63 Light Bulb Jokes: 2016 – The Summer of Pokémon GO

In 2016, the world was a strange mix of augmented reality and retro nostalgia. We were all walking into trees trying to catch a Charizard, binge-watching Stranger Things, and trying to figure out how to “Dab” without looking ridiculous. It was the year of Harambe, the rise of TikTok’s predecessor (Musical.ly), and the mannequin challenge. The humor of 2016 is surreal, mobile-first, and heavily influenced by the “Upside Down.”

The 2016 Top 10: Augmented & Nostalgic Brilliance

1. The Pokémon GO Player: One, but they have to walk 5 kilometers just to hatch a new bulb from an egg.
2. The Eleven (Stranger Things): None. She just stares at the socket until her nose bleeds and the bulb flickers back on from the Upside Down.
3. The Mannequin Challenger: Twelve. They all stand perfectly still around the ladder while “Black Beatles” plays in the background.
4. The Harambe Fan: “D*cks out for… the burnt-out bulb.”
5. The Dabb-er: One, but they have to put their head in their elbow after every single turn of the bulb.
6. The Bottle Flipper: One, but it takes 47 tries to flip the bulb onto the ladder so it lands upright.
7. The Deadpool Fan: One, but he spends 20 minutes breaking the fourth wall to complain about the lighting budget.
8. The Suicide Squad Member: “We’re bad guys! It’s what we do! We sit in the dark!”
9. The Musical.ly Star: One, but they have to lip-sync to a sped-up version of “Cheap Thrills” while screwing it in.
10. The Leonardo DiCaprio Fan: One. He finally got his Oscar, so he can finally afford the good halogen bulbs.

The Full 2016 Archive (Extended List)

11. The Drake (Views) Fan: One, but he just sits on the edge of the light fixture with his legs dangling.
12. The Rihanna (Work) Fan: “Work, work, work, work, work… he see me doin’ dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt… on the ladder.”
13. The Rae Sremmurd Fan: “That girl is a real crowd pleaser… small world, all her bulbs are out.”
14. The Chainsmokers Fan: “So baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover… that I know you can’t afford… just like this bulb.”
15. The Beyonce (Lemonade) Fan: One, but she smashes the old bulb with a baseball bat named “Hot Sauce.”
16. The Kanye West (Life of Pablo) Fan: “I miss the old bulb, straight from the ‘go bulb, chop up the soul bulb…”
17. The Sia (Cheap Thrills) Fan: “I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight… I just need a working socket.”
18. The Fifth Harmony Fan: “You don’t gotta go to work… but you do gotta change the bulb.”
19. The Desiigner Fan: “Panda, Panda, Panda… I got bulbs in Atlanta.”
20. The Justin Bieber (Love Yourself) Fan: “My mama don’t like you… and she likes every bulb.”
21. The Lukas Graham Fan: “Once I was seven years old, my daddy told me… go get a 60-watt.”
22. The Mike Posner Fan: “I took a pill in Ibiza… to show the light bulb I was cool.”
23. The Scientist: “We detected gravitational waves, but I still can’t find a ladder that doesn’t wobble.”
24. The Librarian: “The darkness is just a quiet place for your thoughts to bloom.”
25. The Gym Teacher: “If you can’t reach the bulb, it’s because your vertical leap is embarrassing!”
26. The Chef: “I’ll change it, but it needs to be spiralized and served in a bowl.”
27. The Optimist: “Perfect! Now I have an excuse to stay in bed and look at memes all day.”
28. The Pessimist: “The light coming back on just reminds me of all the emails I’m ignoring.”
29. The Pro-Wrestler: One, but they have to hit the bulb with a ‘Glorious’ DDT.
30. The Detective: “The bulb didn’t burn out. It was a victim of the 2016 curse.”
31. The Tourist: “Is this the same socket from the ‘Stranger Things’ set?”
32. The Reality Producer: “Can we get the old bulb to record a ‘diss track’ about the new one?”
33. The Bodybuilder: “I’m not changing the bulb, I’m ‘overloading the eccentric phase’ of the screw-in.”
34. The Sailor: “A dark room is just a boat that lost its way to the shore.”
35. The Poet: “The glass is a transparent lung that no longer breathes fire.”
36. The Bus Driver: “Step behind the white line! I can’t see, but I can still hear you dabbing!”
37. The Ghost: “I liked the old bulb. It had a more ‘analog’ flicker.”
38. The 2016 Legend: One, but they do it while wearing a ‘dad hat’ and a ‘choker’ necklace.
39. The Starbucks Fan: “One Venti-Watt, extra hot, with a pump of unicorn dust.”
40. The Rogue One Rebel: “Rebellions are built on hope… and spare light bulbs.”
41. The Moana Fan: “See the light where the sky meets the sea? It calls me!”
42. The Zootopia Cop: “Anyone can be anything… even a light bulb changer!”
43. The Fantastic Beasts Fan: “There’s a 100-watt hidden in this suitcase somewhere.”
44. The Arrival Linguist: “We need to understand the bulb’s language before we screw it in.”
45. The La La Land Fan: One, but they have to break into a tap-dance routine on the ladder.
46. The Moonlight Fan: One, but the bulb looks much more beautiful in the blue moonlight.
47. The Overwatch Player: One (Lucio), but he just skates on the walls and says “Let’s drop the beat!”
48. The Titanfall 2 Pilot: One, but they have to embark into their lamp to fix it.
49. The Uncharted 4 Fan: One, but the ladder collapses as soon as they finish.
50. The No Man’s Sky Player: One, but the bulb is procedurally generated and looks nothing like the box.
51. The TikTok (Musical.ly) Teen: One, but they have to do the ‘Hand Dance’ while reaching up.
52. The Snapchatter: One, but they have to use the ‘flower crown’ filter on the bulb.
53. The Amazon Echo Owner: “Alexa, change the bulb.” Alexa: “Ordering 500 lbs of lightbulbs now.”
54. The Nintendo Switch Waiter: “I can’t wait to change bulbs on the go next year!”
55. The Damn Daniel Fan: “Damn, Daniel! Back at it again with the white bulbs!”
56. The Ken Bone Fan: One, but they have to wear a red sweater and be incredibly polite.
57. The Salt Bae: One, but they have to sprinkle the electricity onto the socket from their forearm.
58. The Hodor Fan: “Hodor… (holds the ladder).”
59. The Westworld Host: “Doesn’t look like anything to me.”
60. The Black Mirror Fan: One, but the bulb is actually a social credit system that dims if you’re mean.
61. The 2016 Trendsetter: One, but they do it while wearing ‘Yeezy’ sneakers and a ‘Supreme’ shirt.
62. The Arthur Meme: One, but they’re clenching their fist in the dark.
63. The 2016 Icon: One, but they do it while checking their ‘Musical.ly’ notifications and drinking a ‘LaCroix’.