Not Now, Son

Confirmed 62,150

Part of a series on Webcomics. [View Related Entries]

About

Not Now, Son is a four-panel webcomic by Brazilian comic artist Fabio Coala in which a busy father ignores his son's requests for attention during his boyhood, only to be given a cold shoulder when asking for his grown and troubled son's attention later in life. Online, the comic gained significant popularity as an exploitable, including dubbed memes.

Origin

On June 16th, 2012, Brazilian artist Fabio Coala^[1] posted a four-panel webcomic of his Mentirihas comic strip series in which a boy is asking for his father's attention, while the father ignoring his requests and saying "not now, son." In the last panel of the comic, the situation is reversed, with the aging father being ignored by his grown and troubled son, who is wearing a hoodie and smoking a cigarette. On March 25th, 2013, a translated version of the comic was posted on 9GAG,^[2] gaining over 52,100 points in seven years (original and translated versions of the comic shown below).

Prior to June 2018, the comic and its translated versions have been actively actively circulated online, including several Demotivational Poster verisons. On June 13th, 2018, Redditor^[3] Roy_Atticus_Lee posted the first known humorous edit of the comic in /r/GamersRiseUp subreddit, where it received over 11,500 upvotes in six months (shown below).

Spread

Prior to June 22nd, 2018, Instagram account @jizziology posted another edit of the comic (original post no longer available, reupload shown below, left). On June 22nd, 2018, Redditor^[4] dadadidumpa reposted the edit to /r/justneckbeardthings subreddit, where it received over 21,500 upvotes in six months. A same-day repost to /r/MemeEconomy^[5] subreddit received over 14,400 upvotes in the same period. On the same day, multiple edits of the comic were posted on Reddit, including notable submissions posted in /r/bonehurtingjuice^[6] (36,400 upvotes; shown below, center) and /r/dankmemes^[7] (5,500 upvotes; shown below, right).

In the following months, the comic saw a moderate spread on Reddit and other online platforms, with the dialogues in the comic humorously edited.

On January 5th, 2020, Instagram^[8] user PGODComedy posted the first known dubbed meme based on the comic (shown below). The edit received over 95,000 views and 23,300 likes on Instagram in one month, with a January 6th, 2020, repost by iFunny^[9] user phrogomancer gaining over 43,500 smiles on the platform in the same period.

Starting in early January 2020, the dubbed comic gained popularity in edits on iFunny, Instagram and YouTube, including notable edits by Hempo,^[10] idieasvirgin^[11] and shidbot420.^[12]