Tim Allen’s legendary grunt from Home Improvement is making a comeback.
But nobody expected it to completely flip the dating world upside down.
And Tim Allen just got the ultimate revenge on modern dating culture with this brilliant move.
One woman’s dating experiment went completely viral
A woman who goes by Kathenn (@kathenn25) on TikTok came up with a dating strategy that’s got everyone talking.
She created a unique challenge for potential matches on the dating app Hinge.
Her profile includes the prompt: “I get along best with people who can do the Tim Allen ‘awrhoo’ impression. Let me see what you got.”¹
She explained her reasoning in overlay text: “My version of the 4B movement includes making men on Hinge do an impression of Tim Allen before they’re allowed to speak to me.”¹
The responses started pouring in, and Kathenn began sharing the hilarious results on TikTok.
And the results were absolutely hilarious.
Kathenn first shared a video on TikTok earlier this year, and her latest video, captioned “They’re baaaaaaaack (they never left they literally do not stop coming in),” has gone viral — garnering almost 500,000 views.¹
Tim Allen’s grunt became the ultimate test
The responses ranged from spot-on impressions to complete disasters.
Some viewers were amazed by the quality of the impressions.
“I refuse to believe that the first one was not sampled directly from the tv show,” wrote one impressed commenter.¹
Another person provided insight into why men were so eager to participate: “I have no idea why but the tim Allen grunt is the REAL Roman empire for men. I’ve been doing this s*** since I was a kid.”¹
That’s when everyone realized what was really happening.
Modern dating just got schooled by a 90s sitcom star
Tim Allen’s grunt isn’t just some random TV catchphrase.
It represents something that today’s dating culture has completely lost.
Real masculine energy that doesn’t apologize for existing.
While modern men are told to suppress their natural instincts, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor celebrated being a guy who loved tools, cars, and making that signature grunt sound.
The fact that hundreds of men jumped at the chance to channel their inner Tim Allen shows how starved they are for authentic masculine expression.
One viewer summed up the entertainment value perfectly: “This is better than dating.”¹
The phenomenon became so popular it spread beyond TikTok to other social media platforms, with one post on X (formerly Twitter) receiving over 1 million views.¹
The genius behind the grunt revealed
According to Allen, the famous grunt originated during a comedy show performance.
He was trying to entertain a room full of men who were more interested in their food than his jokes.
“I couldn’t get their attention. All I was doing on stage, I hear men [grunting]. So I started doing that [grunting]. And these men actually went, ‘Huh?’ and a career was built,” Allen recounted in a YouTube clip from the Laugh Factory.¹
That grunt became the signature of one of the most successful sitcoms of the 1990s.
The popular sitcom ran for eight seasons from 1991 to 1998, and Allen’s character, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, was known for expressing himself through a very specific grunt sound.¹
Now, decades later, that same grunt is exposing just how broken modern dating has become.
What this really means for dating culture
Kathenn’s experiment reveals something deeper about what’s wrong with today’s dating scene.
Men are so desperate for genuine connection that they’ll perform Tim Allen impressions just for a chance to talk to someone.
But here’s the twist – it’s actually working better than traditional dating approaches.
“Absolute cinema,” one viewer called it, and they captured something important.¹
This isn’t just about grunting sounds or 90s nostalgia.
It’s about cutting through the fake politeness and virtue signaling that has poisoned modern relationships.
Tim Allen’s grunt represents authenticity in a world full of pretense.
While dating apps encourage people to present carefully curated versions of themselves, Kathenn demanded something real and spontaneous.
The massive response proves that people are hungry for genuine human connection.
Even if it means channeling a fictional tool-obsessed dad from a 90s sitcom.
Tim Allen probably never imagined his grunt would become the solution to modern dating problems.
But sometimes the best solutions come from the most unexpected places.
¹ Buontempo, Fabiana. “Single woman asks for Tim Allen ‘Home Improvement’ grunts over dating app — and the responses are hilarious: ‘This is better than dating’.” New York Post, June 30, 2025.
