John Mayer just introduced Conan O’Brien to the chaotic world of Italian brainrot memes, and the internet can’t get enough.
Featured VideoDuring a recent episode of How’s Life with John Mayer, the musician unexpectedly dropped knowledge about one of TikTok’s weirdest corners: the Italian brainrot meme universe.
It started with a simple question from Mayer: “Are you familiar with the Italian brainrot characters?” Unsurprisingly, Conan had no idea what he was in for.
“Never. Never heard that until now. But educate me. Tell me,” Conan replied.
AdvertisementMayer eagerly obliged. He explained how people feed bizarre prompts into AI, like putting sneakers on a shark, then give the results hilariously nonsensical, Italian-sounding names. In the shark’s case, it is named Tralalero Tralala.
Any creator of an Italian brainrot meme, Mayer explained, “takes the AI image and names it something ridiculous, gibberish, Italian-sounding.” These meme characters then circulate in high schools, where students shout the names across classrooms for laughs.
“It’s this democratic Disney thing,” Mayer added, “that doesn’t belong to anybody.”
Advertisement@mayersbelief John educated Conan and me about these characters because I had never heard of them before watching this🤣 #johnmayer #conanobrien #latenightwithconanobrien #latenight #italianbrainrot #brainrot #tungtungtungsahur #jm #mayer #johnmayertiktok #johnmayerguitar #guitarist #interview #lifewithjohnmayer #siriusxm #2025 #ai #artificialintelligence #foryou #fyp #xyzbca #trending ♬ original sound – mayersbelief
Conan, ever the enthusiast of absurd humor, was immediately on board.
He said, “Yeah, I like that. There’s a lot of fear about all this new technology and what it’s going to do. […] My point of view is, we’re going to take that new thing that frightens everybody, and we’re going to be humans. Which is, we’re going to f*ck around with it.”
From Ballerina Cappuccina to Tralalero Tralala
Italian brainrot memes, also called “AI brainrot,” are absurdist creations blending goofy AI images with musical-sounding gibberish. Iconic examples include Tralalero Tralala (a shark in sneakers), Ballerina Cappuccina (a ballerina in the shape of a coffee cup), and Bombardino Crocodilo (an airplane with a crocodile head).
AdvertisementThese memes went on to develop their own bizarre lore through the lens of social media. TikTok creators crafted stories around love triangles and betrayals involving characters like Ninja Cappuccino Assassino and Tung Tung Tung Sahur, a Ramadan-themed Indonesian AI meme later adopted into the Italian meme “canon.”
Other characters include Trippi Troppi Troppa Trippa, a trout-like man with hairy arms, and Brr Brr Patapim, a proboscis monkey with root-like legs.
Fan reactions to the clip
The conversation quickly made waves online. Many fans were stunned to hear Conan casually drop an f-bomb mid-interview. Others joked, “We got John Mayer discussing Italian Brain Rot before GTA 6,” referencing another long-running meme about the long-awaited video game sequel.
AdvertisementSome admitted they had never heard of Italian brainrot memes before this episode. “I learned what Italian brainrot was from John Mayer…. What is this life?” one TikToker asked.
One said, “Hearing John Mayer talking about Italian brainrot wasn’t on my bingo card. 🤣🤣🤣”
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