About
Pajama Kid is a photoshop meme featuring a yearbook photograph of a young boy wearing SpongeBob Squarepants-themed pajamas with a resigned expression on his face.
Origin
On April 4th, 2014, Redditor KillerKenyan posted a photograph of a child wearing Spongebob Squarepants pajamas to the /r/funny[1] subreddit, claiming that his friend’s mom mixed up “pajama day” with “picture day” at her son’s school (shown below, left). In the comments section of the post, Redditor CastleRuler[2] posted a photoshopped version of the 1930 American Gothic painting by Grant Wood superimposed with the faces of Pajama Kid and Side Eyeing Chloe (shown below, right). In the first 72 hours, the post gained over 54,700 up votes and 1,580 comments.
Spread
On April 5th, 2014, Redditor fanjama posted an edited version of the photo in which Pajama Kid is dressed in a suit and holding a lit cigar to /r/funny[3] (shown below, left). The same day, Redditor theataraxian posted a side-by-side comparison of Pajama Kid and the character Michael Bolton (played by David Herman) from the 1999 comedy film Office Space to /r/funny[5] (shown below, right). Within 48 hours, the posts gathered more than 49,100 and 36,700 up votes respectively.
On April 6th, the @Pajamakld[4] Twitter feed was launched, featuring captioned images and photoshops using the Pajama Kid photo. Within 24 hours, the feed accumulated upwards of 3,500 followers. On April 7th, Redditor Digimule submitted a Pajama Kid image macro titled “Worst Birthday Ever” to /r/AdviceAnimals,[6] where it garnered over 6,900 up votes and 220 comments within the first five hours.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Reddit – Friends mom mixed up pajama day and picture day
[2]Reddit – CastleRulers Comment
[3]Reddit – Fixed the kid whose mom sent him to school in pajamas on picture day
[4]Twitter – @Pajamakld
[5]Reddit – Pajama day kid all grown up
[6]Reddit – Worst Birthday Ever