There is nothing funny about dogs playing poker. There is nothing remotely cute about animals with gambling problems. If you look closely at those paintings, you can tell that most of those dogs are playing with money they can't afford to lose. And sadder still, it takes seven of their dollars to make one of ours.

Dennis Miller’s joke riffs on the kitschy popularity of “dogs playing poker” paintings, treating the absurd scene as if it were a real social problem. By insisting the dogs have “gambling problems” and are wagering money they “can’t afford to lose,” he parodies moralistic commentary and over-serious cultural criticism. The punchline—“it takes seven of their dollars to make one of ours”—adds a second satirical layer by invoking currency exchange rates, turning a silly image into a mock-economic tragedy. The humor comes from escalating incongruity: applying human vices, financial precarity, and international economics to anthropomorphized dogs in a mass-market artwork.