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<   No. 2243   2009-03-18   >

Comic #2243

1 Lambert: Isn't creating a fireball big enough to kill everyone in the hope that it will actually restart the universe a bit... dangerous?
2 Kyros: Not at all. In fact, I'll bet you 10 gold pieces it won't destroy us!
3 Lambert: What?! No! If it does destroy us all, how will I collect the wager?
4 Kyros: Hmmm... True. What if I give you 4 to 1 odds?
4 Lambert: Make it 10 to 1 and I'm in.

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Always make sure you get decent odds when you gamble with the lives of everyone in the universe.


2022-01-13 Rerun commentary: One of my favourite jokes from an old comic strip is about making a wager. I tried to track it down using Google, and the closest I could find was this paraphrasing by a blogger:

One of my all-time favorite [Wizard of Id] strips showed a life insurance salesman being introduced to the King, who skeptically asked, "What's life insurance?" The salesman replied, "Well, your majesty, think of it as a wagering game...we bet that you will live long enough to pay us more money in premiums than you will ever get back in benefits." The king thinks a moment, then asks, "Well, what if I die young?" The salesman replies, "You win!"

This is pretty much exactly how I remember the joke, though to be fair I could not remember which old comic strip I'd seen it in. Somewhat confusingly, one of the comments in this thread for a modern Wizard if id strip says:

Old joke that I believe I first saw in BC some 50 years ago: Agent: Life insurance is a bet by the company that you’ll live to a ripe old age. Client: What happens if I die young? Agent: You win!

I believe this commenter is slightly misremembering the joke and possibly the strip it's in, assisted by the fact that both Wizard of Id and B.C. were created by the same cartoonist.

Alas, I couldn't find any stronger leads, nor the exact strip in question. (If any of you manage to find it, please let me know!)

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