2014-11-07
Explanation
The Joke
A father is looking at an empty room and cheerfully says, "Wow! Our little guy sure loves that Halloween costume! He has been dressed as a ninja ever since!"
The caption below reads: "Hopefully Bobby turns up before my wife catches on."
The joke is that the child has not been wearing a ninja costume and pretending to be invisible -- the child is actually missing. The father lost track of Bobby and is desperately hoping the child reappears before his wife realizes something is wrong. He is covering for the disappearance by pretending the empty room contains a child in a ninja costume, since ninjas are famously invisible and stealthy.
The Humor
The humor is extremely dark. On the surface, a dad praising his son for committing to a Halloween costume is wholesome. But the punchline reframes the entire scene: there is no child present at all, and the father is either in denial or actively trying to conceal a crisis. The comedy derives from the contrast between the cheery, oblivious tone of the father's dialogue and the alarming reality revealed by the caption.
The ninja costume provides the perfect comedic vehicle because the defining trait of a ninja is being unseen -- making it the one costume where "I cannot see my child" could theoretically be interpreted as commitment to the role rather than a missing-child emergency.