About

Dentist: *Open Up" refers to a series of memes that imagine people misinterpreting a dentist's request to "open up" (open their mouth) as a request to open up about their feelings. Started by a viral tweet, the joke regained popularity in 2022 with edits based on scenes from Breaking Bad and other drama series.

Origin

On June 3rd, 2015, Twitter^[1] user @PaperWash tweeted a joke which imagined a patient misinterpreting their dentist's request to "open up" (open their mouth) as a request to open up about their feelings. The tweet (shown below) gained over 6,800 retweets and 12,300 likes in eight years.

Spread

In the following years, the joke was reposted on Twitter and other social media in various forms. For example, on August 24th, 2016, Twitter^[2] user @garyfromteenmom tweeted a version about Harambe that received over 1,800 retweets and 3,700 likes in seven years (shown below, left). On March 20th, 2018, Twitter^[3] user @greenIight posted a version of the joke about Lorde's album Melodrama that gained over 7,700 retweets and 29,000 likes in five years (shown below, right).

In the second half of 2022, the meme format was reimagined on TikTok and iFunny as users made video caption versions pairing the set up with dramatic monologues, or with videos of themselves. For example, on August 2022, iFunny^[4] user LordSalt posted a version pairing the caption with a rant said by streamer Dellor. The video (shown below, left) gained over 500 likes on the app in nine months. On September 5th, iFunny^[5] user HypebeastThebean reposted a version created by an unknown TikTok account that was widely circulated at that time (shown below, right).

The format maintained its popularity through late 2022 and early 2023.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References