Darwin Nunez has gained a reputation for being one of the funniest players in the Liverpool dressing room. The Uruguayan forward has become a beloved figure among teammates and fans alike with his quirky attitude and nonchalantly hilarious mannerisms.
While he is a hard-working, relentless beast on the pitch – Nunez is way more laid-back in real life. He likes to enjoy his time on the pitch, be it with his beloved wife or his Liverpool teammates. The 25-year-old is yet to become fluent in speaking English but has picked up some of the Scouse accent since his move to Merseyside.
Nunez can be a real comedian when he tries hard. He gave a glimpse of that in a recent video released by the Reds. It was a mix of an informative video cum comic sketch on World Earth Day (in association with SC Johnson) featuring a number of players, including Darwin.
This video was basically the players trying to educate each other (and fans) on the dangers faced by Mother Earth. This included pointing out the dangers that the earth is facing and also a video that promotes and encourages safe recycling.
But there was a bit of underlying comedy behind the presentation of the events. It’s almost like something straight out of the famous TV show The Office in regards to the interaction between the players. There is some deadpan comedy involved, and Nunez is a master at this.
At one point of the video, Nunez can be seen scraping away at something on a paper. As Andy Robertson and Caiomhin Kelleher discuss the right ‘slogan’ for their campaign to promote World Earth Day, Nunez manages to draw up a wonderful sketch of a horse out of nowhere.
This is actually a beautiful pencil-drawn sketch of a fully-grown horse with a large mane and extremely detailed features. The picture almost leaves his teammates speechless, with Nunez cheekily asking them ‘good eh?’. This Darwin Nunez holding a horse picture has immediately become a perfect meme format for fans, who are replacing the horse with other things for hilarious banter.
But it seems like there is an actual origin for this horse drawing that Darwin opted to show in this clip. That is because Nunez was himself inspired by someone to do this. It turns out that the Liverpool striker actually took inspiration from famous UK artist Mark Liam Smith. For those unknowing, Liam is actually a colourblind realist artist who also works as an oil painter in his profession.
He’s an incredible realist painter who can draw almost anything with a realistic touch, and has managed to sell a lot of his art as a result. Liam Smith is also an art teacher on social media who takes his time to help people learn how to perfect their drawings.
He has 2 million followers on Instagram and it appears that Darwin is a fan of his. That is because the ‘Darwin Nunez horse meme’ was actually derived from one of Mark Liam Smith’s posts on Instagram, where he teaches his followers how to draw a horse. This beautiful clip from the art teacher shows the intricate details and rather simple manner in which one can pencil-sketch a beautiful form of a horse.
Well, it appears that Nunez was inspired by this and put it into effect in this World Earth Day video. Now, because that clip is not live and a pre-recorded one, it’s also possible that Nunez himself didn’t draw it and someone else did it before passing it onto him. But for most Liverpool fans, it’s the Uruguayan forward who is capable of producing such marvellous content.
Nunez’s horse meme isn’t the only social media reference underlined in the clip. That is because soon after he shows the horse picture, Kelleher ends up asking him ‘Whose horse is that?’ – which turns out to be inspired by popular Irish TikToker Tadhg Fleming’s clip where he goes out to his garden to find a white horse, prompting him to ask ‘Whose horse is that?’
Of course, Darwin has also managed to go viral for another bit from this World Earth Day video. That sees him make an inspired rallying speech in Spanish to his teammates, who mostly don’t even understand the language. Despite that, he gets everyone fired up and Robertson replies ‘Yes Darwin! Not a clue what you just said, but I love it!”
It’s clear that Nunez thrives in being the joker in the Liverpool squad and keeping up the positive energy levels in the dressing room. Liverpool fans will just hope that the Uruguayan can maintain this charming personality to keep entertaining his teammates and continue to be a persisting thorn during matches to torment opposition players.
