Las Vegas memes that kept us laughing in 2023
2023 was an eventful year for Las Vegas, and as the city saw massive events like the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the debut of the largest sphere-shaped building in the world, people went to the internet to make jokes on the absurdity of Sin City.
Here are Las Vegas’ best gaffs and laughs of 2023:
Neverending construction, and the new Nevada state flower
Shortly after the ball dropped in New York City to signal the start of the new year, Vegas saw it’s own drop with the beginning of the “Dropicana” project — the demolition of the Tropicana Avenue bridge over Interstate 15.
I-15 even saw a three-day closure in January when the Nevada Department of Transportation tore down the northern part of the Tropicana Avenue bridge over the interstate.
But Dropicana wasn’t the only road project slowing drivers down this year. Multiple construction projects on Interstate 515 are slowing drivers down and Charleston Boulevard is torn up in several places.
All this road work inspired memes, and even a local beer, about the traffic cone being the Nevada state flower.
On the bright side, the Centennial Bowl project is almost complete (after eight long, long years).
Coyote sightings
A spur of coyote sightings caused some local confusion early this year after coyotes were spotted walking near washes, sitting on cars and even exploring UNLV.
There is a wild coyote on the @unlv campus. Not clear what its major is or if it’s paying in state tuition. pic.twitter.com/TVx3V0o562
— Michael Kagan (@MichaelGKagan) February 27, 2023
The Nevada Department of Wildlife advised people worried about close encounters with coyotes to make themselves large and be loud to scare coyotes away, and to not let your pets harass them.
‘Hurricane’ Hilary
When the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported in mid-August that Hilary strengthened into a hurricane and was hurling its way toward California and Southern Nevada, Las Vegans, many of whom have never experienced a hurricane before, prepared for the worst.
The city of Henderson handed out bags (sand not included) for people to help prepare for the storm coming up from Baja California, Mexico. Officials urged people to stay home and off the roads.
Days later, the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm. The storm continued inland. Las Vegans waited in anticipation on Aug. 20 for Hilary to touch down.
The next day, the National Weather Service reported that the Las Vegas Valley saw three quarters to an inch-and-a-half of rain — a number comparable to what the valley typically receives from a seasonal monsoon storm.
But, all the jokes died down once people realized that, while Vegas was mostly spared by Hilary’s wrath, the same was not true for Mount Charleston.
About 150 residents in Mount Charleston were left without power and water the day after the storm. Rivers of rain runoff flowed down Kyle Canyon and Lee Canyon roads, leaving them unrecognizable.
It wasn’t until weeks after the storm that roads to Mount Charleston reopened, but some of the area’s hiking trails are still not expected to open for about two years, the Review-Journal reported in October.
Dimopoulos ads, everywhere
Unless you’ve been driving around Las Vegas with your eyes closed, you’ve probably encountered a billboard with a man against a gray background, wearing a gray suit, all with one simple slogan: “We Win.”
Steve Dimopolous, owner and lead attorney of Dimopoulos Injury Law, has been practicing law in Las Vegas for over 10 years, according to the firm’s website. But, the memes about his simple, yet ever-present ads took over Las Vegas social media this year.
The firm also made headlines earlier this year when it sued the NFL and the Raiders in federal court after it received a cease and desist letter from the league telling it to stop using the Raiders’ licensed trademarks.
The firm states that it did not infringe any trademarks and did not use any league or team logos in a Feb. 12 commercial that included Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, who wore a black-and-white jersey with his last name.
Dimopolous said in the suit that although Crosby did wear Raiders’ team colors in the ad, the firm has used the same black-and-white color scheme since 2012 before the Raiders moved to Las Vegas.
Mark Wahlberg
Watch out, Wayne Newton. Mark Wahlberg is coming for your Mr. Vegas title.
Whether he was bartending, buying and selling real estate, filming on the Strip, unveiling a new Wahlburger restaurant or lobbying the Nevada Legislature for a film tax credit program, Wahlberg was seemingly everywhere in Nevada this year — making all of us question our work ethic.
You couldn’t go on social media this year without randomly coming across a videos of Wahlberg pouring shots of his Flecha Azul Tequila at On The Border Mexican Grille & Cantina, the Palms, the Cathédrale at Aria, VISTA Las Vegas during the Las Vegas Grand Prix, his new Wahlburgers at The Shoppes at Mandalay Bay and many more that would make this already long list even longer.
Wahlberg finished 2023 with the premiere of his film “The Family Plan” on Dec. 13. He told the Review-Journal he sees the film as a stepping stone toward his dream of making Las Vegas “Hollywood 2.0.” with the help of millions of dollars in tax credits for the film industry from the state.
So, hats off to you, Mark Wahlberg, on your big year. I’m sure we’ll all be seeing more of you next year, whether we want to or not.
F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix manhole cover incident
The Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix started with a bang, or rather, a large bump, when the concrete frame around a manhole cover damaged Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr.’s car just eight minutes into the first practice for the event.
Estabon Ocon and Zhou Guanyu’s car were also damaged by the manhole cover.
The second practice round was delayed about two-and-a-half hours after Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, checked on all the other covers on the race circuit.
And, amid all the racing chaos, were memes.
@sportsillustrated_f1 Well… it was fun while it lasted 🥲😂 #formula1 #f1tiktok #f1memes #lasvegasgp #vegasgp #lasvegas #fyp ♬ الصوت الأصلي – البرنس
Who Would Win? Las Vegas Edition
byu/JeremyClarksonVoice informuladank
The manhole cover was likely ripped from the ground due to the downforce cars generate at high speeds, RJ reporter Andy Yamashita wrote after the incident.
The Sphere
Before you clicked on this list, you probably could’ve guessed what was going to be number one.
From the moment its outer display, called the Exosphere, was turned on for the Fourth of July, the Sphere began captivating people around the world — and even made Time magazine’s list of the 200 best inventions of 2023.
People edited pictures of the Sphere to put whatever they wanted onto its massive 580,000-square-foot screen — including their own face.
Posts from the starwarsmemes
community on Reddit
People especially showed their love online of the Sphere’s big, yellow, and very expressive emoji face that made us all question if the orb was sentient or not.
With more designs planned for the Sphere and an entire Facebook group with over 300,000 followers dedicated to Sphere updates, the venue’s fandom doesn’t appear to be dying down any time soon.
Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.