What is a Victory Clasp?

What is a Victory Clasp?

Wikipedia calls it a "Self Clasping Handshake". It's defined as:

"a gesture in which one hand is grasped by the other and held together in front of the body or over the head."

At one point, it was used as a genuine, public celebration of one's own role in some sort of achievement, but now it's almost exclusively used ironically or for comedic effect.

How does it relate to this site? The general tone of this site is meant to focus on positivity, self improvement, and celebrating small personal victories on our way to being our best selves. That's how I came up with the name. (Plus, I'm not gonna lie, I watched a TON of cartoons as a kid and they performed this gesture ALL THE TIME  😄)

This is a collection of victory clasp I've compiled over the years. Found one I've missed? Send it my way.


Comedian John Oliver performing a victory clasp on the talk show "Late Night with Stephen Colbert"
Comedian Julia Luis-Dreyfus performing a victory clasp on the talk show "Late Night with Seth Meyers"
Chuck Clayton from an animated series based on the "Archie" comic books
US President Ronald Reagan celebrating selling out the American working class somewhere.