A small green dollhouse stands on peach fabric with a feather duster protruding from its chimney.

Original artwork, not a still

Rita Rudner

Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them. My mother cleans them.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A joke about three ways of handling impossible dreams: the neurotic builds them, the psychotic moves in, and the speaker's mother tidies up. The punchline swaps psychology for housework, gently mocking a parent who treats every fantasy as one more thing to dust.

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