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Chuck Norris facts are
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
factoid
A factoid is either an invented or assumed statement presented as a fact, ''or'' a true but brief or trivial item of news or information.
The term was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes ac ...
s about American
martial artist
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...
and actor
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...
that have become an
Internet phenomenon
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
widespread in
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. These 'facts' are
absurd hyperbolic
Hyperbolic is an adjective describing something that resembles or pertains to a hyperbola (a curve), to hyperbole (an overstatement or exaggeration), or to hyperbolic geometry.
The following phenomena are described as ''hyperbolic'' because they ...
claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, sophistication, and
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
.
Chuck Norris facts have spread internationally, making translations and spawning localized versions about country-specific advertisements and other
Internet phenomena
Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include Internet memes, such as popular themes, catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more wides ...
. Some facts allude to his use of
roundhouse kick
A roundhouse kick (also known as round kick or turning kick) is a kick in which the practitioner lifts the knee while turning the supporting foot and body in a semicircular motion, extending the leg striking with the lower part of the shin and/ ...
s for seemingly any task, his large amount of body hair with specific regard to his
beard
A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards.
Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
, and his role in the
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
television series ''
Walker, Texas Ranger
''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texa ...
''.
Background
Chuck Norris facts originally appeared on the Internet in early 2005. Initially distributed in the
Something Awful
''Something Awful'' (SA) is an American comedy website hosting content including blog entries, forums, feature articles, digitally edited pictures, and humorous media reviews. It was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely per ...
forums, the "facts" centered on
Vin Diesel
Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise.
Diesel began audition ...
, in response to his film ''
The Pacifier
''The Pacifier'' is a 2005 American family action comedy film directed by Adam Shankman, written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant and stars Vin Diesel.
After a failed rescue mission, Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe is assigned as babysitter to the ...
''. After a few months, forum members chose Chuck Norris to be the new subject.
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
's Chuck Norris jokes on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...
'' (which generally center on ''
Walker, Texas Ranger
''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both this series and that film starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texa ...
'') have been seen as an inspiration for the fad. The exaggerated style of these claims is similar to a recurring ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' sketch called "
Bill Brasky
Bill Brasky, full name William Robert Brasky, is an unseen character who is the subject of a series of sketches on the television sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live''. The sketches were a recurring feature on the program between 1996 and ...
". Due to the popularity of this phenomenon, similar jokes have been created for various other celebrities, as well as fictional characters.
Norris' response
Norris responded to the Chuck Norris facts on his official website with a statement. Admitting some of the statements were indeed humorous, he said he tries not to take any of them seriously, and he hopes that such statements will interest people in real facts about him contained in his literary works.
On October 23, 2006, Norris' first column for
WorldNetDaily
''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
T ...
consisted of another response. It began similarly to the above statement from chucknorris.com, but then disclaimed his own prowess in favor of those of
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
and
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
.
On November 29, 2007,
Gotham Books
Avery Publishing is a book publishing imprint of the Penguin Group, founded as an independent publisher in 1976 by Rudy Shur and partners, and purchased by Penguin in 1999. The current president is veteran publisher William Shinker. Their offices ...
, the adult division of
Penguin USA
Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...
, released a book entitled ''The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human''. Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
infringement,
unjust enrichment
In laws of equity, unjust enrichment occurs when one person is enriched at the expense of another in circumstances that the law sees as unjust. Where an individual is unjustly enriched, the law imposes an obligation upon the recipient to make res ...
and privacy rights".
Norris dropped the lawsuit in 2008.
On October 7, 2009,
Tyndale House Publishers
Tyndale House is a Christian publisher in Carol Stream, Illinois.
History
Tyndale was founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in C ...
issued ''The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book'', which was co-written and officially endorsed by Norris.
Norris has stated that his personal favorite "fact" is that people wanted to add Norris to
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore (Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota ...
, but the granite was not tough enough for his beard.
Prominent mentions
In the March 20, 2006 issue, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine interviewed Norris, calling him an "online cult hero". In the answer to their last question, he called the Chuck Norris Facts "weird but wildly popular sayings" and quoted one: "Chuck Norris ''can''
divide by zero."
In 2011, a commercial for ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
'' featured Chuck Norris and included its own "Chuck Norris facts" in the dialogue.
In the 2012 movie ''
The Expendables 2
''The Expendables 2'' is a 2012 American action film directed by Simon West, written by Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone and based on a story by Ken Kaufman, David Agosto and Wenk. Brian Tyler returned to score the film. It is the sequel to ...
'', there is a wink at Chuck Norris facts when one is attributed to Norris' character Booker. In one scene Booker saves Barney Ross's (
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
) team in a firefight. After introductions all around, Ross says to Booker, "I heard another rumor. That you were bitten by a
king cobra." "Yeah, I was.", Booker replies, adding, "But after five days of agonizing pain, ''
'' the cobra died."
Inspirations and similar trends
In India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, there exist similar jokes in the form of factoids and quotes about Indian film
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
actor Rajinikanth
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...
. The factoids about Rajinikanth are inspired by Chuck Norris facts in that those follow the same pattern as Chuck Norris facts. While some Rajinikanth jokes are original, many of them are circulated with Norris' name replaced by Rajinikanth's. The beginning of 2013 saw similar cluster of jokes gaining trend in the country on Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988), commonly known as Ravindra Jadeja, is an Indian international cricketer. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He was the captain of the Chennai Sup ...
after Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
tweeted a few "facts" about him on his Twitter page.
During the 2012 Armenian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 6 May 2012. President Serzh Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party gained more majority of the parliament seats. Armenia's wealthiest man Gagik Tsarukyan's Prosperous Armenia came second with about one ...
, some ballots with Norris's name written on them as a candidate were found.
In Egypt, and prior to the Egyptian presidential election, 2012
Presidential elections were held in Egypt in 2012, with the first round on 23 and 24 May 2012 and the second on 16 and 17 June. The 2012 Egyptian Presidential election was the first democratic presidential election of Egypt’s history. The Musli ...
, similar jokes were made upon Omar Suleiman, the ex-director of the General Intelligence Directorate in the same style of Chuck Norris facts, making fun of the powers and skills that his supporters claimed to be his to promote him before the elections.
In the episode "The Weird World of Wyrm" of the 2012 CGI series version of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
'', a holographic Chris Bradford
Chris Bradford is an English author and black belt martial artist, best known for his children's fictional series, ''Young Samurai''.
The first ''Young Samurai'' book, '' The Way of the Warrior'', was published by Puffin Books in 2008. Disney b ...
– a parody of Norris – delivers a ''Norris Facts''-esque quotation: "Chris Bradford fact #48: Chris Bradford always carries around four weapons of mass destruction: His arms and his legs."
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...
fans began promoting similar tall tales about former linebacker Kiko Alonso
Kristian "Kiko" Alonso (born August 14, 1990) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
After a stellar rookie season with the Bills, Alonso missed his second season ...
during the 2013 season, after Alonso joined the team as a rookie. The tall tales were collectively known as "The Legend of Kiko Alonso".
Makmende
Makmende is a fictional Kenyan superhero character which has enjoyed a popular resurgence after an adaptation by Kenya's musical group Just a Band in the music video for their song ''Ha-He'' on their second album, '' ''82' (2009). The vide ...
, a Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
n male fictional hero, has been purported to perform locally related feats and more, including in Sheng.
In 2006, a naming poll was held to decide the name of a new bridge in Hungary. Since nominations were accepted from everyone, "Chuck Norris" soon became the top candidate for the bridge's name (beating the names of several historical figures along with candidates like David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...
and Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom '' South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main chara ...
), before being taken over by Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
after he called his fans to vote. The bridge was eventually named Megyeri Bridge
The Megyeri Bridge, previously known as the Northern M0 Danube bridge, is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Danube, River Danube between Buda and Pest (city), Pest, respectively the west and east sides of Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
It i ...
.
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
wrestler Brian Myers, known as Curt Hawkins
Brian Myers (born April 20, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is a former Impact Digital Media Champion. He is best known for his tenures in WWE from 2006–2014 and 2016–2020 unde ...
, incorporated the Chuck Norris facts into his gimmick in August 2016, where he uses his name instead of Norris, e.g., "Children have to put sunscreen on at the beach to protect themselves from Curt Hawkins".
Video games based on trend
In 2008, Gameloft
Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games m ...
produced '' Chuck Norris: Bring On the Pain'', a video game for mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
s, based on the online Norris cult elicited by Chuck Norris facts. The player takes control of Norris in a side-scrolling beat 'em up
The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...
. The game was well-reviewed.
In 2017, Flaregames produced the second such game, ''Non Stop Chuck Norris'', an isometric action-RPG game for mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
s, also well reviewed.
Bibliography
*Ian Spector: ''The Truth About Chuck Norris:'' New York: Gotham Books: 2007:
*Chuck Norris & Todd DuBord: ''The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories:'' Tyndale House Publishers: 2009:
See also
* Bill Brasky
Bill Brasky, full name William Robert Brasky, is an unseen character who is the subject of a series of sketches on the television sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live''. The sketches were a recurring feature on the program between 1996 and ...
* The Stig
The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show ''Top Gear''. Created by former ''Top Gear'' presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, wit ...
* The Most Interesting Man in the World
The Most Interesting Man in the World was an advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer featuring actor Jonathan Goldsmith as a bearded, debonair older gentleman with voiceovers that were both humorous and outrageous. The advertisements first bega ...
* Makmende
Makmende is a fictional Kenyan superhero character which has enjoyed a popular resurgence after an adaptation by Kenya's musical group Just a Band in the music video for their song ''Ha-He'' on their second album, '' ''82' (2009). The vide ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuck Norris Facts
American folklore
Internet memes
Joke cycles
Cultural depictions of Chuck Norris
Internet memes introduced in 2005
2000s in Internet culture
2005 neologisms