A small bird nestled in a cloth-lined wicker basket with a blank tag on a stone doorstep.

Original artwork, not a still

Steven Wright

My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A vast scientific subject is reduced to a tiny family explanation: Darwin was adopted. The mismatch is the joke. Instead of offering an account of evolution, the speaker supplies an irrelevant personal detail, as though that could settle the whole question.

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