The Larry David Zoom call meme shows the comedian badly framed on the screen and is used to express feelings like apathy or despair. The screenshot comes from a cast reunion for the HBO comedy series Veep, during which the eldest attendee remained small, blurry, and in the corner of the shot as though he hadn’t put any effort into setting up his camera.
He spent the entire Zoom call like that, which was funny enough to inspire a new meme using a particular shot of David looking sad and tired—a state that many people can often relate to.
What started the Larry David Zoom call meme?
The jokes started after Twitter user @thjoyluckclub posted a screenshot of the entire Zoom call with many members of the Veep cast shown, commenting on David’s poor framing and how funny it looked. The tweet from September 29, 2024, gained over 10.4 million views and 20,000 likes in two days.
The cast assembled the Zoom call as a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Wisconsin Democrats, hosted by late-night comedian Stephen Colbert. The event suffered from several technical glitches, only one of which involved Larry David, although his framing was noticeable enough to earn a joke from Colbert.
“Larry, this is going swimmingly,” he said. “Who’d have thought Larry David would have technological issues?”
What does the meme look like?
As the meme developed, people began to crop David out of the larger Zoom call screenshot to focus on how he looked specifically. The resulting image shows the comedian off-center and far too low on the screen, showing only from the shoulders up in his chair. The blank wall and curtains above him dominate most of the shot.
This quickly became a relatable image meme with Twitter users reposting it to express how they feel in certain situations. Many of these involve being on remote video calls for work and how boring meetings can be, with people joking about how little effort they put into these events.
Alternatively, folks use it as an example of how one might look when getting that sinking feeling that comes along with unfortunate realizations about life and its inescapable downsides or one’s own limitations and/or flaws. You know, that mild existential horror smile. We’ve all had it.
Meme spread
Jokes utilizing this screenshot continued into the first days of October but remained primarily contained to Twitter. One of the most popular entries came from user @eastvillageguy on October 1 and repeated a sentence that so many of us have uttered while on a work Zoom call.
“Nothing from my side, thanks.”
This tweet gained over 4.6 million views in a little over a day.
As time went on, people began to compare the meme to others with similar visuals and involving people of similar ages such as Paint Grandpa and Capitol MeeMaw.
Larry David Zoom call meme examples
Related memes:
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- The existential journey of Ben Affleck memes
- The best work from home memes to get you through your next Zoom call
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