Internet Nostalgia

Let’s Revisit Chuck Norris Facts

They seem less amusing today?

Welcome to part 13 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the internet’s imagination and attention for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times and what they told us about the internet and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week, JibJab. This week: Chuck Norris Facts

Date: 2005.

The story: The inspiration probably came from Conan O’Brien. The late-night talk show host, back in the day, had an ongoing bit about “Walker, Texas Ranger,” the bewilderingly cheesy TV drama that Chuck Norris starred on for several years. It was a great bit: “Walker, Texas Ranger” delivered every time.

That helped make Norris into the perfect sort of punchline for sarcastic wisenheimers, a relic from a previous generation who doesn’t get how it works now, a Leslie Nielsen who isn’t in on the joke. That led, perhaps inevitably, to the Chuck Norris Facts.

The Chuck Norris Facts were, essentially, a joke-delivery device. You say something absurdly powerful and then ascribe it to Norris. The joke is not that Norris is actually this strong. The joke is that in the world of Norris, and the world of his head and apparently the heads of his fans, they believe he is that strong. The whole mythos of Norris is that he is indestructible, something that’s inherently hilarious considering he is an old, very not-self-aware man. Thus, something meant to make fun of him.

The problem, of course, is that if Norris isn’t in on the first joke, he’s not going to be in on the second one. He’s just going to make it part of his brand. And that’s exactly what he did.

Pop culture crossover: The Norris facts led a series of copycat “Facts.” (If you’re a baseball fan, you might remember “Matt Wieters Facts” when he was a prospect.) But…