Woman Yelling at Cat Meme: Origin, Best Examples, and How to Make One
Two panels. One woman, gesturing and yelling. One cat, sitting at a dinner table with the energy of someone who has heard this exact argument before and has no intention of engaging with it.
The Woman Yelling at Cat meme is one of the most persistently useful formats on the internet. Here's the full story.
Where Did This Meme Come From?
The meme is a combination of two unrelated images joined together around 2019.
The Woman: Taylor Armstrong
The left panel is a screenshot from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, specifically from a Season 2 reunion episode. The woman is Taylor Armstrong, and she is crying and pointing at co-star Kyle Richards during a heated argument.
The clip became a meme on its own for a while — an intense, dramatic reaction that could be applied to anything.
The Cat: Smudge
The right panel features Smudge, a cat owned by Miranda Weingartner. The photo — Smudge sitting behind a dinner table in front of a salad, looking deeply unimpressed — was posted to Tumblr in 2018.
The photo exists because cats occasionally do sit at dinner tables when placed there. The specific expression Smudge has — dignified, slightly contemptuous, absolutely not moving — is what makes the image so usable.
The Combination
Someone on Twitter combined the two images in May 2019. The format exploded within days, becoming one of the most shared meme formats of that year.
Why the Format Works
The format succeeds because it captures a universal dynamic: escalating emotion meeting total indifference.
The woman (left panel) represents anyone making a passionate argument, presenting information, or insisting on something with great energy. The cat (right panel) represents the audience, the target, or the universe itself — responding with complete calm.
This structure is funny because:
The scale mismatch is relatable. Most of us have been on both sides — the person yelling, and the cat calmly ignoring the yelling.
The cat's expression is perfect. Smudge isn't aggressive, confused, or scared. The cat is serenely indifferent, which reads as even more dismissive than outright rejection.
It maps onto almost anything. Left panel = anyone who cares intensely. Right panel = anything that doesn't respond to that caring. The template generalizes to thousands of situations.
Best Examples of the Format
Classic structure:
Left: Me explaining why we need to save money
Right: The Amazon checkout button
Left: My alarm at 7am
Right: Me at 7am
Left: Everyone explaining why I need to drink more water
Right: Me choosing a third coffee
Reversed (cat is the unreasonable one):
Left: Me trying to sleep
Right: My brain at 3am
Meta usage:
Left: Internet arguing about whether the cat is rude
Right: The cat
The Cat's Full Name
For the record: the cat is Smudge the Cat, also known as Smudge Lord on social media. Smudge is from Ottawa, Canada. The owner regularly posted photos of Smudge, but the dinner table photo became something else entirely.
As of the last update, Smudge passed away in 2020. The meme lives on.
How to Make a Woman Yelling at Cat Meme
Open the Woman Yelling at Cat template on Meme0 →
The template comes pre-set with two text areas positioned correctly over each panel:
- Left text: what the woman is saying / who is yelling
- Right text: what the cat represents / who is being indifferent
Click either text, type your labels, and download. No watermark, no account.
FAQ
Who is the woman in the Woman Yelling at Cat meme? Taylor Armstrong, a cast member from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The screenshot is from a Season 2 reunion episode.
Who is the cat in the meme? Smudge the Cat (also known as Smudge Lord), from Ottawa, Canada. The photo was originally posted to Tumblr in 2018.
When did the Woman Yelling at Cat meme start? The combination meme first appeared on Twitter in May 2019 and went viral within days.
Is the Woman Yelling at Cat meme still popular? Yes. As of 2026 it remains one of the most-used meme templates, particularly for expressing the contrast between passionate argument and calm indifference.
Where can I make a Woman Yelling at Cat meme for free? Meme0 has the template ready to use — free, no watermark, no sign-up.