Anatomy of a Joke or Why Archer is Just Operating on a Different Comedic Level

***Note, this will stand in for the weekly review of ARCHER, season six, episode five: Vision Quest. Just know that it was spectacular and a great referendum on refreshing old jokes and plotlines from previous seasons.*** I’ve learned something about myself. My favorite comedies are intelligent highbrow shows that are both self-referential and include characters being completely brutal and cruel to each other. I still believe the best comedy on TV is HBO’s Veep, but a close second is Archer. Seasons 2-4 of Archer remain my favorite run of comedy seasons in recent memory, only dropping down with the completely admirable, but creative setback that was season five, Archer Vice. What Archer is known for is the clever “inside-joke” quality of its punchlines, the obscure references and the constant humor or referring back to past jokes in a new light. But something in the latest episode was a little different. And for this Archer fan, a little brilliant. The latest episode from Archer in it’s sixth season is “Vision Quest,” a good old fashion “stuck in an elevator” episode. All the usual suspects are present minus Malory (obviously) and the episode brings it’s A game with insults about Cyril’s sweater vest, Krieger’s human soup and Pam’s lack of bladder control. But what has kept my intention well after viewing this episode is a seemingly throwaway line that I can’t seem to let go of.

As they are piling into their secret elevator in their secret Dry Cleaners (hey, where’s Popeye, …