Actual Explanation: Just a riff on the old “You have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty” (the popular adult cartoon show that this joke is referencing) and “I’m Pickle Rick! (funniest shit I have ever seen)” (a rather simple joke from that selfsame show). In this, ‘Pickle’ is changed to ‘Sickle’, and part of the Soviet Hammer and Sickle symbol.
Stalin is laughing over how high is IQ is and how much theory he’s read to be able to understand such a sublime absurdist joke.
And yet my IQ went down to understand this joke … .
It bothers me that the “I’m Pickle Rick!” scene has become this iconic meme, treated as a caricature of Rick and Morty, when in context, it’s meant to be the dumbest, most pathetic moment of an episode that’s literally about confronting your own flaws and learning to accept help. The whole point of the episode is that this scene is supposed to mock Rick’s refusal to grow. Yet somehow, the meme proves its own point: people celebrate Pickle Rick as the joke, rather than recognizing him as the butt of the joke. And sure, you don’t need a high IQ to enjoy Rick and Morty, but if you can watch all seven seasons without realizing the show hates you for idolizing Rick, then you’re basically proving the show’s critique of its audience.
But anyway, I digress. Sick(le) comic, bro.
Trotsky didn’t laugh, he’s a burgois capitalist traitor
Get Ice Pick-le Rick
The purges started because they didn’t laugh
Seconded only by laughing at the Puskins falling out of their chairs!