About
LazyTown was a musical children’s television show promoting healthy lifestyles featuring costumed actors, puppetry and CGI animation. Clips and images of the show have been widely circulated online, spawning several related internet memes and video remixes.
Premise
In the show, the character Stephanie Meanswell (played by Julianna Rose Mauriello and Chloe Lang) inspires the citizens of the fictional LazyTown to stay active and healthy, and is know for her pink outfits and hair. The character Robbie Rotten (played by Stefan Karl) plots and schemes to lure the citizens away from a healthy lifestyle. Additional notable characters include Sportacus, Mayor Meanswell, Ziggy, Trixie, Pixel and Stingy.
History
On August 16th, 2004, LazyTown was first broadcast on the children’s television block Nick Jr. on the Nickelodeon channel. The show ran for two seasons, airing a total of 53 episodes, between 2004 and 2007. From 2013 to 2014, two additional seasons were broadcast.
LazyTown Extra
In 2008, the spin-off series LazyTown Extra was released in the United Kingdom on the CBeebies television station, which featured characters from LazyTown performing short sketches.
Online Presence
On October 14th, 2011, the /r/LazyTown[2] subreddit was launched for discussions about the television show. On March 19th, 2012, the official LazyTown Facebook[1] page was launched, which gathered upwards of 85,500 likes over the next five years. On August 24th, 2012, LazyTown head writer Mark Valenti participated in an “ask me anything” post on the /r/IAmA[5] subreddit. On May 12th, 2013, a page for LazyTown was created on TV Tropes. On June 4th, a LazyTown-themed trollpasta was created on the Trollpasta Wiki.[3] As of September 2016, the fanfiction database FanFiction.net has over 430 submissions under the LazyTown category.[4]
Stefán Karl’s Illness
In late September 2016, Icelandic news media began reporting that actor Stefan Karl was “seriously ill,” and was in a hospital to remove a possibly malignant tumor.[6][7] That month, video remixes and photoshops featuring Karl playing Robbie Rotten reached the front page of several subreddits, including /r/youtubehaiku,[8] /r/Spongebros[9] and /r/tf2[10] (shown below). On September 28th, Redditor Catacomb82 submitted a post asking about the recent resurgence in LazyTown memes to /r/OutOfTheLoop,[11] to which the top-voted comment noted news reports of Karl’s recent illness.
Related Memes
Cooking by the Book
“Cooking by the Book” is a catchy song from the show that has been widely remixed online, most notably in a mashup with rapper Lil Jon’s vocals from the 2004 rap song “Step You Game Up” by Snoop Dogg (shown below).
You are a Pirate!
“You Are A Pirate” is a song performed by a pirate character in a n episode of LazyTown, which subsequently inspired the creation of numerous parodies and animations.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Facebook – The Official Page for LazyTown
[2]Reddit – /r/LazyTown
[3]Trollpasta Wiki – LazyTown – The Truth
[5]Reddit – IAmA head writer for the worlds most expensive children television show
[6]Visir – Stefan Karl is seriously ill
[7]DV.is – Stefan Karl hospitalized this weekend
[8]Reddit – Robbie Rotten gets Spicy
[9]Reddit – Diddy Players
[10]Reddit – Rare beta photo of a cut tf2 merc
[11]Reddit – Whats with the recent resurgence in Lazy Town memes