IShowSpeed Smiling Trying Not To Laugh

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About

IShowSpeed Smiling Trying Not To Laugh or IShowSpeed Face Meme refers to a viral video and reaction video featuring streamer IShowSpeed briefly pursing his lips and frowning before settling into a serene smiling expression with his eyes closed. The video stems from a clip where a young fan cries to IShowSpeed about his mom being "kinda homeless" while Speed tries not to burst out laughing at the fan's quivering voice in a game of Fortnite.

The clip of IShowSpeed trying not to laugh first went viral in 2022 and continued to be used as a reaction meme for consecutive years on TikTok, Twitter / X and Reddit, among other sites. The kid's quotes, My Mom is Kinda Homeless and Please Speed I Need This, also gained memetic spread as catchphrases and phrasal templates. The original stream, titled "EARLY STREAM!" was first shared in December 2021, and became the subject of several reaction memes, GIFs and clips in 2025.

In late October 2025, IShowSpeed recreated the My Mom is Kinda Homeless clip in a "reunion" stream with the two guys in the original clip. The kid who said, "My mom is kinda homeless," was revealed to be named Acey, and he and his mom confirmed that she was kind of homeless at the time. The other kid was revealed to be named Pew.

Origin

On December 29th, 2021, IShowSpeed hosted a live stream on YouTube^[1] where he participated in a build battle in Fortnite. At roughly the 2:08:05 timestamp, a young player says, "Please, Speed, I need this. My mom is kinda homeless. I live with my dad. I want to help her out." Speed can be seen pursing his lips and suppressing a laugh. Another player can be heard scolding Speed for almost laughing at the young fan. The video gathered over 2.3 million views in three years.

Script / Copypasta

"Please, Speed, I need this. My mom is kinda homeless. I live with my dad. I want to help her out."

"Speed, I'm watching your stream. Why are you trying not to laugh, bruh? That's disrespectful as shit, bruh. The fuck is wrong with you, bruh? Stop fucking laughing, bruh! Look at you smiling, bruh. You're disrespectful as shit, bruh. You don't love your fans? You don't like your fans? Why are you laughing at your fans, bruh? Nah, real shit, disrespectful as shit. I'm not fucking laughing, Speed."

Spread

The clip of IShowSpeed suppressing his laugh came to be used as a reaction GIF and video in 2023, with the earliest known viral post using the clip being an October 24th, 2023 video posted by X^[2] user @VenomDbd, gathering over 23,000 likes in four months. The caption read, "Peter when he saw the 'Miles Morales Original' Suit."

A TikTok from October 26th, 2023, by TikToker^[3] @tlmmy_burch, gathered over 74,000 plays and 4,000 likes in four months, captioned, "POV: me tryna hold in my laugh during a serious conversation."

On December 25th, 2023, X^[4] user @ffliction used the meme and gathered over 1,000 likes in two months, captioned, "Trying to block someone and then you accidentally follow them.

On January 23rd, 2024, X^[5] user @EnjoyerFive used the image of Speed smiling with his eyes closed, and gathered over 37,000 likes in two weeks.

On June 1st, X^[6] user @Kawa_suguru posted an IShowSpeed Trying Not To Laugh Edit, portraying Speed in black and white with an old-timey mustache and monocle, among other exploitables. The caption on the image read, "IShowSpeed I'm gazing over your film right now, how come you are cackling? Speed your manners are quite insidious! Speed I’m looking at your film, why are you cackling chap'?!" Over one year, it received roughly 59,000 likes.

Memes about the IShowSpeed Trying Not To Laugh clip continued heading into 2025. That year, several clips from the original "EARLY STREAM!" livestream surfaced on X and TikTok, among other sites, as reaction GIFs and videos.

As a reaction to the slew of new "EARLY STREAM!" clips, X^[7] user @troyismid posted a quote-tweet on September 30th, 2025, reading, "There's a new clip from this stream every week, genuinely a top 10 most influential stream ever," gaining over 54,000 likes in a month.

Reunion Stream

On October 26th, 2025, IShowSpeed held a reunion stream on YouTube^[8] with the two guys from the original IShowSpeed Smiling Trying Not To Laugh clip, receiving over 5.6 million views in three days.

At the stream's 18:12 time stamp,^[8] Speed invited Acey onto the stream, who was the kid who said, "My mom is kinda homeless," in the original video. Acey said that he was 12 years old in the original. Later, Speed talked to Acey's mom, who confirmed that she was kind of homeless back in December 2021.^[11]

At the 19:03 time stamp,^[9] Speed invited Pew onto the stream, who was the other kid who said, "Why are you trying not to laugh, bruh?" in the original clip. Notably, when Pew was added to a video call with Speed later in the stream, he put a fake gun in his mouth.^[10]

On October 26th, X^[9] user @FearedBuck shared a clip from the stream, showing Speed recreating the My Mom is Kinda Homeless clip live with the two guys, gaining over 55,000 likes in three days.

On that same day, X^[10] user @scubaryan_ shared a side-by-side comparison between the original clip and the recreation, gaining over 16,000 likes in three days.

My Mom Is Kinda Homeless / Please Speed I Need This

My Mom is Kinda Homeless and Please Speed I Need This refer to quotes from the IShowSpeed Trying Not To Laugh clip, said by the emotional kid trying to get IShowSpeed to throw a Fortnite game in his "EARLY STREAM!" livestream from December 2021. The kid's quote about his mom being kind of homeless gained its own memetic spread as a catchphrase and phrasal template in the following years.

Jonkler Trying Not to Laugh

Jonkler Trying Not to Laugh refers to a series of memes based on two photoshopped mages of Jonkler, a memetic character based on the Batman character Joker, edited after IShowSpeed Trying Not to Laugh meme. The format has been used in a similar fashion to the original version and gained popularity in early September 2024.