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The 1921 expectation vs reality cartoon often called the first meme ever — dapper tuxedo guy vs the dorky truth. Add your own captions and download free.
Download the blank First ever meme template to caption it yourself, or add your text right here in the editor above and download the finished meme.
Before Photoshop, before the internet, before memes even had a name, some guy in a magazine already nailed the format. This 1921 cartoon by Hubert F. Townsend puts a suave, chisel-jawed man in a tuxedo next to the goofier, gawkier version of the same guy — the original expectation-vs-reality gag, discovered decades later and crowned by the internet as the first meme in history.
Use it for anything with a gap between how you pictured it and how it actually went: the gym selfie versus the mirror, the LinkedIn headshot versus the Zoom call, the recipe photo versus your kitchen disaster. It's a template that's been getting laughs since before your grandparents were born, so give it one more caption and keep the century-long joke going.
HOW YOU THINK YOU LOOK WITHOUT A FLASHLIGHT: · HOW YOU ACTUALLY LOOK:
HOW YOU THINK YOU LOOK ON THE ZOOM CALL · HOW YOU ACTUALLY LOOK ON THE ZOOM CALL
ME IN THE MIRROR BEFORE THE GYM · ME IN THE MIRROR AFTER THE GYM
HOW I THINK I LOOK EXPLAINING CRYPTO · HOW I ACTUALLY LOOK EXPLAINING CRYPTO
Scroll up to the First ever meme template, type your caption into the 2 text boxes in the editor above, adjust the font, size and color if you like, then click download. Your finished First ever meme meme is ready to share in seconds.
Yes. The First ever meme template is completely free to use — no signup and no limits on how many memes you create or where you share them.
Click the download button under the editor once your First ever meme meme looks right. It saves straight to your device as a high-quality PNG or JPEG image.
Use the "Download blank template" button in the blank First ever meme template section above to save the original, un-captioned image — handy if you'd rather caption it in another app or keep a copy.
