About

Tickets to X, Please is a phrasal template used in a series of memes including image macros and videos where people representing the perceived stereotypical audience for a given movie, such as Joker or Barbie, ask for tickets to the movie using variations of the phrase. The format became popularized in 2019 with the Tickets to Joker, Please format and continued to see use in the following years in relation to new releases, including Minions: The Rise of Gru in mid-2022.

Origin

Tickets to Joker, Please

Tickets to Joker, Please is a phrasal template used to caption photographs of people the meme's author believes to be the stereotypical audience for the 2019 comic book film Joker. These images generally showcase men in fedoras, infamous mass shooters and depictions of internet trolls. The earliest known usage of the meme was published by an anonymous 4chan ^[1] user on the /tv/ board on September 2nd, 2019. Their post featured a photograph of the Columbine High School shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris and the message "2 tickets to Joker please." The format spread over the following months, inspiring image macros and photoshops portraying the perceived stereotypical Joker audience asking for tickets to the film.

Spread

Tickets to Book, Please

On October 12th, 2019, Redditor papix9 posted a meme to /r/ShitPostCrusaders^[2] using the Today's Teens format, showing a crowd of people lined up for Joker and one person lined up for "book." A reaction image on the bottom half of the meme reads, "Hi, we would like 3 tickets to book, please." The post garnered over 16,000 upvotes in three years (shown below).

New variations of the meme were posted online over the following years using the caption "tickets to book." On November 8th, a now-deleted Redditor posted a version of the meme to /r/okbuddyretard,^[3] gaining over 15,200 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On March 24th, 2022, iFunny^[4] user SoggyCheeto posted a version of the meme using an image of the Island Boys, gaining over 16,000 smiles in three months (shown below, right).

Tickets to The Barbie Movie, Please

After it was announced that Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling would star in 2023's Barbie movie, people started applying the format in reference to it. The first meme to use the format in reference to Barbie was posted on Twitter^[5] on April 26th, 2022. On June 15th, Twitter^[6][7] users @raccoonology and @roguerone posted versions of the meme that garnered over 16,000 and 243,000 likes respectively in two weeks (shown below, left and right).

On June 25th, Twitter^[15] user @Iaurentrack2 posted a version of the meme using an image of the characters from the movie Trainspotting, gaining over 61,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Tickets to Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Please

In the months leading up to the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru, the format saw use in relation to the film. For example, on May 10th, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @dadboddyke posted a meme using the caption in response to a tweet sharing the soundtrack for the film, gaining over 46,000 likes in a month.

In June 2022, TikTokers began making videos using the format. On June 20th, TIkToker^[9] localsigmaguy posted a video that begins with the caption, "Bro wtf that's a kids movie," followed by images of characters including Walt and Jesse from Breaking Bad, GigaChad and the men from the No Russian mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 asking for tickets, gaining over 1.4 million views in a week (shown below).

On June 23rd, TikToker^[10] @maxtaylorlifts posted a video following the same format under the original sound^[11] "Originalton – Ok," which uses a remix of "Can You Feel My Heart," gaining over 5.9 million views in five days (shown below, left). TikTokers posted similar videos under the original sound over the following days, portraying themselves as chads for buying tickets to Minions. On June 25th, TikToker^[12] @stephen.healy posted a video where five men in suits walk through a theatre, captioned, "5 tickets to the minions please," gaining over 7.7 million views in three days (shown below, right).

The meme also inspired a variety of videos on YouTube. On June 25th, YouTuber^[13] Meme Zee posted a video where a man leaves his wife's funeral for tickets to Minions, gaining over 333,000 views in two days (shown below). On June 27th, YouTuber^[14] Lessons In Meme Culture posted a video about the meme, gaining over 300,000 views in a day.

Various Examples

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7112535582936534314

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7112448131056389381

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7110650305813040430

Search Interest

External References