Tingus Pingus

About

Tingus Pingus is a nickname of NBA player Kristaps Porzingis inspired by a viral video of actor and comedian Michael Rapaport calling him "Tingus Pingus" as he reacted with anger at the New York Knicks drafting Porzingis with the fourth pick in the 2015 draft. Porzingis went on to be a solid player in the NBA, and the nickname "Tingus Pingus" is usually brought up when Porzingis has a solid game.

Origin

On June 25th, 2015, the New York Knicks selected Latvian-born basketball player Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft. Porzingis had only played internationally at that point in his life, and the pick was widely disliked by Knicks fans who wanted a more promising player.^[1] That day, Michael Rapaport posted a video in which he did an impression of actor Danny Aiello expressing his displeasure at the pick, exclaiming, "Who the fuck is Tingus Pingus? I never heard of fuckin Lat-ee-via!"

It's unclear where the video was first posted, and Rapaport^[2] posted a similar video that day on Twitter / X, but the earliest extant video featuring the "Tingus Pingus" line was posted to YouTube on November 18th, 2015, by YouTuber Lettmon, gaining over 1.1 million views in nearly nine years (shown below).

Spread

Over the following years, the nickname "Tingus Pingus" stuck with Porzingis as he emerged as a star basketball player. On February 3rd, 2019, the name "Tingus Pingus"^[3] was added to Urban Dictionary (shown below).

On November 25th, 2021, a Redditor posted a "Pingus" meme in the /r/mavericks^[4] subreddit about Porzingis, gaining over 400 points in nearly three years (shown below).

On May 12th, 2024, TikTok user cropduster88^[5] posted a montage of Porzingis highlights including the "Tingus Pingus" video, gaining over 544,000 likes in one month (seen below).

On June 6th, 2024, Porzingis had an excellent Game 1 of the NBA Finals, his first game back from injury in over a month, leading to a surge in Tingus Pingus memes. In celebration, Michael Rapaport reposted the video, gaining over 30 retweets and 190 likes in one day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References