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Explanation
The Joke
The comic depicts a group of salmon experiencing their spawning run. A fictional nature-show-style caption explains that salmon return to their birthplace to spawn, fighting their way upstream. One salmon enthusiastically shouts "FORE!" as it leaps, treating the grueling upstream journey like a sport. Another salmon arrives at the spawning ground and exclaims about love — the romantic notion of returning to where it all began. But the final panel delivers the punchline: a third salmon, having completed the act, declares "It's not great!" — a deadpan assessment of the spawning experience that undercuts all the buildup.
The Humor
The comedy relies on anthropomorphizing salmon and then immediately deflating the drama. The spawning run is one of nature's most epic and romanticized journeys — salmon fighting bears, rapids, and exhaustion to return to their birthplace. The comic builds this up with excitement ("FORE!") and romance ("Is it... love?"), then punctures it with the blunt, disappointed review: "It's not great." The joke mirrors a universal human experience of anticipation exceeding reality, applied to creatures who literally die after the act. The humor is in the bathos — the gap between the epic journey and the underwhelming payoff.
References
The comic references the life cycle of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus), which are famous for their anadromous migration — swimming from the ocean back to their freshwater birthplace to spawn and then die.