 2020, as it was used to humorously comment on accusations of fraud in COVID statistics and vote count. For example, on October 20th, 2020, a 4chan^[6] user posted a Donald Trump version of the copypasta to /tv/ (shown below, left). On November 16th, 2020, iFunny^[7] user absolutist posted a fake tweet by Donald Trump that gained over 160 smiles on the app in two years (shown below, right).

The copypasta saw continuous use on 4chan as well as Reddit's /r/betterCallSaul subreddit in 2021 and 2022, experiencing a significant increase in popularity following the premiere of season 6 of Better Call Saul in April 2022.

Other Use in Memes

Apart from spawning a copypasta, the scene also inspired remixes, video caption memes and image macros.

On May 20th, 2017, two weeks after the episode premiere, YouTuber^[8] Wolfbane8 posted the video "Chuck McGill goes Nuts (Re-edited)," a remix of the scene that received more than 15,200 views in less than five years (shown below).

In the following years, more remixes of the scene were posted online, primarily on YouTube. For example, on July 7th, 2018, YouTuber^[9] alternate meme posted a video "[YTP] Bimmy McGill steals Chuck's Nicken Chuggets," a YouTube Poop edit of the scene (shown below, left) that gained over 8,200 views in four years. On February 2nd, 2021, Instagram user @salad.snake reposted a Japanese dub of the scene. The post received more than 26,000 likes in one day (YouTube^[10] reupload shown below, right).

On May 11th, 2022, Twitter^[11] gimmick account Breaking Bad Irony posted an A Lego Man Has Fallin Into a River In Lego City meme based on the scene that gained over 257,000 views, 3,100 retweets and 24,500 likes in two weeks (shown below).