Nermal In Trashcan

Submission 5,250

Part of a series on The Garfield Show. [View Related Entries]

About

Nermal In Trashcan refers to a scene from the animated Garfield series The Garfield Show in which Jon Arbuckle looks inside a trashcan to see Nermal (a gray cat) passed out, seemingly dead inside and lying among the trash. The video was used in creepy and distressing memes like ones that labeled Nermal a deceased baby killed by its mother after a psychotic episode, among other disturbing prompts. On YouTube, as well as on TikTok and iFunny, the scene was reanimated by video creators, trending en masse in early 2024.

Origin

On November 12th, 2009, season 1, episode 6a of The Garfield Show titled "King Nermal" aired on American television.^[1] The episode was also posted to YouTube^[2] by the channel THE GARFIELD SHOW OFFICIAL 🇺🇸 on September 16th, 2015, gaining over 1 million views in nine years. At the episode's 8:21-minute mark, Jon Arbuckle opens up a trashcan that Nermal is inside of, having been put inside it by Garfield (shown below).

The earliest known memetic usage of the scene was posted by iFunnier^[2] @Sillyfield on December 31st, 2023, who spliced the scene to show only Nermal's dead appearance, adding a top caption that read, "Me coming home to see my child after my wife has a postpartum psychotic episode." Over four months, the video received roughly 17,800 smiles (shown below).

Spread

On January 5th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @coleslawisevil reposted the video, adding the jazz song "It's Been a Long, Long Time" by Kitty Kallen,^[4] gaining over 3 million plays and 576,500 likes in three months (shown below, left).

On January 9th, TikToker^[5] @usergoofball posted a new version of the meme with a caption reading, "my wife looking at our 3 year old son after he refused to get me another beer," receiving over 1.4 million plays and 248,300 likes in three months (shown below, right).

@coleslawisevil oh #coleslawisevil #meme ♬ original sound – 𝑛𝑒̀𝑙𝑙𝑎ଓ

@usergoofball #usergoofball ♬ silent – 十羊

On YouTube, users started to post meme templates shortly after, like one shared by YouTuber^[6] Gabriel Galasso on January 30th, 2024, that used the song "snowfall (Slowed + Reverb)" by Øneheart and reidenshi, receiving over 207,800 views in three months (shown below, left).

On February 9th, YouTuber^[7] SantiagoF posted an HD template using the song "It's Been a Long, Long Time,"^[4] earning over 444,100 views in two months (shown below, right).

On February 8th, 2024, YouTuber^[8] NoeliaN0esArt(? posted a reanimation of the meme using characters from Raving Rabbids, receiving over 228,400 views in two months (shown below, left).

Reanimations continued going into the year, like one posted by YouTuber^[9] GlitchArtTV on February 18th, that used characters from Madness Combat, earning over 29,400 views in two months (shown below, right).