Hello and thank you for stopping by! My name is Trym Stene, and I had the pleasure of creating the Dancing Banana GIF-meme back in 1999. It's hard to believe how much time has passed! I remember working on different GIF-animations on my AMD K6-2 350MHz computer, which was cutting-edge technology at the time. Well, maybe not cutting edge, but it was my first computer and it opened a whole world for me when i was young.

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Creating lighthearted and amusing content has always been a passion of mine, and I enjoyed making quirky GIFs to share with the world. I had a small, dedicated following that I connected with on IRC, where I received valuable feedback and encouragement.

 

Growing up in a rural part of Norway, I didn't have many peers who shared my interests, but that only motivated me to create even more imaginative content. I was inspired by other artists who were pushing the limits of what was possible on the internet. Mostly, i wanted to get peoples laughs. I think i might have the standup-comedian-syndrome, where i just want to make people laugh, allthough im not big on public speaking, so thats why i've always loved creating digital stuff thats also have a humoristic edge to it. The Dancing Banana is just one of my earliest examples of that.

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For those of you more technically curious, I used a simple animation tool called Animation Shop, which came bundled with Paint Shop Pro, to bring my GIF-ideas to life. It was through this software that the Dancing Banana was born. Animation Shop was basically ready with grids and everything so it was just to play around and create gifs and pixelart almost right out of the box.

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Why a banana? I frequently used internet forums and enjoyed creating emojis to express my emotions as I interacted with others online. The Dancing Banana was an extension of this—a festive emoji to celebrate whenever I created something new and exciting.

I also created other GIFs, like an angry toaster, or a melting ice-cream cone with big, sad eyes. However, none of them gained popularity like the banana, which gradually captured the hearts of internet users.

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As a side hustle, before Flash animations became popular, I found an opportunity through IRC to create GIF ad-banners for a business owner, and I happily seized it. I eventually sold my creations to others, including a chalkboard ad that I sold for 250 Norwegian Krone (around 25 USD). It might not seem like much now, but back then, I felt like a rich man. Atleast for a day or two, until i realized it cost like 15 USD to cash out the few checks i received in the mail.

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When Flash animations gained popularity, The Buckwheat Boyz created a Flash version of the Dancing Banana with the now-iconic song, "Peanut Butter Jelly Time." From then on, the Dancing Banana made various appearances all over, including a cameo on an episode of Family Guy. It's astonishing to think that this small creation has become such a cultural phenomenon, with good help from the wholesome internet-community.

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So there you have it — a brief backstory of the Dancing Banana GIF-meme :)​

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