The Bath

What is in the frame

The viewer sees a frame of animation set against a realistic backdrop. A character with green skin and tufts of dark hair leans out of a doorway, hunched over with his arms hanging loose. He wears a blue-and-dark striped sweater, dark trousers with a belt and a large buckle. The face is grotesque: huge round eyes, a grimace, and a long tongue hanging out.

Behind him is an old bathroom: peeling paint, tiles streaked with stains, a sink, litter on the floor, and a painting on the wall. In the dark opening behind the character, a frame with an eerie face that resembles a portrait is visible. The palette is grimy and gloomy, and against this background the character's joy looks especially absurd. There is no caption in the frame, so the whole meaning is created by the character's expression and pose: the bulging eyes and the tongue read as a cry of delight even if no sound is heard.

Where the character comes from

Murdoc Niccals is the fictional bassist of the virtual band Gorillaz, created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. Hewlett draws the band's images, while live musicians and actors take part in the recording and voice work. Murdoc is voiced by Phil Cornwell.

The frame is associated with the video for the song "Saturnz Barz", released in spring 2017; according to descriptions, Hewlett, the studio Passion Pictures and the Google Spotlight Stories project worked on it. The exact scene and the circumstances in which the phrase appeared have not been checked in detail, so there is no plot summary here: the template does not need one.

How the phrase became a meme

The words "The Bath" (sometimes written "Da Baff" to reproduce the character's pronunciation) became established as an ecstatic exclamation. The key to the template is the rapturous face: bulging eyes, tongue out, and a pose as if the character is about to dash toward a goal.

The meme easily carries over to any text, because the character looks both frightening and happy at once: the eerie setting only emphasizes that the hero is delighted by something very simple. Internet folklore commonly has different spellings and alternative names for the same frame. The template does not change because of this, and the reader still picks up the main point: this is an extreme degree of joy over a trifle.

Caption examples

Four examples written independently.

"Friday, 6 PM, all tabs closed. The Bath!" The character's line sounds like delight at time off, and the contrast with the work week is clear right away.

"Waited all day for this: a bath, quiet, no group chat." The cry turns into everyday happiness, and what is funny is the exaggeration of the delight over such a small thing.

"When someone says the report can wait until Monday." The emotion describes an unexpected relief, and the face in the frame works as proof: the joy looks genuine.

"An evening without notifications." A short phrase that matches the character's energy and needs no explanation.

How to use the template

The frame is energetic, so it works better in short replies and reactions than in long texts. It suits jokes about rest, long-awaited weekends and small pleasures.

The key condition is balance: a strong emotion and a trivial cause. The character is fictional, so he can be pushed to any degree of absurdity. But do not caption photos of real people with him: then the joy turns into mockery.