Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

## The Joke A woman asks her partner, "Why do you look so serious and disturbed when we have sex?" He responds, "It's supposed to be serious?" She explains, "That's my role in the sex — I look like a

This comic plays on the romantic idealization of nature and animal life. Two people are outdoors, looking at a mountainous landscape. One says: "Sometimes... sometimes I think of what it must be like

This comic satirizes the concept of the "metaverse" -- the idea, heavily promoted by tech companies around 2021-2022, that people would want to inhabit a virtual reality world accessed through VR head

This comic takes the classic romantic scenario of cloud-watching and gives it a literal twist. In the first panel, a couple is lying on a blanket outdoors. One asks: "Do you see anything in the cloud

This comic satirizes how people apply the logic of online reviews and constructive criticism to situations where such feedback is inappropriate or unwelcome. The comic begins with a "Life Tip" that r

This comic is a dark joke about how people are remembered after death, contrasting deathbed confessions with posthumous reputation. In the first panel, an elderly woman is at the bedside of her dying

This comic is built around a long-game wordplay on the concept of "irony." In the first panel, an old man announces: "I'm changing my name to Irony." His wife asks: "Why?" He explains: "So if I die b

This comic satirizes how academic or technical language can be used to defuse or overcomplicate simple situations. In the first panel, a mugger confronts someone in an alley: "Gimme yer wallet!" The

This comic plays with the concept of statements that are "technically true" but deeply misleading. The header reads: "Dating Tip: Make statements that are impressive but only technically true." In t

This comic is about a parent's fantasy of finding a shortcut for family meals, and the gap between the fantasy and reality. In the first panel, a father sits in an armchair thinking: "What if I could

This comic is an extended philosophical meditation on why people dislike math, using the metaphor of a fungus to explain mathematical reality. The comic opens with the question: "Why do people hate m

This comic shows a plane flying over a city towing a banner that reads: "Based on your innate abilities and socioeconomic status at birth, you should've done better by now." The caption below states:

This four-panel comic features a person holding a "Free Hugs" sign. In the first panel, someone approaches offering free hugs. In the second panel, they embrace. In the third panel, the hugger reveals

The comic shows a man learning that, in order to exercise the "right to be forgotten" on the internet, a company was paid 10 overseas peasants to legally change their names to his, and the total cost

This comic depicts two alien-like creatures (possibly far-future archaeologists) exploring what appears to be an ancient human habitat. One explains the concept of an "ichnospecies" -- a species known

This comic depicts a mugging scenario that goes off-script. A mugger approaches someone saying "I'm just mugging you, I'm not gonna kill you, don't worry." The victim responds with confused recognitio

This comic features a conversation between a human and a robot. The human is making noises ("BEEEEEEEEEEEE...") that the robot finds irritating, telling them to "stop it!" The human asks why the robot

This comic shows an employee named Shirley arriving at the office dressed as a dragon (or similar fantasy creature). Her boss tells her she can't dress as a dragon and must wear "office-appropriate" a

This two-panel comic shows a couple in a relationship context. In the top panel, a woman asks "Why that, though?" and the other person responds "Nobody would accidentally say it." The bottom panel, la

This comic shows a woman listening to a political podcast. The podcast host declares: "This political podcast is nothing but people making predictions about an unpredictable system." She responds: "I

This comic presents a philosophical dialogue, likely between a priest/theologian and a parishioner, exploring the concept of selfhood through the lens of cellular biology and the theological question

This comic explores the question "How can you be certain you've lived a good life?" through an increasingly philosophical lens. The first character states that a good life is obviously one made of lo

This comic parodies the classic job interview question "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Instead of giving a normal career-oriented answer, the interviewee responds with an alarming clairvoy

This comic presents a fake mathematical proof titled "A Proof That No Numbers Are Interesting." The proof goes: Suppose there exists a set containing all interesting numbers, S. Everyone knows about

This comic satirizes the hype around quantum computing by contrasting it with traditional engineering. In the first panel, someone asks who the greatest engineers are, and the answer is "quantum comp

This comic plays on the familiar trope of someone asking "Is there a doctor on the plane?" during a medical emergency. A passenger has had a heart attack, and someone asks if there's a doctor on the

This comic depicts a father having an extended, dramatic breakdown about a broken condom, screaming "Oh my God! Oh my God the condom broke! Why did the condom break?! Kids cost a fortune! Oh God I was

This comic features a therapy session where a patient describes experiencing spontaneous happiness -- sitting on a park bench, feeling the wind, hearing birds -- and finding it deeply unsettling. The

This comic features a conversation about the appeal of fictional characters in video games, specifically addressing why players form emotional connections with digital characters. The first speaker a

This comic riffs on the question "Why do so many cultures from around the world have flood myths?" A man asks God this question. God, looking sheepish, replies "Oh, uh, well..." and the comic flashes

This comic features a scene of medieval dragon-fighters preparing for battle. A warrior argues: "Father, why do we fight dragons with flaming arrows? Fire is their natural element." The father replie

This comic revisits the Biblical story of the Great Flood, with God attempting to justify the morality of killing nearly all of humanity. A figure (likely meant to represent a theologian or philosophe

This comic features two women, one of whom tells her partner Sally that she believes God only wants them to have sex if it's for procreation. Sally's partner then suggests a workaround: Sally can pray

This comic examines why flood myths appear in so many cultures around the world, offering increasingly practical (and darkly funny) explanations. In the first panel, a figure asks God: "God, why do s

This comic examines why flood myths appear in so many cultures around the world, offering increasingly practical (and darkly funny) explanations. In the first panel, a figure asks God: "God, why do s

This is a short, observational comic showing a man at what appears to be a bar or social gathering in a foreign country. He says: "The local kind of alcohol, coffee, or tea is good and wasn't it horri

This comic plays on the well-known tech industry adage: "If the service is free, you are the product" -- meaning that free services (like social media platforms) monetize users' data and attention rat

This comic takes place in a medical setting where a doctor is about to tell an elderly patient something, but first feels compelled to disclose that he once fell into a vat of plastic and emerged look

This comic features a conversation about Shakespeare's Hamlet, beginning with someone addressing God about studying the play. God (or an academic figure) explains that there are three types of Hamlet

This comic features an alien visiting Earth and explaining to a human why they need humanity's help: "Humans are the only creatures in this universe who can tell jokes. We need you for the Grand Galac

This comic contrasts childhood and adult perspectives on grown-up conversation. The top panel, labeled "When You're a Kid," shows a child sitting at a table while adults talk in another room, thinking

This comic features a prince explaining to someone why he wears a mask (or visor). He argues that a prince never knows when he might be forced to kiss someone due to fairy tale logic: "Suppose I accid

This comic is a simple but clever math joke. One person asks another: "Hey you! What's the best base system for math?" The other responds: "Obviously base-10." The first person emphatically agrees: "D

This comic is about using a to-do list as a psychological hack for happiness. In the first panel, a friend asks the main character why he is so relaxed all the time. The character explains that he di

This comic plays on Einstein's famous quote about quantum mechanics: "God does not play dice." The top panel is set in 1926, showing Einstein (recognizable by his mustache and wild hair) declaring, "

This comic is a conversation between two people observing mushrooms in a forest, and it riffs on the intersection of biology and aesthetics. One person comments that the mushrooms "look good with the

This comic depicts a Halloween "mystery box" game -- a classic party activity where blindfolded participants reach into containers and are told they're touching something gross (like "peeled grapes ar

This is a single-panel comic with a caption below. A man in a suit is shown speaking to someone (seen from behind), saying: "I really feel this meeting could have been an email." The caption reads:

This comic is about the adage that "good artists borrow, great artists steal" -- a quote often attributed to Picasso (though its true origin is debated). In the first panel, someone asks a writer how

This comic shows a politician passionately ranting at a podium. The politician declares: "I don't care what some Frenchman says! There DOES exist an a, b, and c that satisfy a^n + b^n = c^n for an in