About
Baba Booey is a catchphrase that is often shouted as a verbal prank during moments of high tension and live TV broadcasts. Originally said by the executive producer of The Howard Stern Show Gary Dell’Abate when he misstated the name of cartoon character Baba Looey, the catchphrase then caught on first among the cast of the show, and then in the popular culture in general. In 2020, the catchphrase was popularized in memes after YouTuber twomad started using it in his videos.
Origin
On July 26th, 1990, during an episode of the radio show The Howard Stern Show, its executive producer Gary Dell’Abate was telling a story of his prized collection of animation cels. While talking about a Quick Draw McGaw cel, Dell’Abate incorrectly referred to the character’s sidekick Baba Looey as “Baba Booey,” with the cast of the show proceeding to mock him for the rest of the episode (parts one and two of the interviews shown below, “Baba Booey” is said by Dell’Abate at 2:15 mark of part two). “Baba Booey” later caught on as Dell’Abate’s nickname.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5UWXFh_Q0M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEZY32dq3CI
Spread
In the following years, the catchphrase “Baba Booey” developed into a mantra for the fans of The Howard Stern Show, being used during prank calls and on other occasions. For example, during the low-speed police of O.J. Simpson a prank caller to ABC News signed off with saying “And Baba Booey to y’all!”
During the 2012 Olympics, freestyle wrestler Jake Herbered yelled the phrase as the camera panned over Team USA during the opening ceremony, with the phrase becoming a popular shout during moments of hight tension in sports events (compilation video shown below).
On November 13th, 2009, YouTube user stokepogue uploaded a recording of the 1993 The Howard Stern Show episode in which the members of the cast repeatedly say “Baba Booey” and “Fafa Fooey.” The video gained over two million views in eleven years (shown below, left). On August 18th, YouTube user GFORSE uploaded the “Baba Booey” soundbite as heard at the second 46 mark of the video (shown below, right), with the clip gaining over 880,400 views in six years.
More uploads of the soundbite to YouTube were made in the following years.
Use in Memes
Starting on March 2nd, YouTuber twomad started using the soundbite in his videos to censor explicit language, with the soundbite first appearing in twomad’s video “K-POP twitter stans still sueing against me” (shown below, left). On March 16th, YouTube user Mimo uploaded a one-hour version of the soundbite to YouTube as “Twomad Bababooey Sound Effect 1 Hour.” The video (shown below, right) received over 342,200 views in five months.
The active use of the soundbite by the streamer popularized it among meme content creators, with humorous edits featuring the soundbite and using it as a punchline starting to appear on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube in the following months. For example, on May 2nd, 2020, YouTube user Easy Sneezy uploaded a video that received over 77,100 views in four months (shown below, left). On July 20th, 2020, YouTube user JackOD posted a compilation of memes that used Baba Booey soundbite (shown below, right).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7F4NG6Rck
Various Examples
Search Interest
Know Your Meme Store
External References
Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/baba-booey