Wacky. Off-the-hook. Sarcastic. Bizarre to the point of making us giggle so hard we had to excuse ourselves and go outside to calm down. These are all apt descriptions for the r/madlads subreddit, an online community of 1.7 million members and a handful of fun-loving, energetic, and irony-adoring moderators.

Created way back in 2015, the subreddit is a place for some of the most impressive(ly mundane) ‘power moves’ ever to grace the digital landscape of the internet. Here, the madlads of the net celebrate genuinely jaw-dropping ‘power moves’ while gently poking fun at folks celebrating how awesome they are while they’re actually doing nothing much out of the ordinary. A place of contrasts? Definitely. A place where some members don’t understand irony and what the sub is actually about? For sure.

Check out the best recent ‘power moves,’ and remember to upvote your fave pics as you scroll down, dear Pandas. In the mood for some more madlad weirdness? We’ve got you covered! Take a peek at our earlier post about the community right here once you’re done enjoying this list.

Meanwhile, be sure to scroll down for Bored Panda’s exclusive interviews with social media experts Ariane Sherine from the UK and Mike Sington from LA. We had a chat about why people want to become famous online, how to compete with other content creators, and how to stand out on social media.

#1 Flag Collector Finds A Loophole

Image credits: Henroriro_XIV

Writer, content creator, and media expert Ariane told Bored Panda that people need attention, approval, and love. “It’s a human need to want approval from others, and there are far more people available to provide approval online than in real life,” she explained why so many individuals want to go viral and make a splash online.

“Online validation is also there forever for everyone to witness. It’s a rare person who is completely impervious to the thrall of millions of strangers liking what they do—it’s exciting and boosts your self-esteem.”

Media expert Mike, from LA, sees people’s desire for fame online as a way to massage one’s ego. “Trying to go viral and get recognition online is really mostly about ego. Everyone wants recognition, everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, and getting it online is a relatively easy way to do it, all from the comfort of your home,” he told Bored Panda.

#2 I Don’t Know Who Oliver Is But I Like His Gaul

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#3 Old People Always Know The Workarounds

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According to Ariane, there are definitely more content creators now than ever, but that doesn’t mean that all of their content is going to be especially strong. “If you’re an exceptional creator you’ll still stand out,” she said that quality content tends to get noticed in the sea of information. “Of course, the more followers you have, the more chance there is that people are going to see, like, and share your content, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to break through.”

For her, the two main things that help creators stand out online are the quality of the content creator’s work and how prolific they are. “Post content daily if you can, but don’t compromise on quality as a result,” she told Bored Panda that consistency and quality are very important.

#4 Madlad Returned The Car After Stealing It. Then Yelled At The Owner For Bad Parenting

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#5 *insert Your Spiderman Meme Here*

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#6 He Actually F**king Did It

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“Speed is key if you produce topical/reactive content. But again, it’s better not to post than to post something substandard. Creating and maintaining an online presence does take work and effort, but it’s a really fun thing to do. If it feels like work, you’re doing it wrong!”

From Mike’s perspective, it’s very difficult to stand out online. “Anyone can create content, but you’re competing against literally tens of millions of users to create memorable content. It takes a lot of work, and can easily become what feels like a second job,” he warned that internet fame can be very time-consuming.

#7 Dad Just Had To Point That Out

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#8 Gotta Keep The Customer Happy All The Time

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#9 Madlad 1 Pretends She Doesn’t Know Harvard. Madlad 2 Intentionally Angers Tesla Owners

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“To stand out online, what you post has to be carefully crafted. Quality content stands out online. Think it through carefully, ask yourself, ‘Is what I’m posting memorable, inspirational, informative, funny, will it make people think, or feel good, or start a conversation?’ If it doesn’t meet any of those benchmarks, it’s probably not going to stand out and go viral. There’s a lot of junk out there, it takes effort to rise above it,” he said.

Previously, a few of the moderators helping run r/madlads spoke to Bored Panda and we got a feel for the (sometimes overwhelming) energy that the entire team has. They definitely love having fun, enjoy proper banter, and are living proof that the pen is mightier than the sword.

For instance, moderator u/RalphiesBoogers gave us an interview under the condition that we call them the greatest mod that Reddit has ever known. 

However, some moderators believe that the r/madlads subreddit was “completely ruined” after legendary YouTuber PewDiePie, Felix Kjellberg, uploaded a video about the community.

#10 Memes Twitter Destroys Mark

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#11 Madlad Wins Gold In The Olympics… In Cosplay

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#12 Do You Know Why I Pulled You Over?

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“We got flooded with his meme-spewing preteen fan army who are incapable of understanding that ‘madlad’ is ironic,” redditor u/steveofftheinternet told us that a subreddit that was purely ironic was ‘invaded’ by a lot of new members who completely misunderstood what the group was all about.

“Mad-laddery is when you do something incredibly mundane, such as making spaghetti, sweeping the hallway, or being a Bored Panda writer, and then acting like it’s the craziest thing ever,” moderator u/N8theGr8 gave a few examples of what the original intent of the subreddit was. However, the culture of the sub changed after the group went viral online.

#13 Madlad Tries To Take Woman’s Final Dollar

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#14 His Maths Is Blowing My Mind

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#15 We Got A Twofer Today, Folks

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According to u/N8theGr, r/madlads was created in response to an image of “a guy putting a pan or something on his head and everyone else being like whaaaaaaaaat.” That’s all you really need to know about the roots of the community. Deeply steeped in irony. So sarcastic, you can practically feel it through the screen.

“I don’t know if I want to encourage too many madlads, since the last time we got too popular some impressionable kid put sugar on their already Frosted Flakes, and it was chaos,” the moderator suggested that too much popularity on the internet isn’t always a good thing. Quality members might be better than having a ton of random followers in some cases.

#16 Mad Lad Walks Into Fire Station, Asks If He Can Go Into The Fire Truck, And It Works

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#17 Now That’s Going Out With Style!

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#18 Madlads Convinces Anti-Vaxxers To Cover Themselves In Mustard

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Bored Panda wanted to know where the line is between something madladdish and something that clearly isn’t. 

“Contrary to popular belief, it’s not an actual physical line like the International Date Line or that line you dance on when line dancing. It’s also not a picket line, as those individuals who are fighting the bourgeois against the exploitation of labor under a system of capital are not to be dismissed as mere mad lads, but compatriots in the fight against our chains of oppression. It’s also not rickrolling, since that joke is like 30 years old,” the moderators had fun misinterpreting the question and showing off their banter skills.

#19 Bought The 4th Of July M&ms Specifically To Do This

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#20 A Former White House Intern With No Chill

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#21 Always Give 110 Percent!

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“For the most part, we just try to manipulate the price of GME. The main point of this subreddit really is to manipulate the NYSE and various other currency markets. The majority of our posts are code for market movements. We decisively curate and control the information here in order to send clear market signals that our followers use as predictors. I understand your skepticism, but that’s how it works,” mod u/RalphiesBoogers joked that the main goal of r/madlads is to manipulate the stock market for financial gain.

#22 My Goose Is Cooked Or My Goose Has Flown The Coop?

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#23 Madlad Creates Company For Extra Credit

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#24 Madlad Goes Full Scooby Doo And Robs His Own Store

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They added, jokingly, “The other mods will say what they’re paid to say. Just to be clear though, everything I said is true.” 

Mod u/RalphiesBoogers stressed that the term madlad itself is very open to being misinterpreted by the public.

“It’s about people who take something very mild and comment on social media as though it is not. However, most of the users here are like 12 so they think it’s all about being actually wacky or being a first-world anarchist or something,” they said that the art of recognizing irony has been lost (or never learned in the first place) by many.

#25 I Dont Know What To Title This

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#26 Kid From West-Berlin Messes With Border Guards

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#27 Publicly Calling Out A Company You Worked With For Being A Hypocritical S**t

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“Truly, this misconception plagues the subreddit in ways that have cost the dow several hundred points this past week. r/madlads isn’t about being mad. It’s about taking way too much excitement in mildness or mundane things, and also driving Dogecoin to the moon,” the moderator quipped.

#28 This Sneaky “Put Pocketer” Probably Made That Womans Whole Week

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#29 You Might Want To Pull The String To Make Sure There’s No Secret Compartments

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#30 This Guy Out Thought It All

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According to the mod, more people now than ever want fame and love, and attention online. “I see everyone, everywhere, screaming for attention and trying to stand out all the time endlessly, and careers being constantly pursued to become the next wacky social media star,” they told Bored Panda.

#31 Glow In The Dark Condom Review By Sadlad

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#32 Full Credit Given, Of Course

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#33 I Guess Finding Outdoor Seating Is No Longer A Problem!

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#34 Ice Cream Company Doesn’t Care About Nutrition

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#35 This Reminds Me Of The Why Are You In Jail Meme

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#36 Madlass Steals Declaration Of Independence Because She’s Vaccinated

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#37 Madlad Makes Sure Everyone Looks At The Secret

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#38 Classic Bait And Switch..!

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#39 Madlad S**ts On A Company Ad And Gets Hired To Remake Their Ad

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#40 Imagine Playing Geo Guesser In This Guy’s Town

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#41 Ksi Being A Madlad And Serving The Community Well

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#42 Dictionary.com Responds To A Person Who Is Using The Stan Lee Account For Promotion

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#43 Madlad Still Looking For The Link 6 Years Down The Line

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#44 Guy Is Pinning Every Single Comment

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#45 Madlad Did What He Said He Would Do

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#46 Chuck Yeager, First Man To Break The Sound Barrier (Who Unfortunately Passed Last Year), Responds To Question About Ufos

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#47 Man Just Blocked His Wife To Grind Videogames

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#48 Man Listened To The Weeknd On A Weekday

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#49 I Saw Someone Post This Before But, So You Don’t Have To, I Just Confirmed He Is Still Doing It

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#50 Am I Too Cruel For Planning This?

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#51 Superstonk Playing The Uno Reverse Card With A Vengeance

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#52 Madlad Orders Every Protein Possible And Eats It All

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#53 Uɐᴉlɐɹʇsnɐ Sʞlɐʇ Pɐlpɐɯ

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#54 Madlad Lives In Aol’s Hq For Months While Working On His Own Startup!

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#55 Showing Respect To A Deceased Friend

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#56 Finally Some Quality Youtube Ads

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#57 Trevor “Local Sexpot” Moore, Rip

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#58 Under A Video About Creating An Onlyfans

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#59 He Must Not Get Embarrassed Easily

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#60 Ok Sega, Keep Your Secrets

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#61 “You Lose”, Coolidge Once Said

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#62 There Is Always That Lad In The Comments

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#63 Madlad Downloads 10,000 Lazy Lion Nfts And Makes A Mosaic

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#64 He’s Dancing On That Fine Line

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#65 A Madlad Shuts Down Irrelevant Copypasta

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#66 “It’s Because There’s 13 More Seconds” Sheee

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#67 70 Ft Sam I Made By Hand. Was Told To Post This Here

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#68 Heyyeayeah Beats To Study/Get Born To

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#69 Might Also Be A Mod Here, Can’t Remember

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#70 Madlad Hacks The Official Formula 1 App, Sends This Notification Out To *every Single User*

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#71 He Did It. This Madlad Actually Scrolled Through 46 Days Worth Of Miitopia Content And Commented On My Post

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#72 Roblox Social Manager Knows How To Get Atention Lol

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#73 Madlad Giving Himself A Woosh A Minute Later

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#74 Is This The Right Sub, Pls Correct Me

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#75 Idk If This Considered A Madlad But He/She Timestamp Every Time Dvd Logo Hit The Edges

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#76 Madlads Decide The Abba Playlist Contrary To Spotify’s Abba Playlist

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#77 Hello Officer Yes This Is The Man

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#78 Choosing Beggar Got Merced

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#79 He Boutta Get Whipped Tonight

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#80 The The Madlad Really Has The Audacity To Do Us Like That

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#81 Short Height Isn’t Going To Be Problem

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#82 Mad Lad Is A Cult Literature Middle Man

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#83 Madlad Asks The Game Developer For Some Tech Support For His New Game

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#84 Eating A Tortilla Chip Vertically

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#85 This Man Can Do Anything

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#86 Well Well Well If It Isn’t Our Lord And Savior

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#87 This Guy Needs A Restraining Order From All Cereal

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#88 This Guy Has Been Reading The Shrek Script One Word At A Time For The Past Two And A Half Years

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#89 Mad Lad Upvotes A Picture After He’s Allowed To

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#90 I Sent My Dad The Entire Sherk Movie

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#91 1/5 Of Nnn Has Passed

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#92 All The Accounts Are Owned By The Same Madlad

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#93 Madlad Orders Chicken Tenders At A Fancy Steakhouse

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#94 There’s Exactly 276 Molbos On That Pyramid Apparently

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#95 Perfect Setup With A Perfect Finish

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#96 Fotoshoped Pocture Of The Rock For Unban

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#97 The Whole Rind And Everything… He Is My Hero!

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#98 This Guy Is Like A Modern Robin Hood

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#99 He Harnessed The Power Of Lightning

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#100 He Did It. The Crazy Son Of A B**ch Did It

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#101 Madlad Makes Sure Only Cool People Can Reply

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#102 Madlad Protests Youtube Dislike Removal By Unsubscribing From Premium And Disliking Every Video He Watches

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#103 I Bet That Took Such A Long Time

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#104 Driving In A Roundabout 57 Times

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#105 Baseball Guy Can’t Be Stopped, No Matter The Amount Of Punches He Receives!

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#106 Madlad Gives Award Rather Than Updoots

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#107 Madlad Masahiro Sakurai Plays 2 Player Game By Himself

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#108 The Birth Of A Legend

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#109 Alfie Is A Proper Safety Hazard

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#110 Madlad Continues To Keep His Word 7 Years Later

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#111 He Did The Impossible!

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#112 Yes That Top Award Is From Me!

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#113 This Kid Is Going To As Mad As His Fam!

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#114 Madlad Artist Sells Invisible Sculpture For $18,000

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#115 Woah You Brought A Plant To The Boys Bathroom? Absolutely Mental(Crowd Gathered Too)!

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#116 It’s Still Correct Even If You Flip The Equation

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#117 Freddie Mercury Is A Madlad Confirmed

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#118 Just The Maddest Of Lads Here

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#119 That’s One Way To Leave A Review

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#120 The Sauce Isn’t Allowed To Serve Its Purpose

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#121 This Was On A Video Which Was 10 Years Old

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#122 If Saddam Was The “Mad Dog Of The Middle East” Then This Dude’s The Mad Lad Of The Middle East

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#123 Madlad Gives Guy Who Ran In Snow Ternion Instead Of Platinum

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#124 Mad Discord Mod Gets User To Admit They Are Underage

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#125 Do Not Read The Title

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#126 I Would Literally Have Passed Away

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#127 I, A Monster, Keep My Apps Organized By Color

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#128 Kids At My School Got A Shopping Cart In The Bathroom

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Source: boredpanda.com