[imagesource: Facebook / Vernon Koekemoer]

Jassis – now we’re going way, way back.

According to Know Your Meme, Vernon “became an internet celebrity in 2008 after a photograph of him standing alone at a rave party in Boksburg, South Africa began circulating”.

If you really want to get fancy, Vernon’s real name is Cassie Booyse.

This is perhaps the most famous photo of all:

If you want to rifle through a serious collection of Vernon memes, head here.

As the Koekemoer craze swept the nation, financial opportunities arose.

Naturally, Nando’s got in on the action with some double thigh action:

Vodacom also cashed in on ol’ Vern:

That felt a little gratuitous, like they just shoehorned him in because everybody else was doing it.

Then there were the TV interviews, the most famous of which was probably the Kwela interview from 2008.

Some of the exchanges are comedy gold, and also a reminder of a far simpler time:

That really was fun.

If you want to hear Vernon in English, you’re in luck. This video, uploaded in 2009, shows the chap who would go on to become Deep Fried Man (and then The Citizen’s digital editor, albeit briefly) chatting with the viral sensation:

Tweetalige Vernon.

In recent years, the viral star has dropped off the public’s radar, but it appears he is still active on Facebook.

A word of advice – sometimes knowing less is more, so maybe don’t scroll too far down his post history.

Let’s just enjoy the memes for what they were, and remember that we’re rapidly approaching the weekend.

Then you can rave stukkend:

[source:knowyourmeme]