AboutWhat does the meme depict?

The 'Here's Johnny' meme is based on a famous quote originally from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which became iconic through its use in Stanley Kubrick's film, The Shining. In the relevant scene, Jack Nicholson's character, Jack Torrance, breaks through a door with an axe, and upon revealing his face through the gap, he exclaims 'Here's Johnny!' This moment has been widely parodied and used in various video remixes and exploitable image macros, where Nicholson's intense expression and the dramatic breaking through the door are key visual elements.

OriginWho did it first?

The phrase 'Here's Johnny' originates from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which debuted on October 1, 1962. In the show, Carson was introduced by Ed McMahon with the catchphrase 'and now, heeeeeere's Johnny!' prominently at the start of each episode. This line was echoed in a pop culture moment during Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, The Shining, where Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance famously used the line during a tense scene where he hacks through a door with an axe and peers through the opening. This scene is captured in a YouTube clip from the film and has been a significant inspiration for the meme's visual and textual content.^[1]

Origin: 1962