laws-and-sausages
Explanation
The Joke
This comic is a meta-commentary in which the cartoonist (Zach Weinersmith, represented by the bearded character) introduces a new political comic series called "SMBC Goes to Washington" while simultaneously acknowledging and deconstructing the problems with political comics. He notes that political cartoons tend to make people angry, are typically reductive, and usually amount to telling readers what they already believe. He promises to be fair, nuanced, and to present multiple perspectives.
The humor builds as he explains the project will feature him teaming up with a political science professor to cover topics like gerrymandering, the electoral college, and immigration -- all presented with careful, evidence-based analysis. His collaborator appears and confirms the approach will be "good, smart" content. The final panel delivers the punchline: despite all the high-minded promises of fairness and nuance, the comic ends with the cartoonist exclaiming excitedly, suggesting that the whole earnest pitch is itself a kind of performance. The title "Laws and Sausages" references the famous (likely misattributed) Bismarck quote that laws are like sausages -- it is better not to see them being made.
The Humor
The comic is funny because it is self-aware political commentary about political commentary. Weinersmith spends the entire strip promising not to fall into the traps of lazy political cartooning -- being reductive, preachy, or one-sided -- while the very format of making those promises in a comic strip is itself a kind of meta-trap. It pokes fun at the earnest belief that one more well-intentioned explainer project will somehow cut through partisan noise, while also genuinely launching such a project. The humor lies in the tension between sincerity and self-deprecation.