2014-06-05
Explanation
The Joke
A man in a suit and sunglasses approaches another man, telling him to "come with me" because "it's about the universe." He reveals that interdimensional travel is now possible and that other dimensions are sending representatives. In literally every other universe, this man's alternate selves are evil mega-geniuses who rose to world power, ruling from space with an iron fist, each one destroying half of humanity before being stopped. He is the greatest, most terrible human being ever born.
But in this universe, the man was dumped by Sally at age 11 and used that as an excuse to never finish his engineering degree. Years later he is a "deeply unhappy middle management worker, friendly to nobody, but competent enough" that his colleagues have not yet fired him. The interdimensional agents need him to come along and smile for the cameras so the strangers from other dimensions will not be afraid of him.
The Humor
The comedy comes from the dramatic gap between expectations and reality. The setup builds toward a "chosen one" narrative -- men in black, talk of the multiverse, the reveal that this person is cosmically significant. But instead of being special in a heroic way, the joke is that he is special for being uniquely pathetic. In every other timeline he is a terrifying supervillain; in this one, he is a mediocre middle manager who never got over being dumped as a kid. The interdimensional agents do not need him to save the world -- they need him to look harmless because he is the only version of himself that is completely non-threatening. It is an inversion of the "you are the chosen one" trope, where being chosen is actually an insult.