Origin Story

An SMBC comic. In a single panel, a standing caveman in a fur tunic with long hair gestures at a group of cavemen seated on the ground around a fire. He says, "Pag! Listen. We know your stories all lies. But are good stories. You admit am lies, still tell stories. We give you fish." One seated caveman, Pag, answers, "Not lots fish. Some fish." A caption reads, "The origin of theater." The joke frames negotiating to be paid in fish for telling admittedly false stories as the birth of theater (paid performance of fiction). Votey: a crudely drawn line face says, "You need agent?" — adding a beat that Pag, now a paid performer, may need representation.