2014-08-22
Explanation
The Joke
Two older men are discussing "the past" as if it were an entertainment medium they are fans of. One says he loves "past" because "it's so much better than present." They compare the two: you can go through a hundred years of past in a book, but it takes a million times longer to get through a hundred years of present. Everything makes sense in past -- things just happen and there's a clear narrative. In present, anything goes and it's totally unpredictable. There's a part of past where they're younger and have no responsibility, which never happens in present. Most of their friends are "in past." When asked about "future," one says "Don't even get me started -- I'm barely even allowed there!"
The Humor
The comic takes the common observation that people are nostalgic for the past and reframes it as if "past," "present," and "future" were TV shows or books being reviewed by fans. This reframing exposes several truths about human psychology: we enjoy history and nostalgia because hindsight provides a clear narrative (unlike the chaos of the present), we can consume the past at our own pace through books, we remember our youth fondly because we had fewer responsibilities, and our social circles shrink as we age (friends are "in past"). The darkest joke comes at the end -- when one man says he's "barely even allowed" in the future, it's a veiled reference to his mortality as an elderly person, delivered in the same casual tone as complaining about a TV show he can't access.