About

Dave Hester's "Yuuup!" is a catchphrase uttered by auctioneer Dave Hester during his appearances on the reality television show Storage Wars.

Origin

The American reality television series Storage Wars premiered on the A&E Network on December 1st, 2010, featuring the auctioneering couple Dan and Laura Dotson and several buyers, including Barry Weiss, Darrell and Brandon Sheets, Jarrod Schulz, Brandi Passante and Dave Hester. When rent is not paid on a storage locker for three months in California, the contents can be sold by an auctioneer as a single lot of items. The show follows professional buyers who purchase the contents of the lockers based on five-minute inspections of what they can see from the door while it is open. Hester is known for bidding on units by using his signature catchphrase "Yuuup!"

Spread

On February 1st, 2011, YouTuber dvlshone607 uploaded a video footage of the Yip aliens from the children’s television series Sesame Street dubbed with the voice of Hester saying “yuuup!” (shown below, left), garnering more than 89,000 views and 130 comments in the next three years. On September 30th, YouTuber Bohl199 uploaded a compilation of Hester's clips from Storage Wars (shown below, right). In the first two years, the video gained over 260,000 views and 350 comments.

On October 27th, a Quickmeme^[3] page titled "Dave Hester" was created, featuring photos of Hester with captions mocking his catchphrase (shown below, left). On November 14th, the New York Post^[2] reported that Hester was suing the rapper Trey Songz for selling merchandise with the phrase "Yuuup!" In December, Hester launched the site Yuuup^[1] to sell t-shirts, hats and other promotional merchandises bearing the catchphrase (shown below, right).

On April 15th, 2012 YouTuber SafetyFirst707 uploaded another compilation of Hester clips (shown below, left). On March 30th, YouTuber Jay Sharron uploaded a parody of Chuck Testa's "Nope!" commercial edited to include clips of Hester repeating "Yuuuup!" (shown below, right).

Lawsuit

In December of 2012, Hester departed from the show and sued the show’s producers on the claim of wrongful termination, alleging that he was fired after complaining to the producers about their practice of planting valuable items for added drama. However, his lawsuit was tossed out in March of 2013. He now operates his own auction house, Dave Hester Auctions.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References