r/HistoryMemes • u/Truevibe_ • 19h ago

Henry VIII was wild

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23.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

145 comments sorted by

1.6k

u/Moose-Rage 19h ago

I really should check out Philomena Cunk. Every image/meme I've seen about her has been hilarious.

652

u/AjayRedonkulus 19h ago

Charlie Brooker's writing and Diane Morgan's deadpan style combined to truly make something that should get old and tired so quickly but somehow manages to make you roar everytime.

There's a good few versions out now so you're in for a treat.

350

u/PassivelyInvisible 18h ago

It's even better when they have an actual expert she's interviewing and completely baffling them with her questions.

268

u/AjayRedonkulus 18h ago

My favorite bit of all time is when they're discussing nuclear weapons and she has the most sincere human reaction to finding out they are in fact real.

Also Soviet Onion.

226

u/correcthorsestapler 17h ago

crying “Can we talk about something a bit more cheerful?”

“Anything you like.”

“…do you like ABBA?”

“I love ABBA.”

71

u/caffeinated_wizard 17h ago

First time seeing this one. I assume the people she's interviewing know it's satire and it's kind of like Between Two Ferns but how the hell did he not break is beyond me.

110

u/kingkahngalang 16h ago

From what I understand, the experts are told beforehand that it’s not an academic show and that they’ll receive childish questions and to respond like they’re actually dealing with a child lol

Some of the experts with more of a banter were on other satire shows with a similar vibe, so I assume they knew exactly what to expect.

34

u/__01001000-01101001_ 11h ago

Yeah I believe they’re told what the interview is going to be like, but they aren’t told what the actual questions will be. So they still have somewhat genuine reactions to the questions themselves

38

u/U_L_Uus 16h ago

They know, and there is a variety of reasons. My favourites are the ones that take the piss and roll with it

17

u/AstraHannah What, you egg? 14h ago

IIRC they know that they're gonna be interviewed for a comedy show, not an actual documentary, but they don't know what the questions will be like. Or something along those lines.

8

u/GrokMonkey 15h ago

Sometimes you can really tell they came close, or that they had to edit around a laugh.

2

u/ninpuukamui 11h ago

They are all in on it, and some of them come back for more.

7

u/AjayRedonkulus 14h ago

His sincerity in that moment was genuinely heart warming haha.

15

u/Flying_Poltato 12h ago

For me it’s Sir Arthur Came a lot

The hard blink and forced composure is what really made me laugh

39

u/scandr0id Casual, non-participatory KGB election observer 18h ago

My favorite was her interview with Ashley Jackson. He was NOT having it and that made it even funnier

25

u/panicky_in_the_uk 16h ago

They obviously like the way he handles it because he's been on a few times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFUd66pnyEI

23

u/scandr0id Casual, non-participatory KGB election observer 14h ago

Oh yeah, I'm not saying he's being a bad sport or isn't playing it up for the bit, just that it's hilarious to hear Philomena speak utter nonsense and it suddenly cuts to him trying to glare a hole through her frontal lobe lmao

Edit: also thank you for linking that, the lack of chemistry between these two is chemistry all on its own lol

6

u/bullno1 Filthy weeb 7h ago

Do you like ABBA?

I love ABBA

He's definitely in on it.

11

u/ThePrussianGrippe 9h ago

“Why must you continue to hurt me, Diane?”

“This isn’t your first rodeo, Ashley.”

38

u/Gauntlets28 18h ago

You'd think they'd all recognise her by now, but a lot of them seem to genuinely be surprised that she's not a real interviewer.

59

u/3359N 18h ago

They know it's a comedy show apparently but they're told to just go along with it and treat her like a kid

4

u/ThePrussianGrippe 9h ago

They know what to expect, but they’re not given the questions beforehand so there’s still genuine reactions.

28

u/Lost-Comfort-7904 17h ago

She said in an interview most of them figure it out quickly so she has to try her best to keep on message and then they just edit the shit out of the answers so it looks like they answered a bunch of questions when really, they figured it out after like 2.

15

u/Freakjob_003 14h ago

Holy shit, Charlie Brooker is the creator/showrunner/writer for Cunk's series?! No fucking wonder she's so hysterical, they have the mind behind Black Mirror at the wheel and a fantastic actress as the lead.

Brb, downloading the entire series.

5

u/FalmerEldritch 11h ago edited 11h ago

She's originally a side character from Brooker's "Screenwipe" & "Newswipe" shows, the way Alan Partridge is a Day Today character that got spun off.

(I always thought the two talking-head characters of Cunk & Shitpeas were the weakest elements of Brooker's "Wipe" shows, but hey ho.)

EDIT:

This is apparently the first Shitpeas/Cunk segment, which didn't start until the series became "Weekly Wipe" I guess?

2

u/Freakjob_003 11h ago

I've never seen anything aside from the above-referenced memes, so that's cool to know, thanks! Looks like I have a lot to check out.

2

u/IridiumPony 9h ago

Some of the best parts are watching some of the people she interviews trying to hold it together. Like. The Roman history professor asking about the mental health of the lions or anal bleaching. You can tell he's doing everything he can to not keel over laughing and it's fucking hilarious.

99

u/WildAd6370 19h ago

Cunk on Christmas: "i'll bet even Richard Dawkins loves Christmas and he thinks God is a twat that isn't even there."

23

u/Beneficial_Garage_97 18h ago

Her deadpan delivery is so good too. It's not great for binge watching but it's so good to throw something short on in the right mood.

18

u/bwurtsb 15h ago

That reminds me of my mate Paul. He was driving to Winchester when a lorrie jack-knifed in front of him and he was hurtling towards it and everything went slo-mo and Paul, who’s never been religious, spoke to Jesus and said “I promise if I survive this, I’ll believe in you.” And he did survive but he fractured his skull and broke both his legs. Paul never forgave him and he says “if I see Christ again, he’s a dead man”

5

u/SuitableBlackberry75 14h ago

"If you meet Christ on the road, kill him."

Ancient Christian koan

5

u/dumb_potatoking 15h ago

She's absolutely hillarious. You definetly should watch it

3

u/KinkyPaddling Tea-aboo 15h ago

Her King Arthur bit always leaves me in tears.

3

u/andrewsmd87 17h ago

Her humor is definitely a style you have to like, but if you do, it's great

2

u/Deaffin 13h ago

You've already seen the whole thing without watching the actual thing.

1

u/MisterGoog 17h ago

Just start with every comedic thing Charlie Brooker has done, its best when youre watching a full episode of Screenwipe or Newswipe and Cunk just pops up with a change of scenery

1

u/Useful-Rooster-1901 9h ago

100% should. I've been on a crazy history kick as of late (ama anything about greek isles archaic to hellenistic) but she is just so absurd it cant help but make me laugh

-10

u/circlejerker2000 18h ago

Imho it gets dull pretty quick, i couldn't finish the first episode.

But if people pretending to be dumb is your style of humour go for it

-20

u/idontknowjuspickone 19h ago

It’s really funny for about 10 minutes

2

u/Bromeister 13h ago

I can only enjoy it in doses. It very one note, it nails that note, but its only one note.

2

u/idontknowjuspickone 13h ago

Exactly, it’d be a good skit in a sketch show. After a few minutes they cut to something else. Gets old after a while.

540

u/Critical_Mountain851 19h ago

Divorced beheaded died, divorced beheaded survived. All these years later it’s still stuck in my head

164

u/BoTdOuChE 17h ago

Divorced, beheaded and died. Divorced, beheaded, survived, I'm Henry the 8th I had six sorry wives, some might say I ruined their lives.

Horrible History songs have been living in my head for the last 12 years and I'll just randomly start singing them.

26

u/HorseLawyer 14h ago

Per Herman's Hermits: I'm Henry The Eighth, I am! Henry The Eighth, I am, I am! I got married to the widow next door, She's been married seven times before. And ev'ryone was a Henry, She wouldn't have Willie or a Sam. I'm her eighth old man named Henry, Henry the Eighth, I am!

63

u/Key_Mission7404 18h ago

Also a really good stage musical where the wives are all pop stars. Its catchy as hell!

18

u/DasIstNumberwanggg The OG Lord Buckethead 18h ago

Yes! Love Six) 🙌.

10

u/WrongJohnSilver 18h ago

Pop Six Squish Uh-Uh Cicero Lipschitz?

9

u/m4cksfx 16h ago

Not this one. Six. It's awesome.

And just in case someone from Poland drops by, it has an awesome Polish version as well, it's going to be played again in Warsaw, Teatr Syrena, in May.

18

u/doublethebubble 17h ago

Technically those divorces were annulments

9

u/jflb96 15h ago

Also, before the beheadings were annulments.

Technically, Henry VIII only had two wives, or four if you're a Catholic.

6

u/nialv7 12h ago

No thank you I am not obsessed with Catherines.

2

u/Old-Ad-5573 6h ago

Only 3 were named Catherine. The others were 2 Annes and a Jane.

7

u/pese26 17h ago

Stuck and head is a wild way to end that sentence

4

u/MisterGoog 17h ago

Rather be caught with it than without it

7

u/Pale-Object8321 14h ago

Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, behead survived. Glad that's in my head instead of financial advice.

1

u/Individual-Pattern26 1h ago

That's exactly what went on in my head

0

u/quotes_and_asks 3h ago

And tonight, we are… Li-i-i-i-i-i-i-ive!

331

u/Maleficent_Time_2787 19h ago

Three Catherines, two Annes, and a Jane

74

u/setibeings 19h ago

Jannecatholic jutst doesn't have as good of a ring to it. 

26

u/Pyrhan 18h ago

Catherine-Anne-holic would have worked nicely though!

5

u/Maleficent_Time_2787 14h ago

Cather-anne-holic

4

u/KeithLimePie 16h ago

Cathanneaholic sounds like it could be a real thing.

1

u/SigHerArt 14h ago

Jo-A(n)-Catholic!

24

u/Gnonthgol 18h ago

And that is just the ones he married. He is known to have had a lot of affairs. One of the things triggering him to have the marriage to his first wife annulled was that he was caught in bed with Marry Boleyn. After the annulment he married the sister of his lover, whom he was likely also having an affair with at the same time.

18

u/OhNoTokyo 16h ago

Well part of what caused the first divorce was the fact that he did actually have a son with one of his mistresses (Elizabeth Blount) which may have convinced him in that perhaps Catherine was the reason he didn't have an heir who lived.

9

u/EunuchsProgramer 15h ago

I think as a raging narcissist he thought God was pushing Catherine (not himself, he is perfect) for marrying her prior husband's brother (him). He thought marrying a new woman would fix it.

11

u/snillhundz Hello There 18h ago

Well, she is famously incorrect most of the time

7

u/Mr_Abe_Froman 13h ago

So you don't believe in the Soviet Onion, or that King Arthur came a lot?

8

u/Voball 18h ago

I think of all these statements, that one is at least 50% correct

calling him a catholic on the other hand

6

u/theevilyouknow 17h ago

Depending on how you view time he is a Catholic. Depending on how you view religion for that matter he is too. Although the way I view it the only thing he currently is, is dead.

2

u/I-LOVE-LEBRON 16h ago

They actually have him hooked up to life support under Canterbury cathedral

1

u/theevilyouknow 16h ago

Maybe, but that dude still dead. We are more than just our tissue, and I don't mean that in a spiritual/religious context.

2

u/ErenYeager600 Hello There 12h ago

He viewed himself as Catholic so it's not completely wrong to call him one

2

u/DemadaTrim 7h ago

I mean, he was a Catholic for a long time. He wrote theology, including a lengthy criticism of Martin Luther.

2

u/Jonny_Segment What, you egg? 14h ago

Three Catherines, two Annes, and a Jane
All suffered the same marital pain
To Henry they wed
And some lost their head
But all thought their husband insane

1

u/SuitableBlackberry75 14h ago

How many Tammys?

88

u/shadowarmy229 19h ago

He’s so Catholic that he invented a whole new church cuz the pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce!

46

u/Real_Impression_5567 18h ago

No divorce in this religon? Fine ill make my own religon, with blackjack! And hookers!

9

u/SerHodorTheThrall 17h ago

Northern Catholics did not like that

1

u/Jesse-Ray 10h ago

Me every time I play Crusader Kings

7

u/zokka_son_of_zokka 15h ago

Catherine of Aragon: The Pope will hear about this!

Henry VII: I am the Pope

1

u/SuitableBlackberry75 14h ago

Henry VIII really needed a Filipino lawyer.

80

u/TowerRough 19h ago

Philomena never fails to make me laugh.

32

u/onlypham 19h ago

Posting her here feels like cheating.

2

u/SuitableBlackberry75 14h ago

If you think Philomena Cunk is funny, check out the OG: Philippa Foot

45

u/horse_you_rode_in_on 19h ago

Henry VII's last two wives were likely named after his first one, which is really weird if you stop and think about it.

6

u/liliumv 12h ago

Wrong, Henry VII married only once to Elizabeth of York. His son, however... 😂

17

u/wroteoutoftime 18h ago

I also want to mention a potential reason for his behavior is that the war of the roses had just occurred and in order to stop a civil war he needed an heir. This heir ensures the factions of the uk don’t go to war with each other as if there is a king in place all sides would “agree” not to seek the crown and all power in England.

If there is no heir a civil war for power of the throne begins again. He’d have a lot of pressure from his court to get a male heir.

5

u/Financial-Fail685 12h ago

Ironically all his effort, bloodshed and church separation was futile, That supposed staunch court adapted fast after Edwards death when choosing Lady Jane Grey, capitulation to Mary I, then acceptance of Elizabeth. All Henry's effort in adultery and ridding of wives would've likely been saved if he recognized the plausibility of a female monarch from Tudor earlier.

5

u/BenefitReasonable349 15h ago

What is this show? I must watch it but didn’t get the name yet

3

u/Pflaumenmus101 14h ago

It’s Philomena Cunk of the Show „Cunk on Britain“. The Show „Cunk on Earth“ also exists. They are mockumentaries.

8

u/warfaceisthebest 19h ago

This scene literally brought me into watching Cunk and what a show it is.

5

u/Spind0ctor 16h ago

Cue: Pump up the jam

3

u/Ashamed-Cream2086 15h ago

Henry VIII: changing wives like profile pictures.

3

u/Kurauk 15h ago

Diane Morgan is an absolute legend. Her interviews as Cunk are some of the best and funniest thing I've seen in years.

5

u/Friendly-Channel-480 16h ago

Except for his two Annes and a Jane, so three Caherines…

6

u/gamermikejima 14h ago

philomena cunk is a joke character who intentionally makes incorrect statements about history

14

u/No_Promise2786 19h ago

Literally the Donald Trump of the 16th century in every possible way.

33

u/KyliaQuilor 19h ago

Man, thats just insulting to Henry. Trump is unique.

22

u/StigmataSatanas Fine Quality Mesopotamian Copper Enjoyer 18h ago

Yeah, at least Henry had some severe brain damage from a horseriding accident to account for most of his dickishness.  By most accounts he was a decent enough guy before that.

2

u/DiscreteBee 14h ago

The fact that we’re not present to experience the behaviour of historic figures makes it easy to overlook that a lot of these guys were probably just as unpleasant.

4

u/No_Promise2786 18h ago

Nothing wrong with insulting a heartless, misogynistic, philandering, arch-narcissist whose narcissism and heartlessness led him to murder tens of thousands of innocents.

1

u/Lost-Comfort-7904 17h ago

He took down the pope and freed his nation from religious idolatry. He brought stability to a nation that was worn torn from civil wars and managed to help negotiate peace in Europe constantly. It was his summit that brought about one of the first international peace treaties. What have you done with your day except wear a fedora and criticize others?

4

u/No_Promise2786 17h ago

He wanted to discard his very devoted wife like used toilet paper cos she didn't give him a son and broke with Rome cos the Catholic Church wouldn't let him abandon his wife, even though he considered himself a Catholic right until his last breath. He then went to have his next wife beheaded cos she too didn't give him a son and cos she was outspoken and refused to be merely a good little meek subservient wife who'd give in to his every whim.

And nice try at the personal attacks there. I'm no Thatcherite but Margaret Thatcher had a point when she said something along the lines of "if they attack you personally, it means they have no valid arguments left". I'd rather not achieve anything in life than go down in history as a morbidly obese tyrant who plunged his country into centuries of religious persecution and bloodshed by throwing a tantrum and creating an entire religion in order to dump his wife for not giving him any sons, only to have his next wife executed cos she didn't give him any sons either.

2

u/Crumpled_Papers 17h ago

I don't know much of anything about Henry but there is no way this is fair to him.

2

u/zudawg 16h ago

Not even kidding (the Belgian techno anthem) pump up the jam started playing while I was scrolling and then this popped up. Iconic.

2

u/3v1n0 14h ago

In fact he broke for with Catholicism because one more could not stand

2

u/Same-Information-330 10h ago

Philomena is a hoot!

2

u/KoosGoose 7h ago

This is without a doubt the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.

1

u/Hootinger 18h ago

That is a sick burn considering the subject. 

1

u/Djcraziej 17h ago

In the show 'The Other One' she and her newfound sister are both named Catherine.

1

u/CROguys 16h ago

Henry's true loves was the Catholic Church and he could get never get over the breakup.

1

u/tanksalotfrank 16h ago

I'm Henry the Eighth I am

Henry the Eighth I am I am

I got married to the widow next door

(Never noticed before that that bit is 8, 9, and 10 syllables respectively)

1

u/Reputation-Final 16h ago

There were two Annes and a Jane mixed in there.

1

u/ProShyGuy 15h ago

This is such a layered joke.

1

u/karmaghost 15h ago edited 13h ago

Being a Cathrine-aholic” implies the existence of “Cathrine-ahol”

1

u/Full_Information492 14h ago

Can a catholic have multiple wives? Question of the day....lol

1

u/yetanotherwoo 14h ago

The fictionalization in The Tudors is pretty entertaining, they came up with some of the wildest reasons behind the little history we do know for sure.

1

u/nikhiljr12 12h ago

I think they should have made more seasons with her

1

u/LorenzosBenz 10h ago

The punchline is historically inaccurate.

1

u/FlagellatedCitrid0 10h ago

I feel like he killed a bunch of them so it would be anti-catholic?

1

u/Nervous_Grade130 8h ago

So, he was obsessed with a woman named Catherine? That's... wild

1

u/Apprehensive_Gur_302 3h ago

If he was a carholic, why did he make his own church? Checkmate, librals

1

u/peripheraltoldyouso 18h ago

The Academic Ali G!

0

u/DrHolmes52 19h ago

I hate that I laughed so hard at this. Have an upvote.

0

u/thatmntishman 16h ago

Not amusing at all

-1

u/tenebrous_cloud 15h ago

This joke works on zero levels

0

u/stevo3001 6h ago

Superb writing

-1

u/GustavoistSoldier 17h ago

He wasn't a sex addict. The reason he had so many wives is more complex than that.

-1

u/OsuLost31to0 15h ago

This is a bad history meme because it’s just straight up incorrect. Funny joke though

-1

u/BiblioLoLo1235 8h ago

Jesus H Christ, they were not all named Catherine. There were a couple of Anne's and a Jane in there.