Milhouse Daryll Van Houten

Submission 28,936

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About

Milhouse Daryll Van Houten is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons known for his gullible nature, insecurity and unrequited love for Lisa Simpson. The character gained much online notoriety with the paradoxical statement "Milhouse is not a meme", which is often cited as an example of a forced meme.

Origin

In 1988, Milhouse was originally designed by Simpsons creator Matt Groening for a Simpsons-themed Butterfinger candy bar commercial titled "The Butterfinger Group,"^[3] before being added to the cast of the television series (shown below).

Spread

On February 10th, 2006, a profile for Milhouse Van Houten was submitted to the Simpsons Wiki.^[2] On November 21st, 2010, a page for Milhouse Van Houten was created on the Simpsons Wikia.^[1] On February 1st, 2011, the Daily Milhouse Tumblr^[5] blog was launched, which highlights various types of media featuring the fictional character. On October 8th, the Milhouse's Eyebrows Tumblr^[7] blog was created for images prominently highlighting the character's blue eyebrows. On January 22nd, 2012, the /r/milhouse^[10] subreddit was launched for discussions about the Simpsons character. On August 13th, 2013, BuzzFeed^[8] published a listicle titled "32 Signs You're Milhouse." As of March 2015, the "Milhouse Van Houten" Facebook^[4] fictional character page has gained over 43,200 likes.

Various Examples

As of March 2015, there are over 1,600 fan art submissions under the tag "milhouse" on DeviantArt.^[9]

"Everything's Coming Up Milhouse"

"Everything's coming up Milhouse" is a memorable quote from Season 10, Episode 19 of The Simpsons, originally aired on December 20th, 1998, in which Milhouse celebrates a flood by saying "Everything's coming up Milhouse" (shown below).

On January 29th, 2004, Urban Dictionary user Sheepz submitted an entry for the phrase, defining it as a way of proclaiming "Everything's going well for me." On February 27th, 2011, the "Everything's Coming Up Milhouse" Tumblr^[6] blog was created. On November 28th, 2014, BuzzFeed^[11] published a compilation of tweets referencing the quote.

Milhouse is not a meme

Milhouse is not a meme is a paradoxical statement and a well-known debate on the imageboard site 4chan about what makes an internet meme and what doesn’t, using The Simpsons character Milhouse Van Houten as an example. Since the birth of the debate on 4chan in 2005, the phrase is often referred to as a forced meme.