What Is 'C'mon, Do Something'? The Infamous Meme Template Explained

The "C'mon, do something" meme template is an illustration that has been used in a variety of memes since 2015, often poking various things and expecting them to elicit a reaction or response. The whole point of the meme was to describe people who are generally very bored and want something that is usually fairly dormant to do something eventful or noteworthy.

This meme has been used frequently as an exploitable image template on many platforms, but what is its origin? and how has it grown so popular? Here's everything you need to know.

What Is The Origin Of C'mon, Do Something?

The original image comes from an illustration of the White Ninja character poking a dead fish with a stick. The series, which is aptly named White Ninja, started selling merchandise for the webcomic in 2003, and since 2017, the image has been used as the masthead for the White Ninja series website (shown below).

How Was The Template Used In Memes?

The image started to spread online as people started to replace the dead fish with other things, adding the caption "C'mon, Do Something" to each meme. The first iteration was posted on June 11th, 2015, when a Redditor submitted a version of the comic poking the mobile game The Simpsons: Tapped Out.

On February 5th, 2017, the NFL Memes Facebook page posted a version where the character pokes a logo for the New England Patriots football team, gaining over 63,000 reactions within two months (shown below).

What Are Some Examples Of The Meme Being Used Online?

Over time, the meme became infamous for being used to describe situations where you want someone or something to do something noteworthy. There have been plenty of examples of this format being used online, one has the white ninja poking the United States and some Middle Eastern countries, captioned 'C'mon, Do a world war' (shown below, left). Another meme includes the Democratic and Republican parties, with a caption that says 'C'mon, Do a civil war' (shown below, right).

For the full history of "C'mon, do something", be sure to "check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.