We can all agree that the Kermit the Frog #ButThatsNoneofMyBusinessTho meme that’s currently making the Internet rounds is pretty awful, right? I mean, I love memes as much as the next Internet addict — er, enthusiast — but when these weird little images become a platform for saying things that would be deemed unacceptable when expressed in any other way… well, you get where I’m going with this. Ever since we spotted this one, we’ve been attempting to find an antidote for it, first by immersing ourselves in Kermit’s actual words of wisdom — and now by finding as many other memes as possible that put our little green buddy and his friends to way better use.
Some of the memes seem below were actual “things” for a short time (in the “so that’s a thing now, I guess?” sense of the word); others were one-off images; and lot of them are really, really weird. What all of them have in common, though, is that they’re all much more entertaining than #ButThatsNoneOfMyBusinessTho.
1. I Has a Shuvel
Back when Lolspeak — the typo-ridden, phonetically-spelled version of the English language favored by cats everywhere — was just beginning its takeover of the Internet, 4chan unearthed one of Kermit’s baby pictures: On the page opposite the one devoted to “She Sells Seashells” in Muppet Babies Classic Nursery Rhymes, a variety of pint-sized Muppets appeared to be having a party of some sort on the beach, with baby Kermit clutching a sand shovel in his little webbed hand. 4chan, being 4chan, loved it, and thus giving birth to the “I has a shuvel” meme in 2006. It doesn’t seem to be used much anymore these days, but if you ever overhear anyone talking about the fact that they has a shuvel, now you know where it came from. Also, Baby Kermit is adorable.
2. The Kermit Flail
Technically this one may not be a meme, but I mean, come on. I can’t be the only person who always uses the GIF seen here when expressing overwhelming amounts of enthusiasm online, right?
3. Fozzie Baggins
You hear that, Boromir?
4. The Most Interesting Monster in the World
I don’t think Cookie Monster drinks Dos Equis, but I would bet anything that the Dos Equis Man eats cookies. And when he does... he probably does it with Cookie Monster at his side.
5. Muppets With People’s Eyes
In what appears to be a variation on the theme popularized by Steve Buscemeyes and Michele Bachmann Eyes, a Tumblr entitled Muppets With People’s Eyes surfaced in December of 2010. It featured (surprise!) Muppets with the eyes of humans Photoshopped onto them. Given how much I freaked out when I realized that the Swedish Chef’s hands are actual human hands… well, you can imagine what my reaction was to this one.
6. Beakering Bad
Because really, who hasn’t idly wasted an hour or two wondering what Breaking Bad would be like as performed by the Muppets?
7. Kermit Yoda
Less a meme and more a case of some clever Photoshopping, but this makes perfect sense, especially in light of Disney’s acquisition of the Star Wars franchise. I’m not sure how effective Kermit would be as a Jedi Master, but hey, it beats studying under Miss Piggy, right?
8. #OccupySesameStreet
I’m not totally sure how this rumor first started, but on September 30, 2011 during the first weeks of Occupy Wall Street, word somehow got round that Radiohead would be giving a surprise performance at Zuccotti Park. The rumor was eventually debunked — but not before Twitter user @nonstopdemo tweeted the above image of Kermit with the hashtag #OccupySesameStreet. The hashtag took off when Patton Oswalt used it in a tweet a few days later; people subsequently took to Photoshopping Sesame Street characters into images of Occupy Wall Street. What it morphed into over time ended up pushing the envelope a little, but that initial image of Kermit on the phone is pretty funny. Now if only Kermit actually lived on Sesame Street…
9. Kermit channels David Byrne
And let's not forget when the greatest muppet of all time parodied the greatest band ever.
Images: Encyclopedia Dramatica, Gif Soup, Meme Center, Meme Center, Know Your Meme, Cheezburger, Roostertree/Wordpress, @nonstopdemo/Twitter
