Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

## The Joke Aliens arrive on Earth announcing they have "traveled the galaxy to find other minds." A human enthusiastically offers to introduce them to "our greatest scientists and mathematicians." T

## The Joke A giant robot addresses a small human: "And now, human, you will die!" The human says "Look at this!" and shows the robot something (implied to be a logical puzzle or paradox involving bi

## The Joke A man on his deathbed tells his wife: "Tell my wife to find another man to love." She replies, "You're going to be fine, you'll be all right." He insists: "I know, but this brush with dea

## The Joke The comic is titled "How to Spot a Scientist." It shows two scenarios with identical setups: someone delivers the devastating news, "The data is in and it looks like there were no survivo

This comic is titled "Theological Game: Running Proofs of God in Reverse" and satirizes classical arguments for the existence of God by inverting them to absurd effect. In the first panel, the comic

This comic plays on the popular misconception and overuse of the word "quantum" in everyday conversation. A woman at what appears to be a bar is explaining to a man that the combination of carbon and

This comic is a fantasy parody set in what appears to be a medieval or Tolkien-esque scenario. A group of characters confronts someone, telling them "Maybe you do not belong in this place of darkness.

This is a single-panel comic with a caption below it. A woman in a bathrobe finds her partner awake late at night at the computer and asks "Whatcha doin' up late?" The person at the computer responds,

This comic is a riff on the famous "trolley problem" in moral philosophy. The classic trolley problem presents a stark ethical dilemma: a trolley is heading toward five people, and you can divert it t

This comic imagines a conversation between a person and God about why the dinosaurs were killed. In the first panel, a man prays: "Dear God, why did you kill the dinosaurs?" God's answer is blunt and

This comic features a person praying to God, asking: "Dear God, why did you kill the dinosaurs?" God responds from the heavens: "They were doing it in the butt. Doing it right in the butt. So I aster

This four-panel comic depicts a relationship conversation gone wrong. A man approaches a woman named Celia and says "Celia, we need to talk about us. We need to—" but before he can finish, she spots s

This comic explores the fantasy of apocalypse survival versus its grim reality. In the first panel, a man is asked "Whatcha doing?" and explains he is "digging a bunker to live in in case the apocalyp

This is a minimalist single-panel comic showing a timeline stretching from the "Dawn of Humanity" on the left to the present on the right. An arc rises from early history, peaks at a point labeled "Er

This comic features a Superman-like superhero complaining about the pressures of his double life. In the first panel, the hero flies through the air saying "It's so much pressure being Superman! You k

This four-panel comic plays on the old joke about men with big cars "compensating for something" — the implication usually being that they have a small penis or are insecure about their masculinity.

This comic satirizes the concept of "the grind" as it applies to both academic and athletic pursuits. In the first panel, a child asks her mother how she got good at her profession. The mother, a tea

This comic features a man explaining why he gave his soul to Satan, and the absurd logic behind it. In the first panel, the man says: "So I gave my soul away." Someone asks: "To Satan?" He responds:

This comic is about a man who gave his soul to Satan and the unexpected consequences. In the first panel, the man explains: "So I gave my soul, man" to Satan, and someone asks "to Satan?" He confirms

This comic is a bedroom humor strip playing on the phrase "you can put it anywhere you want." The entire comic takes place in near-total darkness (the panels are almost entirely black, with only the

This comic imagines a robot that solves all of humanity's resource problems — only for society to reject the solution. In the first panel, someone introduces: "A robot that can get its own solar pane

This comic presents a scenario about a robot that could solve all of humanity's resource problems. In the first panel, someone introduces the concept: "A robot that can get you solar panels to harves

This comic subverts the werewolf trope by combining it with the very mundane problem of overeating. In the first panel, a woman asks her friend Hank why he eats five whole pizzas every time there is

This comic is a theological/philosophical joke about the problem of evil, free will, and God's omnipotence. A man prays to God, saying he should not "sit around all day" and should "go out tonight an

This comic satirizes extreme libertarianism by inventing an even more radical political philosophy. In the first panel, one character announces "I've become an anarchist libertarian." The other respo

This comic uses the debate about animal consciousness and pain to satirize how humans rationalize unethical behavior. A person asks God "Why am I here?" God explains: "This is an experiment to see if

This comic is a math joke about the concept of "normal numbers" in mathematics. The single panel shows a group of alarmed mathematicians staring at a computer screen. One announces: "See? Just around

This comic humorously redefines famous literary adjectives (Dickensian, Shakespearean, Kafkaesque, Orwellian) based on how people actually use or misuse them in everyday conversation. The title reads

This comic presents a graph titled "All Life Stages Explained with One Variable." The X-axis is labeled "Your Age" (from 10 to 100), and the Y-axis is labeled "How Well You Know How to Be the Age You

This comic plays on the awkwardness of the "where do babies come from" conversation between parent and child. In the first panel, a child asks her mother "Mom, where do I come from?" The mother nervo

This comic plays on the idea that God is picky about what qualifies as a "transcendent moment" — and that there's a competitive hierarchy even in spiritual experiences. In the first panel, a man pray

This comic depicts the familiar experience of rediscovering a beloved strategy game from childhood, now available online. In the first panel, a bearded man notices: "Oh neat. That beloved strategy ga

This comic riffs on the "look-and-say sequence," a well-known mathematical sequence where each term describes the previous term's digits. The sequence shown in the comic starts: 1, 11, 21, 1211... Th

This comic is about a calculus professor who cuts straight to the emotional core of differential calculus. On the blackboard, a professor has written: "A = the number of symbols in a function. B = th

This comic satirizes the common personal finance advice about saving money by cutting out small daily purchases like coffee. In the first panel, one character asks another, "Wow, you buy a coffee eve

This comic explores the cynical idea that wisdom in old age is largely a self-serving illusion. In the first panel, a child asks his father, "Dad, when you grow old do you become wise?" The father si

This comic is a simple gross-out gag built on the well-known fact that many fine cheeses smell terrible. The single large panel shows a man standing in a dark doorway, covering his nose and mouth in

This comic parodies the classic "eccentric millionaire's will" trope from horror and mystery stories. In the first panel, a lawyer reads the will to a group of heirs: "According to your father's will

This comic offers a Batman parody built on a simple visual pun. The panel shows a villain (resembling the Joker) laughing maniacally -- "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" -- while standing in a beam of light surrounded

This comic is a dark humor one-liner about costume parties and political oppression. A woman is on the phone, responding to what is presumably an invitation to a costume party. She says: "Ohh, sounds

This comic satirizes how people in the tech industry rebrand their work depending on social context. It presents four panels showing the same person describing their job in different settings: - "At

This comic satirizes employers who frame low wages as a philosophical virtue rather than admitting they simply do not want to pay their workers fairly. In the first panel, a boss tells an employee: "

This comic takes a dark, cynical spin on the familiar "Free Hugs" street sign phenomenon. In the first panel, a person holds up a "Free Hugs" sign. Another person approaches and begins critiquing the

This comic presents an existential crisis wrapped in a series of increasingly desperate metaphors. In the first panel, one character says to another (who appears to be a therapist or friend): "Do you

This comic explores a theological argument about miracles and God's existence through a debate between a theologian (or believer) and a skeptic (likely a priest or clergyman based on his collar). In

This comic draws a comparison between modern social media and the surreal, paranoid worlds depicted in Philip K. Dick's science fiction novels. A bearded man (likely representing the comic's author,

This comic applies the real-world phenomenon of parasitic fungi that control insects to the beloved children's television character Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. The scene shows several Sesame S

This is a lengthy comic that satirizes the concept of a liberal arts education by taking its philosophical ideals to absurd extremes. The comic depicts a conversation between two characters -- seemin

This comic imagines what would happen if a professional research mathematician were forced to teach kindergarten. A woman (the mathematician-turned-kindergarten-teacher) stands at the front of a clas

This comic features a father giving his child a nostalgic lecture about how video games used to be harder and more unforgiving -- but the punchline reframes his complaint. The father says: "Bah! When