Chuck Norris facts - by Lars Berg

Chuck Norris does not submit homework, homework submits Chuck Norris.

Tracking the history and popularity of Chuck Norris facts.

By Lars Berg

Chuck Norris facts is a internet phenomena consisting of a humorous fact claim concerning the toughness, virility, strength, coolness, power or anything else that would describe the actor Chuck Norris as a sort of super-being. The facts also often include the powerful effects Chuck Norris’s trademark roundhouse kick has on its surroundings.

The concept of internet phenomena of Chuck Norris facts is believed to have originated with a series of exaggerated running jokes made by Conan O’Brien in his talk show in May 2004 mainly centering around Norris’s character in the TV-series Walker, Texas Ranger. In March 2005 it became popular in the forums of www.somethingawful.com to make similar exaggerated fun-facts about the actor Vin Diesel based upon his character in the movie “The Pacifier”, a man named Ian Spector decided to create his own website dedicated to compiling all of these fictive facts. The website became a big hit, but people quickly became bored with the Vin Diesel facts and the creator of the site decided to encourage visitors to vote for who should become the next “victim” for a new round of similar jokes. Even though Chuck Norris was not even a candidate Ian Spector announced him as the winner and stating that “he won by a landslide”. This was probably much due to the popularity of the Texas, Walker Ranger jokes made on the Conan O’Brien show (www.knowyourmeme.com/memes/chuck-norris-facts ).  The buildup of the Chuck Norris facts are very similar to the style of jokes made in the Saturday Night Live sketches called “Bill Brasky” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts).

The reason for why the popularity of the Chuck Norris facts became so popular is probably because many have an existing relationship and consistent idea of who Chuck Norris actually is and the role he played in his popular TV-series, Walker, Texas Ranger. The feeling you get from watching that show is in a way very fitting to the way the “facts” about Chuck Norris have evolved. The show is about a quiet, laidback law-officer who constantly finds himself in difficult and seemingly impossible situations, which he always resolves and gets out off alive. This becomes quite comic after 8 seasons of pretty much the same plot over and over again and functions as a good foundation for the countless jokes about how tough Chuck Norris really is. Some of its popularity might also be due to that the Chuck Norris facts are easily transferable to other characters and people. For example if a group of friends wants to ironically make fun of someone they know who maybe tries too hard to come off as tough and strong they can look up Chuck Norris facts and simply change the names.   

According to Google Insight Chuck Norris facts were on the height of its popularity overall around February 2006. The countries where the search for “Chuck Norris Facts” were the most popular was The United States, followed by Estonia, Slovenia and Norway.

The most prominent spinoffs off the concept of Chuck Norris facts are the facts about the Indian actor Rajinikanth, that follow the same setup as the Chuck Norris facts and of the many “facts” that circulate about Rajinikanth many of them are preexisting Chuck Norris facts only with the names changed. According to Wikipedia there has also been created a fairly popular Tumblr page where similar facts about the Doctor Who character Rory Williams are posted (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/chuck_norris_facts ).