Woody Woodpecker first appeared in American cartoons in 1940 and quickly became famous for his distinctive laugh, which helped make the mischievous bird a household name. In Brazil, where the character is called Pica-Pau, the cartoons aired widely on television and the laugh became deeply familiar to generations of viewers. As short-form video and meme culture grew, creators lifted the short laugh to punctuate jokes and pranks, keeping it in circulation long after the original shorts ended.