Surfin' Bird was originally a 1963 surf-rock hit by The Trashmen, built around the repeated chant 'the bird is the word.' It found a second life in 2008 when Family Guy's episode 'I Dream of Jesus' made it Peter Griffin's obsession, with an extended gag of him chanting it everywhere. Clips of that scene spread across YouTube and meme pages, turning the lyric into shorthand for absurdist humor. It endures because the phrase is instantly recognizable and endlessly repeatable, perfect for short-form edits.