Next thing you know, university literature departments will be teaching 'xkcd studies' classes. The irony will be palpable: http://xkcd.com/451/ http://xkcd.com

Next thing you know, university literature departments will be teaching 'xkcd studies' classes. The irony will be palpable: http://xkcd.com/451/ http://xkcd.com/451/ Seriously, if someone doesn't get the jokes (and isn't interested enough to look up the references for the sake of general knowledge, rather than just to 'get the joke') then they probably aren't the intended audience. Everyone has different areas of interest; you'll laugh more if you find a webcomic whose author's interests are similar to yours, and who makes obscure references you do get.