Title:
Annoying Orange
Meme Creator:
Dane Boedigheimer
Media Creator:
Dane Boedigheimer
Meme Creation Year:
2009
Media Year:
2009
Height of Popularity:
2010-2013
Era:
Golden Age of Memes
Platform:
YouTube
Video Meme
Type:
Tags:
annoying orange, dane boedigheimer, daneboe, hey apple, fruit, youtube series, cartoon network, talking food, anthropomorphic
History:
What began as a simple digital effects experiment featuring a talking orange would evolve into one of YouTube's most polarizing and successful franchises, proving that irritation itself could become a compelling form of entertainment when executed with just the right blend of technical skill and absurd humor.
Annoying Orange is an American comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer (known online as DaneBoe). Set in a world of anthropomorphic food, the series follows its titular protagonist, Orange, who always annoys others by telling crude jokes and puns and making annoying noises until their certain demises (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The first episode of Annoying Orange was released on October 9, 2009, originally titled "Hey Apple!" on Boedigheimer's personal YouTube channel "Dane Boe."
The original video was planned to be titled The Annoying Apple, but when Boedigheimer started animating the video, she figured it would be easier to put features on an orange than an apple and make it more visible (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The concept emerged from Boedigheimer's previous experience creating talking food videos. Before Annoying Orange, Boedigheimer had done many talking food videos for her own channel and other sites including JibJab (2005–2008). She said in an interview that the idea for Annoying Orange was a culmination of the talking food videos, puns and special effects that she had come up with and done before (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
The series gained immediate viral success with its signature format: Orange would relentlessly pester other fruits with terrible puns, jokes, and his distinctive high-pitched laugh, typically ending with the victims being cut up by a knife wielded by an unseen hand. The first 4 Annoying Orange episodes released from October 9 to December 23, 2009, on the Dane Boe YouTube channel (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The format became instantly recognizable, with Orange's catchphrase "Hey Apple!" and his warning "Knife!" becoming iconic elements of early YouTube culture.
Annoying Orange was initially never intended to be a series. However, as the video became popular, many viewers requested more videos, and after the 4th episode, Boedigheimer decided to make it a full-time series (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Following the success of the series, a channel dedicated to Annoying Orange was created under the name "realannoyingorange" on January 31, 2010 (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
The series achieved unprecedented success for a YouTube-native property. The Annoying Orange YouTube channel has 13 million subscribers as of 2025 (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Last week, Boedigheimer's Orange channel on YouTube (where he is known as Daneboe) surpassed 1 billion views, making it the channel with the ninth most subscriptions on the site (ABC News, 2012). The success extended far beyond the original web series, spawning merchandise, video games, and ultimately a television adaptation.
The cultural impact of Annoying Orange was significant enough to warrant mainstream media attention and television adaptation. Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network signed Boedigheimer for an Orange TV series (ABC News, 2012). The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange premiered on Cartoon Network on June 11, 2012, as the #1 telecast among boys 6–11 that day, and ran for two seasons until March 17, 2014 (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
The series represented a significant moment in the evolution of internet content, demonstrating that web-native properties could successfully transition to traditional media while maintaining their original audience. The show also featured notable guest stars and established a template for how YouTube creators could leverage their online success into broader entertainment opportunities.
The format and style of Annoying Orange influenced a generation of content creators, establishing patterns for character-driven YouTube series and demonstrating the commercial viability of anthropomorphic characters in digital media. The series' success paved the way for other YouTube creators to develop their own character-based franchises and secure traditional media deals.
Notes about the Creator/s:
Creator (Media and Meme):
Dane Willard Boedigheimer (born September 28, 1978), better known by her pseudonym Dane Boe, is an American internet personality, voice actress, writer, animator, and musician. She is known for creating the web series Annoying Orange and the spin-off television series The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange; Boedigheimer provides the voice of the title character in both productions and has produced several original songs (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
Boedigheimer was born in Itasca County, Minnesota, and was raised in Harwood, North Dakota, in the Fargo–Moorhead area, where she frequently made home videos as a teen. Boedigheimer began using her parents' 8mm video camera that she got for Christmas at the age of 12; "I was spending entire days making short videos with my younger brother. It all just blossomed from there. I remember sitting in my room for hours editing my videos with two VCRs" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
During her college years, Boedigheimer studied filmmaking at Minnesota State University Moorhead between 1998 and 2003. She was a major in speech communications with an emphasis in film studies, which she has said to be a preparation for the creation of Annoying Orange; "The program (at MSUM) was very small when I was there, and you had to make things work with a small budget. I think that experience actually kind of helped" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).
On Valentine's Day 2005, Boedigheimer founded the company Gagfilms, which slowly built a core of fans. In 2006, she became a freelance filmmaker and opened two YouTube channels named Daneboe and Gagfilms, producing several video series (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Boedigheimer's technical expertise in digital effects and voice acting proved crucial to the success of Annoying Orange, as she performed the majority of character voices and handled the complex facial animation that brought the fruit characters to life.
Notes about the years:
Media and Meme Creation Year (2009):
The first Annoying Orange video was uploaded on October 9, 2009, marking both the media creation and the beginning of its meme status. The concept was designed from the outset for viral distribution, representing the era's approach to purpose-built internet content.
Height of Popularity (2010-2013):
The series reached peak cultural impact during this period, transitioning from a viral web series to a mainstream entertainment property. Key milestones included surpassing 1 billion views in 2012, securing the Cartoon Network television deal, and achieving widespread merchandising success. The television series, which ran from 2012-2014, represented the apex of the property's mainstream recognition and commercial success.
The period also saw the series achieve its highest subscriber growth rates and establish itself as one of YouTube's most successful original franchises, demonstrating the potential for platform-native content to achieve cross-media success.
Sources and additional information:
ABC News. (2012, January 28). 'Annoying Orange,' a Viral Hit, Moves From YouTube to TV. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/viral-hit-annoying-orange-moves-youtube-tv/story?id=15433369
Wikipedia Contributors. (2025, June 16). Annoying Orange. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annoying_Orange
Wikipedia Contributors. (2025, June 5). Dane Boedigheimer. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dane_Boedigheimer
Wikipedia Contributors. (2025, June 2). The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Fructose_Adventures_of_Annoying_Orange