2019 Is the Year We Stop Sleeping on Dr. Phil

Phillip McGraw: doctor, best-selling author, icon, man. Like Beyoncé, Dr. Phil is a Virgo.

You may know him because Danielle Bregoli, or Bhad Bhabie, coined the term “Cash me outside how bou da” on his show. Or you may know him from his 16 tireless years of work on the Dr. Phil Show. You may have seen him in the news as recently as yesterday, when TMZ reported that Orlando Brown will soon be appearing on his show wearing snake eye contacts.

I don’t know what it is about Phil that makes such an impression on the masses. Maybe it’s his mustache, or his sweet smile. Maybe it’s his deep, judgmental voice, his penchant for drama, or his thousand-yard stare. But ever since Dr. Phil entered the public eye on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1998, he hasn’t left it. He was born a star.

I’d say, on a personal level, Dr. Phil first caught my eye back in 2014. Someone made a Vine documenting an appropriate reaction to Dr. Phil casually swinging his jacket over his shoulder and walking down his stage as if it were a catwalk.

Although this vine left an indelible impression on me, I’m ashamed to admit that Phil fell off my radar for few years. But in 2018, I decided to tweet about Dr. Phil every once in a while, just to make sure people are thinking about him.

Also, here’s a video I made back in March:

While it would be nice to consider myself a “pioneer of Dr. Phil memes,” (a direct quote from my editor in response to a now-deleted tweet because I set up a tweet deleter for a few months), it’s not true. There’s a good chance you’ve seen Dr. Phil content before.

For instance, an iteration of the “You know I had to do it do em” meme featuring Dr. Phil’s face implanted on the green M&M standing next to Lucky Luciano gained some traction at the height of that meme’s (arguably ongoing) life.

There’s also a small group of people on Tumblr who have an affinity for all things Phil. The blog “drphilmemes” has been active since August 2015. They made the definitive two-part list of the astrological signs are Dr. Phil pictures.

There’s also a blog that’s dedicated to making gifs of Dr. Phil, appropriately titled “drphilgifs.” I also think about this Dr. Phil birthday appreciation post a lot.

Dr. Phil has actually been getting some social attention in recent weeks. His social media manager snapped.

2018 was not the year that Dr. Phil blew up (outside of the television show that he gets paid $79 million per year to host.) But maybe 2019 will be. Everyone should be a Dr. Phil stan.

If you ever wanna chat Phil, my DMs are open.

And Dr. Phil, if you’re reading this: someone I know once told me, “You're only lonely if you're not there for you.” That was you. Thank you for that. Thank you for everything.

Thanks for reading :)