Chuck Norris facts

Chuck Norris facts is an Internet phenomenon with joke "facts" about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris. The "facts" are jokes about Norris' toughness, attitude, virility, "alpha-male status", and masculinity. They are given in a comically serious tone, for example:

Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad Chuck Norris has never cried. Ever.

The "facts" usually say that Chuck Norris is a very angry, all-powerful, superbeing. Some of these "facts" have also turned into popular jokes. Like most Internet phenomena, the Chuck Norris facts have spread around the world. They have been translated into many different languages as well as used as the basis for advertising and other Internet phenomena. The "facts" often refer to his use of roundhouse kick attacks to do almost anything, his beard, and his role in the action television series Walker, Texas Ranger.

Background

Chuck Norris facts were first seen on the Internet in early 2005. Conan O'Brien's Chuck Norris jokes on Late Night with Conan O'Brien have been seen as a cause for the fad. These "facts" are similar to "Tall tales" such as those of Paul Bunyan. Chuck Norris Facts started being used in the gaming community shortly after a Chuck Norris Fact generator was created for use with World of Warcraft in early 2006.^[1]

Chuck's response

Chuck Norris has talked about the Chuck Norris facts on his official website, chucknorris.com, with a statement. He was surprised and liked the attention. He said that some of the statements were indeed funny but he tries not to take any of them seriously. He hoped that the "facts" would get people to want to know the real facts about Chuck Norris found in his literary works.^[2]

Norris appeared in a 2007 commercial for Mountain Dew where he had his revenge on the two fictional webmasters of a site that showed Norris in a humorous way. This is a reference to the Chuck Norris facts meme.^[3]

In December, 2007, Norris sued when these statements were published in book form by Penguin in November 2007.^[4]