Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

quarantine

2020-03-26 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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quarantine
Votey panel for quarantine
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Explanation

The Joke

A man dressed in elaborate ceremonial garb -- a horned helmet, robes, a staff, and holding what appears to be a decorative egg or orb -- solemnly declares: "Now that we have achieved a quorum of one, I ask for unanimous consent." The caption below reads: "In year 3 of The Quarantine, masturbation habits reached their ritualistic zenith."

The joke is that after three years of quarantine isolation, a person living entirely alone has transformed a solitary act into an absurdly formal parliamentary procedure. He speaks of "a quorum of one" (the minimum number needed to conduct official business, which in his case is just himself) and "unanimous consent" (easy to achieve when you're the only voter). He has dressed in what looks like a combination of Viking and papal regalia to perform this ceremony.

The Humor

The comic was published in March 2020, at the very beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns, and projects the quarantine experience to an absurd extreme -- three years of total isolation. The humor lies in the contrast between the grandiose, ritualistic presentation and the mundane reality being described. The use of parliamentary language ("quorum," "unanimous consent") to describe masturbation is inherently funny because of the extreme mismatch in register. The elaborate costume and accessories suggest that this person has had far too much time alone and has developed increasingly ornate rituals to maintain some sense of purpose and ceremony in their solitary life.

View History (1) Original Comic