Troubles with the Noggin

What is in the picture

The frame looks like the opening caption of an Orthodox TV program: a white-stone church with a dark dome stands on the shore of a body of water, the sky above it golden-pink from the sunset, and the logo of the “Soyuz” channel is visible in the upper right corner. Over the picture runs a green banner with the title, part of whose letters have been erased: it reads “Be dy” and “s Ba shkoy,” and below that the remnants of the original inscription can be made out. In the upper left corner is a semi-transparent drawn character in a white cap with a red cross, that is, the “doctor” from a related meme series.

An earlier draft of this description called it a jumble of masks and documents, but in reality it is simpler: two images are laid on top of each other, and the joke is made by cutting out letters.

Which show the text comes from

The original title is “Conversations with a Priest” (Besedy s batyushkoy). According to reports, this is a program on the “Soyuz” TV channel that has been airing since 2008. If you remove a couple of letters from “Besedy” (conversations), you get “Bedy” (troubles), and if you remove “tyush” from “batyushkoy” (with the priest), you get “bashkoy” (with the head). The title stays recognizable, but its meaning turns a full one hundred and eighty degrees.

From the descriptions, the version with “Troubles with the Noggin” appeared in the mid-2010s and spread widely toward the end of 2019 alongside the “Doctor and the Madhouse” memes. The exact date and the author of the first photoshop could not be established, so these dates should be treated as approximate.

Connection to “Doctor and the Madhouse”

The drawn doctor in the picture signals which circle of jokes the frame belongs to. In the memes about the doctor and the psychiatric hospital, characters are given jokey diagnoses and “treat” their interlocutor. “Troubles with the Noggin” strikes the same note: the phrase sounds like a casual verdict on someone who is doing something strange.

Such a joke should not be taken seriously: it is about the colloquial “problem with the head,” not a medical claim. It should not be applied to real people with mental disorders, as that crosses the line of a joke.

Examples for your own caption

“A customer returned the Christmas tree in February: says it didn’t take root” — and below, the caption “Troubles with the Noggin.” The diagnosis here refers to the absurd act.

“At 3 a.m. I’m rereading correspondence from ten years ago” — self-irony: the character diagnoses himself.

“Comes to the market with a question: how much does it cost to ‘just look’?” — the joke rests on an absurd question.

“Decided not to pay my debts, because they haven’t ended yet” — comic logic that suits a short verdict.

How to use the device

The main secret is the recognizability of the original text: the name of the show, the ad slogan or the caption must be easy to read even after the letters are cut out. Keep some of the letters in place so the eye completes the word on its own. Do not use other people’s personal photos or caption real people with the title. A serious religious theme must not be the target: the joke is at the expense of the device, not faith. It is better to use neutral captions with a beautiful landscape, as in the original.