GagBase Logo Explore

We got silly common sense warnings instead of the flying cars 80s people predicted

This is a two-panel comparison meme that jokes about the gap between 1980s expectations of the future and modern reality. The top panel is labeled 'PEOPLE IN THE 80S:' and features a photo of a stereotypical 1980s man with a mustache, looking thoughtful with his hand to his face, with a thought bubble that reads 'I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...'. The bottom panel is labeled 'REALITY:' and shows a pizza box with a blatantly obvious, unnecessary common-sense warning circled in red, which says 'Open box before eating pizza.' The joke highlights that instead of the advanced, futuristic technology people in the 80s predicted we would have by the 2020s, modern life is full of patronizingly simple safety warnings for basic tasks, playing on the disappointment of unmet future expectations.
Make

Dialogue

PEOPLE IN THE 80S:
I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...
REALITY:
Open box before eating pizza.

Overview

This is a two-panel comparison meme that jokes about the gap between 1980s expectations of the future and modern reality. The top panel is labeled 'PEOPLE IN THE 80S:' and features a photo of a stereotypical 1980s man with a mustache, looking thoughtful with his hand to his face, with a thought bubble that reads 'I'M SURE THEY'LL HAVE FLYING CARS IN 40 YEARS...'. The bottom panel is labeled 'REALITY:' and shows a pizza box with a blatantly obvious, unnecessary common-sense warning circled in red, which says 'Open box before eating pizza.' The joke highlights that instead of the advanced, futuristic technology people in the 80s predicted we would have by the 2020s, modern life is full of patronizingly simple safety warnings for basic tasks, playing on the disappointment of unmet future expectations.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from an RSS feed of the Reddit r/Meme subreddit, where it was posted with the original title 'We got survival tutorials instead😂'. A watermark for @TRUTHTHEORY is visible at the bottom of the image, indicating this account is the original creator or early sharer of the meme, likely first posting it on social media platforms such as Instagram or X (formerly Twitter) before it was reposted to Reddit.

Similar memes

This meme features text dialogue at the top followed by a photograph of a pizza. The dialogue shows a man asking his partner if she is mad at him, to which she replies that she is not and even saved him some pizza. The photo below displays a pizza where all sauce, cheese, and toppings have been entirely eaten from every slice, leaving only a ring of plain, unwanted crust around the empty center of the pan. The joke relies on the clear passive-aggressive behavior: the woman claims she is not upset and did a kind gesture, but the undesirable leftover pizza crust reveals she is actually very angry at her partner.

Passive Aggressive Saved Pizza Relationship Meme

This meme features text dialo…

The image shows an open pizza box containing a pizza with melted cheese and some charred spots. A cat's paw is reaching through a circular hole in the top of the pizza box, appearing to touch or grab the pizza inside. Above the image, there is text that reads: 'Every wondered what those holes in pizza boxes are for?'

What Are Pizza Box Holes For?

The image shows an open pizza…

A 2x2 grid meme comparing CGI quality between the 2010s and 2020s using pizza as a metaphor. The top-left quadrant contains bold white text 'CGI IN 2010S' on a plain white background, paired with a top-right image of a well-made, golden-brown cheese pizza with evenly distributed seasoning and multiple slices, representing high-quality, polished CGI. The bottom-left quadrant has bold white text 'CGI IN 2020S' on a plain white background, paired with a bottom-right image of a low-effort 'pizza'—a slice of bread with melted cheese and only two small, uneven blobs of tomato sauce—symbolizing a decline in CGI quality, appearing lazy or rushed. The humor lies in the satirical implication that 2020s CGI has regressed to a simplistic, low-effort state, analogous to the poorly made 'pizza'

2010s vs 2020s CGI Quality (As Told By Pizza)

A 2x2 grid meme comparing CGI…

This is a pun-based meme using the popular 'Woman Yelling at Cat' format. The top of the image displays a real store sign for Tito's Pizza, where the letter 'o' in 'Tito's' is replaced with a graphic of a red tomato, creating a visual that can be misread as 'Tit's Pizza'. The left panel shows a yelling woman (Taylor Armstrong from *The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills*) pointing aggressively, labeled 'Titos Pizza', representing the official, intended reading of the store name. The right panel shows the unimpressed Smudge the Cat sitting at a dinner table, labeled 'Tit's Pizza', representing the crude, suggestive alternative reading of the sign. The meme's original title 'Le Tits now' is a phonetic pun on the phrase 'Let's now', leaning into the crude double meaning of the sign's visual design.

Le Tits Now Tito's Pizza Pun Meme

This is a pun-based meme usin…

The meme includes three core components: first, a caption from a pizza restaurant worker saying that making pizza every day gets boring, but fun events happen occasionally, and they believe they perfectly fulfilled this specific order. Second, the customer's comedic special order instructions, which ask for an absurdly large, 'borderline illegal' amount of pepperoni on the pizza, stating they want pepperoni in every bite, and so much pepperoni that it looks like the pizza makers are hiding evidence under a pile of pepperoni. Third, a photo of the finished pizza in a delivery box, which is fully, densely covered in an enormous amount of pepperoni, exactly meeting the customer's over-the-top request. The humor and satisfaction come from the pizza worker fully committing to the silly, exaggerated order request instead of ignoring or dismissing it.

A satisfying pizza experience

The meme includes three core …

This meme uses a popular viral photo template where two young children (a girl holding a crying boy) are pressed against a corner wall, terrified of a black rabbit sitting next to a wooden bucket on the floor. The meme labels the characters to joke about escalating levels of unpopular and controversial pizza toppings: the girl is labeled "People who put corn on pizza", the boy is labeled "People who put anchovies on pizza", and the rabbit (the scary thing the kids fear) is labeled "People who put broccoli on pizza". The joke portrays adding broccoli to pizza as such an unforgivable, unacceptable topping that even people who dislike other controversial pizza toppings are terrified of it, playing on the common ongoing online debate about what toppings belong on pizza.

Controversial pizza toppings fear meme

This meme uses a popular vira…

This nostalgic meme features text reminiscing about childhood experiences eating at Pizza Hut, paired with a photo of a pepperoni pan pizza served in a traditional cast iron skillet. The text recalls when Pizza Hut served their original pan pizza in extremely hot, actual skillets right to the table, when customers would pass time playing arcade games like Galaga and listening to jukebox songs before their meal arrived, framing that experience as feeling like royalty that is no longer common today. The meme taps into shared childhood nostalgia for older dining experiences at chain restaurants.

Peak childhood right here

This nostalgic meme features …

A meme featuring a top text that reads 'Me watching re-runs of the Simpsons to find out what we have to deal with next' above an image of a real man with an intense, focused expression. The man is holding a smartphone in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, gazing intently at the phone, suggesting he is earnestly watching The Simpsons reruns to predict upcoming real-world events. This plays on the popular internet joke that The Simpsons has accurately predicted various future events.

Watching Simpsons to Predict the Future

A meme featuring a top text t…

The meme is split into two sections: a top dark blue rectangular box with white sans-serif text, and a bottom section with a close-up photograph of sliced pepperoni pizza covered in melted cheese and overlapping pepperoni slices. The text shares a humorous short anecdote about the poster's claimed closest encounter with the mafia: the poster visited a completely empty pizza restaurant in Rhode Island, where staff appeared confused that a customer actually wanted to order pizza. The order took 45 minutes to prepare, was given to the poster for free, and was described as the best pizza the poster had ever eaten. The implied punchline is that the pizza restaurant was a front business for mafia activities that rarely served actual paying customers.

Rhode Island Mafia Front Pizza Anecdote Meme

The meme is split into two se…

An animated meme depicting a humorous struggle with food cravings. On the left, a character labeled 'Me' gestures with one hand pointing and the other raised, appearing determined to resist. On the right, a second character labeled 'A bunch of cheese' stands holding a knife, personifying the tempting cheese. The contrast between the resistant gesture and the menacing yet absurd portrayal of cheese creates a relatable joke about self-control around food.

Every damn day

An animated meme depicting a …

This is a 2-panel relatable comic meme. The first panel shows a simple white cartoon character labeled 'Me' reaching eagerly with both hands towards a yellow bubble representing 'Pizza right out of the oven', with an excited, happy expression. The second panel shows the same 'Me' character still reaching for the pizza, but a large pink cartoon character personifying 'The roof of my mouth' is holding the 'Me' character back from behind, referencing the extremely common, unpleasant experience of burning the roof of your mouth on food that is still too hot to eat.

I never learn not to grab hot pizza right out of the oven

This is a 2-panel relatable c…

This is a humorous meme that plays on the common saying about diet and physical appearance. The top text states the widespread adage: "Your body is a reflection of what you eat." followed by the label "Me:". Below that is an edited photograph of a happy, content-looking chihuahua with its head sticking out of a large slice of meat and cheese pizza, visually implying that if the saying were true, the viewer would be pizza because they eat so much of it. The joke relies on the literal, absurd interpretation of the common diet advice phrase.

Pizza Chihuahua What You Eat Meme

This is a humorous meme that …