2010-09-20
Explanation
This comic presents a grid of "Yo Mama" jokes cross-referenced by professional field (Scientist, Economist, Doctor) and insult category (So Ugly, So Stupid, So Fat). The humor comes from translating the traditionally lowbrow "Yo Mama" joke format into the specialized jargon of each profession. For instance, the scientist's "Yo Mama so ugly" joke references fluorine, the most reactive element on the periodic table, which will bond with almost anything -- implying she is so ugly that even fluorine refuses to bond with her.
The "So Stupid" row plays on misunderstandings of technical terms: "blackbody radiation" (thermal radiation, not a racial concept), "externalities" (economic side effects, not "extra nalities"), and "mastalgia" (breast pain, not nostalgic reminiscence about breasts). The "So Fat" row escalates from a physics joke about closed timelike curves (which require massive gravitational warping of spacetime) to an economics joke about depreciation of a house, to a genuinely dark medical joke about bypass surgery survival odds. The final doctor joke breaks the comedy pattern by becoming sincerely sad rather than funny, which is itself the punchline.