The Simpsons has long established itself as a pop-cultural phenomenon, with its earliest seasons forever embedding themselves into the cultural codex, due to the brilliant writing. In the modern era, a few gags have made their way online, showcasing the seeming immortality of jokes written in the 1990s. So here's a look at some memes born out of The Simpsons, or at least a small portion of them.

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Comic Book Guy is (somewhat ironically) not the most layered character. He's quite easy to analyze in just a matter of seconds. He loves being a sanctimonious nerd, holding himself in the highest esteem with virtually no self-awareness. And interestingly, his catchphrase of "Worst. ___. Ever!" sort of nails the online nitpick culture or the constant use of hyperbole for criticism. The phrase can be applied ironically or seriously in any situation, and the periods between each word really nail in each word chosen to make the point clear as day.

Lisa tends to be a soapbox character. She is one of the few intellectual and one of the less cartoonish characters in The Simpsons, and frequently is the voice of reason in otherwise insane scenarios. In the Springfield Town Meetings, she has been known to make her points clear with large scale and thoroughly researched points, with pictures for her rather easily distracted audience. So naturally, in an era with instant gratification and little to no research, people love to put hot takes and simple answers or witty jokes on a blank board to satiate an audience's short attention span.

In a very easy template to play around with, nearly every episode of The Simpsons opens with Bart Simpson writing down what he did wrong as a form of punishment. The old school punishment of making an offender write them crime on a chalkboard over and over might not have been the most effective way to curb bad behavior, but it certainly must have been tedious.

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Gluttons for self-loathing love to list out their vices as a gag, and people with a bone to pick also love to call out others' bad behavior in doing so.

The beauty of The Simpsons is that the comedy is universal. Sometimes, there doesn't need to be an in-depth explanation of why something is funny. When the primitive old Jasper subs in as a substitute teacher for the 2nd-grade class at Springfield Elementary, his archaic inclinations towards physical punishment make for one of the best gags from the show, threatening to "paddle" the kids who step out of line.

One of the most over the top Simpsons episodes featured Homer going to space. And thankfully, it's regarded as one of the best. While in space, the inept and ill-prepared Homer accidentally crashes into an ant farm onboard the space shuttle, releasing them in the gravity-free space. When the ants swarm by the fish-eye lens cameras onboard, which broadcast live to the public, the terrified Kent Brockman (Springfield's new anchor) instantly assumes giant space ants have attacked the crew.

The simple and down to earth welcoming of the new danger is a great way to capture the blas or opportunistic attitude people can take in such developing scenarios.

There are so many wonderful Simpsons videos on the Youtube community. The talented creators love to take these scenes and remix them. New creations tend to keep some of the original Simpsons content while adding their own hilarious nonsensical spins to it. There are various examples of this: The Dud, Lemonposting, Livers and Onions gags, and Sugarposting. The jokes are heavily tailored to dedicated Simpsons fans who practically memorized the early seasons, but that just makes the memes all the more rewarding.

Principal Skinner is a very bizarre and straight-laced person. He consistently manages to be unable to empathize to the very unruly children he is in charge of, and the disconnect between what he perceives as normal or naturally bound to occur is vastly different from what children see. While hunting down a truant Bart Simpson, Skinner continually keeps assuming children engage in educational and adult-oriented locations. He pauses in a moment of disbelief, asking "Am I so out of touch?" but doubles down and says "No. It's the children who are wrong." It's a perfect example of people's inability to admit their own lack of understanding.

This entry is quite a cheat, as it actually originates from South Park. However, as it's a reference that relies specifically on The Simpsons, it's a perfectly cromulent entry. In an episode of South Park, a baffled Butters continually keeps trying to think of creative ideas but is informed at each turn that The Simpsons already had a similar idea in one of their episodes. Seeing as how The Simpsons truly has covered so many bases, it makes for a very eerily accurate way to track things down.

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A three-eyed fish was found by a nuclear plant in Argentina? Simpsons did it. Paul McCartney answers an old letter from a fan? Simpsons did it. Siegfried & Roy are attacked by tigers? Simpsons did it. Disney buys out 20th Century Fox? Simpsons did it. A Trump presidency? Simpsons did it.

Homer, in a parody ofTerminator 2: Judgement Day acts like the liquid-like Terminator from the film, who is able to morph between surfaces. In this case, the victim of stalking is Ned Flanders, who Homer takes an uncharacteristic liking to. When he's rebuffed by Ned with a white lie after wanting to spend time with him, he creepily sinks back into the bushes, never blinking. The expressionlessness on Homer's face can be inferred depending on whatever situation the scene is used in, and makes for a great escape.

What else could possibly take first place? In one of the series' most episodic entries, "22 Short Fields About Springfield," various citizens of the town are briefly seen in loosely connected short sketches. The most known of these is when the ever-intimidating Superintendent Chalmers arrives at Principal Skinner's house for a luncheon. The always-brownnosing and subordinate Skinner has to keep good face to Chalmers (his boss), but his dreadful ability to tell lies only digs himself further into his hole.

The scene is so well-executed and written that it can be enjoyed with no context and without any knowledge of The Simpsons, so naturally, it made for the best meme material. Among the best are versions of the meme that emulate the style of Spongebob Squarepants, VR versions, a Jeff Goldblum read-through, animated collaborations, and perhaps best of all, a remix of "Feel Good Inc."

NEXT: The Simpsons: 10 Best Recurring Characters

Next How I Met Your Mother: Barney Stinson's 5 Best & 5 Worst Traits

I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and am Spanish/Venezuelan-American. I graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in History, and in Film. I write for both ScreenRant and CBR, along with other projects on Medium, so feel free to stalk me. I love to read discussion, even when it's totally awful, so leave comments all over my articles, folks.

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