While You Were Sleeping
Explanation
The Joke
A couple attempts to have a steamy encounter in the dark. The man starts with suggestive talk, but immediately things go wrong: he steps on a Lego, then a banana. They realize they have not had a banana in ages and wonder where it came from. He comments she has a "nice banana" and they try to refocus. She tells him to get against the wall, but their kids' playhouse is in the way. Then a toy starts playing "Yankee Doodle" and will not stop -- the song is ten minutes long. They gamely try to continue anyway. In the final panel, labeled "Later," one of them asks what sex is like after having kids, and the other answers: "It's more spontaneous."
The Humor
The comic is a detailed and painfully relatable depiction of how having children sabotages romantic intimacy. Every element of the attempted encounter is derailed by the detritus of parenthood: stepping on toys (the classic Lego-in-the-dark trope), mysterious old food, children's playhouses blocking the way, and a musical toy that starts blaring a patriotic children's song at the worst possible moment. The punchline -- "It's more spontaneous" -- is bitterly ironic. Couples without children often describe their love lives as lacking spontaneity, but here "spontaneous" means "chaotically unpredictable in the worst way." The word is technically accurate but means the opposite of what it usually implies in a romantic context.
References
- Stepping on a Lego: A universally recognized parental pain, often cited as one of the worst minor injuries a parent can suffer.
- Yankee Doodle: A well-known American patriotic children's song, here played by an electronic toy at the most inappropriate possible moment.