Meaning
What does Here’s Johnny mean?
“Here’s Johnny” started as a quote from the show called “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” where at the beginning of each episode of the show, the announcer Ed McMahon introduced the host Carson with the line “And now, Here’s Johnny!”
The show was on air from the year 1962 to early 1992.
However, the term we all know and is used for the memes today, comes from the movie “The Shining” made by Stanley Kubrick in 1980.
The term can be heard in the scene by the character Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), where he can be seen breaking through a door with an axe and saying the line “Here’s Johnny” while he put his face through the broken door.
via MEME
Origin
What's the origin of Here’s Johnny?
The term “Here’s Johnny” is originally coming from the talk show “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” which has first aired in 1962, but on the internet, people always refer to the quote from the movie called “The Shining”, which has first aired in 1980.
It is hard to tell, when did it first make its way to the internet or gained popularity as there is no data on it.
Spread & Usage
How did Here’s Johnny spread?
The term has spawned countless image macros/memes on the internet, where the original scene can be seen in many variants.
You can mostly find “Here’s Johnny” related content on image sharing sites like Reddit and 9gag or message boards like 4chan.org.
External resources
- The Guardian – ‘Here’s Johnny!’: The Shining scene is scariest in movie history, claims study
- Know Your Meme – Here’s Johnny