About

Serious Lifeguard Fish is an advice animal image macro series based on a still image from an episode of the children’s animated TV series Spongebob Squarepants. The images are typically captioned with expressions of displeasure, annoyance or suspicion, bearing many similarities to the Futurama's Not Sure If X series.

Origin

On July 17th, 1999, Spongebob Squarepants Season 1 Episode 2b titled "Ripped Pants" was broadcast, in which a lifeguard named Frank is annoyed to discover that Squarepants faked drowning in order to trick him into saving him. On December 29th, 2009, a screen capture of the character was uploaded by YouTuber FlashingTights titled "Make This the Most Thumbed Down Video in History" (shown below). Over the next seven years, the video received more than 8.1 million views, 19,500 comments and 50,900 dislikes.

On October 24th, 2011, an image macro of Frank with the caption "There's no cows in the ocean so that means.. / Krabby Patties must be made of fish" was submitted to /r/funny,^[1] where it gained over 740 votes (92% upvoted) and 165 comments prior to being archive (shown below).

Spread

On December 11th, 2011, an image macro asking women to explain the meaning of the phrase "I love you as a friend" was posted to /r/funny (shown below, left). On November 28th, 2012, Redditor AmandaPants87 posted an image macro of Frank with the caption "Who the fuck / farted?" to /r/AdviceAnimals, where it received upwards of 1,600 votes (91% upvoted) prior to being archived.

On January 5th, 2013, Redditor brolax420 submitted an image macro of Frank scolding someone for being unable to roll a blunt to the /r/tress subreddit (shown below, left). On July 9th, a Frank image macro with the caption "Oh Look / It's This Thread Again" was posted to /r/teenagers (shown below, right).