Murray's "You're Laughing"

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Part of a series on Joker (2019 Film). [View Related Entries]

About

Murray's "You're Laughing" refers to a series of snowclone memes based on a memorable quote said by the 2019 film Joker character Franklin Murray. Online, the quote has been altered in memes to condemn people laughing at various issues, with the meme usually used ironically.

Origin

On October 4th, 2019, American psychological thriller film Joker premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, character Murray Franklin, portrayed by Robert De Niro, condemns the main protagonist Joker for laughing at two policemen being critically injured as a result of the riots prompted by his actions.

Look what happened because of what you did, what it led to! There are riots out there! Two policemen are in critical condition and you're laughing. You're laughing. Someone was killed today because of what you did.

The exact origin of the format is unknown, but is presumed to be an unidentified Discord server. On December 24th, 2019, Twitter^[2] user @nanoLenoC posted the first known post based on the quote, although the authorship of the joke is unconfirmed (shown below, left). The tweet did not received any significant traction. The format did not see significant spread online, until on January 9th, 2020, iFunny^[3] user cluu reposted the meme (shown below, right), with the post receiving over 36,400 smiles in two weeks.

Spread

On January 9th, 2020, Tumblr^[4] user mikeyandnicky reposted the meme, gaining over 1,200 likes and reblogs in two weeks. A January 10th, 2020, repost by Redditor^[5] sttoned received over 14,500 upvotes in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit.

On January 9th, 2020, Redditor^[6] this-is-america-homo posted the earliest known derivative of the meme to /r/GamersRiseUp subreddit, gaining over 10,300 upvotes in two weeks (shown below, left). On January 10th, 2020, Redditor^[7] buffalohotsauce posted A Man Has Fallen Into the River in Lego City version of the meme which received over 14,500 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard subreddit in two weeks (shown below, right). On the same day, Twitter^[8] user @xYumesei reposted the joke to Twitter, where it received over 5,400 retweets and 19,000 likes in the same period.

Starting on January 10th, 2020, the format saw a notable spread in /r/okbuddyretard, /r/GamersRiseUp and several other ironic meme-oriented subreddits. Starting on January 16th, following viral tweets by users @fishstick_134^[9] and @TheMassiveMK,^[10] the format gained significant popularity on Twitter, with multiple notable variations posted in the following days.