2011-12-20
Explanation
This comic is part of the recurring SMBC series "Great Thing About Parenting," in this case entry number 6626: "Making Your Kids Hate What You Hate." A child innocently asks her father, "Daddy, why do clowns wear big gloves?" The father, without looking up from his book, deadpans: "No fingerprints."
The humor works on two levels. First, the father's answer is factually absurd -- clowns wear oversized gloves as part of their exaggerated, comedic costume. But by implying that clowns wear them to avoid leaving fingerprints at crime scenes, the father is deliberately instilling a fear of clowns in his child, presumably because he himself dislikes or is creeped out by clowns. The comic plays on the widespread cultural unease about clowns (coulrophobia) and the way parents can weaponize their children's trust to pass along their own irrational biases.