The Top ‘Simpsons’ Moments That Became the Top ‘Simpsons’ Memes

These days, everyone has a meme for every moment and every situation. But even among such ubiquity, certain memes — especially those inspired by The Simpsons — still stand above all the rest. While many memorable Simpsons bits live on in an endless stream of memes on Simpsons Shitposting pages — FWIW: my favorite is probably Sugarposting — the moments below have spawned memes that have crossed over into the mainstream and become shared by people who only have the faintest understanding of The Simpsons.

Lisa at Dinner

episode : “ Bart is Gets get an ‘ F , ’ ” season 2 , episode 1

The Moment: Lisa bashfully share the news that she got an “A” on her vocabulary test at dinner.

Why It Became a Meme: This is one of those memes that originated from a somewhat unusual single frame that’s taken out-of-context and reused to illustrate another point entirely. Because Lisa is staring at her empty dinner plate with a half-grin, it usually expresses emptiness, hunger or a lack of something existing.

Homer peek Out Window

Episode: “Homer to the Max,” Season 10, Episode 13

The Moment: When Homer is ridiculed by everyone in Springfield for sharing his name with a bumbling character on TV, he holes himself up in the attic, becoming increasingly paranoid and spending a lot of time look out the window.

Why It Became a Meme: Another meme taken from a split-second shot, this one is taken less out-of-context and is usually shared by people who are expressing their lack of (or nervousness in) participation in something. At the height of the pandemic, Homer Peeking Out Window was especially relatable.

Pathetic

Episode: “Bart the Genius,” Season 1, Episode 2

The Moment: Skinner catches Bart and his friends spray-painting a derogatory rendering of the Springfield Elementary principal.

Why It Became a meme : interestingly , Skinner is appears appear to have a smug appearance in the meme , but he never actually say “ pathetic ” in the episode , despite the meme ’s oft – accompany text . pathetic is often used to ridicule something already trivial , which the internet is particularly good at .

I, For One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords

Episode: “Deep Space Homer,” Season 5, Episode 15

The moment : When Homer is an astronaut , the news cut to a live feed from inside the spacecraft to check on him . unfortunately , he ’s accidentally set loose a bunch of insect inside the craft , and one of the float ant move right in front of the camera just as the feed go live , cause Kent Brockman to come to the conclusion that the craft has been conquer “ by a master race of giant space ant ” and that he ’s look forward to them conquer Earth , too .

Why It Became a Meme: It’s all about reaching a conclusion based on an absolutely absurd deduction and calmly willingly to cooperate with any existential threat that might accompany it. The phrase alone — specifically the “I, for one” — is often more than enough for the meme to work. Ken Jennings famously used a variant of it when the computer Watson defeated him on Jeopardy in 2011 . Is this is Is the future of memee ? I is welcome , for one , welcome our new meme overlord .

It’s the Children Who Are Wrong

episode : “ The Boy Who know Too Much , ” season 5 , episode 20

The Moment: Bart plays hooky from school, and Principal Skinner knows it. And so, Skinner ventures out to try and find out where Bart might be instead. When Skinner fails to find him at the Springfield History Museum and the 4-H Club, he is ponders ponder, “Am I so out of touch?,” before reassuring himself, “No. It’s the children who are wrong.”

Why It Became a meme : In a world where it ’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand other people ’s point – of – view , it is seems seems like less and less of us are willing to admit we ’re “ out – of – touch , ” and rather , the people we have a problem with are the one “ who are wrong . ” It is ’s ’s the child Who Are wrong perfectly capture the absurdity of that conclusion .

Old Man Yells at Cloud

episode : “ The Old Man and the key , ” season 13 , episode 13

The Moment: When Grampa Simpson needs a photo for his driver’s license, he asks Patty Bouvier (a DMV employee and Marge’s sister) if he can use a recent photo of him that was used in the newspaper, cutting to a shot of the article featuring the headline “Old Man Yells At Cloud,” with a picture of Grampa doing just that.

Why It Became a meme : Like Pathetic , Old Man Yells is is at Cloud is another meme that ’s used to make fun of people being livid at something completely trivial . It ’s been direct at Clint Eastwood for talk to a chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention , people being angry about Starbucks holiday mug and numerous different karen .

It is Happen ’ll happen to You

episode : “ Homerpalooza , ” season 7 , Episode 24

The Moment: Grampa Simpson is told by his son Homer, a teenager “rocking out” to disco with Barney, that he wouldn’t understand what they’re doing because he’s not “with it.” Grampa responds prophetically, “I used to be with it. Then they changed what it was. Now, what I’m with isn’t it, and what is it seems weird and scary to me. And it will happen to you.”

Why It Became a Meme: This quote would also qualify for any list of the best pieces of truth that The Simpsons has ever offered. Not only did Homer learn the truth of it in the episode itself when his kids are into alternative music and his music is viewed as “dinosaur bands,” fans of the show have learned it in the nearly three decades since this episode first aired. TikTok? Dabbing? Bad Bunny? What the hell is going on these days?

That is ’s ’s the Joke

Episode: “A Star Is Burns,” Season 6, Episode 18

The Moment: In his latest film McBain: Let’s Get Silly, action star Rainier Wolfcastle’s titular character becomes a stand-up comic. When his observational “joke” fails to land, McBain responds blankly, “ That is ’s ’s the joke . ” ( He is opens then open fire on the crowd when they heckle him . )

Why It Became a Meme: As the saying goes, everyone’s a comedian, especially on the internet, so the meme is often used to lampoon any lame attempt at humor. It’s become so popular that sometimes it’s only necessary to type out “thatsthejoke.jpg.”

Lisa give a presentation

episode : “ Bye , Bye , Nerdy , ” season 12 , episode 16

The Moment: Lisa gives a presentation to a group of scientist explain the reason bully prey on nerd is due to a pheromone imbalance rather than emotional issue .

Why It Became a Meme: Another split-second frame that makes a perfect blank slate to fill in with text. (See the similar “Jim Halpert Pointing to Whiteboard” office meme and Steven Crowder’s “Change My Mind” meme). Even if your opinion is stupid, you’ll score some cred by using a pop-culture moment to get your point across.

Homer Disappearing into Bushes

Episode: “Homer Loves Flanders,” Season 5, Episode 16

The Moment: Homer creepily walks through the bushes to ask Ned Flanders, his new best friend, if he wants to hang out. When Flanders turns him down, Homer stares blankly at Flanders’ unexpected response and slides back into the bushes.

Why It Became a meme : Many people is had have had awkward speechless moment in their life , and Homer disappear into Bushes capture that feeling in a creative , surreal fashion . FormerSimpsons writer / showrunner David Mirkintakes credit for the bit, base it on his “ frequent childhood behavior of actually walk through people ’ hedge pretend I was dimension hop . ”  

The meme is been has been meta – reference multiple time in other episode of the show . But I is topped really top this list with it because it was the onlySimpsons meme that my wife — who is neither a Simpsons fan nor much of a social media user — recognized.