Sam Hyde's "Adolf Hitler Needs Me?" Sketch

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About

Sam Hyde's "Adolf Hitler Needs Me" Sketch refers to an improvisational sketch by comedian Sam Hyde in which he, during a first date, talks about imagining himself as a German Nazi soldier in occupied France who disapproves of Adolf Hitler. Originally released in 2020, the sketch has since inspired several image and video caption meme formats based on quotes from the clip, including I Use a Combination of Lies, I'm Hitler's Top Guy and Woah… Adolf Hitler Needs Me?

Origin

On June 24th, 2020, comedian Sam Hyde uploaded episode six "First Date Questions" of his Theatre of the Aire improvisation sketch series to Gumdrop.^[1] In one part of the episode, during which Hyde is on a first date with a Jewish woman whose ancestors were in Auschwitz, Sam Hyde ponders on a hypothetical situation of him being a German Nazi soldier in occupied France who dislikes Adolf Hitler. During the sketch, Hyde imagines Hitler picking him out as "his top guy" and assigning him in charge of a panzer platoon, with him not being able to refuse.

On August 26th, 2020, YouTuber^[2] Ακατάκτητη Ελλάς uploaded the sketch to YouTube, where it gained over 600,000 views in two years (shown below).

I would say to myself: "Man, this Hitler guy is up to no good. I hate this, I can't take any more of this. I don't know what I'm gonna do… What am I gonna do? I'm Hitler's top guy. What am I gonna do? Adolf Hitler chose me to lead the revolution!" […]
I use a combination of lies, manipulation, cheating, stealing, gaslighting, bullying, insulting and flexing to make sure everyone in my office stays under my thumb where I want them. […]
"Woah! Adolf Hitler needs me? Okay, I'll do it. I'm going to bat for you, Hitler! I got your back, Hitler!"

Spread

On August 30th, 2020, Facebook^[3] page The Sam Hyde Collection reposted the clip, with the video gaining over 910 reactions and 21,000 views.

While the exact first use of the video as a caption format is unknown, one of the earliest posts using it was made by Twitter^[4] user @Choccyman1917 on March 26th, 2021, with the tweet using the line "Woah… Adolf Hitler needs me?" as a phrasal template and gaining 15 likes (shown below, left). On August 26th, 2021, Twitter^[5] user @Real_Xi_Jinping posted a meme that received over 40 retweets and 820 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Starting in August 2021, the line "I use a combination of lies, manipulation, stealing" gained brief virality as a video caption format. For example, on September 13th, 2021, Instagram^[6] page wallsbets posted a meme that gained over 104,000 views in eight months (shown below, left).

Starting in December 2021, the video achieved notable spread as an image and video caption format. For example, on December 24th, 2021, Twitter^[7] user @thotlinemiami98 posted a meme that received over 110 retweets and 1,100 likes in five months (shown below, left). On February 19th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @NotEvenRobert posted a meme that received over 140 retweets and 1,100 likes in in three months (shown below, right).

In 2022, memes using the lines "I use a combination of lies," "I'm Hitler's top guy" and "Woah… Adolf Hitler needs me?" saw further spread on Twitter, iFunny and Instagram.