From Spanish television to the big stage of the internet. This is the story of El Risitas and the genesis of the KEKW meme.
Nowadays, almost every major streamer has a variety of emoticons that can be used on the channel in special moments. There are also more and more general-use emotes. But where does KEKW actually come from?
How KEKW came into being
For the origin of the KEKW emote, we go back to 2007, when Spanish comedian Juan Joya “El Risitas” Borja was interviewed on Spanish television during the latenight talk show Ratones Coloraos. In the process, he told a story from his professional past that completely upset himself.
It resulted in probably the most iconic laughing fit in television history, which made him an internet star in the years to come. Despite not knowing the language, the way Risitas tells his story is guaranteed to make anyone laugh.
Twelve years after the interview in 2019, a user submitted Borja’s face as an emote suggestion on the site FrankerFaceZ. Here you can still upload emotes you have created yourself. This was accepted and KEKW could now be used by downloading the FrankerFaceZ browser extension.
Later, KEKW was unlocked by more and more streamers and could be used on well-known channels such as that of xQc. The Spanish comedian’s face thus became more and more famous and developed into one of the most popular memes of all time.
In April this year, to the sadness of an entire generation, Borja died of a serious illness at the age of 65. On the internet, however, he will live on forever.
The importance of KEKW
Mainly, the emote is used to symbolise an extreme laughing fit. It is therefore mostly used in very funny and hilarious moments. The streamer is very often the focus of the laughter.
Compared to other abbreviations in the gaming world, KEKW comes very close to LOL and LUL. These are also used in funny situations to symbolise outlandish laughter.
KEKW in action
In the following videos, you can get to know the meme in more detail in all its glory through some interesting clips. In the first video, subtitles were used and the interview was modified to make you think Risitas and the host were talking about the current season in League of Legends.
In the second video, individual clips and scenes from the talk show were used as background music for a funny action in CS:GO.
