About
Whose Line is an image macro series featuring a screen capture of Drew Carey hosting the improvisational comedy television show Whose Line is it Anyway? The captions often contain a variation of the snowclone template “Welcome to X / Where Y’s made up and the Z doesn’t matter.”
Origin
In the American version of Whose Line is it Anyway?, which premiered on August 5th, 1998, the show would begin with the host Drew Carey saying, “Welcome to Whose Line is it Anyway, the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter” (shown below).
On July 29th, 2011, a Quickmeme[1] page titled “Whose Line” was created, which featured image macros using a screen capture of Carey reading from a piece of paper. The first submission[3] on the page included the caption “Welcome to the USA / the government where the money’s made up and the debt doesn’t matter” (shown below). In the next two years, the submission received over 1,300 up votes and 400 Facebook likes.
Spread
On August 7th, 2011, Redditor turboscerbo submitted an image macro to the /r/AdviceAnimals[6] subreddit, which joked about the usefulness of a college degree (shown below, left). The post received only 280 up votes and 10 comments prior to being archived. On December 16th, Redditor Insuevi submitted an image macro criticizing the American voting system and erosion of civil liberties to the /r/AdviceAnimals subreddit (shown below, right),[7] receiving over 6,700 up votes and 130 comments prior to being archived.
On August 2nd, 2012, Redditor pbh184 submitted an image macro to the /r/AdviceAnimals subreddit,[2] mocking the concerns of the United States electorate (shown below, left). Prior to being archived, the post accumulated more than 11,200 up votes and 190 comments. On February 27th, 2013, Redditor Velociraptor11 submitted an image macro joking about lifestyles associated with people in their 30s to the /r/AdviceAnimal subreddit (shown below, right),[8] garnering upwards of 11,700 up votes and 550 comments within five days.
Notable Examples
As of March 2013, the Quickmeme page for “Whose Line” has received upwards of 2,700 submissions.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Quickmeme – Whose Line
[2]Reddit – Whose Line – America
[3]Quickmeme – Welcome to the USA
[4]Quickmeme – its time to play drew carey
[5]Quickmeme – Drew Carey whose line
[6]Reddit – Whose Line
[8]Reddit – Welcome to Your 30s