FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Relatable anti memes - Caught on Camera

At first, it might sound like anti-memes are against memes, but that’s far from the truth. Anti-memes are actually a weird, self-aware, and kind of clever way of doing humor online.

They usually take a normal meme image and pair it with text that’s plain, literal, dull or emotionally flat, avoiding any conventional punchline or comedic payoff.

The funny part comes from the fact that you expect a joke, but there just… isn’t one. That twist is the whole point.

Know Your Meme, a website that documents and contains an inventory of internet memes, defines anti-memes as “image macros which are typically captioned with anti-jokes and meta humor mocking a variety of internet memes.”

One of the earliest known references to anti-memes was a 2009 webcomic called Big Fat Whale. It played around with the idea of anti-memes as weird, non-sensational internet content that didn’t follow normal joke logic.

But the real push came when Reddit got involved. In 2012, the subreddit r/antimeme was created, and that’s basically where the style took shape and got a name people actually used.

After that, it spread like wildfire across social media platforms.

Some types of anti-memes are pretty easy to spot once you get the idea.

The literal one is where the meme just describes exactly what’s happening in the picture, no jokes added.

For example, in the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme, instead of funny labels, it just says “Boyfriend,” “Girlfriend,” and “Other Woman.” That’s it — it just explains the scene like a caption, not a joke.

Reverse memes are often grouped with anti-memes also because they use a familiar meme format. But instead of sarcasm or irony, they are overly sincere, or just plain obvious.

For example, a meme using a “Drake Hotline Bling” format might normally reject something and approve something else. A reverse version could just show Drake approving both panels with captions like: “Pizza is good” and “Water is also good.” There’s no real conflict or joke.

Another category of anti-memes is the missing punchline. This is when a meme sets things up like a joke is coming… but then doesn’t deliver anything.

For example, someone posted the real picture of Abraham Lincoln with the caption: “Gonna tell my kids this was Abraham Lincoln.”

The humor comes from the fact that your brain keeps waiting for a punchline that never shows up.

Over-explained jokes also fall in the category of anti-memes. It’s when a meme is stretched out or butchered so much that the original humor is nowhere to be found.

Instead of keeping things short and funny, the meme explains itself step by step — almost like it’s trying to be helpful rather than funny.

The failure of the joke becomes the joke itself.

It is important to note here that anti-memes are not anti-humor. They’re simply against the usual meme format, yet use the same meme template.

Research shows that anti-memes play around with the structure of memes — like how much text is used, how the space is filled, or how the format usually flows. They take those unwritten rules and either ignore them or flip them, which makes the whole thing feel off in a way that works.

Typical memes have been recycled and reused so much over the years across different online platforms that we often end up expecting, or already knowing, the punchlines.

Anti-memes come in and mess with that expectation, which is a big reason why many people like them.

There’s also this weirdly absurd but calm vibe to them. They show that not everything online has to carry a deeper meaning or build up to a payoff.

Another big reason they work is self-awareness. Anti-memes basically roast meme culture using meme culture itself. They know exactly what you’re expecting… and then deliberately don’t give it to you.

At this point, traditional memes can feel predictable, while anti-memes feel like a breath of fresh air.