In a year that saw memes become more popular than Jesus and the Bible translated into emoji, there was no shortage of jokes and puns on the internet in 2016.
But while there are plenty of spoofs and wisecracks to look back to with amusement, only a small selection can make it our year-end roundup.
So without further ado, we present to you the most unmissable tweets, memes and web sensations of 2016.
The US election
Before we move on to the more techy goofs and gaffes, let’s get this one right off the bat.
Regardless of how you feel about the outcome of this year’s election, the led-up to Donald Trump’s presidential triumph over Hillary Clinton was nothing short of meme-worthy.
Everything was fun and games in the beginning.
"How did we let these clowns come this close to presidency" asks a nation on its 6th month of mourning a gorilla pic.twitter.com/c4Vjq05SQh
— Cameron (@CameronComeau16) November 7, 2016
When you trust your wife to vote for you, but not really. pic.twitter.com/tLprW7iXI3
— Gabrielle Nain (@Gabbienain) November 8, 2016
— Summer Ray (@SummerRay) November 9, 2016
But once Trump scooped the presidency, things quickly started heating up.
Wow, tonight's Black Mirror is fucking terrifying!
— Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) November 9, 2016
This isn't an episode. This isn't marketing. This is reality.
— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) November 9, 2016
Frank Underwood would have assassinated Trump before it got to this stage.
— Black Rose (@Joks1d8) November 9, 2016
Nothing, however, came even close to the series of witty tweets spoofing a recent photoshoot of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Biden: Maybe we make our own country and he won't be invited
Obama: Joe
Biden: And MAYBE THIS TIME WE CALL IT THE BLACK HOUSE RIGHT BARACK pic.twitter.com/sVEoMvJbNy
— Barack & Joe (@bidenandobama) November 12, 2016
Joe: "What if we take batteries out of all of the remotes before we leave"
Barack:" Joe we can't-"
Joe: "Or we could cut all the cords" pic.twitter.com/SHrCkr8ZPs
— MistyKnightsTwistOut (@Steph_I_Will) November 11, 2016
Biden: Ok here's the plan: have you seen Home Alone
Obama: Joe, no
Biden: Just one booby trap
Obama: Joe pic.twitter.com/IDTc2L1sKF— Dean E. S. Richard (@deanfortythree) November 11, 2016
Biden: I changed the wifi password.
Obama: Joe…
Biden: It's "PssyGrbbr45" now.
Obama: No, Joe.
Biden:… pic.twitter.com/hA6ozU0Hww— Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) November 12, 2016
Besides all the madness in the Twitterverse, the election also inspired a barrage of parody apps, games and plugins.
Among other things, there was a ‘Surgeon Simulator‘ that lets you virtually tear apart Donald Trump, an iOS game that features the Republican building a wall as a whack-a-mole parody that lets you grab ’em by the pussy – but not quite like you’d think.
But this wasn’t all. Team Clinton made its own app, introducing a photo filter that riduculed Trump – which Hillary even promoted via her Twitter account.
Introducing #TrumpYourself: Discover what @realDonaldTrump thinks about people like you. https://t.co/cSY7ozT4tr pic.twitter.com/KvVt2tGwFd
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 21, 2016
In addition to this, there was also a Twitter bot that retweets what Trump said at this time and day four years ago as well as a Facebook plugin that swaps out reactions with the Republican’s face.
➤ 25 of the best tweets from the 2016 election – so far
➤ Trump’s triumph in tweets: the happiest and saddest post-election reactions
➤ These hilarious Biden and Obama memes are the best way to get over the election
Samsung
Despite the unfortunate discontinuation of the fire-catching Galaxy Note 7, Samsung puns were the bomb this year.
The South Korean manufacturer repeatedly fell victim to a gang of sarcastic netizens, dishing out burning ridicule at any possible occasion – even at Apple’s MacBook launch event.
Theory: the smoke in the #appleevent logo is coming from an exploding Galaxy Note 7.
— Connor Mason (@conmas) October 27, 2016
Martin moves faster than a Samsung recall. #AppleEvent
— not Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) October 27, 2016
Then there was also the parody GTA mod that switched up hand-grenades with the Note 7 – which is actually pretty hilarious.
The real hard-hitter, however, came when Obama poked fun at Samsung’s misfortune while speaking at an event in Miami.
This is a simultaneous ??? on Samsung, Republicans and rotary phones. pic.twitter.com/HkHJeUfbL7
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) October 20, 2016
I mean, does it get any worse than getting roasted by the President of the United States himself?
➤ Watch: Hilarious GTA parody pokes fun at Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7
➤ Obama pokes fun at Samsung’s fire-bursting Galaxy Note 7
Apple
Apple made some courageous decisions in 2016.
Back in September, Cupertino unveiled the new and improved iPhone 7 featuring enhanced water resistance, pimped up stereo speakers and boosted camera capabilities – but no headphone jack. Instead, Apple introduced its new wireless AirPods. Guess what the reaction was?
Airpods https://t.co/rNcyOt8D9K pic.twitter.com/Dh2UHQ6e0H
— Lars (@LSAwesome) September 8, 2016
Apple should make a "find my Airpods" feature … just sayin
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) September 7, 2016
Not really worried about losing my $169 AirPods, with the amount of people losing theirs, I should be able to find a spare or replacement.
— SoaR Kross (@Kross) September 8, 2016
Fortunately iPhone 7 retains this important feature pic.twitter.com/kLJ9yDUxhz
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) September 7, 2016
Talk show host Conan O’Brien didn’t miss a chance to mess with the AirPods either, throwing a jab at Apple with a gut-busting fake commercial.
Undeterred by the mockery from the iPhone 7 launch, Apple continued with the bold moves and later in October revealed its new MacBook Pro featuring a flashy OLED multitouch-responsive Touch Bar – which also had no escape key.
Courage…
Via: https://t.co/o78dmsWo2V pic.twitter.com/SnQ2K8clr1
— TNW (@TheNextWeb) October 28, 2016
"And around lunch time, the Touchbar conveniently turns into a salad bar." #appleevent
— Tara Mann (@taramann) October 27, 2016
But, how the Hell do you turn it on, Phil? #AppleEvent
— Dakota Hunter (@TheTechiesWorld) October 27, 2016
Many of you will see RedTube buttons appear on your Touch Bar… #AppleEvent
— not Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) October 27, 2016
➤ A roundup of unmissable tweets about Apple’s iPhone 7 launch
➤ The best Twitter reactions about Apple’s new MacBook launch
Microsoft
Despite delivering some rather impressive products and announcements this year, Microsoft had a pretty goofy 2016.
Back in July, the Redmond giant reached out to the next generation of software engineers, inviting them to their annual Internapalooza event in San Francisco where more than 3,000 tech savvy students gather together to socialize and potentially link up with industry professionals.
But while there’s nothing wrong with touching base with the leaders of tomorrow, the Windows-maker took… a rather interesting approach with their invitational email.
My roommate received this email from a Microsoft recruiter today. pic.twitter.com/90Qwr78eGO
— Patrick Burtchaell (@pburtchaell) July 6, 2016
In a desperate effort to appeal to what it apparently envisioned as a mob of slang-babbling millennials, Microsoft recruiters made fools of themselves, sending out an email laced with ‘cool-sounding’ lingo that only exposed how out of touch the company’s talent seekers are with the younger generation.
But hey: We all know these 90’s kids are all about “GETTING LIT” any chance they get – including on a Monday night. At a Microsoft career mixer.
You’d think the recruitment email fail would’ve taught the company a thing or two about trying too hard to be cool and witty, but few months later Microsoft nearly messed up again after almost dropping the N-bomb in an Xbox newsletter, promoting zombie survival horror game Dead Rising 4.
Fortunately, the Xbox team was quick to apologize for the negligence, avoiding any serious backlash – and some people even found the situation quite hilarious.
@ANTxDAxRULER @majornelson @aarongreenberg Lol when I saw it I did a double take: “Nnngggaaahh”
I was like ‘What did that zombie call me??”
— TXJ (@Gamer1Mack) November 22, 2016
➤ Microsoft wants you to think it’s LIT AF, hilariously fails
➤ Microsoft says sorry for almost saying the N-word in Xbox newsletter
While Google is wrapping up a spectacular 2016, it also had a couple of funny mishaps over the last year.
When showcasing its newly introduced Google Home smart speaker during the #madebygoogle hardware event in October, hilarity ensued in the audience anytime one of the speakers on stage dropped the magical phrase ‘OK, Google.’
You can't hear live, but every time the guy on stage says "Ok Google" it triggers the phone of someone in the front row and it's hilarious
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) October 4, 2016
@MKBHD It’s happening to me and probably many others on the live stream.
— Jeph Christoff (@phej) October 4, 2016
@MKBHD all our phones at home also hah
— johnantonio (@__johnsolo) October 4, 2016
@MKBHD it keeps triggering my phone
— Jacob Byrd (@Techno_Byrd) October 4, 2016
On another occasion shortly after turning 18, Google proved it still has a lot of growing up to do after a group of Redditors were shocked to discover that searching ‘illustrated books for 8 year olds’ on its search engine breeds some… less than appropriate results.
I guess it’s not as bad as axing the headphone jack though, right?
➤ Google’s event yesterday was the most hilarious ‘OK Google’ nightmare
➤ Google thinks ‘The Little Book of Big Penis’ is a suitable read for 8-year-olds
What else?
What are some of your favorite tweets and memes from 2016? Share the joke with us and let us know down in the comments.
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