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HitlerThe Hitler meme is one of the most symbolic viral sensations to represent Internet culture: By taking one of the greatest monsters of the 20th century and making him say stupid things, the Hitler meme exemplifies the digital age's credo, "Nothing is sacred, everything is funny." It is, essentially, a troll in video form.

But where does the Hitler meme come from? And why is its newest adaptation an ouroboros of self-reference? Have we reached the end of the internet?
The concept of Hitler meme is simple: take a portion of the World War II film "Downfall," remove the subtitles for the fuhrer yelling at his minions, and add in whatever clever fart/iPad/4chan jokes you'd like. It's what Zero Mostel in 'The Producers' might have come up with for the Internet age.

The original clip:




I know, I know. One look at this and you're like "I can see a million ways the last days of Hitler's reign could be used for a hilarious Mad Libs-esque viral sensation." And yet...
Hitler goes to Burning Man:


Hitler gets banned from Xbox:

Hitler is told of the iPad:

Etc, etc. You get it. We were all there last year when this fire started, so let's skip the history lesson. It's the most recent mutation of the meme that we find so appealing: a video of Hitler yelling about the Hitler video. Brilliant in its simple ability to transcend itself, this video is the YouTube equivalent of a Charlie Kaufman script. See what we mean below:

Created by Chris Hanel of RiffRaffTheatre, who will soon be making mini meta-dramedies to be produced by Quentin Tarantino and shown at Sundance.