2014-01-31
Explanation
The Joke
A virus-like creature inside a human body announces "Time to puke, infected human!" The human protests: "No! Wait. I'll make you a deal." The human explains that the virus wants him to vomit in order to pass its offspring to other humans, but he is vomiting right into a sanitation system (a toilet), so there is no benefit to the virus. He proposes: if the virus agrees not to make him puke, he will put the virus in contact with another human who is "way more social" than he is. The virus agrees ("It's a deal, human!"), and in the next panel we see the man shaking hands with another person, saying "Wow! What a firm handshake!" The other person replies "Thanks, bro!" -- and the caption reads "Soon..." implying the more social person will now spread the virus far more effectively.
The Humor
The joke imagines a rational negotiation between a human and the virus infecting him. The humor comes from the antisocial introvert essentially outsmarting the virus by pointing out a flaw in its transmission strategy -- vomiting into a toilet does not spread illness to anyone. He then offers a Machiavellian solution: infect a gregarious, social person instead, who will shake hands and interact with many more people, thus spreading the virus far more efficiently. The dark comedy is that the introvert sacrifices someone else (a friendly, trusting extrovert) to save himself, and the virus is happy because the new host is a much better vector. It is a self-deprecating joke about introversion -- the introvert is so isolated that even a virus cannot use him effectively as a host for transmission.