If you spend enough time on the Internet, you are bound to have your vocabulary changed by it. There are definitely plenty of signs, whether you are Sebastian Stan awkwardly trying to sell a Thunderbolts* and Marvel Rivals collab, or a group of friends who can quote an obscure YouTube video verbatim.
Recently, one of those signs has been overwhelmingly, hilariously apparent in my life, thanks to the most recent TikTok trend (outside of all things “Group 7”) to take over my For You page: Marcus the Worm. His aesthetic almost defies explanation, but here is my best attempt: he is a spindly, bipedal character with haunting black eyes, a sort of beer belly, and a head that looks like a mix between an Earthworm and a bowel movement. If you scroll on TikTok long enough, you will see, or at very least hear, his monotonous, drawn-out delivery of out-of-context lines like “I don’t like this rock, Robert. It’s pissing me off.” and “I can’t find my Doritos. My spicy, sweet, chili tortilla chips.”
So, who (or what) is Marcus? He is, apparently, a virtual alter ego of a Twitch streamer named Jouffa, who has been appearing in VRChat livestreams hosted by fellow streamer Roflgator (the exasperated “Robert” who Marcus is usually conversing with) since 2023. Using a worm design originally created by AceJayStudios, Marcus is brought to life through full-body motion tracking and a text-to-speech voice generator. This, combined with the variety of settings and adventures available on VRChat, have produced a gold mine of clips that are destined to become your new vocal stim.
Marcus is a mood
I first heard Marcus’ dulcet, unhinged words a few months ago, when his aforementioned feelings about a rock became a sound used by overstimulated people, women doubting their boyfriend’s interior design skills, and even the official Philadelphia Eagles account. I laughed, it rattled in my brain a little bit, and then I went on with my life. But a week or so ago, a different Marcus clip made its way onto my FYP, and liking and engaging with it opened a whole other world.
Marcus clips are, more often than not, marked by a few things. His sentences usually have pregnant pauses between them (thanks to the delay in the text-to-speech program) which creates a hilarious comedic timing. He loves using proper nouns in conversation, like “Inkjet printer” and “Head and Shoulders Clean Dandruff Shampoo.” And his contributions to the conversation are equal parts ridiculous and profound, which is probably best encapsulated by his monologue about both rigatoni pasta and existential dread.
Even though some of Marcus’ non sequiturs are unbelievably specific (“Apparently, it’s not legal to launder $17,000 through a locally-owned Greek restaurant.”), there is something weirdly universal about his whole vibe. That is apparent in the shocking amount of Marcus merch already available online, including crochet patterns for a Marcus plushie (which I am dangerously tempted to make), an official Cameo account, and rolls of (unofficially-licensed) Marcus wrapping paper.
But it is also apparent in how his phrases have taken on new meaning across TikTok and other corners of the Internet. My personal favorite recontextualizes Marcus’ announcement that “Robert… South Carolina is gone,” in the context of telling your nearly-asleep partner about the latest plot twist in a book you’re reading.
In a way, Marcus the Worm bridges a generation gap of gleefully stupid humor. I, personally, spent way too many hours of my adolescence watching “Charlie the Unicorn” and other nonsensical mid-2000s YouTube videos, a sense of humor that eventually evolved to Vine compilations, and later to TikTok and unhinged shows like Smiling Friends and I Think You Should Leave. (The latter of which, coincidentally, has a joke in its first season about a fake jazz singer named Marcus “The Worm” Hicks.) That history has always made me respect Gen Z and Gen Alpha drifting towards Skibidi Toilet and all kinds of “brainrot”, even if I don’t “get” the joke in the same way.
But with Marcus the Worm, we are all in on the joke. We are all free. We all want some companionship… and some rigatoni pasta.
(featured image: @Roflgator on TikTok)
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