Rolf Stares Out a Window

About

Rolf Stares Out a Window refers to a series of reaction image macros of the fictional cartoon character Rolf from the television series Ed Edd n Eddy looking out his shed door, which has been often been mistaken for a window in discussion of the meme. People have captioned the image with various expressions of wistfulness, thoughtfulness or consideration.

Origin

The screenshot comes from the episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy "Will Work for Ed," which first aired on September 25th, 2001.^[9] In the episode, the character Ed, Edd n Eddy work for Rolf on his farm and in one shot, Rolf stares out his shed door, despite popular belief within discussion of the meme that he's staring out a window (shown below, frame appears between 6:44 and 6:45).

The earliest known usage of the screenshot was posted on April 16th, 2018 by Twitter ^[1] user @VillageTaker. They captioned the image, "Dawg… 2008 was 10 years ago." The post (shown below) received more than 44,000 retweets and 91,000 likes in five months.

Spread

About two weeks later, Twitter^[2] user @hierophantblack tweeted an I Don't Feel So Good variation of the image. The post (shown below, left) received more than 39,000 retweets and 96,000 likes in five months.

Several months later, Twitter^[3] user @Kato_Bambino tweeted the image with the caption, "Niggas really out here named Cornelius." The post (shown below, center) received more than 10,000 retweets and 24,000 likes in less than one month.

On September 8th, Instagram ^[4] user @mastermindsconnect posted a photoshopped version of the image, featuring Rolf as a rapper Nicki Minaj, following an incident in which rapper Cardi B threw a shoe at Minaj. They captioned the post, "I'm sorry in advance." Within two days, the post (shown below, right) received more than 1,100 likes. When posted on Twitter,^[8] the image received more than 4,100 retweets and 7,300 likes in three days.

The photoshopped version inspired a series of new image macros on Black Twitter. On September 10th, Twitter^[5] user @carmenhatesu posted a series of version, featuring Rolf as a black woman. They captioned the post, "i’m having way too much fun editing these picture of rolf :-/." Within two days, the post (shown below, right) received more than 2,300 retweets and 6,300 likes.

Several media outlets published articles on the photoshops, including Hip-Hop Wired,^[6] TechWeez^[7] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References