Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

## The Joke Two characters discuss the need to stop kids from falling for propaganda and fake news. One asks, "But what can we do? We're just a candy corporation." Another suggests an idea -- and in

## The Joke The comic is titled "All Science Jokes Ruined" and presents three classic jokes, each ruined by answering with pedantic scientific accuracy instead of the expected punchline. The first j

## The Joke The comic opens with someone wondering why clowns are now considered terrifying when they were once a popular form of entertainment. The discussion proposes that clowns occupy a sort of "

## The Joke This is a promotional comic for the book "Soonish" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. The comic features a conversation about online dating, with one character complaining that dating sites h

## The Joke Two astronomers are standing near a telescope, and one announces that they have analyzed the changing light pattern from a distant star -- a technique used in real exoplanet detection, wh

## The Joke A child tells their father "Daddy, I'm afraid of the dark!" The father, rather than offering comfort, launches into a morbidly logical reassurance: "Don't worry. Eventually you'll be dead

## The Joke The comic depicts Spider-Man swinging through space, having shot a web that has attached to a flying saucer containing two bewildered aliens. Spider-Man (or one of the aliens) exclaims "W

## The Joke A woman states the common observation that "Only young people do revolutionary mathematics." Another character then provides the age context: "20 is ancient. 15 is old. 10 is middle-aged.

## The Joke A robot asks its creator, "Why did you create me?" The scientist explains that humans are born with an inability to feel pain -- they often die young because they fail to notice serious i

## The Joke A child asks God, "Why does it rain?" God, depicted as a bearded figure in the clouds, gives the classic sentimental answer: "Because I'm crying." The child follows up: "And why are you c

## The Joke A woman proposes to her boyfriend using the language of economics: "If I take a wholesale quantity of sex and companionship, can I get a discount on the total amount of effort I need to e

## The Joke A prince (resembling Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid) is arguing with a mermaid princess. He says, "We've been over this. You can't just poop anywhere!" She responds, "Even in the oce

## The Joke A sushi chef (or scientist) explains to diners that "by stepping into this chamber, you enter a region of spacetime so warped that you can go to the time and place of this fish's existenc

## The Joke An alien named Zordrak is speaking to a human woman, trying to explain something delicately. He says: "Let me try to explain. Imagine there's a confused, angry monkey who is rapidly amass

## The Joke A news broadcast reports that a 1,000-meter-tall lizard creature has attacked New York City -- a classic Godzilla scenario. But instead of panicking, the news anchors calmly explain why t

## The Joke A man is being stabbed and cries out, "Help! I'm being stabbed!" A bystander delivers "good news" -- he introduces himself as "Progress" and explains that violent crime has been declining

## The Joke The top of the comic shows Bayes' theorem written out: P(he likes that | he says he likes that) = P(he says he likes that | he likes that) * P(he likes that) / P(he says he likes that). B

## The Joke The comic describes a prank: over the course of several months, you slowly adjust the whistle on your roommate's teapot so that its sound becomes ever closer to their name being screamed.

## The Joke A bully is hitting a kid and taunting him with "Why you hittin' yourself?" -- the classic schoolyard bully move where the bully grabs the victim's own hand and uses it to slap them. But t

## The Joke A superhero team leader announces they have received a "franchise reboot" from a world where villains are "biologically incapable of violent megadeath." In this new, gentler world, the he

## The Joke A mysterious figure presents a recording device from "the year 1817," claiming no one knows where it came from. Some say it contains sounds "from the Netherworld." The scene is set up lik

## The Joke A Buddhist monk stands outside an apartment building, reaching toward the door and shouting "Baby no! We can work through this, baby!" followed by "Or... Oh... Hmm..." The caption reads:

## The Joke A nerdy-looking guy with glasses approaches a woman with a pickup line: "Hey, baby -- wanna ride on a motorcycle powered by a complex assemblage of bio-nanomachines?" The woman responds e

## The Joke The comic shows a mad scientist sitting alone in what appears to be a dimly lit room, writing a note that reads "Goodbye cruel world." This initially reads as a suicide note -- the classi

## The Joke The comic shows a scene set in heaven, with clouds, an angel, and what appears to be a large golden petri dish with a bottle of wine next to it. God (off-panel or represented by the speec

## The Joke A child tells his father there is a monster under his bed. The father, instead of simply checking, launches into a pedantic physics lecture. He argues that the universe does not really su

## The Joke A woman is trying to use a smart speaker (resembling a Google Home or Amazon Echo). She begins saying "Google, I want--" and is immediately interrupted by the device suggesting "Porn?" Sh

## The Joke Someone asks "Have you played this new shitty realistic fantasy game?" The response is enthusiastic: "Yeah!" The game is described as "like the real world, but with magic." A screen shows

## The Joke The comic shows a scene in a forest where a man with a mustache is speaking to a tree that apparently has a face (as in many fairy tales and fantasy stories). Instead of engaging with the

## The Joke A character dramatically declares that he is NOT an armchair villain -- he is not sitting around idly. He insists he is "in the utter soup" as they speak, out in the field, actively getti

## The Joke A student tells a professor "I'll do anything for a good grade. Anything." The professor, rather than being tempted by the suggestive offer, launches into a brutally honest explanation of

## The Joke This is a promotional comic for Weinersmith's book "Soonish." A character tells another that to become a sorcerer, they must spend a night in the haunted mansion. The second character ask

## The Joke A scientist proudly announces "Behold! I've genetically modified an onion so that it doesn't make people cry any more!" A person then cuts the onion and confirms "It works!" with a big sm

## The Joke A university administrator enthusiastically promotes "interdisciplinary research" as the future of academia. When actual researchers from different disciplines try to collaborate, they di

## The Joke A woman prays to Science the way one might pray to God: "Dear Science, if you're so powerful and true, how come so many people don't believe you?" Science responds in the style of religio

## The Joke A man at what appears to be a bar or party says to a woman: "Hey girl, shake what your mama gave you." In the next panel, the woman is vigorously shaking her head. The man asks "Why are y

## The Joke A man is sitting in an armchair reading a book, and suddenly has a panicked realization: "Wait, wait a minute. I just disproved abiogenesis! But then what did I have sex with that one dru

## The Joke Conservation scientists are discussing the dire situation of an endangered species -- there is only one male and three females left. One scientist notes that while not ideal, it should be

## The Joke The comic shows a student sitting at a computer talking to an academic advisor. The student is dealing with the absurd bureaucracy of university course requirements. The text at the top e

## The Joke A couple lies in bed, and one says "We decided to let our kids believe in magical things." The next panel shows the family excitedly celebrating Christmas with Santa, and the parent clari

## The Joke This is a "Soonish" promotional comic. A man is stranded on a tiny desert island with a single palm tree. He puts a message in a bottle: "My whole life has been one string of failures. Pl

## The Joke Scientists excitedly announce they have brought back the dinosaurs through de-extinction. When they discuss how to monetize this achievement, one suggests a "Dinosaur theme park?" but the

## The Joke A woman receives a phone call from someone asking "Hello?" She responds, and the caller reveals increasingly specific and creepy information: "I'm in your house." The woman is alarmed but

## The Joke A caveman-like figure stares at a cupcake with wild eyes, exclaiming: "Oh my God! How did they get this many calories in a tiny place?! I must eat it before a rival takes it!" The captio

## The Joke A man on a first date opens with an unusual proposition: "Before we start this date, I want to make a bet with you that we won't have sex tonight. Ten to one odds on ten bucks." His date

## The Joke A politician or policy expert stands at a podium announcing a radical healthcare reform: "It's time to solve healthcare. We have three main problems: queues, high cost, and low satisfacti

## The Joke Someone confronts what appears to be the President (or a world leader) at his desk in a scene reminiscent of the Oval Office: "You're starting World War 3?! But why??" The leader responds

## The Joke A man is having a recurring nightmare where a giant monster chases him. The monster explains that it is not actually trying to eat him — it just wants to talk to him about his legs, speci

## The Joke A noir-style detective scene: a trench-coated investigator arrives at a crime scene and announces, "I'm strong, boys. This is the body of the crime. We've got no motive, no witnesses." A

## The Joke A doctor tells a patient that a new medication will "double your intelligence." The patient is thrilled ("Thanks, doc!"). But the doctor continues: the same drug has also made the patient