Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

biological-clock

2015-12-09 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
You are viewing an older revision of this explanation (2026-03-14 21:02:20). View current version →
biological-clock
Votey panel for biological-clock
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

A woman dramatically announces to her partner: "Bob! My biological clock is ticking!" He interprets this as her changing her mind about wanting children and excitedly asks if she wants to have a baby. She clarifies: "No. I made a clock entirely out of living flesh." She reveals an enormous, grotesque mass of living tissue shaped vaguely like a clock, shouting "BEHOLD!" In the final panel, she says she would still like to have children someday, but she just does not think they have the time — implying she has spent all her time building a clock out of flesh instead.

The Humor

The comic is a bait-and-switch built on the double meaning of "biological clock." The common idiom refers to a woman's awareness of her declining fertility with age — the social pressure to have children before it is "too late." The comic takes the phrase literally: she has constructed an actual clock made of biological material. The boyfriend's hopeful reaction ("You want to have a baby?") sets up the audience's expectation for a relationship conversation, making the reveal of the horrifying flesh-clock all the more jarring and funny. The final punchline adds another layer: she does want children, but she has no time left because she was too busy building the biological clock — creating an ironic loop where the "biological clock" prevented rather than motivated reproduction.

View History (1) Original Comic