So Long, Spicey. Thanks for All the Memes

Sean Spicer might be leaving the White House, but he'll remain in the internet's heart.
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Sean Spicer resigned his position as White House press secretary today. And while DC reporters may not miss his fact-bending bombast at press briefings, the internet sure will. Since first taking the podium earlier this year, the man has been a nonstop viral clip and meme-making machine. Somehow in the cynical, post-ironic kaleidoscope of the internet, nothing has become funnier than a puffed-up rage-goblin shamelessly, bumblingly, misleading the public. Language is dead and absolutely nothing matters, so we'll miss you, Spicey. Here's a rundown of the former secretary's greatest hits.

The Big, Huge, Beautiful Inauguration Crowd

Spicer's first day on the job should have been easy: All the administration had done was get inaugurated at that point. Sure, the Women's March was pouring protesters towards the Capitol, but that wasn't what got Spicer riled. Instead, it was those pesky fibbing reporters defaming President Trump's inauguration crowd by (correctly) claiming it was smaller than President Obama's. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” he said. A lie so brazen and confident, the #spicerfacts meme was almost inevitable.

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Dippin Dots

The internet never looked back, unless it was to go back through Spicer's old tweets, which have always been truly bizarre and inadvertently hilarious. Take, for instance, his years-long beef with an ice cream.

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Once he assumed office, Dippin Dots tried to respectfully end its apparent feud with Spicer, and Spicer acquiesced, suggesting they collaborate to help veterans and first responders. Frozen ice cream pebbles may not be in Spicer's future, but he apparently figures they're good enough for the troops.

Onion and Oopsies

Spicer kicked up the weird another notch a few days later. In the span of a week, he seems to have fallen for an Onion video …

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Made a series of bad online security calls …

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And then somebody found his public Venmo account. Much trolling ensued. But Spicey hadn't seen anything yet.

Browbeating Reporters, and Holocaust Centers

Anyone with respect for facts might find themselves shaking their damn head during a Spicer press briefing. But Spicer was particularly incensed by the head shaking of American Urban Radio Networks' correspondent April Ryan, who wasn't thrilled with Spicer's refusal to answer questions about the Trump administration's alleged collusion with Russia. Spicer told Ryan to "Stop shaking [her] head again"—which struck many as both racist and sexist—and the moment quickly went viral. Netizens looped the three-second clip into endlessly repeating YouTube videos and shook their heads in solidarity:

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And that wasn't even the last time Ryan and Spicer sent Twitter fingers flying. A little more than a week later, Spicer compared Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to Hilter, saying “You had someone as despicable as Hitler, who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons." When Spicer realized he was denying the Holocaust on live national television, he fumblingly tried to clarify that he definitely knew all about "Holocaust centers," which seems to be Spicer for concentration camp. Fortunately for the internet, Spicer was too busy tripping over his own tongue to police Ryan's and Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker's facial expressions:

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It was such a thing, Twitter gave it its own Moment. Spicer later apologized. But the internet never forgets.

Nostalgic Furry

It was Christmas in springtime for the internet when people remembered that the press secretary once played the Easter Bunny for George W. Bush's White House Easter celebration.

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Spicey owned it.

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Jimmy Kimmel found a way to combine the bunny costume with the Hitler meme, because of course he did, editing Spicer's apology video to reflect the press secretary's innermost desires.

[#video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zqGvM-sqYEU

Live From ... the Bushes

After the internet robbed him of the solace he found in bunny costumes, Spicer found a new place to hide from the press: the bushes. As news broke of President Trump firing FBI director James Comey, Spicer stood hidden in the dark amongst tall bushes on the White House lawn while about a dozen reporters stood by. It became a meme basically before suddenly photo-phobic Spicer allowed reporters and camera crews to turn their lights back on.

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Even Bill Clinton got in on the game:

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The drumbeat of this meme only intensified as Spicer's accumulating blunders drove the Trump administration to essentially bench him. And with today's announcement? Yeah, the internet is not over this joke.

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Spicey's "Here to Swallow Gum and Take Names"

But while many have taken up the Spicer-mockery mantle, no one has been quite as cutting or funny as actress Melissa McCarthy. Her impressions of the press secretary on Saturday Night Live have touched on just about every Spicer moment the internet has chronicled and marveled over, from Spicer's gum obsession to the Holocaust denialism to his sojourn among the shrubbery. She is the Spicer—or rather, the "Spicey"— the internet wants, and the one it deserves.

The bit was an SNL standout all season—and according to Politico, it really ticked off President Trump. In her first turn as Spicer, McCarthy blasted reporters with a super soaker and crashed into them with her podium:

Then Spicey hawked Ivanka Trump's clothing, as Kellyanne Conway did IRL:

And dressed as the Easter bunny to deliver a satirical (but not far off the mark) anti-Semitic apology for seeming to deny the Holocaust:

McCarthy's last opus? Giving Alec Baldwin's Trump a big old smooch after begging to keep the job he has now resigned:

And really, to look at today's coverage of his resignation is to see that the internet mourns the loss of Spicer mostly because it likely spells the end for his comedic alter-ego Spicey.

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Still, SNL doesn't seem too concerned.

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But before he gets replaced by the Mooch, we just wanted to say, so long, Spicey. Thanks for all the memes.