Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

special-2

2022-09-19 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
special-2
Votey panel for special-2
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

This comic plays on the awkward parenting moment of a child witnessing animals mating at the zoo. A child asks their mother, "Mommy, what are those monkeys doing to each other?" The mother deflects with the classic euphemism: "They are doing a very special kind of mommy and daddy hug." The child accepts this with wide-eyed innocence, repeating "Very very special."

The punchline is in the final panel, which reveals the monkeys in question — now wearing bondage gear and leather accessories. The mother's vague description of a "very special hug" turns out to be accidentally accurate in a way she didn't intend: the monkeys aren't just mating, they're engaged in what appears to be kinky role-play. The joke works on two levels: first, the classic comedy of parents trying to sanitize nature for children; second, the reveal that the euphemism was simultaneously an understatement and a more precise description than the mother realized. The humor also plays on the fact that primates can indeed exhibit surprisingly elaborate sexual behaviors that go beyond simple reproduction.

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