Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch
| Fan Art | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch |
| Artist: | |
| Date(s): | March 19, 2012 |
| First Published: | Tumblr |
| Medium: | photoset |
| Genre/Style: | |
| Fandom: | Sherlock |
| External Links: | Otters Who Look Like Benedict Cumberbatch |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
On March 19, 2012, the fan Redscharlach posted a photoset consisting of five screencaps of Sherlock Holmes as played by Benedict Cumberbatch paired with five photos of otters. Each photo pair matched the expression on Cumberbatch's face to a nearly identical otter expression.
This post quickly garnered thousands of likes and reblogs and became its own meme, leading to comparisons of Martin Freeman to hedgehogs, Andrew Scott to rabbits, and so on.
As of 31 July 2013 the photoset had 53,483 notes on Tumblr. In fact, it became so popular so quickly that mainstream media noticed it; it has been featured in The Huffington Post, printed in the Sunday Mirror, and referenced on The Late Show with Dave Letterman.
In November 2015, Cumberbatch was a guest on The Graham Norton Show, where he posed to match more photos of otters.
It should be noted that both Benedict Cumberbatch and pictures of otters are separately very popular on Tumblr, and that Tumblr had shown an interest in combining photos of actors with cute animals before,[1] like a hedgehog impersonating John Watson, so there is no mystery why a clever combination of the two should prove lethal.
Further Reading
- Why is Sherlock Holmes an Otter? Meme Investigation Article!, archive link by Gwen and Ronnie on fanfictionrecommendations.com (Dec 2017)
References
- ^ See michaelfassbenderwithpugs. The first post was in June 2011.