2014-07-24
Explanation
The Joke
A woman encounters another woman who claims to be "your mirror image from a mirror universe." The first woman panics: "Oh God, is this one of those things where it turns out I'm the evil one and you're the good one?" But the mirror version explains: "Look, you're just sort of average. Nothing extreme. No mountains or valleys, so to speak." She elaborates: "Like, you sit on the couch every night watching TV. I lie in bed all night watching movies. You like egg salad, and I like potato salad. I work a not-so-bad job and you work a not-so-good job." The woman says, "Now I'm depressed." The final exchange: "Not a lot though, huh?" "Nah, not really."
The Humor
The comic subverts the classic science fiction trope of the "evil mirror universe" double (popularized by Star Trek's Mirror Universe). Instead of a dramatic revelation about good and evil, the mirror version reveals that the protagonist is just... mediocre. She's not evil enough to have a good counterpart, and not good enough to have an evil one. Her mirror self is equally bland, with differences so trivial they amount to egg salad vs. potato salad and sitting on a couch vs. lying in bed. Even her emotional response to this revelation is mediocre — she's depressed, but "not a lot." The joke is an existential commentary on the mundanity of average life: the most devastating thing isn't discovering you're evil, but discovering you're unremarkable.
References
The "mirror universe" trope is a staple of science fiction, most famously from Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror" episode (1967), where characters encounter evil versions of themselves from a parallel universe, typically distinguished by goatees and aggressive behavior.