rich
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a man praying to God with two contradictory requests. First, he prays: "Dear God, please make me rich." God's hand descends from a cloud with the word "NAH" accompanied by "That's selfish." Then the man tries again: "Dear God, please scourge the world, for it is full of sinners." God responds enthusiastically: "There we go!" The scene then cuts to "LATER," where a newspaper headline reads "MAN GETS RICH SHORT-SELLING REAL ESTATE MARKET" while the man stands smugly next to scenes of destruction, having profited from the divine scourging he requested. He exclaims "DAMMIT!" -- though it is ambiguous whether this is God's reaction upon realizing he was tricked, or the man's frustrated reaction that his scheme technically worked but through catastrophe.
The Humor
The joke satirizes the perverse incentive structure in certain religious and economic frameworks. God rejects the straightforward selfish prayer but eagerly grants the destructive one, and the man exploits this by finding a way to profit off divine wrath. It is a commentary on how people can frame destructive desires in morally acceptable language to get what they want. The comic also takes a jab at short-selling and financial speculation -- the idea that some people profit specifically from others' suffering, and that the system rewards those who anticipate catastrophe rather than those who honestly ask for personal gain. The punchline works because the man found a loophole in God's moral code, much like a financial instrument that exploits loopholes in market regulations.