Left Shark

Examples

A Left Shark costume is edited into a Jurassic World aquatic-arena scene, with a preserved Tumblr joke below. Visible caption: Budget cuts / This was the original screen test but they couldn’t afford left shark so they had to resort to CGI

Budget cuts

Source ↗
Credit & details

Budget cuts / This was the original screen test but they couldn’t afford left shark so they had to resort to CGI

Visible Tumblr post/reblog handles retained in original image.

Source media ↗
A backstage photograph of two shark-costumed performers is paired with a Tumblr misunderstanding joke. Visible caption: For a second, I literally thought that the shark on the left was being executed, and the shark on the right was being comforted.

Shark execution misunderstanding

Source ↗

Caption jokes about execution; no actual violence depicted.

Credit & details

For a second, I literally thought that the shark on the left was being executed, and the shark on the right was being comforted.

Visible Tumblr handle retained in original image.

Source media ↗
A close-up of the dancing blue shark costume with an ironic career-advice caption. Visible caption: BE A DANCER THEY SAID / YOU WEAR COOL CLOTHES THEY SAID

Be a dancer they said

Source ↗
Credit & details

BE A DANCER THEY SAID / YOU WEAR COOL CLOTHES THEY SAID

Original visible artwork and credit marks retained in source bytes.

Source media ↗
About & sources

A costumed backup shark's loose dancing briefly upstages a tightly produced halftime show.

Date

The character became a meme during Katy Perry's February 1, 2015 Super Bowl XLIX halftime performance. Know Your Meme records immediate Twitter reactions; performer Bryan Gaw later described the role as including freestyle character work.

History

Viewers turned a background performer into the event's comic focal point. Although early coverage framed the dancing as a mistake, Gaw's later explanation complicates that simple account.

Know Your Meme — Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Left Shark
Catalog image
Left Shark representative image