Kids are cute, babies are cute, puppies are cute. The little things are cute. See, nature did this on purpose so that we would want to take care of our young. Made them cute. Tricked us. Then gradually they get older and older, until one day your mother sits you down and says, "You know, I think you're ugly enough to get your own apartment."

In this stand-up bit, Ladman riffs on the evolutionary idea that “cuteness” functions as a survival mechanism: humans (and even animals) are predisposed to protect infants because their features trigger caretaking instincts. She then undercuts the quasi-scientific premise with a sharp, familial punchline—imagining a mother declaring her child “ugly enough” to move out. The humor comes from treating a complex, tender social transition (children becoming independent) as if it were governed by a blunt biological timer. The joke also plays on parental exasperation and the bittersweet shift from nurturing to pushing a grown child toward adulthood.