Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

## The Joke A scientist presents a graph showing the relationship between power and responsibility for humans over time. The graph reveals that while power has increased exponentially (through techno

## The Joke The comic retells the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, but replaces the magical elements with modern economic and strategic reasoning. In the original story, Hansel cleverly leaves a trai

## The Joke A man stubs his toe and cries out in pain, asking God why this happened. God appears and explains that He actually saved the man -- if the man hadn't stubbed his toe, he would have left t

## The Joke The comic shows a father-son conversation where the son says "Dad, I know you're trying to give me good advice, but--" and the father interrupts with stereotypical fatherly dating advice:

## The Joke The comic depicts a conversation where someone is trying to explain a topic they don't fully understand. In the first panel, a person says "You know, now that I try to explain it in detai

## The Joke The comic presents a time-travel scenario: a character announces that they have invented a time machine, but it can only travel to one fixed point in history. When asked which point, the

## The Joke A woman is presenting results from a macroeconomic model. The model's prediction is that "the economy will crash because of the horror of existence in a vast and doomed cosmos." This is a

## The Joke A scientist is making a major announcement at a press conference. He reveals that they have detected an alien civilization approximately two kilometers away -- not in deep space, but esse

## The Joke A company proudly announces that they've replaced human decision-making with an unbiased algorithm. The algorithm turns out to reproduce all of the same biases as the humans, because it w

## The Joke The comic shows a single dramatic panel: a magical portal has been opened, but instead of leading to the fantasy land of Narnia, it has been connected to Earth's core. Molten lava pours o

## The Joke A woman declares she is "totally addicted to coffee." A man with glasses corrects her, explaining that coffee is only mildly habit-forming and wouldn't produce the effect she's experienci

## The Joke A person is kneeling in prayer at their bedside in a dark room, hands clasped together, saying: "Dear God, can I have free shipping on that bulk order of Doritos?" A small smart speaker d

## The Joke A hobbit-like character confronts Smaug the dragon about why he needs all that gold. Smaug initially claims it is a "historically stable investment," but the hobbit pushes back, pointing

## The Joke A computer is speaking to a woman, making an argument about consciousness and free will: "Think about it. You're just a collection of neurons that don't even understand what they do. When

## The Joke The comic follows Gordak, a stereotypical barbarian conqueror, through a series of panels. In the first panels, Gordak conquers a kingdom, takes the bloody crown from the head of the old

## The Joke The comic presents a nature-documentary-style narrative about the Kauai O'o (Moho braccatus), a now-extinct Hawaiian bird. It explains that prior to the arrival of Europeans, there were f

## The Joke The comic depicts a scene from Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus is shown on his ship approaching the island of the Sirens, and he commands his crew: "We approach the island of the Siren! They wi

## The Joke The comic explores the concept of "soulmates" through an escalating series of scenarios. It begins with a common romantic premise: what if there's exactly one perfect person for you somew

## The Joke The comic presents a nature documentary-style narration about a supposed "entirely new form of mimicry" -- a plant that has evolved to look like a computer programmer. The plant mimics a

## The Joke The comic explains the real evolutionary concept of Vavilovian mimicry, where weeds evolve to resemble crop plants so that farmers cannot easily distinguish and remove them. A narrator in

## The Joke The comic shows an intimate bedroom scene where a shirtless man is speaking to a partner (shown in silhouette). The man says, "Baby, we don't need that! If we're worried about population

## The Joke The comic opens with two people discussing going to a comedy show, and one notes that clowns never seem to perform at comedy shows anymore. The other responds "I dunno. Why?" In the next

## The Joke An astronaut is standing on the surface of the Moon, planting an American flag in a classic recreation of the Apollo moon landing. However, in the second panel, a "POP!" sound effect reve

## The Joke The comic shows a group of people playing a board game. One player complains: "God I hate this game. It looks like there's action and suspense, but it's all just set by the starting condi

## The Joke The comic shows a man sitting with a priest, confessing that he feels "simultaneously without meaning and pathetic." The priest advises him: "Read what Jesus said. What he did. Read and b

## The Joke The comic shows a couple arguing about their relationship. In the first panel, one partner tells the other: "You're just too predictable. For instance, after I say this, you'll say we sho

## The Joke The comic features two people discussing the platypus, one of nature's most famously bizarre creatures. The first person asks God what the deal is with the platypus. They run through all

## The Joke The comic opens with a group of fish mocking one of their own -- "Frank the Freak" -- who is migrating from the water onto land. Frank defiantly responds: "I'll show you! I'll evolve a bu

## The Joke The comic shows two people having a conversation about the perceived conflict between religion and evolution. One person says: "I don't think there's a conflict. I believe natural selecti

## The Joke The comic is a parody of Batman and Robin. Robin asks Batman why they never stop going on adventures, noting that all their adversaries are in jail, Batman is old, and their crime-fightin

## The Joke The comic is titled "Funtime Activity: Honest Answers to Prefatory Questions." A cheerful man asks his companion, "Hey, you know what's just the absolute WORST?" This is a common conversa

## The Joke The comic shows a family dealing with divorce. In the first panel, a parent tells the kids they are getting a divorce. The kids ask if it is their fault, and the parents respond that of c

## The Joke The comic is a wordless four-panel strip. In the first panel, a dog is sitting on a couch reading a book titled "Animal Fun Facts." The second panel shows the book open to a page that rea

## The Joke The comic takes place in Hell, where a newly arrived soul is shocked that the underworld still uses medieval imagery -- pitchforks and goat-men. A demon explains that Hell has modernized:

## The Joke The comic shows a scientist standing in front of a chalkboard, reciting a modified version of Hamlet's famous soliloquy: "To be or not to be, that is an irrelevant question. The goal is R

## The Joke The comic is divided into two sections: "How I Imagined Parenting" and "What It's Actually Like." In the top half, a parent proudly declares that their child wants to be an astronaut, and

## The Joke Someone cries out "Help! Somebody help me!" and a caped figure arrives announcing himself as "Litigious Man." Rather than physically saving anyone, Litigious Man asks whether anyone was "

## The Joke The comic presents a math lecture about the classical problem of "squaring the circle" -- constructing a square with the same area as a given circle using only a compass and straightedge.

## The Joke A mother tells her daughter how exciting it is that she has "infinite potential futures." The daughter, who has a background in probability and statistics, pushes back methodically over s

## The Joke The comic shows a couple where the man says he has a confession to make. His partner tells him to go ahead, reassuring him that their love is strong. He then reveals: "Over the last ten y

## The Joke A child asks his father, "Daddy, how do I be a good boy?" The father responds with seemingly wise parental advice: "Frankly, you should close your eyes for a moment and listen to the litt

## The Joke The comic shows a ninja master addressing his students, fulfilling a promise to reveal "the death spot" -- a point on the body that, when struck, results in instant death. He points to a

## The Joke A woman on the street confronts a naked man who is simultaneously dancing, watching pornography, and eating an entire pie with his bare hands in public. The man responds by saying he is a

## The Joke A human encounters a strange alien species and observes their civilization. The aliens have built cities on Earth, but the human notes that these cities appear to be organized like a hive

## The Joke The comic presents a satirical proposal for solving the American healthcare crisis. A presenter notes that humanity has long dreamed of faster modes of transport but the technology has be

## The Joke The comic shows a man looking down at his chest in horror, exclaiming "What the?! Okay, who programmed my nipples to be unicorn horns?!" His nipples have been replaced with small pink uni

## The Joke A couple is discussing their cats. One person asks "Do we own the cats or do they own us?" -- a common lighthearted question among cat owners. The other person recounts that once, their c

## The Joke A skeleton is tied to a chair, clearly having been held captive long enough to decompose down to bare bones. The Flash (recognizable by his red suit and lightning bolt emblem) stands befo

## The Joke A medieval army commander announces that from now on, the army will take "a statistical approach to combat." He explains that stabs are more valuable than kills because "successful stabs

## The Joke A couple is in bed and one partner asks the other to share their "darkest fantasy" and to "force it upon" them. The other partner hesitantly says "I dunno... it's just pretend, come on, i