Are You Fucking Kidding Me is a rage comic reaction face wearing a scornful, narrow-eyed expression, used as the punchline panel when a situation crosses from mildly annoying into full disbelief. It broke out on FunnyJunk in May 2010 and rode the four-pane rage comic wave across 4chan, Reddit, DeviantART and Tumblr.
Origin
The oldest known instance of the Are You Fucking Kidding Me rage comic was posted on the internet humor site FunnyJunk on May 23, 2010[1]. The next day, FunnyJunk user FunnyJunkBrah uploaded a blank four-pane template built around the new reaction face, which is what kicked the format into a real wave of remixes[2]. Nearly 300 derivative comics using the character showed up on FunnyJunk during the last week of May 2010 alone[3]. Rage comics of this style are widely credited as starting on 4chan before jumping to sites like FunnyJunk[3].
- Platform: FunnyJunk / 4chan (viral spread on DeviantART, Reddit, Tumblr)
- Creator: Unknown
- Date: 2010
Overview
Are You Fucking Kidding Me is a rage comic character drawn with narrow, scornful eyes and a flat, downturned mouth, done in the crude MS Paint linework that defined the whole rage comic canon[1]. It fills the same reaction slot as Look of Disapproval (ಠ_ಠ) or the classic X is not amused format, but pushes the frustration further into open hostility[3].
The phrase attached to the face works on its own as a shouted catchphrase, usually written in all caps for emphasis[5]. In comic form the character almost always shows up in the final panel of a four-pane strip, delivering the reaction after a setup that keeps escalating in absurdity[3].
How It Spread
Less than a month after the FunnyJunk debut, DeviantART user CruiserPL uploaded a transparent PNG of the face on June 16, 2010[4]. Three days later on June 19, CruiserPL posted a captioned version with the Are You Fucking Kidding Me phrase attached, which pulled more than 102,000 views by September 2012[4].
From DeviantART the face bounced onto Reddit's r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu rage comic sub[6] and rage-tagged posts on Tumblr, then got picked up by meme blogs including Memebase, We Know Memes, RageComics.com and SB Nation[3].
As the rage comic wave cooled through the mid-2010s, this specific reaction slot got squeezed out by a newer rage character called Are You Serious, based on the perplexed face of American Atheists president David Silverman during an on-air Fox News debate with Bill O'Reilly[3].
How to Use
The standard move is a four-pane comic where each panel escalates a frustrating situation, then the Are You Fucking Kidding Me face lands in panel four with the caption in all caps[3]. Common conventions include the shouted ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? line and the same jagged MS Paint style used for the rest of the rage comic set[5]. Outside of comics, people still drop the phrase alone as a text reaction when something crosses from annoying into absurd[5].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
It's a rage comic reaction face with a scornful expression, used to react to extreme stupidity or absurdity in the final panel of a four-pane strip[3].
Where did Are You Fucking Kidding Me come from?
The oldest known instance was posted on FunnyJunk on May 23, 2010, with the style traced back to 4chan rage comics[1].
What does Are You Fucking Kidding Me mean?
It's the full-volume version of are you kidding, used when someone reaches peak anger or disbelief at a request or situation[5].
How do you use Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
Drop the face in the last panel of a four-pane rage comic that escalates an absurd scenario, usually with the phrase shouted in all caps[3].
Is Are You Fucking Kidding Me still popular?
It faded with the rest of the rage comic wave in the mid-2010s and was largely displaced in the same reaction slot by the Are You Serious face[3].
