Where Is Your God Now?

October 4, 2006 12:11 AM

What is the origin of the "Where Is Your God Now?" Burger King meme/joke?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood to computers & internet (21 answers total)

I am seeing this subtitle for the very first time but I can at least point you into somewhat of a direction: the advertising agency responsible for all burger king advertising is crispin, porter + bogusky in miami.

the creative director on it is rob reilly.
give them a call. if it's part of any official campaign or promotion, I am sure they will tell you.
posted by krautland at 12:16 AM on October 4, 2006

Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments asks Moses (Charleton Heston), "Where's your messiah now?" For members of a certain generation who sat through both parts of this movie every Easter (network TV, you may have heard of it), this was a really funny line, given the type of role Robinson was known for.
posted by maryh at 12:30 AM on October 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

My guess is that it is a reference to the book of Job, where god repeatedly kicks Job's ass, Job's friends keep telling him to give up on his god, but he won't.

Alternately, what maryh said. The meme is probably as old as monotheism is.
posted by b1tr0t at 12:36 AM on October 4, 2006

This blog post indicates that the Internet meme (not the ad campaign, and not the phrase, neither of which were the subject of the question) originated at Fark.
posted by jjg at 12:38 AM on October 4, 2006

I started seeing it on Fark shortly after the BK promotion. But you can get castrated for giving Fark any credit on MeFi (zomg mefi intellectual superiority!), so I'll just attribute it to Janet Reno.

Seriously, though, it was Fark. Likely with inspiration from the Ten Commandments.
posted by symphonik at 12:51 AM on October 4, 2006

I'd still bet my kid's Christmas booty on The Ten Commandments. It was a Simpsons gag in "Homer Loves Flanders", and it's noted here as a beloved goof on cinematic religious piety.
posted by maryh at 12:54 AM on October 4, 2006

Yep, second The Ten Commandments.
posted by Paragon at 1:50 AM on October 4, 2006

A more cynical and recent utterance of this expression, and where I assumed that the joke came from, was Pitch Black; where Riddick turns to the Muslim holy man, upon reaching another seemingly insurmountable obstacle, asks the famous question.

In my experience, memes like this tend to follow popular culture more than they do biblical references.
posted by quin at 3:09 AM on October 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

For the record, I'm pretty sure the Simpsons is also riffing on Pitch Black, In the scene referenced, Homer delivers the line in the exact same meter that Riddick used in the movie.

Not positive, but pretty sure.
posted by quin at 3:21 AM on October 4, 2006

I think it's unlikely that the Simpsons derived it from Pitch Black, given that they first used the quote in 1994, six years before the movie came out. The good folks at snpp.com think it comes from TTC as well.
posted by Paragon at 3:26 AM on October 4, 2006

maryh has it.

and yes, every single Easter.
posted by dreamsign at 4:24 AM on October 4, 2006

Christ (*cough cough*), don't give this to Fark. I was saying this to friends in high school, long before the Intertubes were even around (76-79). MaryH probably has it, although I have no idea where I got it from.
posted by Dunwitty at 5:51 AM on October 4, 2006

Christ (*cough cough*), don't give this to Fark. I was saying this to friends in high school

Is this that hard to piece together? The phrase is from The Ten Commandments, the image is from Fark.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:04 AM on October 4, 2006

I don't have an answer for you, but I feel compelled to point out that jjg is the only one so far who seems to understand the question. The OP isn't asking about the Burger King ad campaign or the religious text, but the marriage of the two. Where did this particular melding of pop culture and religion originate. Wikipedia mentions it briefly, but doesn't have an answer either.

On preview: ludwig_van is on board.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 6:11 AM on October 4, 2006

I seem to recall seeing the image macro on Something Awful's forums before Fark. Anyone else?
posted by Mikey-San at 6:26 AM on October 4, 2006

Whoops, good catch Paragon. For some reason I thought Pitch Black was much older than it obviously is.
posted by quin at 7:44 AM on October 4, 2006

Absolutlely Ten Commandments.
posted by dobbs at 8:28 AM on October 4, 2006

It's from the 1976 film, "The Big Bus" -- the IMDb's user comments has the quote:

...elderly Ruth Gordon tells Renee Auberjenoius (as a doubting priest) how happy she was that God put her in the seat next to a priest. Father Kudos responds, "If it was God that put you here, why didn't he give you a fancy window seat like mine?! I, Kudos, a doubter, luxeriate in a window seat, while you, aging with age, get older yet in that disgrace of an aisle seat!
Where is your God now, old woman?"

posted by Rash at 9:33 AM on October 4, 2006

All great answers, thanks!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:46 PM on October 4, 2006

People, the phrase has been around forever. I should know, cuz so have I.

It's the pairing of the phrase with the scary BK mascot that is the subject of the question, not the phrase itself.

I don't often visit Something Awful, but it could have come from there, as Mikey-San suggests.

All I can say is, I first saw it, and continue to see it, on another website. Where people post links. Often with snarky "funny" headlines. And then people chat about it.



Oh and their mascot is a squirrel. With nuts.
posted by The Deej at 2:06 PM on October 4, 2006

I honestly can't believe no one has mentioned the South Park movie.
posted by Space Kitty at 2:34 PM on October 5, 2006