The Play-Along Meme, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Snrub
A Discussion of the Play-Along Meme
When it comes to memes, the “play-along” format is a special subset. While most memes rely on imagination to some degree, “play-along” memes take things in a special direction. This type of meme usually starts off with a fan looking at something from a show or movie that is unquestionably untrue, even within the context of the show. However, fans, usually imitating the characters, will make jokes where they go along with the in-universe trick. Sometimes, fans will play along even when other characters in the story aren’t fooled at all.
This can take many forms. A fictional show can be treated as real. A character’s alter ego can be treated like a completely different character. Even a genuine mistake made on the show can have fans acting like it makes perfect sense. There’s even an argument that this meme goes farther back than memes themselves, at least on the internet.
Admittedly, this type of meme can be hard to talk about. Explaining the joke means acknowledging the trick, which effectively ruins said joke. However, there are still quite a few famous examples.
Perhaps one of the most famous examples of the play-along meme in American meme culture is the infamous Mr. Snrub from “The Simpsons,” who first appears in the episode, “Marge vs. the Monorail.” The story starts when Mr. Burns is fined $3-million. A town meeting is held to determine what to do with all the money. One suggestion comes from the mysterious Mr. Snrub, who claims to come from someplace far away. He suggests the town invest the money back into the power plant. The townspeople glare at the newcomer, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Burns with a mustache. The terrified Snrub gets help from Waylon Smithers, Mr. Burns’ regular sidekick, who saves the mysterious man with a grappling hook.
It’s more than likely the intended joke is that Mr. Snrub is indeed Mr. Burns, with the townspeople seeing through it. However, fans really like to pretend Snrub was just a lookalike. After all, viewers never see Snrub take off his disguise.
The idea isn’t too out there for the show. At this point, there had been multiple times when the series seemed to have a character seemingly show up in a poorly made costume, only for it to turn out to be a completely different character. The most famous example is Guy Incognito, a character who appears in “Fear of Flying.” Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Homer Simpson with a mustache, he visits Moe’s Tavern at a time when Homer had been banned. After being thrown out, Homer sees his lookalike, confirming him to be a separate character. Before he and Guy could get involved with some Patty Duke-style shenanigans, however, Homer gets distracted by a dog with a poofy tail.
“The old adage, ‘If you believe it, you can achieve it,’ comes to mind, as does, ‘All glory to the Hypnotoad.’ In the end, it’s a reminder that fanon is sometimes more fun than canon.”
Fans also like to bring up other evidence to suggest Snrub couldn’t be Burns. This includes Burns normally being too weak to wear a fake mustache or Snrub being much friendlier to Smithers in his one scene than Burns ever was in the whole series.
Naturally, fans then like to make up their own ideas on who Snrub could be. With the nod to him being from some place far away, jokes are made about him being an alien or an angel sent from Heaven. There have also been jokes that he’s really the one who shot Mr. Burns instead of Maggie. After all, his alias at least matches the “M. S.” initials (assuming he goes by ‘Mister.’)
With how long the show has been running, it’s a surprise that Snrub hasn’t shown up again, either confirming he isn’t Mr. Burns or teasing the audience by never giving them an answer.
As mentioned, with the help of this meme, even errors can feel correct. One episode of the Italian cartoon “Winx Club,” for example, has a scene where a character named Stella has to break some bad news to the main character, Bloom. At one point, Stella was supposed to admit that it’s her responsibility, noting that Bloom was her best friend. In a Canadian English dub of the scene, however, Stella says, “I mean, Stella’s my best friend!” Of course, some fans latched onto this. As they joke, if they were Stella, they’d be their own best friend, too. It helps that it fits Stella’s proud and self-gratulating personality to a tee. It also helps that Stella’s a bit of a fan-favorite, in part because of her over-the-top personality.
Obviously, this meme takes many, many forms, like “Invincible” fans waiting on the next issue of “Agent Spider.” “Futurama” fans debate just when “Everybody Loves Hypnotoad” jumped the shark, while some “Smiling Friends” fans campaign to get Tyler back on the show.
Of course, jokes like this predate the internet itself. There’s an argument that a lot of historical in-jokes serve as some precedents to the play-along meme. The historical figure of Joshua Norton, for example, the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the United States,” as well as “Protector of Mexico,” comes to mind. Living in San Francisco in the 1800s, locals were known for playing along with, or at least humoring, some of Norton’s claims.
Even currency he was known to issue was alleged to be accepted by local businesses. After his death, his tombstone was even decorated with titles honoring him, including his imperial and protectoral claims over North America.
In fact, Norton himself has even popped up in a few memes, with many of them praising the man and hailing his life. Alternate history memes love to find a way to place him in a seat of power, at least over California. It’s noteworthy that even the man’s Wikipedia page presents him as Emperor Norton instead of by his actual name. All of this can make it confusing to know what is apocryphal or not.
The old adage, “If you believe it, you can achieve it,” comes to mind, as does, “All glory to the Hypnotoad.” In the end, it’s a reminder that fanon is sometimes more fun than canon and fantasy is often a little better than reality. Perhaps, someday, we will learn just who Mr. Snrub truly is.