Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Camouflage

2015-08-15 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Camouflage
Votey panel for Camouflage
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 man covered head to toe in a ghillie suit (leafy camouflage) sits on a couch next to a woman, holding what appears to be a TV remote. He calls out "Steve? Steeeeeeve? God, I wonder where he went. I haven't seen him in years..." as if he cannot find someone -- while his wife or partner sits right next to him, clearly able to see him perfectly well. The caption reads: "The saddest part is that we both know the camouflage doesn't work."

The Humor

The comic works on two levels. On the surface, Steve is wearing military-grade camouflage in his own living room and pretending he is invisible, which is absurd because a ghillie suit is designed for outdoor concealment in foliage, not for blending into a couch. The deeper, sadder layer of humor comes from the caption: both Steve and his partner know the camouflage does not actually work, meaning Steve is not deluded -- he is deliberately using a transparent pretense to avoid interacting with someone (or to avoid being "found" and engaged with). His partner is going along with the charade, which implies a relationship where both parties have silently agreed to this ridiculous avoidance mechanism. The comic finds humor in the pathetic nature of using literal camouflage as emotional camouflage.

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