To “Break” a horse is to get it accustomed to being saddled and ridden. The joke is that after all that effort, the horse wants to pursue a different career path. Subtle, but it is the New Yorker after all.
So…not broken after all? Still don’t get it.
The horse didn’t want to be his partner because it was wild/uncivilized, so the cowboy broke it.
But now the horse is broken (i.e. civilized from the cowboy’s pov), it still doesn’t want to be his partner, preferring another career path / to work alone.
Slight political comment as well (colonialism viewed by itself as bringing civilization to foreign cultures)?
@ CIDU Bill – I thought the signature looked familiar: the “Brendan Loper” tag should be added to the “Laundry” post, too.
Standup comedians are broken people.
@dvandom: subtle.
What @dvandom said. I think it is a play on the idea that comics are broken and have traumatic backstories. Seinfeld says that isn’t true of him… FWIW
Standup comics ‘get a break’ that launches their career. So, now that the horse got his break/is broken, he’s going to pursue a career in standup. Also funny because horses don’t sit.
Shouldn’t he have done srandup, then, while he was STILL broken?
It was a lol for me.
” I think it is a play on the idea that comics are broken and have traumatic backstories. ”
Nah, just standup comics. My first wife was an improv comic and she had had a happy childhood (and even a pretty happy marriage, I think.)
Didja ever notice that standup comics are, like, broken people? I mean, what’s up with that? For instance, take me … please! No but seriously folks….
Regardless of whether most comics are broken, most of them are broke.
I think Brian is onto something. When a manager introduces a performer, it’s said that he or she “broke” the artist. But I still feel like we’re missing something here.
Possibly also a Bo-Jack Horseman reference? He did standup before becoming an actor and is pretty broken over most of the series.
I think it is a play on the fact (or myth??) that horses stay standing up, even while sleeping, most of the time.
Comics I Don't Understand 
To “Break” a horse is to get it accustomed to being saddled and ridden. The joke is that after all that effort, the horse wants to pursue a different career path. Subtle, but it is the New Yorker after all.
So…not broken after all? Still don’t get it.
The horse didn’t want to be his partner because it was wild/uncivilized, so the cowboy broke it.
But now the horse is broken (i.e. civilized from the cowboy’s pov), it still doesn’t want to be his partner, preferring another career path / to work alone.
Slight political comment as well (colonialism viewed by itself as bringing civilization to foreign cultures)?
@ CIDU Bill – I thought the signature looked familiar: the “Brendan Loper” tag should be added to the “Laundry” post, too.
Standup comedians are broken people.
@dvandom: subtle.
What @dvandom said. I think it is a play on the idea that comics are broken and have traumatic backstories. Seinfeld says that isn’t true of him… FWIW
Standup comics ‘get a break’ that launches their career. So, now that the horse got his break/is broken, he’s going to pursue a career in standup. Also funny because horses don’t sit.
Shouldn’t he have done srandup, then, while he was STILL broken?
It was a lol for me.
” I think it is a play on the idea that comics are broken and have traumatic backstories. ”
Nah, just standup comics. My first wife was an improv comic and she had had a happy childhood (and even a pretty happy marriage, I think.)
Didja ever notice that standup comics are, like, broken people? I mean, what’s up with that? For instance, take me … please! No but seriously folks….
Regardless of whether most comics are broken, most of them are broke.
I think Brian is onto something. When a manager introduces a performer, it’s said that he or she “broke” the artist. But I still feel like we’re missing something here.
Possibly also a Bo-Jack Horseman reference? He did standup before becoming an actor and is pretty broken over most of the series.
I think it is a play on the fact (or myth??) that horses stay standing up, even while sleeping, most of the time.