Look Under There

About

Look Under There or Made You Say Underwear refers to a joke where one person tells another to look "under there," hoping for the victim to ask, "under where?," followed by the joker saying, "I made you say underwear." The joke, which shares similarities to other wordplay pranks like Ligma, has been used since as early as 2000 and saw a resurgence in virality in memes on TikTok in late June 2022.

Origin

The exact origins of the "look under there" joke are unknown, but one of the earliest notable uses of the joke can be found in the song "Pinch Me" by The Barenaked Ladies, released on August 29th, 2000 (shown below).^[1] A top definition for the joke was then defined on Urban Dictionary^[2] on September 1st, 2004.

I could hide out under there
I just made you say "underwear"

Spread

The joke has been featured in a variety of memes throughout the 2000s and beyond, seeing an increase in use in 2018 through 2020, likely fuelled by similar jokes like Ligma and Joe Mama. On April 17th, 2019, Redditor BigHadolfItler posted a meme to /r/dankmemes^[3] using the joke, gaining over 5,100 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On November 26th, Redditor lone_walker99 posted a meme using the joke to /r/okbuddyretard,^[4] gaining over 1,500 upvotes in three years (shown below, right).

2022 TikTok Resurgence

In late June 2022, TikTokers began posting videos where characters pull the "under there" prank on each other, resulting in the victim of the prank murdering or punishing the joke teller. For example, on June 26th, TikToker^[5] @gulagsupervisor posted a version of the meme using characters from Berserk, gaining over 47,000 views in five days (Shown below, left). On July 29th, TikToker^[6] @edenbugzz posted a version using characters from Stranger Things, gaining over 7 million views in two days (shown below, right).

On June 30th, TikToker^[7] @parkerrylan posted a version of the meme using Harry Potter characters, gaining over 74,000 views in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References