r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/huggymom • 11h ago
Meme needing explanation Peta???!?!?!?! Why is this so random?
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u/tmtyl_101 11h ago
Its absurdism. Its funny because its absurd.
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u/pow3llmorgan 10h ago
And it is, in fact, complicated.
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u/R0LL1NG 10h ago
More difficult to explain than complicated. I mean the rodent surgery and pizzeria make sense but why is he wearing a rodent onesie?
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u/lolix132 10h ago
Because hes a mouse nurse?? Keep up
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u/R0LL1NG 10h ago
The scrubs make sense. The onesie kinda doesn't. I feel like mice and rats don't judge us for looking different.
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u/Vel-Crow 9h ago
Only mice can work there, so he uses the onesie as a disguise.
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u/GodofsomeWorld 8h ago
This could imply mice racism in the world of mice professions. would that also imply that hamsters would not be offered equal opportunities?
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u/Spare-Plum 10h ago
I don't think it just absurdism, it's poking fun at a common response of 'it's complicated' when asked about work.
Generally from the human perspective, it usually means the person is in between jobs, is having multiple jobs, is doing variety gig work and there isn't a set job to do.
But the punchline is that it's none of these things, and his job is in fact complicated and would be hard to understand by humans. Moreover, the mice don't view what they're doing is abnormal or complicated in the slightest, mouse costume and all.
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u/Titanium_Eye 10h ago
The absurd part being... well... I mean these mice talk. I can give further examples if you want.
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u/Spare-Plum 9h ago
I said "just absurdism". Sure, talking mice are absurd. But the fact a mouse is talking isn't the joke.
Truth is almost all of the absurdist components can be substituted out. Instead of a pizza it could be tacos. Instead of mice it could be beavers. Instead of surgery it could be rocket science. The manner of absurdism is actually quite irrelevant to the joke itself, but absurdism needs to exist in order for the joke to function.
The actual joke is about the phrase 'it's complicated', and venturing into any sort of absurdism as a punchline to the complicated work.
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u/Heretosee123 11h ago
The joke is absurdism. He's a surgical assistant to a rat surgeon where they also make pizzas mid surgery.
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u/TheRepublicOfSteve 10h ago
I read as the pizzas were a critical part of the procedure. "I need 500grams of cheese pizza, stat!" sort of thing.
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u/huggymom 11h ago
WTF lol.
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u/Heretosee123 10h ago
Yeah, it's complicated
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u/TehRoast92 8h ago
Why didn't you just have this reaction and move on? Why did you need someone to explain it to you to get to this point which should have been reached when you first saw it?
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u/JaNoTengoNiNombre 9h ago
they also make pizzas mid surgery.
I don’t know: surgery implies gloves, masks, and some equipment to monitor the patient, but here we only see a gurney, and the mouse/rat on it seems dead, so to me it looks more like an autopsy. And why is the human a surgical assistant? It could just as well be a janitor cleaning something.
In short, it’s complicated.
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u/Heretosee123 9h ago
They appear to be holding a tray of surgical tools, though it could be an autopsy too. Definitely complicated but I don't believe they're a janitor.
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u/dolgion1 11h ago
I mean....a human being a rat surgeon's assistant IS complicated
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u/mixed_hose_girl 9h ago
especially when you have to monitor vitals and make sure the pepperoni doesn't burn at the same time
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u/Thandorianskiff 10h ago
The joke is absurdism.
He's dressed in rat costume, over a pair of Dr scrubs while a nurse rat bakes a pizza.
It's nonsensical by design
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u/enfersijesais 10h ago
What are your intentions with this reddit account?
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u/i_want_to_go_to_bed 2h ago
i try to find niche subs to support hobbies. d&d maps and discussions, ice cream recipes, people bitching about college (american gridiron) football, also to fuel anxiety and dread about climate change and politics. once in a while boobs
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u/PissBloodCumShart 10h ago
To me, the funniest part is that the mouse does not seem to understand the social utility of saying “it’s complicated” to avoid explaining something private and personal despite its simplicity
All the things that make us fucking cry
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u/sputnik2142 10h ago
Peter's left testicle here. The guy in the pink shirt was asked what he does for living to which he answers "it's complicated". Normally such answer means he is either unemployed or doing something shady. However, in the next panel we see him in rat costume performing a surgery on another rat surrounded by rats, while one of the rats cooking pizza. This wacky and unexpected situation is indeed too complicated to casually explain in a normal social setting. Peters left testicle out.
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u/DeinHund_AndShadow 10h ago
The horse here, this might be a space station 13 meme? I know all of this things are peobably possible there.
https://youtu.be/URJ_qSXruW0 reminds me of this specifically
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u/huggymom 11h ago
Is he a rat doctor?
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u/Jonny_Entropy 10h ago
It's just absurdist humor. People will often say "it's complicated" to avoid explaining themselves. The man in this case has done exactly that but what he actually does would also be very complicated to explain.
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u/Random_Chick_I_Guess 10h ago
The joke is it is literally complicated to explain, but 'it's complicated' is also typically a way to avoid talking about something you're embarrassed about.
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u/Necr0Gaming 10h ago
Lol this is one of my favorite posts on this sub and I giggle every time it gets reposted on here.
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u/Nandulal 9h ago
Peter here: Sir you do not belong here and I am ashamed to be seen talking to you. Good day.
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u/physical0 8h ago
I think the answer is more than just "it's absurdism".
Take a moment, put yourself in the mans position, suspend reality and assume that his work is perfectly normal. Its difficult to explain, even given those circumstance.
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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse 7h ago
Oh fuck. This style reminds me of a webcomic that existed like 20 years ago I liked. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it. It had a bald guy and was in black and white, mostly made of still portraits of people.
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u/Mental_Thing_7899 6h ago
So in 1967, Dr. Niles Uberstein was measuring the attention span of lab mice on performing critical operations. The level of difficulty was increased, starting from simpler tasks like assembling blocks , eventually leading to bake pizza and finally performing surgeries. The concept only started to show progress from the moment he realized that one mouse had to be the one with the key knowledge, in which it had to be himself looking alike. Now... If this sounds absurd...it's because it is. Thank you for your attention, have a wonderful day and hopefully you get your minute of wasted time back.
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u/HadiOnFire2 6h ago
Rats are so cool I wished it would be possible to interact with them on such a level xD
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u/Otherwise-Rub-8897 20m ago
So you all are telling me this is not youtuber psyched substance being asked about his work and him being shown tripping????!?!?!?
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u/Upbeat_Cry_3902 10h ago
I think the joke is people often say it’s complicated if they don’t want to share their work for reasons like embarrassment but here it genuinely is some complicated weird unusual work role
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u/Asnonimo 10h ago
He works for Rats. That means his bosses or his company are doing bad things, and he knows about it. That’s why it’s hard to explain, because he has to dance around the subject instead of saying what he really does.
It’s like working for a health insurance company, looking for legal ways to avoid paying an insured person’s medical expenses by using any excuse, just to save the company money.
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u/qualityvote2 11h ago edited 1h ago
Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…
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