Protest banner at the University of Bamberg alluding to Chuck Norris facts (German: "Only Chuck Norris manages to achieve a bachelor's degree in scheduled time")

Chuck Norris facts are satirical factoids about American martial artist and actor Chuck Norris that have become an Internet phenomenon widespread in popular culture. These 'facts' are absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, sophistication, and masculinity.

Chuck Norris facts (also known as Chuck Norris jokes) have spread internationally, making translations and spawning localized versions about country-specific advertisements and other Internet phenomena. Some facts allude to his use of roundhouse kicks for seemingly any task, his large amount of body hair with specific regard to his beard, and his role in the action television series Walker, Texas Ranger. Chuck Norris jokes follow a similar format to your mama jokes, where the humor comes from an absurd exaggeration.

Background

Chuck Norris facts originally appeared on the Internet in early 2005, though jokes surrounding Norris's toughness and strength are claimed to have existed since the 1980s. Initially distributed in the Something Awful forums, the "facts" centered on Vin Diesel, in response to his film The Pacifier. After a few months, forum members chose Chuck Norris to be the new subject. Conan O'Brien's Chuck Norris jokes on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (which generally center on Walker, Texas Ranger) have been seen as an inspiration for the fad. The exaggerated style of these claims is similar to a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch called "Bill Brasky". Due to the popularity of this phenomenon, similar jokes have been created for various other celebrities, as well as fictional characters.

Humorist Ian Spector has been credited as "the author of Chuck Norris facts" due to his role in creating online Chuck Norris fact generators.[1] Spector has also written several books of Chuck Norris facts, including The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human (2007) and Chuck Norris Vs. Mr. T: 400 Facts About the Baddest Dudes in the History of Ever (2008).[2][3]

Norris' response

Norris responded to the Chuck Norris facts on his official website with a statement. Admitting some of the statements were indeed humorous, he said he tries not to take any of them seriously, and he hopes that such statements will interest people in real facts about him contained in his literary works.[4]

On October 23, 2006, Norris' first column for WorldNetDaily consisted of another response. It began similarly to the above statement from chucknorris.com, but then disclaimed his own prowess in favor of those of God and Jesus Christ.

In December 2007, Norris filed suit against Penguin USA, the publisher that had released The Truth About Chuck Norris through its Gotham Books imprint. Norris alleged that the book contained "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights".[5] Norris dropped the lawsuit in 2008.[6]

On October 7, 2009, Tyndale House Publishers issued The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, which was co-written and officially endorsed by Norris.[7]

Prominent mentions

In the March 20, 2006 issue, Time magazine interviewed Norris, calling him an "online cult hero". In the answer to their last question, he called the Chuck Norris Facts "weird but wildly popular sayings" and quoted one: "Chuck Norris can divide by zero."[8]

In 2011, a commercial for World of Warcraft featured Chuck Norris and included its own "Chuck Norris facts" in the dialogue.[9]

In the 2012 movie The Expendables 2, there is a wink at Chuck Norris facts when one is attributed to Norris' character Booker. In one scene Booker saves Barney Ross's (Sylvester Stallone) team in a firefight. After introductions all around, Ross says to Booker, "I heard another rumor. That you were bitten by a king cobra." "Yeah, I was", Booker replies, adding, "But after five days of agonizing pain, <pause> the cobra died."[10]

In India, there exist similar jokes in the form of factoids and quotes about Indian film actor Rajinikanth which are widely circulated in text messages and memes over the Internet.[11] These satirical jokes have also inspired several mobile applications for iOS and Android.[12][13][14][15] The factoids about Rajinikanth are inspired by Chuck Norris facts in that those follow the same pattern as Chuck Norris facts.[16][17] While some Rajinikanth jokes are original, many of them are circulated with Norris' name replaced by Rajinikanth's.[18] Chuck vs Rajini, a 2012 promotional animated video by Expedia, played on the jokes by pitting Norris against Rajini.[19] The beginning of 2013 saw similar cluster of jokes gaining trend in the country on Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja after Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni tweeted a few "facts" about him on his Twitter page.[20]

During the 2012 Armenian parliamentary election, some ballots with Norris's name written on them as a candidate were found.[21][22][23]

In Egypt, and prior to the Egyptian presidential election, 2012, similar jokes were made upon Omar Suleiman, the ex-director of the General Intelligence Directorate in the same style of Chuck Norris facts, making fun of the powers and skills that his supporters claimed to be his to promote him before the elections.[24]

In the episode "The Weird World of Wyrm" of the 2012 CGI series version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a holographic Chris Bradford – a parody of Norris – delivers a Norris Facts-esque quotation: "Chris Bradford fact #48: Chris Bradford always carries around four weapons of mass destruction: His arms and his legs."

Buffalo Bills fans began promoting similar tall tales about former linebacker Kiko Alonso during the 2013 season, after Alonso joined the team as a rookie. The tall tales were collectively known as "The Legend of Kiko Alonso".[25]

Makmende, a Kenyan male fictional hero, has been purported to perform locally related feats and more, including in Sheng.

In 2006, a naming poll was held to decide the name of a new bridge in Hungary. Since nominations were accepted from everyone, "Chuck Norris" soon became the top candidate for the bridge's name[26] (beating the names of several historical figures along with candidates like David Hasselhoff and Eric Cartman), before being taken over by Stephen Colbert after he called his fans to vote. The bridge was eventually named Megyeri Bridge.

In 2014, after the Argentina team qualified for the final of the Soccer World Cup in Brazil, a meme emerged on social media in which the "Chuck Norris Facts" and other similar ones were attributed to the Argentine captain Javier Mascherano.

WWE wrestler Brian Myers, known as Curt Hawkins, incorporated the Chuck Norris facts into his gimmick in August 2016, where he uses his name instead of Norris, e.g., "Children have to put sunscreen on at the beach to protect themselves from Curt Hawkins".

Examples

  • "Chuck Norris was once bitten by a king cobra; after ten excruciating minutes, the cobra died."
  • "They tried to put Chuck Norris's face on Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough for his beard." - Stated by Norris to be his personal favorite "fact".[27]
  • "When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the Earth down."
  • "Chuck Norris has a polar bear carpet at home. It's not dead; it's just afraid to move."
  • "Chuck Norris once threw a hand grenade and killed fifty people; then it exploded."
  • "There was once a street named after Chuck Norris, but the name was changed as nobody crosses Chuck Norris and lives."
  • "Chuck Norris doesn't flush toilets; he scares the shit out of them."
  • "Beneath Chuck Norris's beard is another fist." - Another early Norris "fact" dating from the 1980s, later parodied on the American animated TV sitcom, Family Guy.
  • "When the bogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris."
  • "Chuck Norris's Social Security number is the last nine digits of pi."
  • "There is no such thing as evolution, only a list of species Chuck Norris has allowed to live." - Upon hearing this "fact", Norris responded by revealing that he was a Young Earth creationist.
  • "Chuck Norris actually died 20 years ago, but death hasn't built up the courage to tell him yet."
  • "Chuck Norris can believe It's not butter."
  • "Chuck Norris once played Russian roulette with a fully-loaded gun and won."
  • “The Coronavirus caught Chuck Norris and was dead in five minutes”.

Video games based on trend

In 2008, Gameloft produced Chuck Norris: Bring On the Pain, a video game for mobile devices, based on the online Norris cult elicited by Chuck Norris facts.[28] The player takes control of Norris in a side-scrolling beat 'em up. The game was well-reviewed.[29][30][31][32][33]

In 2017, Flaregames produced the second such game, Non Stop Chuck Norris, an isometric action-role playing game for mobile devices, also well reviewed.[34][35]

Bibliography

  • Ian Spector: The Truth About Chuck Norris: New York: Gotham Books: 2007: ISBN 1-59240-344-1
  • Chuck Norris & Todd DuBord: The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories: Tyndale House Publishers: 2009: ISBN 1-4143-3449-4

See also

References

  1. ↑ Spector, the man behind the Chuck Norris' meme, archived from the original on February 6, 2015, retrieved January 22, 2015
  2. ↑ In Chuck Norris, Mr. T book, Spector '09 pities da fool, retrieved January 22, 2015
  3. ↑ Ian Spector (2007). The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human. Gotham. ISBN 978-1-59240-344-8.
  4. ↑ Chuck Norris. "In response to the "Random facts" that are being generated on the Internet". Archived from the original on June 18, 2004. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
  5. ↑ Kearney, Christine (2007-12-21). "Chuck Norris sues, says his tears no cancer cure". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  6. ↑ "Chuck Norris kicks suit vs. L.I. student". NY Daily News. 28 May 2008.
  7. ↑ The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book. Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4143-3449-3
  8. ↑ Keegan, Rebecca Winters (2006-03-20). "People". Time. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2006-06-20.
  9. ↑ Benedetti, Winda (November 21, 2011). "Chuck Norris lends his face, fists to 'World of Warcraft'". In-Game. MSNBC. Archived from the original on December 19, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Chuck Norris scene in The Expendables 2 HD 720p". OfficielFirat. 2012-11-26. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  11. ↑ "Rajinikanth: Who Really Is the Super Star?". Forbes India. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  12. ↑ "New Year Diary". The Outlook. 10 January 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  13. ↑ "Dabangg ideas bloom in New Age Bollywood". Times of India. India. Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  14. ↑ "Rajinikanth global warming". Times of India. India. 17 March 2011. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  15. ↑ Iyer, Meena (October 11, 2011). "Rajinikanth vs Chuck Norris". The Times of India. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013.
  16. ↑ Venkateswaran, N.; Ravi, Bhama Devi (October 16, 2010). "I am what I am". The Times of India Crest Edition. Archived from the original on April 30, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Rajini humour". Times of India Crest Edition. October 16, 2010. Archived from the original on September 9, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Rajini jokes sell out faster than his tickets". IBNLive. Archived from the original on 2010-10-01.
  19. ↑ "Rajnikanth and Chuck Norris fight it out in Expedia video - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  20. ↑ "Dhoni cracks jokes on 'Sir' Ravindra Jadeja". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16.
  21. ↑ "Armenians prefer to see Chuck Norris and local model in parliament – voters' ballot". NEWS.am. May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  22. ↑ Խորհրդարանական ընտրությունների "հայտնությունը". ոմանք ընտրել են Չակ Նորիսին և "Եկատիրինին" (լուսանկարներ) (in Armenian). Թերթ.am. May 6, 2012. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Չակ Նորիսը" որպես հայկական ընտրությունների ֆենոմեն (in Armenian). Mediamax. May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  24. ↑ بحث جوجل : هل تعلم ان عمر سليمان [Google search: Did you know that Omar Suleiman] (in Arabic).
  25. ↑ Kiko Alonso quickly wreaking havoc, becoming 'legend' as rookie with Buffalo Bills. Associated Press (October 2, 2013). Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Chuck Norris leads vote for Budapest bridge name". Reuters. August 8, 2006. Archived from the original on 2005-12-25.
  27. ↑ "Chuck Norris facts read by Chuck Norris". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Gameloft Releases Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain". 17 July 2008.
  29. ↑ "Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain! Review".
  30. ↑ "Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain review". 4 October 2022.
  31. ↑ Myers, Meghann (December 4, 2009). "Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain for IPhone". PC World. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain cell-phone game by GameLoft". www.videogamesblogger.com. 2008-08-27.
  33. ↑ "Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain! My Games Statistics for iOS (iPhone/iPad) - Collections, Tracking and Ratings - GameFAQs". www.gamefaqs.com.
  34. ↑ "Nonstop Chuck Norris review - Entertainment Focus". www.entertainment-focus.com. 2017-04-20.
  35. ↑ "Nonstop Chuck Norris Review: Deja Chuck". 25 April 2017.
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