Who Killed Hannibal? aka the Why Would X Do This? meme is made up of two sequential images from The Eric Andre Show. The first features Andre shooting co-host Hannibal Buress. The second shows Andre staring forlornly ahead while Buress lies “dead” in his chair.
Who killed Hannibal?
The images come from a 2013 episode of the bizarre talk show. Initially, the scene started out with Andre speaking to the audience about climate change and making a joke about Buress needing to change his underwear. He then suddenly draws his gun and repeatedly shoots Buress before asking, “Who killed Hannibal?”
The Eric Andre Show was chaotic by nature, and something like this was hardly out of the ordinary. In fact, during the six season run of the show, Andre became known for trashing his own set, pissing off guests, and generally being a complete and total madman.
Andre’s skit may have simply been more intentional absurdity—especially considering it immediately launched into a Twin Peaks parody after referencing the cult classic’s tagline, “Who killed Laura Palmer?”
[No Spoilers] Are we not going to talk about how immediately after the ‘Who killed Hannibal?’ scene, a parody of the Twin Peaks intro starts?
byu/andrewth09 intwinpeaks
It also may have been a commentary on climate change. Even over a decade later, too many people look around at the endless string of “unprecedented” natural disasters wondering how we got to this point when the answer is, of course, that our gradually wreaking havoc on the earth means we brought it upon ourselves.
So what is the Why Would X Do This meme?
Regardless of Andre’s original intent, it was that cognitive dissonance displayed in the scene that became the basis for the meme, five years later.
The meme first exploded on Reddit with this 9/11 conspiracy theory version. It’s not clear if the creator was being facetious or if they actually believe George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11. Either way, it didn’t stop the post from rapidly gaining traction in the r/dankmemes subreddit.
And from there on out, the meme format was set. The two images began circulating with various text additions from individuals intending to make a joke or highlight some perceived absurdity.
Continued relevance
The Who Killed Hannibal? meme has enjoyed a particularly potent staying power, considering how frequently shifting the blame, whether intentionally or through shocking ignorance, plays a role in the news cycle, pop culture, and online conversations.
https://t.co/LuLMXWDaFt pic.twitter.com/71HdiU2vCg
— 🔞KSJ Dilf Hunter💜 (@YourOneYourHue) August 27, 2024
We may not be able to do anything constructive about most of these issues, but hey, at least we have a meme to prove that we see what’s happening!
Related memes:
- The satirical progress of ‘1984’ memes
- The ‘Are You Sure About That?’ meme keeps you second guessing
- ‘Jamal Did It’: The questionable nature of Jamal memes
- How 9/11 memes became an internet phenomenon
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
