A surreal TikTok trend sees the chronically online bringing meme culture into the real world, and the results are hilarious. 

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The trend involves people approaching strangers in public and showing them printed folders full of brainrot memes and images, including John Pork and Skibidi Toilet.

As always, reactions from members of the public vary, with some appearing confused and only playing along out of politeness, while others seem to genuinely appreciate the community and joy.

What does the “Showing brainrot to strangers” TikTok trend involve?

The “showing brainrot to strangers” trend involves approaching unsuspecting members of the public, especially those who look particularly offline, such as locals and the elderly. Common locations include supermarkets, clothing stores or outdoors in the street.

The person filming pulls out a folder or handful of printed out brain rot images only recognizable to those of us who never touch grass—such as AI pigfluencer John Pork, FreakBob, and Italian brainrot icons Tung Tung Tung Sahur or Tralalero Tralala (the Annoying Orange also sometimes makes an appearance, to many people’s annoyance; his pre-slop era age arguably makes him proto-brainrot at best.) 

Strangers then respond to the bizarre images, with their reactions, of course, uploaded to TikTok.

A typical example would be this video by user @jaxdomm—a notable player in popularizing the trend—which has accumulated over 1.29M views. In the video, OP shows an older man a folder full of brainrot as he shops in a grocery store.

@jaxdomm Nod and smile grandpa #huzz #rizz #brainrot #alpha #sigma #raybanmeta #fyp ♬ Silent Hill – Horror Music – Gabriel Andrade Produções

“Nice,” the man says awkwardly, nodding throughout despite looking slightly perturbed. 

“Historians are definitely skipping us,” wrote RICKY in the comments.

“Just nod and smile grandpa,” added someone else.

Another similar example by the same TikTok user shows an elderly woman also politely smiling and laughing as she is shown the folder. “Oh my goodness, very good!” she repeats over and over.

@jaxdomm Miss giggles a lot #huzz #rizz #brainrot #alpha #sigma #raybanmeta #walmart #fyp ♬ Silent Hill – Horror Music – Gabriel Andrade Produções

“Granny has great survival instincts,” wrote Ilovemikefaist3, while sauze commented, “She spamming the same emote.”

“When ur friends show u their camera roll,” someone else added.

How people are reacting

Although the primary reaction seems to be one of confusion and forced politeness at such a bizarre interaction, not everyone behaves the same way. Some examples, such as this group of men from the United Arab Emirates, or these workers in a UK Greggs, show strangers joining in with the memes and laughing, getting their friends’ attention to also involve them in the banter. 

One of the most memorable was this iconic older woman, also approached while grocery shopping. 

@jaxdomm She was hilarious #huzz #rizz #brainrot #alpha #sigma #raybanmeta #walmart #fyp ♬ Silent Hill – Horror Music – Gabriel Andrade Produções

“Is that Anthony?” she questions, misreading the Answer button on FreakBob’s call, before declaring “They all look like aliens to me!”

“Thank you, that was fun,” she concludes at the end.

“Best person on the show so far,” said Felipe Mahalem while Austin wrote, “The way she was just vibing, I know her grandkids love her.”

Where did the trend come from, and why is it so popular?

The trend originated with (or at least become popularized by) @jaxdomm, who has over 140,000 followers and describes himself as a “Brainrot Bandit.”

He seems to have originated the standard video format, as well as tying it to the sound “Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me” by Akira Yamaoka (from the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack), a popular sound often heard in dark/analog horror YouTube content.

“Showing brainrot to strangers” has connections with other similar trends that involve blending the online and offline worlds—such as this variation where people are asked to read out Gen Alpha/brainrot words like “skibidi sigma ohio rizzler.”

It could also be seen as an evolution of Gen Alpha TikTok trends in general, which, for better or worse, involve filming the public and treating them as “NPCs”—though these at least seemed to have veered more positively in recent years, after vocal online criticism.

As for what the purpose is, in a video for YouTube, Know Your Meme declared that the trend was all about causing confusion, however admitted that it sometimes also resulted in “wholesome moments” that led to increased feelings of connection and community. 

“The images seem to spread cheer, but also, of course, they’re rotting people’s brains,” they say. “There’s truly no better way to connect with your community than by making everyone as dumb as you are.”

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“Worst American government I’ve ever had the displeasure of living under.”

The U.S. government might be shut down, but its meme machine is working overtime. In what some are calling a new low for political discourse, both parties are slinging AI-generated memes to win over voters—and trolls.

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It started with Donald Trump’s team posting a barrage of AI-edited videos showing Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache.

The clips suggest Democrats want to throw a “medical money party at the undocumented,” as Stephen Colbert sarcastically put it.

But the president’s allies didn’t stop there. Vice President J.D. Vance doubled down in a public statement, saying, “If Hakeem Jeffries helps us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop.”

Colbert, naturally, responded on The Late Show with a satirical sketch and a promise of his own: “If you resign as VP, I won’t keep showing that every chance I get.”

Ronny Chieng breaks down both sides

Over on The Daily Show, Ronny Chieng tackled the so-called meme war from both directions. He mocked Democrats for their weak responses, including a “Kitty Explains” meme blaming the GOP for the shutdown. “Wow, that was also not good,” he said. “Still better than whatever Batman villain Chuck Schumer is turning into.”

But Republicans, Chieng argued, aren’t faring any better. “The sombrero meme is undefeated,” he quipped, pointing to Ted Cruz’s version of the meme slapped onto 44 Democratic senators. “Once Ted Cruz joins in on something, it’s dead.”

Chieng then turned to the real reason Republicans are using the meme: to claim Democrats are shutting down the government to fund healthcare for undocumented immigrants. But as he explained, that accusation doesn’t hold up.

Colbert takes it further

Colbert tore into the infantile nature of the meme war. “This is now our level of political discourse,” he said. “This is worse than the Lincoln-Douglas debates when Abe said, ‘Here’s a drawing I did of Mr. Douglas eating horse droppings.’”

He also shared his own couch-themed meme of JD Vance.

Not everyone thinks the meme war is funny. One YouTube commenter wrote, “This is the worst American government I’ve ever had the displeasure of living under. Thank you, Mr. Colbert, for your satirical skewering of the truth.”

Others called out the hypocrisy: “They are lying to take money away from Americans to go to the billionaires, and blaming immigrants.”

As one viewer said under Chieng’s segment: “I hate it here. I don’t want a meme war. I want a boring, dull government that works.”

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