"How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?"

About

“How do you do, fellow kids?” is a reaction image commonly used to respond to users pretending to be part of a community that they are clearly unfamiliar with. The image features the actor Steve Buscemi dressed youthfully and holding a skateboard, and is usually subtitled with the tag line. The image is often photoshopped to adapt to a particular subculture, and the phrase is often used in conversation without the image.

Origin

The reaction image first aired as part a scene in episode 401 of the NBC television show 30 Rock, first aired on October 15th, 2009. In the show, Steve Buscemi plays a private detective hired as a strike buster.^[1] In a scene where the detective is describing his prior investigations, he flashes back to a scene where believes he successfully masqueraded as a high school student.

Much of the scene’s humor comes from Buscemi’s grizzled appearance in contrast with his silly approximation of high school attire, including a backwards hat, a skateboard worn over his shoulder, and a t-shirt that reads “Music Band” in the style of the classic AC/DC logo.

Spread

A subtitled screen capture first began to appear online in spring of 2012, just as 30 Rock was about to air its last episode, because the moment was featured on many viewer’s lists of best jokes from the show.^[2] From there, it spread as a reaction image. The phrase is used frequently on Reddit, where the subreddit /r/fellowkids has more than 50,000 readers as of August 2015. The subreddit is used to share examples of people or corporations trying to “be cool” and “blend in,” often expressed through overuse of internet slang or emoji]

The phrase is in frequent use on 4chan, where, for example it has 57 uses on the /v/, or video games, board.^[4] The gif is more popular on Tumblr, and there are four separate blogs titled “How do you do, fellow kids.”^[5] Several versions of the gif and image have more than 100,000 views on Imgur.^[6]

On several web sites, including RedBubble and Skreened, the t-shirt Buscemi wears in the scene is available for sale.^[7]