Where Banana

A studio with three orangutans

The frame shows a bright studio with large windows, through which a city at sunset is visible. The furniture is red: a curved sofa and a round white table with a glossy top, on which there is a mug, some papers and a dark object resembling a phone. Three large ginger orangutans sit at the table and on the sofa: two on the left look to the right, and the third on the right has turned its head to the left, toward them. At the top of the picture, “where banana” is written in black type.

The poses recall the hosts and guests of a morning show, and the comedy lies in the fact that a human studio is out of scale for the animals, while their stillness looks businesslike. Two face one way, the third the opposite way, as if the meeting has hit a dead end.

Where the scene comes from

The source episode is a morning edition of the BBC Breakfast programme from 19 January 2017. It featured an animatronic “spy” in the shape of an animal from a nature documentary series, where cameras are hidden inside mock-ups. Later, the presenters in this scene were replaced by orangutans.

The animals visible in the picture are the result of editing, not live animals in a studio. According to descriptions, on 3 December 2019 a Reddit user replaced the presenters with orangutans and captioned the scene “where banana”, and on 21 December 2019 the picture reached the large r/memes community and gathered tens of thousands of votes. So 2017 is more accurately considered the date of the original frame, not of the meme's appearance. The name of the person who made the edit is not given here, because it is not reliably confirmed.

How the banana question works

The phrase is built on the simplest English: “where banana”, with no article and no verb, the way someone speaks who doesn't bother with grammar. Orangutans gathered at a table for one purpose lend the question an absurd seriousness.

Over time the template became universal: any object, promise or person can replace the banana. Reportedly, in 2020–2021 the format turned into a flexible base along the lines of “where wifi”. The “where [something]” formula fits any situation where everyone is waiting and the thing never shows up.

How to come up with a caption

The examples are invented for illustration.

“where wifi”, with a caption about the internet provider's repair dragging on. Only one word changes; the picture does the rest.

“where paycheck” at the end of the month. The theme is clear to everyone, and three orangutans look like a team waiting for payday together.

“where update” under a post from developers who promised a release long ago. The joke lies in patient but persistent pressure.

“where weekend” on a Wednesday. A short caption and a shared longing.

Usage notes

Don't overcomplicate the caption: the shorter it is and the more grammatically “off”, the funnier. A long explanation breaks the rhythm. It often works to keep the English “where” and put a word in another language after it; the result is a mix that is exactly the template's style.

The template needs no explanation: even someone who has never seen the original broadcast immediately understands what the question is and why three of them are asking it at once. Any waiting situation fits: a missing file, a late delivery, a reply that never comes. A dialogue layout also works well: a phrase on top, to which the orangutans answer with a single question. This turns the template into a reaction to someone else's promise rather than just a picture with a caption. It is better to avoid captions that compare the animals to real people, since the joke works better without such a comparison.