'Smiling Friends' Bongs Replacing 'Rick and Morty' Bongs

About

Smiling Friends Bongs Replacing Rick and Morty Bongs refers to memes about characters and imagery from the animated series Smiling Friends becoming popularized in the design of bongs and marijuana paraphernalia or devices, including memes about Rick and Morty-themed bongs falling out of favor and being replaced in pot shops with Smiling Friends bongs. The memes are inspired by the observation that Rick and Morty designs have often been featured on pipes, bongs and other pieces of marijuana paraphernalia since the show became popular. The memes were popularized on social media between May and June 2024.

Origin

On May 22nd, 2024, X^[1] user @daughter_ion posted, "smiling friends is such a good show it’s gonna suck so bad when smoke shops replace all their rick and morty bongs with charlie and pim bongs," garnering over 62,000 likes in a month (shown below). This is the earliest known viral meme about Smiling Friends bongs replacing Rick and Morty bongs in smoke shops.

Spread

The post gained viral spread and inspired further memes about Smiling Friends bongs and marijuana paraphernalia. On May 24th, 2024, the X post was shared on the subreddit /r/SmilingFriends,^[2] garnering over 12,000 upvotes in a month.

On June 1st, X^[3] user @AntwonGhetto posted a video clip from Toy Story depicting Andy's room changing from Woody-themed to Buzz Lightyear-themed, writing, "Justin Roiland watching dispensaries replace the Rick and Morty bongs/vapes with Smiling Friends," garnering over 128,000 likes in two weeks (shown below). It was reposted to iFunny^[4] that day by user HeavenAscensionDIO, garnering over 3,900 smiles in the same span of time.

Justin Roiland watching dispensaries replace the Rick and Morty bongs/vapes with Smiling Friends pic.twitter.com/uEvKpGqGZX

— Antwon (@AntwonGhetto) June 1, 2024

On June 4th, 2024, Redditor u/BrintRevised posted two images of Smiling Friends bongs based on Charlie and Pim to /r/SmilingFriends,^[5] writing, "can these overtake the rick and morty ones you see everywhere," garnering over 2,900 upvotes in 10 days (shown below). On June 6th, Redditor u/BigBoyJakoo posted a thread to /r/trees^[6] discussing the memes, titled "What were on bongs before Rick & Morty?," garnering over 1,900 upvotes in a week.

On June 12th, X^[7] user @Barley_Juice_ posted a drawing of a mockup bong based on the character Pim, writing, "I give it 6 months," garnering over 136,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). On June 13th, X^[8] user @goobigi posted a piece of artwork as a quote-repost depicting Charlie showing Pim the Pim bong, garnering over 14,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References