Just a Chill Guy / My New Character

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About

Just a Chill Guy, also known as My New Character or the Chill Guy meme, is a meme focused on a character called, "my new character" who's a light brown dog with a human body, wearing a grey sweater, blue jeans and red shoes. In the drawing, the character is smirking at the viewer with his hands in his pockets. The drawing was originally shared in a tweet by Twitter / X user philb (@PhillipBankss) in late 2023, paired with the caption, My New Character. His Whole Deal Is He’s a Chill Guy That Lowkey Doesn’t Give a Fuck. In 2024, the meme went viral on TikTok where users inserted the character into different formats like an exploitable and joked about "his deal" or posed situations in which being "just a chill guy" defused tension. Viral fancam edits ensued. A notable one used a song saying, "They make it look so easy." Another viral TikTok sound used Brian Griffin's voice saying, "I know I'm supposed to be a chill guy…" Meme creators then discovered a different character from @PhillipBankss called My Old Character who also earned meme attention in September 2024. By November 2024, the "I'm Just a Chill Guy" snowclone regained virality on TikTok via photo slideshows. A Chill Guy meme coin also went viral in November 2024, on the cryptocurrency site Pump.fun. Amid its virality that month, a feminine spin-off version called Just a Chill Girl also emerged online.

Origin

On October 4th, 2023, X^[1] user @PhillipBankss posted a new drawing of a humanoid dog character seen wearing a grey sweater, blue jeans and red shoes, smirking at the viewer with his hands in his pockets. The art was captioned, "my new character. his whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a fuck." Over 11 months, the tweet amassed roughly 17,000 likes (shown below).

Also on October 4th, the artist posted the character as a Reel to his Instagram^[4] account @philbbankss, gaining over 57,900 likes in 11 months (shown below).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by phillipbankss (@philbbankss)

Spread

In the following days, the tweet started to accumulate memes, however, none were particularly viral posts. For instance, on October 9th, 2023, X^[2] user @saw_rat replied to the original tweet with a meme that added a top caption reading, "When the slugcell says something so chillphobic you gotta hit them with the low key chill guy stare," following the You Gotta Hit Them With the Stare phrasal template. The post gained two likes in 11 months (shown below).

On December 23rd, 2023, X^[3] user @PhillipBankss followed up on the meme, posting a Jollyposting version of the character with a caption reading, "my new character. his whole deal is he's a jolly guy who highkey wishes you a merry christmas," gaining over 1,500 likes in nine months (shown below).

On August 31st, 2024, TikToker^[5] @.blitzerzz posted a photo slideshow with three images, combining the My New Character meme with a meme about Chris Griffin from Family Guy. The slideshow used an I Just Lost My Dawg sound. Over five days, it received roughly 422,700 plays and 75,600 likes (shown below).

Going into September 2024, TikToker^[6] @.blitzerzz posted multiple slideshows that evolved the My New Character meme. Others followed the trend during the timeframe.

They Make It Look So Easy

On September 4th, 2024, TikToker^[7] @xssume posted a My New Character edit that used a sound with a quote from Dexter in which the main character Dexter Morgan says, "They make it look so easy, connecting with another human being. It's like no one ever told them it's the hardest thing in the world." The edit received over 6.6 million plays and 1.2 million likes in five days (shown below).

They make it look so easy, connecting with another human being. It's like no one ever told them it's the hardest thing in the world.

Also on September 4th, TikToker^[8] @.jesuslover445 posted a similar edit with the same sound, gaining over 3.6 million plays and 805,200 likes in five days (shown below).

It is currently unknown which TikToker shared their video first. However, because TikToker^[7] @xssume's video received more likes and views, their TikTok sound^[9] amassed more usage from other creators, gaining over 5,700 posts by September 10th, 2024.

I Know I'm Supposed To Be A Chill Guy And Lowkey Not Really Care About Anything

On September 6th, 2024, TikToker^[10] @abnormalpenguin2 shared a My New Character edit that used an AI voice of Brian Griffin from Family Guy saying, "I know I'm supposed to be a chill guy and lowkey not really care about anything, but I'm tired of trying to be someone that I'm not…" The edit received over 1.5 million plays and 319,400 likes in four days (shown below).

I know I'm supposed to be a chill guy and lowkey not really care about anything, but I'm tired of trying to be someone that I'm not. I want you to think of something right now that makes you happy. That thing you see, the thing that lights you up, chase that. With all of your soul, chase it. 'Cause it's easy to brush off life's potential. And I'm not trying to say that life is easy. In fact, I'd argue that the only way that something is meant to be is if you're willing to commit to the difficulty of bringing it to life. Otherwise, it wasn't meant to be anything but just a missed opportunity. It will be a difficult road but here's what we come to learn — everything of value is difficult. Think about that.

Going into September 2024, others on the app used the abovementioned video's TikTok sound.^[11] For instance, on September 9th, TikToker^[12] @lordwolfgng cosplayed as My New Character and lip dubbed the audio, gaining over 782,900 plays and 218,000 likes in a day (shown below).

By September 10th, 2024, the TikTok sound^[11] had amassed over 1,600 posts.

I'm Just A Chill Guy

In November 2024, meme creators on TikTok began using the snowclone, "I'm just a chill guy," in which they posed scenarios in text captions and ended the caption with "But I'm just a chill guy" or "And I'm just a chill guy." The photo slideshows with the meme predominantly used a TikTok sound^[13] of the piano song "Hinoki Wood" by Gia Margaret,^[14] which was originally used in TikToker^[10] @abnormalpenguin2's edit.

On November 2nd, 2024, TikToker^[15] @jamyaluvsyou posted a photo in a photo slideshow, using the "Hinoki Wood" TikTok sound,^[13] gaining over 1.7 million plays and 364,900 likes in 17 days (shown below).

The abovementioned meme didn't exactly use the phrase I'm Just a Chill Guy but paved the way for slideshows fulfilling the snowclone's usage paired with the "Hinoki Wood" TikTok sound^[13] later in November 2024.

For instance, on November 14th, TikToker^[16] @hxcixs posted a photo, following the abovementioned format and using the I'm Just a Chill Guy snowclone, gaining over 4.4 million plays and 833,900 likes in five days (shown below).

More I'm Just a Chill Guy photo slideshows gained viral engagement on TikTok^[17]^[18] in the following days.

Chill Guy Meme Coin

On October 5th, 2024, Pump.fun^[19] user mrowl minted a so-called "Meme Coin" named $CHILLGUY that was based on the Chill Guy meme. By November 19th, the coin reached a peak market cap of over $47.3 million.

Chill Guy In The Pool / Naked Chill Guy

In late November 2024, an NSFW drawing of the Chill Guy meme started to appear on TikTok, which mainly consists of the character in front of a pool after he forgot his swimming trunks. TikTok^[20] user @draco.666 posted on November 26th, 2024, one of the earliest viral examples (seen below), in which he wrote in a POV text in French that translates as "You're at the municipal pool and everyone points screaming at you screaming but you're just a chill guy who doesn't like to be hot." The post amassed over 4.8 million plays and 423,000 likes in a day.

My Old Character

My Old Character. Part of Her Deal Is She’s an Unchill Gal That Highkey Gives a Fuck, also known as the My Old Character meme, refers to an opposite version of My New Character whose a blue, female dog, wearing a grey sweater, red pants and blue shoes, frowning with her hands in her pockets. She's not chill compared to her counterpart. My Old Character was also created by Twitter / X user philb (@PhillipBankss) in 2024. After the virality of the My New Character meme on TikTok, users spread My Old Character as well, often powerscaling the two or making fancam edits that shipped them.

Just a Chill Girl

Just a Chill Girl is a variation of the Just a Chill Guy meme using the identical anthropomorphic dog character but with long hair, a bow or another defining feminine features. The meme began in late November 2024 during a resurgence in the virality of the Chill Guy meme on TikTok and X, resulting in numerous memes about being a "chill girl" spreading online that used the character as an exploitable alongside captions. Similar to Chill Guy, the meme also inspired a meme coin, called CHILLGIRL.