Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Death

2020-11-16 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Death
Votey panel for Death
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 confronts the Grim Reaper, pleading for his life with the classic appeal: "Death?! You can't come for me! I have 4 children and my wife can't take care of them all herself! So many beautiful people depend on me!" Death, rather than arguing, simply tells him the good news: "Heaven is real. You're going there. We have booze." The man instantly drops all pretense of wanting to live and enthusiastically responds, "Fuck my shit up," eagerly embracing death.

The comic subverts the traditional "bargaining with Death" trope. Usually, the dying person fights desperately to stay alive, citing their loved ones and responsibilities. But this man's devotion to his family turns out to be extremely shallow -- the moment he learns that the afterlife is real, pleasant, and comes with alcohol, he abandons his family-man act without a moment's hesitation.

The Humor

The comedy comes from the whiplash-fast reversal. The man's passionate speech about his children and dependents sets up the expectation that he deeply values his earthly life. But it takes exactly one sentence about heavenly booze to make him completely forget about the four children and wife he was just invoking. The crude enthusiasm of "Fuck my shit up" contrasts perfectly with his previous noble, self-sacrificing tone, revealing that his love for his family was apparently less powerful than his love for an eternal open bar. Death's calm, almost salesman-like pitch makes it even funnier -- he has clearly done this before and knows exactly what buttons to press.

View History (1) Original Comic
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