The C4 Strapped To My Chest

Submission 3,932

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About

The C4 Strapped To My Chest is a catchphrase that refers to a memetic concept regarding C4 explosives, or other weapons like guns, being strapped or attached to the meme's subject, ready to blow up or be fired when the person is prompted by a scenario or confrontation. The memes are satirical and ironic in nature, often overexaggerating a scenario. The trend started on Instagram in late 2021 with a SpongeBob meme that joked about a cop asking the subject if they'd been drinking. In early 2022, it trended on iFunny via the Jackass Couch Explosion format and the 'Mississippi Queen' Gun Videos trend. It later became relevant on TikTok via the 'Luna, Amore E No' by Piero Piccioni Trend, as well as alongside usage of a clip from The Boys showing Soldier Boy using his explosion power.

Origin

On November 25th, 2021, the Instagram^[1] page greazyjesus posted a video meme that used a clip from Season 2, Episode 33b of SpongeBob SquarePants titled, "Gary Takes A Bath,"^[2] in which SpongeBob runs up to his pet snail Gary and screams, "Gary! There's a bomb strapped to my chest!" The clip had been used in YouTube Poops in 2016^[3] and earlier, however, Instagram's greazyjesus simply captioned the video, "Cop: Have you been drinking tonight, sir? / Me:" Over the course of 11 months, the meme received roughly 10,100 views and 1,500 likes (shown below).

Spread

Roughly a month later, on December 21st, 2021, the Instagram^[4] page henrydavis1300 reposted the meme, gaining similar engagement. Three days later, on December 24th, 2021, iFunnyer^[5] SUCCulent_Memez posted a copycat meme, using the same format with a similar cop-centric caption, gaining roughly 14,900 smiles in ten months (shown below, left). A few months later, on February 9th, 2022, iFunnyer^[6] Elvis_Pussley used the Jackass Couch Explosion format with a caption reading, "'Sir this a 10 item or less checkout' The explosive vest I strapped to my son:" The meme received roughly 58,700 smiles in seven months (shown below, right).

Later on the same day, February 9th, 2022, iFunnyer^[11] Bulletin captioned the couch explosion with, "'hey officer guess what' 'what' 'chicken butt' 7 pounds of C4 in my trunk:" gaining roughly 1,800 smiles in seven months and being the first-known to reference C4 specifically (shown below).

On March 15th, 2022, iFunnyer^[7] TheMormon posted a Chinese Restaurants in the Hood Be Like video meme that joked about using C4 explosives when a waiter said that the restaurant was out of barbeque sauce, gaining roughly 1,200 smiles in six months (shown below, left). On March 30th, 2022, Instagram^[8] user trashcanpaul posted a You're Pointless meme that referenced the C4 trend, gaining roughly 65,200 likes in six months (shown below, right).

Later in 2022, the concept spread to memes on TikTok. For instance, on April 14th, 2022, TikToker^[9] fortnitesummrsswagreal posted a video that referenced the concept, gaining roughly 49,700 likes in five months (shown below, left). On September 17th, 2022, TikToker^[10] stuffien referenced the C4 concept alongside a video of Soldier Boy from the TV show The Boys, gaining roughly 11,400 plays and 2,200 likes in nine days (shown below, right).

Jackass Couch Explosion

Jackass Couch Explosion refers to a clip of a couch with stuntman Preston Lacy sitting on it, then exploding from the ending scene of the 2010 reality comedy film Jackass 3D. In February 2022, the scene gained virality as source material for memes, mainly video and GIF captions.

"Mississippi Queen" Gun Videos

'Mississippi Queen' Gun Videos is a series of exploitable memes revolved around captioning a slow-motion, 3D gun animation shooting a bullet out of its barrel with the 1970 rock song "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain playing in the background. The captions are most often related to a humorous scenario in which the solution is shooting a gun and killing something, contrasted by the overdramatic and righteous nature of the gun graphic and the song. The trend started on iFunny in 2022, spreading throughout the latter part of the year.