haiku
Explanation
This comic shows two rugged, working-class men (possibly construction workers or miners, given their hard hats). One describes his "newest patent": a machine that detects when twelve syllables have been spoken, then adds a line to make it a haiku. His companion says "The cod was rotten, man my guts turned inside out" -- a crude, conversational complaint with twelve syllables (5+7). The machine then adds "sparrows, in moonlight" -- a classically beautiful, contemplative haiku closing line.
The humor comes from the jarring contrast between the coarse, mundane content of the first two lines (food poisoning from bad fish) and the serene, poetic third line appended by the machine. A haiku traditionally consists of three lines with 5, 7, and 5 syllables, often evoking nature and contemplation. The machine forces any ordinary speech into the haiku format by adding an elegantly poetic closing line, creating an absurd juxtaposition between low-brow complaining and high-art poetry. The comic also plays on the idea that poetry can be mechanized -- and that the result is simultaneously terrible and oddly beautiful.