2014-07-05
Explanation
The Joke
A woman discovers what she initially thinks is a "foolish" old romance novel in her closet. She then begins treating it like an archaeological artifact, analyzing the "flowery language" and "ruthless verbs" that make it "unreadable," examining the depicted individuals as if they are engaged in "ritualistic mashing together of teeth," and identifying a tube of lubricant as a "romantic-era fluid delivery device" that has been "gathering the dust of ages." She concludes by asking her partner to leave so she can "cordon off this area" because it "may be of some archaeological significance." In the final panel, her partner (a man) responds: "I'm sorry I forgot our anniversary, okay?"
The Humor
The comedy operates on a bait-and-switch structure. The entire comic sets up an elaborate premise where the woman seems to be an over-the-top academic treating an old romance novel as an ancient artifact, with increasingly absurd archaeological jargon applied to mundane romantic items. The punchline reveals the real situation: she is not actually an archaeologist nor is the romance dead -- she is passive-aggressively punishing her husband for forgetting their anniversary by treating any evidence of romance in their relationship as if it were an ancient relic from a long-dead civilization. Her performative archaeological detachment is really marital fury expressed through sarcasm, making the entire comic a single extended metaphor for "the romance in our relationship is ancient history."