Hundreds of millions of people have watched "What Does The Fox Say." They've also seen funny photos of the Overly-Attached Girlfriend, Scumbag Steve, and Grumpy Cat on Reddit or BuzzFeed. Each of those are Internet memes.
Memes are often photos that become cultural symbols; they're passed around the Internet and tweaked by millions of viewers as they go along. Often, memes start with a theme and have text laid on top of an image to describe that theme in a witty way. The Reddit community is responsible for creating and popularizing many memes. Even Obama has been a meme victim.
What do all of these Internet meme stars look like when they're not captured in awkward moments or changed in Photoshop?
Meet the stars of your favorite memes, and what they look like in real life.
What does the fox, Ylvis, look like in real life? The popular music video has been watched over 336 million times.
Ylvis, a Norwegian group comprised of two brothers, looks like this when they aren't dressed as seals or foxes.
One of the most famous Internet memes is The Ridiculously Photogenic Guy. It stars 25-year-old Zeddie Little who happened to be running a race and was spotted in the background of a group photo by Facebook users.
Here's what Little looks like in real life.
Ermahgerd (as in, Oh My God) was a meme that began on Reddit. It was submitted on March 14, 2012 with the title, "Just a book owner's smile…" And off, onto the Internet the meme went.
The identity of the Goosebumps-loving meme girl is up for debate. On March 28 2012, a Reddit user submitted the following photo with the title "BERKS REVEALED."
The Reddit community wasn't convinced the photo was authentic, so they did a facial comparison. "CONCLUSION: Plausible," they determined.
Another Reddit user claimed this was the actual Ermahgerd/Berks girl, Maggie. At a glance, Maggie looks like a closer match.
Millions of people have seen Scumbag Steve, whose actual name is Blake Boston. The picture was taken by Boston's mother.
Here's Blake Boston in real life.
The Good Guy Greg Meme has been viewed more than 2.2 million times. It was created as the antithesis to Scumbag Steve.
Good Guy Greg's identity still hasn't been revealed. Two Reddit users have come forward with images of people they say are the "real" GGG.
The Overly Attached Girlfriend meme has been seen a few million times. The photo was yanked from a YouTube video in which a girl sang a rendition of Justin Bieber's song, 'Boyfriend.'
But actually, the overly attached girlfriend is really cute. Her name is Laina Walker, and she's 21.
Bad Luck Brian has been featured on sites like BuzzFeed. It's a boy named Kyle's 7th grade yearbook picture.
Kyle submitted his photo to Reddit and received more than 3,500 comments. He recalls his principal making him retake the yearbook photo because she thought he was purposely making the face.
Grumpy Cat has amassed nearly 1 million Twitter followers and memes have circulated across the web. The cat's real name is "Tard."
Tard's first photo was submitted to reddit by his owner's brother, a man named Bryan. Here's a screen grab from the initial Grumpy Cat YouTube video.
What's it like to be a viral Internet sensation? We interviewed the Overly Attached Girlfriend. Here's what it's like to be a meme.
The Overly Attached Girlfriend Explains What It's Like Being A Wildly Popular Internet Meme »
For more Photoshopped Internet sensations, check out:
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