Chuck Norris Facts

Chuck Norris Facts are satirical facts about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris that have become an Internet phenomenon and as a result have become widespread in popular culture. The facts are normally absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, virility, "alpha male status," sophistication and masculinity, for example:

:"Jesus walked on water, but Chuck Norris swam through land":"The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain."

The facts typically claim that Chuck Norris is some type of irate, all-powerful superbeing. The Chuck Norris facts have spread around the world, leading not only to translated versions, but also spawning localized versions mentioning country-specific advertisements and other Internet phenomena. Allusions are also sometimes made to his use of roundhouse kicks to perform seemingly any task, his large amount of body hair with specific regard to his beard, and his role in the action television series "Walker, Texas Ranger".

Background

Chuck Norris Facts originally started appearing on the Internet in early 2005. Conan O'Brien's Chuck Norris jokes on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (which generally center on "Walker, Texas Ranger") have been seen as an inspiration for the fad. Chuck Norris Facts followed facts based on actors Vin Diesel, Mr. T, and Bob Saget. The exaggerated style of these facts is similar to a recurring "Saturday Night Live" sketch called "Bill Brasky". These are similar to tall tales such as those of Paul Bunyan. Chuck Norris Facts surged into the gaming community shortly after a Chuck Norris Fact generator was introduced as a World of Warcraft add-on in early 2006 [Curse Gaming - the original add-on can be found at http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/2242/] .

Norris's response

Chuck Norris responded to the Chuck Norris Facts on his official website, chucknorris.com, with a statement. He was generally surprised and flattered by the attention. Admitting some of the statements were indeed humorous, he tries not to take any of them seriously, and he hopes that such statements will interest people in real facts about Chuck Norris contained in his literary works. cite web | title=In response to the "Random facts" that are being generated on the Internet | url=http://www.chucknorris.com/html/events.aspx?type3 | author=Chuck Norris | accessdate=2004-12-04 ] On October 23, 2006, Chuck Norris' first column for WorldNetDaily consisted of yet another response. It began similarly to the above quote from chucknorris.com, but then disclaimed Norris' own prowess in favor of God and Jesus Christ.

One of the satirical facts made of Norris states that "There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live." Upon hearing this, Chuck replied:

cquote|It's funny. It's cute. But here's what I really think about the theory of evolution: It's not real. It is not the way we got here. In fact, the life you see on this planet is really just a list of creatures God has allowed to live. We are not creations of random chance. We are not accidents. There is a God, a Creator, who made you and me. We were made in His image, which separates us from all other creatures.

By the way, without Him, I don't have any power. But with Him, the Bible tells me, I really can do all things—and so can you.cite news|work=WorldNetDaily|url=http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52567|date=2006-10-23|title=On Chuck Norris 'mania' sweeping the Net]

Norris appeared in a 2007 commercial for Mountain Dew where he had his revenge on the two fictional webmasters of a popular site that featured Norris in a humorous light, undoubtedly a reference to the Chuck Norris Facts meme. [cite web|url=http://www.thedailyreel.com/spotlight/commercials/archive/2007/04/05/chuck-norris-gets-his-vengeance?gnewsid=1175813863.62|publisher=The Daily Reel|last=Miller|first=Liz|accessdate=2007-04-09|title=Chuck Norris Gets His Vengeance]

On November 29, 2007, Gotham Books, the adult division of Penguin USA, released a book entitled "The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human". [cite book
title=The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human
author=Ian Spector
publisher=Gotham
origdate=2007-11-29
isbn=978-1592403448] Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights."cite web
url=http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN2129580420071222
title=Chuck Norris sues, says his tears no cancer cure
date=2007-12-21
accessdate=2007-12-23
author=Kearney, Christine
publisher=Reuters]

Prominent mentions

* Norris has appeared on "The Tony Danza Show" and "The Best Damn Sports Show Period", and has been questioned regarding the satirical facts. In the latter show, he read up the current Top 10 facts, as well as mentioning his favorite one was "They once tried to carve Chuck Norris' face into Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't hard enough for his beard".
* "Rolling Stone" magazine featured a short blurb regarding the facts.
* In the March 20, 2006 issue, "TIME" magazine interviewed Chuck Norris, calling him an "online cult hero." In the answer to their last question, he called the Chuck Norris Facts "weird but wildly popular sayings" and quoted one: "Chuck Norris "can" divide by zero." [cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1172246-2,00.html| title= People| first=Rebecca Winters| last=Keegan| date=2006-03-20| publisher=Time| accessdate=2006-06-20]
* On an episode of "The Daily Show" in a parody of Alaskan senator Ted Stevens' comments about the Internet being a "Series of tubes," John Hodgman stated that beneath every American home there were indeed a series of tubes and they could be used to send various pieces of information, mainly Chuck Norris Facts.
* On "Boys Do Cry," a 2007 episode of "Family Guy", Peter Griffin mentions a Chuck Norris Fact that, when challenged by Brian, turns out to be true when Chuck Norris suddenly appears and punches him with a fist concealed under his beard.
* Chuck Norris plays a prominent role in the internet meme "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny."
* One of GaiaOnline's February 2006 'monthly collectibles' is presumably named after Chuck Norris. The Item itself has an allusive name (Chyaku Norisu) and its description resembles one of the Facts: "There are only two things in the world that can cut diamonds ... other diamonds and CHYAKU NORISU!!"
* Several Facebook applications exist which generate Chuck Norris Facts for visitors to read. [ [http://www.facebook.com/apps/index.php?q=Chuck+Norris Facebook Search for 'Chuck Norris'] Accessed February 03, 2008]
* Famed Internet writer and author Maddox dedicated an entire chapter of his bestseller "The Alphabet of Manliness" to Chuck Norris facts.
* Governor Mike Huckabee, as a 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate, made a campaign video with Chuck Norris called HuckChuckFacts [cite web|title=HuckChuckFacts|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjYv2YW6azE|accessdate=2007-11-19] . In it, he tells Chuck Norris facts, while Norris responds with endorsements of Huckabee. Rival Republican candidate Mitt Romney responded with a Chuck Norris Fact-themed advertisement of his own. [cite web|title=Roundhouse Kick|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oWuCQ7g8m8|accessdate=2008-01-03]

Spin-off jokes

Due to the popularity of Chuck Norris facts, and in order to keep this style of jokes fresh, other celebrities have become the target of similar jokes, such as Linux kernel hacker and creator Linus Torvalds, [cite web|url=http://www.linustorvaldsfacts.tk|title=Linus Torvalds Facts] actor Vin Diesel, [cite web|url=http://www.intrawebnet.com/vindiesel/|title=Vin Diesel Facts Page] Kevin Federline, [ [http://www.muddbutt.com/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=5&thread_id=27 MuddButt.com] ] Ron Paul, [ [http://www.ronpaulfacts.com Ron Paul Facts - The Beginning] ] Mr. T, [ [http://4q.cc/index.php?pid=top100&person=mrt 4Q.cc >> Top 100 Facts for Mr. T ] ] Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders, [ [http://coltfreaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1725 Bob Sanders facts - Unofficial Indianapolis Colts Fan Forums ] ] Bruce Schneier, [cite web| url=http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/| title= Schneier Facts| accessdate=2007-07-11 ] Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, [ [http://www.timtebowfacts.com Tim Tebow Facts ] ] professional player Jon Finkel, [cite web|url=http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=104597|title=Jon Finkel Facts] Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, [ [http://mysite.verizon.net/heyjude421/chf/chf.html Cole Hamels Facts dot com ] ] Cambridge astrophysicist Dave Green, [cite web|url=http://www.srcf.ucam.org/davegreenfacts/|title= Dave Green Facts| accessdate=2008-02-04] actor Bruce Campbell, [ [http://brucefacts.com ~*~ Bruce Campbell Facts ~*~ ] ] Bill Nye [ [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2218587963 Bill Nye is the chuck norris of the Science World] ] , Olympics swimming champion Michael Phelps [http://michaelphelpsfacts.com/Welcome.html] , vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin [ [http://www.palinfacts.com/ Sarah Palin Facts] ] and various other persons.

These jokes have also been extended to fictional characters, such as the television series "24" character Jack Bauer, [cite web|url=http://www.jackbauerfacts.com|title=Facts on Jack Bauer] the "Star Wars" character Kyle Katarn, [cite web|url=http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/24965494/p1|title=Kyle Katarn Is So Tough] Batman, [ [http://batfacts.thevelvetedge.com Random Batman Fact ] ] Captain Falcon [ [http://captainfalconfacts.com Captain Falcon Facts] ] from the "F-Zero" games, Albus Dumbledore, [Mugglecast#Segments] and High Overlord Saurfang from "World of Warcraft" [ [http://www.wowwiki.com/Saurfang_facts Saurfang facts - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft ] ] and Yoda.

Bob Saget facts are in fact the opposite of the Chuck Norris facts, pointing out Saget's sensitivity. For example, "every night, the boogeyman checks under his bed for Chuck Norris; but then Bob Saget comes in, gives the boogeyman warm milk and quietly reads him a bedtime story."

On the DVD re-issue of "Road House", Kevin Smith's commentary track gives several Chuck Norris facts retitled to reference Patrick Swayze's character Dalton.

References

External links

* [http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/ Chuck Norris Facts]
* [http://www.dahl-lumholt.dk/Chuck-Norris.html More Chuck Norris Facts]
* [http://www.4q.cc/chuck/ Random fact generator]
* [http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52567 Chuck Norris' official response]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200282.html A Washington Post article on Chuck Norris Facts]
* [http://chucknorrisjokesblog.blogspot.com Chuck Norris Jokes Blog]