A clip of Bill Hader has been dancing across everyone’s TikTok timeline for a few weeks now; the viral meme sees Hader, star of the recently concluded series Barry, copy-pasted across a wide variety of backgrounds.
Hader’s dance can represent a broad range of emotions, but is often imbued with a dark twist; representing the feeling of being overwhelmed at the office, the alarmingly cheerful songs of Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompas, or dancing on the watery grave of the Titan OceanGate disaster; Hader even merged with the classic TikTok meme, “wow, you can really dance.”
What is the Bill Hader dancing meme?
The meme is just a clip of Hader dancing; that’s all there is to it.
However, the meme’s unlikely origin is interesting, as the original footage was taken from a 2014 SNL skit filmed during Hader’s run on the show; despite its current popularity, the skit was cut for time and did not appear on television.
The sketch can currently be seen on YouTube, and features Hader playing a robot named “Alan,” dubbed “the future of casual entertainment.”
Alan is gifted to a couple played by Taran Killam and Vanessa Bayer, who struggle to understand the point of Alan, who does nothing but dance inside of his glass case and playfully shrug; at one point, Killam’s character says, “I’m not against Alan, I just don’t know what it is.”
The “Dancing Bill Hader” meme, however, is completely removed from the context of the sketch. The big secret to the meme’s long-lasting appeal could be its versatility (plus, it doesn’t hurt that Hader is a particularly beloved celebrity).
Hader’s dance captures a kind of carelessness that just seems to resonate with the current climate; it is the dance of weekend hedonism, of drinking away a hangover.
The meme embodies a kind of cheerful nihilism, a dance made for a world of acrid wildfire smoke and imploding submarines.
The “Dancing Bill Hader” meme is older than you think
The TikTok trend marks the second wave of the “Dancing Bill Hader” meme, the original incarnation pioneered by a since-deleted Twitter account, @billhaderdancing.
Obviously, the Twitter account had one gimmick, dedicated to uploading “Alan” clips set to different songs, from the Succession theme to classic Britney Spears hits. At one point, Lizzo gave the meme a shout-out after Hader danced to her song, “Truth Hurts.”
The Twitter account, however, was mysteriously deleted and the meme faded, until it was officially resurrected in June 2023 by TikTok user @adelefell, who posted the dance in its current edit, cutting from Hader’s shrug to a spin, with the tune of ”Makeba” by Jain, setting the soundtrack to the meme’s resurgence.
Now, the meme is mainstream enough to be embraced by corporations and advertisers, but still seems to be going strong.
TikTok’s ability to turn the insignificant into viral content remains unmatched, from purple milkshakes to discarded SNL skits.
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