Wife Ordering a Pizza, Only Dialed 3 Numbers / Yes, No, Yes, Pepperoni

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About

Wife Ordering a Pizza, Only Dialed 3 Numbers or Yes, No, Yes, Pepperoni refers to a series of memes about a man hearing his wife seemingly ordering a pizza over the phone but the wife either only dials three numbers or says something like, "yes, no, yes, pepperoni," suggesting the wife has actually called 911 or another professional to get help by disguising the call as a pizza order, with the implied issue often being one of domestic violence. Memes using the format were popularized on TikTok as early as April 2024. The memes are possibly inspired by a real-life incident, which went viral on YouTube in late 2019.

Origin

On November 22nd, 2019, the KGET News YouTube^[1] channel uploaded a report about a woman who called 911 to get help in a domestic violence situation by pretending she was ordering a pizza. The call is played as part of the report in which the woman is heard saying, "Yep, I need a large pepperoni" after being asked if the abuser is still there and, "No, with pepperoni," after being asked by the dispatcher, "You need medical?" The video gained over 50 million views in five years (shown below).

It is unconfirmed if the memes are inspired by this incident despite the similarities to the trend.

On April 15th, 2024, TikToker^[2] @jjgamskfixz0 posted a video with an image macro meme using the Kanye's Blank Stare format captioned, "When you wife is ordering pizza but she only typed 3 numbers," garnering over 1.3 million views in four months (shown below). This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

Memes using the same or similar setups became increasingly popularized throughout 2024. On April 15th, 2024, Redditor u/NuclearMisile posted a screenshot of the original version of the meme to /r/PeterExplainsTheJoke,^[3] garnering over 16,000 upvotes in four months.

On May 14th, Instagram^[4] user spice.angel_v9 posted a version of the meme using an image of MoistCr1tikal staring, garnering over a million likes in three months (shown below, left). On May 19th, iFunny^[5] user Dert posted a version of the meme that gained over 1,000 smiles in three months (shown below, right).

On May 20th, 2024, a screenshot of the meme by Redditor spice.angel_v9 was reposted to /r/ExplainTheJoke,^[6] garnering over 20,000 upvotes in three months.

On August 4th, TikToker^[7] @crazytalestt posted a video image macro of a man running on the beach, captioned, "me when my wife is ordering a pizza and says, 'yes the pizza has an alcohol problem and is violent,'" suggesting the man is running to stop her from finishing the call, garnering over 3.9 million views in two weeks (shown below, left).

On August 12th, 2024, TikToker^[8] @joebyronuncle posted a similar meme using a caption about the wife ordering a "yes, no, yes pepperoni," garnering over 9 million views in a week (shown below, right). On August 17th, Instagram^[9] user chronic.memesv2 posted a similar meme using footage from Deadpool & Wolverine, garnering over 17,000 likes in two days.