Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

society

2024-03-15 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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society
Votey panel for society
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Explanation

This comic depicts a support group meeting under a banner reading "Welcome: Premature Ejaculation Sufferers." Through a series of flashback panels labeled "Earlier," "Earlier Still," and "And Before That," we see the progression of someone's experience with premature performance anxiety -- but applied to public speaking rather than sex.

In the "Earlier" panel, we see someone saying "Oh right." In "Earlier Still," someone is shown at a podium exclaiming excitedly before they even begin their speech. And "Before That," someone is shown being "strangely nervous about this talk" while another person notes they're "electrifying the audience" before the presentation has started.

The joke is a sustained double entendre that maps the concept of "premature ejaculation" onto public speaking and performance anxiety. Every element of the comic can be read both ways -- the excitement, the premature finishing, the support group. The humor comes from the commitment to the bit: Weinersmith builds an elaborate parallel structure where every aspect of the metaphor works, and the support group setting adds an extra layer of comedy by treating premature enthusiasm as a genuine condition requiring group therapy.

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