# Funnest XKCD cartoon Evah! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325 "2009-06-19T19:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/41 "2009-06-20T21:19:21Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Though I think credited movie roles are rather rarer than co-authored published papers, no? From what I’ve heard, co-authored papers are more common now (at least in math) than they were in the olden days, and this is partly due to Erdos’s influence. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/42 "2009-06-20T21:20:08Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > There’s certainly nothing wrong with writing to an audience, but “in” jokes tend to be bad jokes as well. I agree with this. There are plenty of jokes that are both funny and require specialized knowledge to understand, but seems like I’ve noticed a lot of “specialist” jokes that don’t really bring any funny beyond letting someone feel clever for knowing the reference. XKCD (which I usually enjoy, otherwise) does this a lot, as does Big Bang Theory and a lot of other “nerd focused” humor outlets (Big Bang Theory is even worse though, since they often pause after the joke to commit the cardinal humor sin of explaining the reference). [This](http://xkcd.com/21/), for example, is a pretty poor pun used as an excuse to get a reference to Kepler’s (2nd?) law in. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/43 "2009-06-20T21:34:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think I’m a 6, but them, I’m a physicist, not a mathematician. Physicists, I think, tend to find our Einstein number and then add two, rather than looking for a shorter path. Even though I’ve only authored physics papers, I’m actually closer to Erdős than Einstein. Erdős number 5, Einstein number 6. Both by being 4 steps from [Carl Pomerance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Pomerance), who has Erdos number 1 and Einstein number 2. You can check your number [here](http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html). ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/44 "2009-06-20T21:38:30Z")
For what it’s worth, I think [this](http://www.xkcd.com/502/) is my favorite XKCD comic. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/45 "2009-06-20T21:41:48Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > XKCD (which I usually enjoy, otherwise) does this a lot, I’d like to see some more examples of this. I dislike (maybe despise?) Big Bang Theory style “in-jokes” but have never caught XKCD doing the same thing. What did I miss? The one example you did list doesn’t seem to me to be using the pun as an excuse for the Kepler reference, rather, it seems to be using Kepler as an excuse to make a poor pun. But then, how can we tell the difference? I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/46 "2009-06-20T21:45:41Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > For what it’s worth, I think [this](http://www.xkcd.com/502/) is my favorite XKCD comic. Although I’m also fond of [this one](http://xkcd.com/55/). ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/47 "2009-06-20T21:50:14Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What’s the evidence that the author of XKCD is trying to be obscure, rather than that he’s trying to write for a particular audience? Both are true. He is writing for an obscure audience. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/48 "2009-06-20T22:35:59Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I’d like to see some more examples of this. I dislike (maybe despise?) Big Bang Theory style “in-jokes” but have never caught XKCD doing the same thing. What did I miss? I don’t know anything about Big Bang Theory, but some xkcd’s which don’t strike me as particularly humorous above the level of mere reference: [this](http://xkcd.com/474/), [this](http://xkcd.com/468/), [this](http://xkcd.com/399/), [this](http://xkcd.com/375/), [this](http://xkcd.com/312/), [this](http://xkcd.com/297/), [this](http://xkcd.com/287/), [this](http://xkcd.com/262/), [this](http://xkcd.com/205/), and [this](http://xkcd.com/177/). I’m sure I could be swayed on some of them, though. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/49 "2009-06-20T22:51:29Z")
Of those, I found the Traveling Salesman in particular to be funny, more because of the delivery than just the reference. As **Simplicio** mentions, XKCD at least doesn’t explain the reference. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/50 "2009-06-20T22:53:15Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > I don’t know anything about Big Bang Theory, but some xkcd’s which don’t strike me as particularly humorous above the level of mere reference: [this](http://xkcd.com/474/), [this](http://xkcd.com/468/), [this](http://xkcd.com/399/), [this](http://xkcd.com/375/), [this](http://xkcd.com/312/), [this](http://xkcd.com/297/), [this](http://xkcd.com/287/), [this](http://xkcd.com/262/), [this](http://xkcd.com/205/), and [this](http://xkcd.com/177/). I’m sure I could be swayed on some of them, though. Some of those are mere references, but some of them have jokes and just aren’t funny. The first one is just a lame excuse to make a drunk slut joke that then references the supercollider (and not even by name, by initialism) to make it sciencey. ETA: Also, any comic that is supposed to be a poignant take on the subject of “No woman is currently banging me and it makes me sad.” Not poignant or funny. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/51 "2009-06-20T22:56:45Z")
I don’t think the first one contains a “drunk slut joke”; I think it’s raison d’etre (beyond the second panel message) is its use of the names of the six kinds of quarks in the end-panel conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/52 "2009-06-20T23:03:13Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > I don’t think the first one contains a “drunk slut joke”; I think it’s raison d’etre (beyond the second panel message) is its use of the names of the six kinds of quarks in the end-panel conversation. OK, I didn’t catch that (the extent of my physics knowledge is based on getting a B- in physics in high school). It’s pretty clever, but it still doesn’t really make it funny, other than acknowledging that quarks have funny names. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/53 "2009-06-20T23:12:45Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Though I think credited movie roles are rather rarer than co-authored published papers, no? And remember, Natalie Portman has a Bacon-Erdos number. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/54 "2009-06-22T17:05:31Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Though I think credited movie roles are rather rarer than co-authored published papers, no? I never implied that they weren’t, but now that I think about it, I’d guess there are a lot more actors than there are mathematicians who have published co-authored papers. Doesn’t IMDB have over half a million actors listed with credited movie roles? > [@Indistinguishable](#): > > I don’t know anything about Big Bang Theory, but some xkcd’s which don’t strike me as particularly humorous above the level of mere reference: [this](http://xkcd.com/474/), [this](http://xkcd.com/468/), [this](http://xkcd.com/399/), [this](http://xkcd.com/375/), [this](http://xkcd.com/312/), [this](http://xkcd.com/297/), [this](http://xkcd.com/287/), [this](http://xkcd.com/262/), [this](http://xkcd.com/205/), and [this](http://xkcd.com/177/). I’m sure I could be swayed on some of them, though. For many of those, the reference _is_ the joke. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/55 "2009-06-22T17:21:21Z")
While I appreciate the effort to balance out the cultural dumbing down we’ve suffered as a result of decades of syndicated comic strip pabulum, I’ve yet to see an XKCD comic that rates more than a momentary smirk. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/56 "2009-06-22T20:23:35Z")
Quoth **ataraxy22** : > [@](#): > > I discovered today (thanks to that xkcd comic) that I have an Erdos number of 3 thanks to a publication from my grad school days in Bozeman. (I’m not a mathematician.) Any chance we’ve met? I’ve been in the physics department since 1999. And thanks for the link, **tim314**. I can confirm that I have an Erdös number of 6, and an Einstein number of 5 (through a mostly-unrelated path). It also appears that I might actually be the Erdös uplink for a professor of mine back at my undergraduate school, as he does not appear to be in the database himself. (and amusingly, one of Firefox’s spelling correction suggestions for “Erdös” is “nerds”) ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325/57 "2009-06-24T02:39:24Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > [Apocalypse](http://xkcd.com/599/) > [A[sup]2[/sup]](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/apocalypse.png) > > [A[sup]n[/sup]](http://xkcd.com/) Even though I like that strip a lot and get an ok number of the jokes? I thought this was something about some dead guy from The Greatful Dead. When I got to the third one, I thought it would be Garcia coming out of the grave. Yes, I am THAT dumb. Okay, okay. Now I’ll learn about this Erdos guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funnest-xkcd-cartoon-evah/500325.md?page=2)