Despite the news cycle being downright depressing at times, 2019 was #blessed with many moments that helped us forget — if only for a little while.
We sparked joy with Marie Kondo, raised brows at the Cats movie trailer, grooved with Kermit and freed Quilty the cat from solitary confinement. Some of us stormed Area 51, while others athletically kicked off bottle caps and applauded Fiji Water Girl for seizing her 15 minutes of fame by the Globes horns.
Whatever tickled our personal fancies this year, there were certainly 365 days chock-full of hilarious, shocking and just plain weird moments.
Here are the top viral moments of 2019.
Dead man pranks funeral-goers with prerecorded message
An Irish man who died in October wanted to have the last laugh and recorded hilarious audio of him shouting “Let me out!” as he was being lowered into the grave.
Computer glitch removes filter, reveals Chinese vlogger’s real face
A Chinese blogger who refers to herself as “Your Highness Qiao Biluo” accidentally revealed her true identity after a computer glitch removed the filter she was using to make herself appear younger.
A million cannibal ants were unleashed from a nuclear bunker in Poland
A lost “colony” of nearly one million wood ants that survived for years by eating each other were returned to their former pipe homes with full access to the outside world by Polish researchers.
Grandma swept out to sea in Iceland while posing for photo on “iceberg throne”
A grandmother was washed out into the Icelandic sea while posing for photos on an “iceberg throne” when a large wave dislodged the chunk of ice, sending it drifting away from shore. (Don’t worry, she’s fine.)
Kylie Jenner no longer holds the most ‘liked’ Instagram post thanks to an egg stock photo
A boring stock photo of a brown egg on a white background scrambled its way to the top of Instagram, becoming the most liked post of all time with 53 million likes and counting, poaching the title from reality TV personality Kylie Jenner.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but…”
This phrase became a free pass for anyone to send their personal advice out into the ether.
Groovy Kermit
This slow-dancing Kermit started as a Snapchat filter and became a “that feeling when” meme — the perfect video to express sheer joy or happiness.
Nancy Pelosi clapping at U.S. President Donald Trump
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won the title of “Queen of the Condescending Applause” during a State of the Union address after sarcastically clapping at Trump when he said: “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of co-operation, compromise and the common good.”
At the time, Pelosi and Trump were in a major disagreement over his bid to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Bottlecap challenge
For some reason, someone somewhere decided to karate-kick a loosened bottle cap off the top of a water bottle without actually kicking the bottle itself, which resulted in thousands of people (with arguably too much time of their hands) doing the same.
Cats movie trailer
The highly anticipated trailer for the feature film Cats, based off the hit Broadway musical, birthed a number of confused questions — “Why do the female cats have breasts?” being one of them.
Area 51 stormers showed up — and one hero did a perfect Naruto run
People showed up in the Nevada desert for Alienstock, a music festival that sprang out of a viral Facebook plan to storm Area 51 in September, and one festivalgoer nailed a Naruto run during a live news broadcast.
Area 51 “my alien”
The storming of Area 51 had alien enthusiasts getting very creative about what Earth amenities and interests they’d introduce to their new BFFs.
30-50 feral hogs
An oddly specific number of feral hogs became the joke of 2019 after they somehow got dragged into the U.S. gun reform debate.
Daenerys Targaryen’s smug squint
A moment that could have otherwise been missed in a Game of Thrones episode became an incredible way for internet users to mock each other. Even better was the faceoff between the Mother of Dragons and Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth).
Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up
There’s no doubt the cleaning master Kondo’s “does this spark joy?” rule has inspired many to declutter, but the hilarious memes that came of it spark joy even more than getting rid of your 20-year-old soccer jersey.
Cat banished to solitary confinement after breaking friends out of Texas animal shelter
The Friends for Life Animal Rescue came into possession of a whiskered Houdini known as Quilty, but the cat’s escape artist antics got him into a bit of a trouble, forcing his owners to lock him in solitary confinement.
Missouri woman rescues abandoned ‘unicorn’ puppy with forehead tail
One special puppy garnered itself the name Narwhal because of the tail growing out of its head.
“And I oop!—”
This meme, coined by drag queen Jasmine Masters, became the perfect response to making a tragic mistake.
Fiji Water Girl — a Canadian model — stole Golden Globes red carpet spotlight
As some of Hollywood’s biggest stars took to the red carpet ahead of the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards in January, a Canadian woman carrying a tray of bottled Fiji Water stole the spotlight after photobombing several celebrities, pouring herself into internet fame.
Father has full-fledged conversation with his toddler
Comedian DJ Pryor shared a hilarious video of him and his son, Kingston Jierre, having what sounds like a two-sided conversation in perfect English.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle introduce their first child, Archie Harrison, to the world
The duke and duchess posed with their newborn in Windsor Castle on May 8, just two days after he was born, and announced his name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Kamala Harris waving
A video of the 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful waving and placing her hand to her heart took on a hilarious life of its own this summer.
Idris Elba choking on chicken
The multi-hyphenate made one of the most popular appearances on Sean Evans’ wing-eating interview show Hot Ones, and the moment of him choking on spicy chicken birthed many a hilarious meme.
Baby Yoda of The Mandalorian is here to unite the internet
Yoda is easily one of the most beloved (and wisest) characters of the Star Wars franchise, and the internet lost its mind when a baby version of the Jedi master was revealed as a character in The Mandalorian, a Disney+ TV series.
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