Characters
People die all the time, just like that. Why you could wake up dead tomorrow.....Well, goodnight!
— Homer · The Simpsons
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker brings sudden death into a bedtime farewell, pairing a grim possibility with a brisk goodnight. “Wake up dead” adds an impossible turn of phrase to the warning. The abrupt change from mortality to ordinary politeness gives the exchange its dark comedy.
Context reviewed