524: Party

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Party
I wonder what 2008 meme will go bizarrely mainstream in 2009 like rickrolling did in 2007-2008. I accidentally <noun>? Yo, dawg? Place your bets now!
Title text: I wonder what 2008 meme will go bizarrely mainstream in 2009 like rickrolling did in 2007-2008. I accidentally <noun>? Yo, dawg? Place your bets now!


Explanation

This New Year comic plays out at, what is probably, a New Year party thrown by Danish. (The previous New Year day comic in 2007 was also related to a wild party: 364: Responsible Behavior).

In the first panel, we see Black Hat telling Cueball that he has hired Rick Astley to show up at a party for a girl. Rickrolling is where one is redirected to a video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" via a weblink purporting to be something else. It was later extended to any situation where the song is used disruptively, such as during a party. When Cueball assumes Rick Astley is going to perform a live rickroll, Black Hat assures him that Rick is not actually going to sing.

We then see the girl in question (Danish, Black Hat's girlfriend) talking with Ponytail, notice Rick Astley as he enters her party. Like Cueball, Danish expects Rick Astley is going to sing and rickroll her live, and when he does not, his presence causes her to hear the song in her head instead, and she flees the room screaming. Black Hat has essentially rickrolled her in her own mind.

When Ponytail then asks Rick Astley what he did, he slowly puts on sunglasses and answers "that, my dear, is how I roll", which references both rickrolling and the "that's how I roll" meme.

Although the identity of the girl Black Hat is pranking is not stated by Randall (he refers to her as Girl 1 but he has also never given an official name to "Danish" - that is an explain xkcd name), she may be Danish, Black Hat's girlfriend. Danish was introduced in the Journal storyline (377: Journal 2), some time prior to this comic. She does not act like Danish - however, Black Hat is a master and he could know that "not getting Rick rolled" would freak her out.

The title text refers to the fact that rickrolling first appeared in 2007 (on 4chan) and became viral for over a year. Giving that this is a New Year comic it is this relevant to asks what meme will replace Rickrolling in the new year, 2009. Although Randall makes reference to the "Xzibit Yo Dawg" and "I accidentally..." photocaptioning memes, memebase entries suggest the "Keep Calm and Carry On" meme may well have become the most popular (and most enduring, as of 2013) meme of 2009.

Transcript

Black Hat: And so I hired Rick Astley to show up at her party.
Cueball: And rickroll her? Isn't that a little...last year?
Black Hat: Ah, but he's not going to sing.
Danish: Hey is that Rick Astley?
Ponytail: I think it is. He just came in.
Danish: Oh no. Brace yourself.
Danish: Wait. He's just standing there. Where's the song?
Danish: He's staring at me.
Danish: This is a little creepy.
Danish: What's going on?
Danish: That's actually Rick Astley staring at me.
Danish: What's he doing?
Danish: Oh God, I keep expecting it, hearing it in my head.
[Danish pulls at her hair.]
Danish: Just do it already!
[Danish runs off stage right.]
Danish: Aaaaaaaa
[Danish slams the door leaving Ponytail and Rick Astley]
Door: Slam
Ponytail: Mr. Astley?
Rick Astley: Yes?
Ponytail: What did you do to her? What was that?
Rick Astley: That, my dear,
[Rick Astley puts on sunglasses.]
Rick Astley: Is how I roll.


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Discussion

Yo, dawg, I heard you like to be rickrolled, so I rolled Rick into a rickroll so you could be Rick rickrolled rolled! Thokling (talk) 09:27, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Is it me, or is having Astley put on a pair of sunglasses to deliver a dry punchline reminiscent of CSI: Miami, where Horatio Caine gets in a clever one-liner at the end of the opening tag, almost always while donning sunglasses? GeniusBooks (talk)

I can't imagine it would be anything else at this point. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 04:59, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
That makes the most sense. flewk (talk) 01:37, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Wait. Wait. That's Danish? I always thought it was Megan. 141.101.104.189 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It can't be Danish. Danish has rightfully told Black Hat, "I'm better at it [psychological manipulation and devastation] than you." She would have twisted into a means of doing something similar to Black Hat. 172.68.143.150 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
True, her reaction would have been very different. Megan, being generic, seems to fit. Dontknow (talk) 00:01, 18 April 2017 (UTC)
I really don't think that's Danish... -- Comment Police (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Wrong reaction, for Danish, but the hair reminds me of her. And besides, Danish doesn't always get the upper hand. Herobrine (talk) 03:50, 3 March 2018 (UTC)
Of course it is Danish, not just because of the hair, and not just because of her being Black Hat's girlfriend (although those two are give aways). But of course she spots Black Hat's trick, she thinks, and just wait to be really rick rolled. And then when it do not happen, it freaks her out, and as she is so unused to this, she even runs off slamming the door. Megan would never have reacted this way, since she probably do not mind getting rick rolled, it's just for fun for normal people. It is really just because she hates when Black Hat messes with her mind. And he did it. That she claims to be better than him at it, is just a claim. Also I think we see when they meet, that he outplays her, after she took his hat. He just realizes that she is the closest he can ever find to one having as evil mind as his, without wishing to become world leader... And he thus falls in love in a way only Black Hat can. Moving land mines etc. thus again proving my point that he best her... As at her New Year party, by not rick rolling her. --Kynde (talk) 18:43, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
I do seriously doubt that's Danish, and have adjusted the article accordingly. It seems amiss to declare so confidently a fact that is debated amongst those in XKCD. 162.158.90.125 (talk) 01:44, 12 March 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

What form?

This explanation uses "Rickrolling", "rick rolling", "rickrolling", and "Rick rolling". Which form should I use? HostnameNotCaroline (talk) 03:15, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

you should use "RiCkRoLlInG"