Adam Driver, star of the HBO series Girls, recently commented on a clip from the show where he says, "Good soup" – a phrase that has inexplicably become a viral meme online in the past few months. Girls itself debuted on HBO in 2012 and concluded its sixth and final season in 2017. The series follows the lives of four women living in New York City, and is loosely based on the life of creator Lena Dunham. In the show, Driver portrays an emotionally turbulent young actor named Adam Sackler who is in a relationship with Dunham's character, Hannah.
The scene in question comes from Girls season 6 episode 8, titled "What Will We Do This Time About Adam?" Hannah and Adam meet in a diner to discuss their future plans, before realizing that they ultimately must go their separate ways. As tears begin to well in Hannah's eyes, Adam quickly diffuses the tension by leaning into his bowl and consuming a spoonful of soup before uttering the now-iconic phrase, "Good soup," and flashing an "ok" symbol with his hand. The gesture, which is already jarring and unexpected within the context of the scene, has reached even greater comedic heights thanks to TikTok's popular lip dub trend. These days, the sound is nearly ubiquitous on the popular video-sharing platform.
While promoting his upcoming film House of Gucci, Driver recently commented on the Girls clip in an exclusive interview with Screen Rant. When asked if he was aware of the meme, the actor said that he "know[s] about it peripherally, but [Screen Rant] were the first" to ask him about the trend upfront. Driver called the sudden popularity of the clip "very bizarre," saying that memes are "not something I keep track of [...] I'm just made aware of things." Check out the full excerpt below:
I know about [the meme] peripherally, but you were the first person that's ever brought it up to me. In life.
It's very bizarre. It's very... Yeah. I have no control over it. Anything.
[...] I don't think I really understand. I mean, like I understand what memes are, I guess, but it's not something I keep track of or am tracking. I'm just made aware of things. And then, I acknowledge that I received the information, and then I move on.
Elsewhere in the interview, Driver lamented that he has "no control over [his image online]." Considering the actor's famously intense commitment to keeping his personal life obscured from the public eye, sudden viral trends may understandably be an uncomfortable experience. Fortunately, thanks to the nature of TikTok's lip dub trend, it's mostly Driver's voice making the rounds online.
In the age of social media, literally anything is fair game to become a viral sensation overnight. These trends seem to fade into obscurity just as quickly as they burst onto the scene. One upside, however, is that they also tend to renew interest in whatever show or movie is being riffed. The comment section for HBO's official clip of the "Good soup" scene has thousands of users flocking to the video simply to share their love of the phrase. If Girls receives a sudden resurgence on HBO Max, the streamer will know who to thank.
House of Gucci is in theaters on November 24.