This popular four-panel meme cleverly employs characters from two beloved sitcoms, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) from Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) from New Girl, to deliver a humorous jab at the stereotype of engineers.
The meme unfolds as follows:
- Panel 1: Jake Peralta, leaning into a car window, confidently declares, "I'm an engineer." This sets up an expectation of intelligence and technical prowess.
- Panel 2: Jess Day, from the driver's seat, responds with a seemingly simple challenge: "Oh really? Name three numbers." Her expression suggests a test of basic, perhaps even obvious, knowledge.
- Panel 3: Jake, instead of listing three distinct numbers (like 1, 2, 3 or 7, 8, 9), simply says, "3." This is the core of the joke, playing on the idea of an engineer being either overly literal, socially awkward, or perhaps just a bit "off" in a comedic way. It subverts the expectation of a complex or even a conventionally correct answer.
- Panel 4: Jess's final reaction, "That's on me, I set the bar too low," delivers the punchline. Her exasperated expression and self-deprecating comment highlight the engineer's surprisingly minimal response, suggesting that even the simplest task proved to be more challenging than anticipated for the declared "engineer."
The humor of this meme lies in its playful exaggeration of certain stereotypes associated with engineers, such as their literal interpretation of instructions, focus on singular solutions, or sometimes a perceived lack of common social intuition. It's a relatable piece of humor for anyone in STEM fields or those who interact with engineers, as it pokes fun at the often quirky nature of highly logical minds.