The phrase was popularized by the Saturday Night Live recurring sketch What's Up With That, which debuted in 2009 with Kenan Thompson as host Diondre Cole. Built around a catchy theme song that constantly drowned out guests, the sketch turned the question into a running gag. Clips and audio rips later spread across YouTube, Vine and TikTok as a standalone reaction, detached from the full sketch but keeping its musical, talk show energy for moments that do not add up.