Where did the meme of Bill Hader dancing come from?
If you’ve opened social media in the last few weeks only to be greeted by Bill Hader dancing and smiling in a blue sweater, you’re not alone.
It seems the dancing comedian is gracing everyone’s feeds, but where did it originate?
Where did the clip of Bill Hader dancing come from?
Like many great memes, the Hader one comes from an unaired Saturday Night Live sketch from 2015. In the sketch, Hader plays a character named Alan who dances in a glass box for others’ entertainment.
The fact that the original sketch was in a glass box explains Hader’s hands up in the air because, in the real video, he had them set on the walls of his glass box.
When did Bill Hader dancing turn into a meme?
According to KnowYourMeme.com, Hader’s dance moves started gaining traction in 2019 when a since-deleted Twitter account named @billhaderdancin posted Hader dancing clips set to various tracks.
The Twitter account posted Hader dancing to Fleetwood Mac and Far East Movement, among others. As of reporting, however, the account is suspended.
Years later, in 2023, savvy social media users took advantage of the CapCut template that lets users clip a person in a video and add it to any background they like. Thanks to Hader’s newfound fame in the HBO show Barry — for which he received three Emmy Awards — the dancing meme soon went viral.
“I just finished watching Barry!! God this man is so talented yet so underrated,” gushed @cloverrbloomss on TikTok.
“Bill Hader dancing is a meme now, and I’m ok with that,” wrote @pearvoz on the original SNL YouTube clip.
Hader has now become a meme to capture a variety of different emotions and situations, including elation when plans get canceled:
The struggle of trying to listen to instructions:
Using a “cursed” possession:
Representing some of the Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:
And even Hader himself realizing he’s a trending TikTok meme:
“I hope Bill Hader knows how much we love him,” wrote @ms.thriftyy.
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