Demoman is the Scottish demolitions expert in Valve's Team Fortress 2, a team-based shooter first released in 2007, and his taunting laugh has long been used by players to celebrate kills and tease opponents. The earrape version is a fan-made edit that pushes that laugh to extreme volume and distortion, a style that became popular on gaming soundboards, Discord servers and short-form videos. It survives because the character and the laugh are instantly recognisable to TF2 players, while the blown-out sound makes even a small in-game moment feel deliberately overblown and funny.