The rimshot comes from live comedy and vaudeville drumming, where a drummer accented a comedian's punchline with a snare and cymbal. As short comedy moved online, the ba dum tss became shorthand for a joke that falls flat, used in sketches, reaction videos and meme edits to signal the flop instantly. Like a buzzer for a wrong answer, it lets the audience in on the joke, and its brevity keeps it reusable across formats, from stage routines to short-form videos and streams.
Über diesen Sound
Ba dum tss, the rimshot after a bad joke, with a snare hit and cymbal crash. Creators use it to punctuate failed punchlines in comedy videos and memes.
This is the short rimshot universally used to mark a joke that did not land. It opens with a quick snare roll, then lands on a sharp snare hit followed by a bright cymbal crash, the classic ba dum tss rhythm comedians use on stage. The timing is deliberately anticlimactic, turning an awkward silence into a shared laugh by admitting the punchline failed. Played over a reaction shot or at the end of a sketch, it tells viewers not to take the joke seriously and invites them to laugh at the attempt itself, which is why it works just as well in short videos as in live comedy.
