The Brief: "Who is Joe?" memes and jokes allow pranksters to yell "Joe Mama!" in response to a seemingly innocent question.

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DEEP DIVE

If you’re ever talking to, say,Β  a teenage boy, and he says something vague about someone named Joe, we advise you not to ask “who is joe?” If you do, the exchange might go something like this:

Do you know Joe?

Who’s Joe?

JOE MOMMA!!!!!!!!!!

Like the old-school “is your refrigerator running?” or “what is updog” jokes, the point of Joe Mama memes is to trick someone into saying “who is joe?” so that you can drop an unexpected “yo momma” joke on them. Joe Mama memes are the latest variation of this format, going viral after bofa, sugma, and ligma. Of course, 2019 is surely not the first time someone has made this Joe Mama joke, but it is when it became particularly prominent on Reddit.

Joe Mama Memes

On social media, Joe Mama memes digitize this joke through image macros, demonstrating how it can be used in a variety of contexts. As with many once-popular memes, the copypasta element of this one may lead to overuse and an eventual “death” of the meme.

Joe Mama from dankmemes

A Wait That’s Illegal and Outstanding Move hybrid meme:

Has someone seen Joe? from PewdiepieSubmissions

Joe won the Kahoot! game…

Joe proceeds to win the Kahoot from memes

Absolute joe moment from memes

Oh god. Not joe from dankmemes

Don’t say it…

Don’t ask who Joe Is from sbubby

Actually Joe from dankmemes

Joe dad from teenagers

Joe ligma mama balls from dankmemes

Joe you … from PewdiepieSubmissions

Sweet Neptune! Who’s Joe!? from BikiniBottomTwitter

But really, how is Joe? I heard he’s going through a lot… from memes

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RIP Joe. πŸ˜”β˜ 

A post shared by Old Master (@old__master) on

If you did end up falling for this classic blunder, and ask “who is joe,” don’t worry. You’re surely not alone and helped someone make a joke πŸ™ƒ