What the Fuck Is This Piece of Shit?

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About

What the Fuck Is This Piece of Shit? is a memorable line said by Joe Pesci's character in an episode of Tales from the Crypt upon looking at an unusually designed mansion. In 2022, the clip of Joe Pesci wearing a red suit, taking off his sunglasses and saying the line gained virality as an exploitable meme format in which it was edited into various scenes and videos.

Origin

On August 26th, 1992, episode 11 "Split Personality" of season four of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt premiered on HBO.^[1] In the episode, small-time swindler Vic Stetson (portrayed by Joe Pesci) gazes upon an unusually designed mansion, taking off his sunglasses and commenting, "What the fuck is this piece of shit?" On May 1st, 2016, YouTuber^[2] MaxRenn82 uploaded the scene, which gained over 260,000 views in six years (shown below).

What the fuck is this piece of shit?

On May 20th, 2021, YouTuber^[3] Sage & Cord uploaded the earliest found edit of the scene, a Call of Duty meme that gained over 30,000 views in two years (shown below).

Spread

The clip did not achieve significant popularity until July 2022 when it went viral in edits on TikTok. On July 22nd, 2022, TikToker^[4] nobodywillknow91 posted a Joe Biden meme using the clip that received over 567,000 views and 30,200 likes in six months (shown below, left). On July 26th, TikToker^[5] @spetznaaz posted an edit that gained over 3.1 million views and 504,000 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

The latter post inspired more edits and lip-sync videos on TikTok in the following weeks. For example, on August 11th, TikToker^[6] @realizedesign posted an edit that gained over 3.9 million views and 739,000 likes in five months (shown below, left). On August 12th, TikToker^[7] barnettgaming posted a Pokemon Scarlet and Violet edit that garnered over one million views and 98,000 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

In the following months, the format spread to YouTube and Twitter, with several edits going viral on these platforms.