"Who died and made you king/ God/ boss/…

“Who died and made you (this high position)” is a common put-down of a person who usually doesn’t have that high position, but who aspires to it (or a person who has that high position, but doesn’t deserve it). Popular versions are:

. “Who died and made you boss?”
. “Who died and made you God?”
. “Who died and made you king?”
. “Who died and made you queen?”
. “Who died and made you president/CEO?”
. “Who died and made you Darth Vader?”
. “Who died and made you Elvis (the King)?”
. “Who died and made you David Lee Roth?”
. “Who died and made you king of the zombies?”

“Who died and made you boss?” appears to have been the first and is cited in print since at least 1940. Most of the other variations have been since the late 1970s. “Who died and made you—?” has been printed on many images.

Wiktionary: who died and made you boss?
Phrase
who died and made you boss?
1. Sarcastic response to somebody assuming a position of authority that they have not earned.
Usage notes
Also used with other nouns suggesting a position of importance, such as king, queen, president, and emperor.

Google Books
Father and Son
By James Thomas Farrell
Edition: 3
New York, NY: The Vanguard Press
1940
Pg. 42:
“Say, you, who died and made you boss?” Lizz cried out.

Google Books
Little Murders
By Jules Feiffer
New York, NY: Samuel French, Inc.
1968
Pg. 56:
KENNY. (Whirls.) Who died and made you boss?

Newspapers.com
30 October 1977, The News (Port Arthur, TX), “Pinnochio (the pumpkin) talks back to Raggedy Ann” by Linda Worden, pg. 1B, col. 1:
Who died and made you the Great Pumpkin anyway?

Google Books
Fear to Tread
By Michael Gilbert
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers
1978
Pg. 104:
“Oh yeah? And who died and made you president?” said Tully.

Newspapers.com
13 May 1978, The Advocate (Newark, OH), “News and Noise: Police/press relationship strange” by Jim Underwood, pg. 4, col. 3:
In those communities, the police chiefs were jealous of their departments, and anyone who came in and told them they couldn’t keep records would have been met with dirty words, and a question along the lines of “who died and made you chief?”

30 July 1979, Washington (DC) Star, “Afterthoughts on the Russians and the Games They Play” by Tom Callahan, pg. C-3, col. 3:
Lenin know what will happen to poor Serge if he ever forgets himself in his work and blurts out his favorite one: “Who died and made you king?”

Google Books
Southern Discomfort
By Rita Mae Brown
New York, NY: Harper & Row
1982
Pg. 44:
“Who died and made you God?” Blue Rhonda, ever hostile to authority, got her back up.

Google Books
Fire and Ice: A History of Comets in Art
By Catherine Hart
Published by Dorchester Publishing Company, Incorporated
1984
Pg. 419:
“Who died and made you king?” she muttered half under her breath.

Google Books
Illusion and Disillusion:
The self in love and marriage
By John F. Crosby
Edition: 3
Published by Wadsworth Pub. Co.
1985
Pg. 45:
Wife: Who died and made you king? (TRANSLATED: Who do you think you are telling me how to live my life?)

Google Books
Machine
By Denis Hamill
Published by Dell Publishing
1985
Pg. 151:
“Give it a break, will ya, Gloria,” Bernie said. “Who died and made you Dear Abby? You should talk.”

Google Books
Crows: a novel
By Charles Dickinson
New York, NY: A.A. Knopf
1985
Pg. 135:
“Who died and made you ref?” Buzz asked Robert.

20 August 1986, Galveston (TX) Daily News, pg. 2A, col. 6:
His testimony of the child’s alleged evil nature prompted prosecutor Mike Clark to ask: “Who died and made you God?”

15 February 1989, Kerrville (TX) Times, “Prayer & Peanut Butter” by Shirley Lueth, pg. 3B, col. 4:
I wanted to say “Who died and made you boss, kiddo?” but didn’t because in the 1950s we were warned by child experts that we should never put a damper on creativity and shove our children’s ego and ids down the drain.

17 February 1990, Casa Grande (AZ) Dispatch, “Dear Abby” by Abigail Van Buren, pg. 9A, col. 3:
The boy turned around and said to his mother, “Just who died and made you king?”

Google Books
The Tobacco Club
By K. T. Curran
Quincy, MA: Baker’s Plays
2000
Pg. 9:
PARKER. Who died and made you queen of the world?

Genius (lyrics)
Who Died and Made You Elvis?
Stiff Little Fingers
Album Guitar & Drum (2004)
It’s not a perfect world
But nobody said it was, yeah nobody lied to you
And it’s not fair
But when has it ever been and when will it ever be
There’s a lot you should learn
And with your ability learn some humility cos

Who died and made you Elvis?
Who died and made you Elvis?
Who died and made you Elvis?
Who died and made you King? (...)

All Things Zombie - Movie Reviews
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
(...)
FAVORITE QUOTES
-“Who died and made you king of the zombies?”

Internet Movie Database
Memorable quotes for
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Ed: Who died and made you fucking king of the zombies?

Google Groups: alt.games.mame
Newsgroups: alt.games.mame
From: Matt

Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:47:55 GMT
Local: Tues, Jan 13 2004 5:47 am
Subject: Re: Is this legal?

so who died and made you overlord of usenet ??

itbusinesss.ca
Who died and made you CIO?
Dofasco, Hamilton Health Sciences and others shed light on how to deal with “shadow departments” of users who sidestep their IT staff. Hint: chargebacks won’t work
5/19/2004 5:00:00 PM By: Martin Slofstra

Tirade
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Who died and made you Art Director? Me, that’s who.

Food Media - CHOW
Who Died and Made You a Blogger?
(...)
Posted by Kara Zuaro | Monday, June 23, 2008 at 4:34pm

Copetown
Editorial by Mphuthumi Ntabeni
Who died and made you our judge
In Editorials on February 26, 2009 at 4:04 am

Zazzle.com
Who Died and Made You DM?
T-shirt by thefrozenduck
Whoah, just who do you think you are? This isn’t dungeons and dragons and you aren’t the DM, buddy! Stop telling me how the world is. Show a bit of defiance - gamer style!
created by thefrozenduck (5/6/2009 1:12 PM)

New York (NY) Daily News
BILL BRAMHALL (Cartoonist)
May 31, 2009
(A podium reads “HIS HIGHNESS” with “HONOR” scratched off. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is dressed like a king for a press conference—ed.)
“‘WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?’ WHAT KIND OF #*@!% QUESTION IS THAT??”

New York (NY) Daily News
Voice of the People for June 5, 2009
Friday, June 5th 2009, 4:00 AM
The fool on the stool
Brooklyn: I like the mayor, but I have to admit Bill Bramhall got him good on May 31. “Who died and made you king?” I’m still laughing.
Troy Longmire

Urban Dictionary
who died and made you boss
Sarcastic response to somebody assuming a position of authority that they do not possess.
A: The request has to be fulfilled until tomorrow.
B: Geez, who died and made you boss?
#response#sarcastic#sarcasm
by funurbanfrontfont March 24, 2018

“Who died and made you king/ God/ boss/ president?”