Zoomer Humor

Submission 49,404

Part of a series on Generation Z / Gen Z / Zoomers. [View Related Entries]

About

Zoomer Humor is a slang term that refers to comedy, memes and other forms of humor relating to the Generation Z demographic. Particularly known for its absurdity and weirdness, Zoomer Humor is often a stark contrast from Boomer or Millennial humor that applies to topics relating to Gen Z. The term is also defined as often being “anti-boomer” in nature.

Origin

The term “Zoomer Humor” was popularized shortly after Zoomer was first coined on 4chan’s /r9k/ board when an anonymous user posted the image of the Zoomer Wojack variation.^[1] Although it became more widespread after the accompanying image was created, the actual term “Zoomer Humor” predates this post by 20 days. On July 21st, 2018, an anonymous 4chan user posted an image (seen below) to the TV & Film board with the text “zoomer humor” and “why is this so unfunny.”^[2]

After this initial post, the term began to see widespread use across 4chan as users discussed “Zoomer Humor” and attempted to decipher exactly what it applied to. In the following days, several threads discussed the particular brand of Gen Z comedy by posting memes and interpretations in contrast to Boomer Humor. A thread posted to the Politics board on 4chan further discusses this and also contains one of the first memes to explain the contrasting styles of humor between older generations and Gen Z.^[3]

Spread

The term spread from 4chan to other areas of the internet in 2018 and 2019 as it started to see widespread use across a number of platforms including YouTube, Reddit and other forms of social media.

A thread started on the 4chan board /pol/ by an anonymous user dated September 2nd, 2018, sees one of the first discussions on the term and images depicting examples of such humor.^[4]

On November 27th, 2018, the YouTube channel MEME Factory posted a compilation video titled, “BOOMERS VS ZOOMERS MEMES COMPILATION,” which contrasted the two opposing forms of humor (below). As of January 2020, the video has received over 136,000 views and 4,100 likes.

The podcast Chapo Trap House features an episode released on February 25th, 2019, where the group discusses Millennial vs. Zoomer Comedy as they attempt to discern between the two styles of comedy.^[5]

In 2019, usage of Zoomer Humor also began to spread across Twitter, seen in a tweet from @frasierverse on October 12th, 2019. The post depicts a comic of April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles using a reusable straw to “save the turtles” as they desperately ask for help (shown below). The caption reads, “a little bit of zoomer humor,” and garnered 83 retweets and 270 likes.^[6]

On Reddit, there were a number of posts discussing the topic of Zoomer Humor alongside examples during 2019 that eventually led to the creation of the Zoomer Humor subreddit r/antiboomershumor on July 12th, 2019. As of January 2020, the sub as nearly 25,000 members.^[7]

An article from highschool newspaper The Spartan Shield (published December 9th, 2019) is the first example of the term being discussed by the press (albeit a high school paper). The article, written by Darsh Balani, makes a case for the unique brand of comedy and explains why it’s funny.^[8]