2009-09-26
Explanation
This comic consists of a sheet of cut-out "IOU: $1" notes with dashed lines around them, designed to look like homemade currency. Three identical IOU slips are arranged vertically, each reading "IOU: $1" inside a dashed border. The caption below reads: "(I am no longer allowed at the strip club)."
The joke is that the person brought homemade IOU slips to a strip club instead of actual dollar bills. At strip clubs, patrons traditionally tip dancers with real cash, typically one-dollar bills. Substituting handwritten IOUs for real money is both absurdly cheap and socially unacceptable, which is why the person has been banned. The presentation as a printable cut-out sheet adds to the comedy by implying the person put genuine craft effort into creating fake currency specifically for this purpose.
The votey panel escalates the joke with a larger "IOU $5" note and the caption "Also, the brothel," implying the person attempted the same scheme at a brothel -- where the stakes (and prices) are higher -- and was similarly banned. The $5 denomination for the brothel versus the $1 for the strip club adds an additional layer of absurdity, as both amounts are comically inadequate for what the person was presumably trying to pay for.