Waiting for the punchline

I thought this essay was funny and touching when I wrote it.

I still think so.

True, you have to wade through a bit of learned discourse, but as the echoing gravitas of academe is punctured halfway through with an off-stage callout, that's about as close as you can get to a pie in the face of pomposity.

The punchline is there.

You just have to read through to get to it.