Legendary Boka and His Grandson Zhoka (Concert Poster)

What the poster shows

The poster is bright, in orange-red and yellow tones. At the top it reads “Legendary,” and below it, in large white letters with a red outline, “BOKA.” At the bottom, just as large, is “ZHOKA,” and above that the line “and his grandson, the popular singer.” On the right foreground is an elderly man with gray hair combed back, in a light jacket with a dark collar; on the left is a young man with long black bangs and a broad smile.

In the upper left corner is a blue block with ticket information, and below on the left are the the logos of the hotel where the concert took place. These details are not needed for the joke, so the captions do not repeat them. The composition is classic for pop concert posters of the early 2010s.

Who Boka and Zhoka are

Boka is the stage name of Boris Arkadyevich Davidyan, a chanson singer born in 1949 in Baku into an Armenian family. The name reportedly arose in childhood from a mispronunciation of the name Borya. He recorded songs from 1972, moved to the USA in 1995 and released around twenty albums. He reportedly died in Los Angeles in July 2020.

Zhoka is his grandson, who also became a musician. His first song was titled “Dedushka Ty Moy” (“Grandpa, You're Mine”), and in 2010 grandfather and grandson first performed on stage together. The poster advertises exactly such a joint concert. There was no “mistake” or joke in it originally: it was an ordinary advertisement that the internet accidentally turned into a meme.

Why the poster became a meme

The meme appeared around March 2014. The picture immediately drew attention because of the pair of names, which rhyme and sound almost identical: Boka and Zhoka. Russian-speaking users put them in a row with other comic pairs such as Lolek and Bolek or Vupsen and Pupsen.

The second source of humor is the manner of presentation: “legendary” and “popular” read like ironic labels. They loudly claim importance while the reader sees just two funny words. This clash of pathos and sound creates the effect, and it can be transferred to any pair.

When Boka's death became known in July 2020, people returned to the poster, but with a different tone: some users remembered the jokes with respect, others wrote that the meme had remained part of the internet.

Caption examples

Invented variants for the template.

“The legendary BAND-AID and his grandson, the popular GAUZE” — the joke is that both come from the same first-aid kit.

“The legendary DOG and his grandson, the popular DOGGO” — a play on the diminutive form.

“The legendary FLIP and his grandson, the popular FLOP” — swapping a single sound creates a “family” rhyme.

An everyday version also works: “My dad and his son, the popular chronically late guy,” in place of the official line.

How to use it

The template works best for jokes about pairs where one is the “senior” and the other the “junior”: a classic and a remake, an original and a copy, an old version of an app and a new one. The poster's structure is already ready: “legendary” on top, “his grandson, the popular” below.

Change only the words and leave the composition alone: colors and the placement of the lettering account for half the effect. If you insert real people, do not use their photos without permission.

And remember that real performers stand behind the picture. The joke should rest on the sound of the names, not on mocking their work or origins.