How Nickelodeon's "Motu Patlu" Became 2017's Most Baffling Meme In That Weird Part Of The Internet

    How an innocent Teacher's Day video has created a global fandom around a dabbing, samosa-loving sex god.

    OK it's kinda hard to explain any of this, so let's start at the very beginning – there once was an animated kids show on Nickelodeon called Motu Patlu, about two friends whose names literally translate to "Fatty" and "Skinny".

    While there are comic strips, video games, and an entire feature film based on the duo, they've never had any sort of serious adult fan following, like, ever.

    That was until September 4 this year, when the channel released a video for Teacher's Day... a video apparently made to teach oldies how to dab:

    Facebook: video.php

    The 30-second clip starts with characters from various Nickelodeon shows marking attendance in a classroom.

    Once roll call is done, we get to the lesson at hand – dabbing! Complete with mathematical formulae and everything.

    And, boy, do they get into those "new hand moves" or what.

    It was all normal for a couple of days after the video dropped. Some LOLs, a few WTFs... business as usual on the internet, right? Wrong! Everything would soonly go off the rails.

    On September 7, non-Indian YouTuber Pileabones uploaded a hellish version of the video with the audio bass-boosted all the way up to 11.

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com

    The day after that, Cartoon Shitposts uploaded a version where the clip gets bass-boosted AND sharpened every time someone says "dab".

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com

    Together, the two videos have over half a million views and counting.

    For some reason, what a lot of people took away from all these viral videos were the characters of Motu and Patlu, and how amazingly memeworthy they were.

    And they ran with it all the way...

    Like, ALLLLL the way.

    In fact, over the past couple of months Motu Patlu memes have surfaced everywhere from niche Facebook groups to r/dankmemes on Reddit.

    It's not just Motu and Patlu, though. When the character Kenichi's name is called out for attendance in the video, it kinda sounds like the voiceover guy is saying "Kenny G" – like the elevator music saxophone legend...

    A hilariously silly observation that has now given birth to the Facebook page "The same picture of Kenny G from attendance, everyday".

    Not weird enough for you yet? Maybe the very specific subset of Motu Patlu memes that is dedicated to celebrating Motu's ample booty might turn you.

    While the show itself might be full of fat jokes at Motu's expense, the internet has rechristened him as a legit thicc icon.

    Still not weird enough? How about some Rule 34-based erotic fan art? Because lemme tell ya, it exists.

    Such is the growing cult of Motu that group members now post photos of samosas (his favourite dish in the show) any time they come across them.

    People from across the world are asking Nickelodeon to bring Motu Patlu to their respective countries now.

    Which is especially amazing, because the show is almost entirely in Hindi, and none of these people understand a single word of it!

    But, as you can see in explicit detail, some things just transcend language barriers in every way possible.

    Even the world's most popular vlogger, PewDiePie, talked about Motu Patlu and the dab video on his channel recently.

    TL;DR – what started off as a harmless 30-second video to promote Teacher's Day has since evolved into a multi-layered meme about dabbing, Kenny G, and an overweight guy who is now a sex god... in all of two months.

    The internet, amirite?