Funniest gag ever?
John DiFool
panel you have ever seen.
My (admittedly subjective) vote goes to Calvin & Hobbes, when
the good duplicate 'has an evil thought' and 'spectralizes'. Hobbes'
quip of 'Another casualty of applied metaphysics' never fails to get
a chuckle out of me...
John DiFool
--
============================================
Reach heaven far too high
============================================
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious
> single panel you have ever seen.
The clear winner, for me: "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell
with it." I don't know why I find that to be such a gut-buster, but
I chuckle out loud every time I think of it.
First runner-up: Bill Clinton sneaking back into the White House from
a lodge meeting with the GOP, a bottle of "Old Budget Cut" sticking
out of his pocket. HRC is waiting for him with a rolling pin. (A
MacNelly cartoon from 1995.) The subject is amusing, but the way the
principals are drawn is absolutely hysterical.
Honorable mention: "The real reason dinosaurs became extinct." Some-
thing about the look in that T-Rex's eye just slayed me.
There are a few Calvin & Hobbes panels that are on my short list; most
of them involve snowmen. Also, Calvin's mom on the floor, laughing,
after Calvin does an "impression" of his dad -- "Calvin, go do
something you hate. Being miserable builds character."
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ted Kerin
copulating with an automobile.
Well, Gary denies it was supposed to be copulation, but his denial just
makes it funnier.
Mark Jackson
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
> panel you have ever seen.
Thinking about this too much will just make the choice impossible, so
here's what first came to mind:
Dan O'Neill's Bat Winged Hamburger Snatcher: "This is exactly why I
get stoned a lot."
--
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
A retired physicist reading the /Encyclopaedia Britannica/
can do just so much toward securing world peace.
- Brian Hayes
GI Trekker
entire CASE of soda pop he's bought. Then he turns to see Garfield and two
dozen empty bottles. The second to the last panel has Jon running for the door,
Odie close behind. The final panel has Jon and Odie being blown clean out of
the house by a burp of proportions even massive for Garfield. Granted, it's not
exactly a single panel and it has a beck of a build up, but it cracks me up
every time. It's crude, it's rude, but it's also hysterical.
Dan Jones
>
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
> panel you have ever seen.
>
There was a peanuts strip where Linus and Lucy are surveying a little
plot of land where Lucy is holding a shovel and outlining her plans
for a garden. Linus inquires: "Why are you telling me all this?" The
last panel has Linus holding the shovel. (Can anyone tell me the date
of this strip and where it might be reprinted?)
First runner up:
I won't have this quite right, but there was a Willie 'n Ethel panel
where both of them are in bed. Willie has a comptemplative look on
his face and says: "How about cardboard? Do you love me more than
cardboard?"
Dan
Michaela Schlocker
John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
> panel you have ever seen.
One Robotman panel stands out in my mind's eye:
(Setup is Monty and Robotman arguing about whether the Venetian blinds
should be open or closed. Final panel is on a submarine.)
Officer looking in periscope: "M-Y-S-P-A-N-I-E-L-H-A-S-A-G-O-I-T-E-R"
Other officer: "Sir, are you sure we have the right checkpoint?"
OK, maybe you hadda be there.
Runner-up: One of the goofy looks Calvin gave his dad in the "family photo"
strip stood very well on its own.
Michaela
W. Blaine Dowler
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
>
> panel you have ever seen.
It's a Hallowe'en Fox Trot. The entire strip is one panel, with Jason
explaining to Paige that "We're calling it Pumpkin Pi," while Marcus is
placing a pumpkin carved with an ellipsis next to a series of other
pumpkins carved with "3.14159".
--
- Blaine
http://www.bureau42.com
XFW # 299792458, WM, SW, WNS, NRMTPB, FPSSG
SVS# 0.00729735308002..., CoC #36, SSUCS
Laura Baldwin
>panel you have ever seen.
"I just like saying smock. Smock smock smock smock smock."
"What on earth is *wrong* with you?"
That one destroyes me every time.
-Laura
--
Dan
There was this one Mr. Boffo from long long ago that was silly, but still gives
me a laugh.
The caption is something along the lines of "The world and the way it would be
if alcohol had never been invented."
In the drawing a man sits at the other end of a bar from an attractive woman he
obviously doesn't know.....
He says to her, "Can I buy you an egg?"
:-)
Dan
Regime Change Begins At Home
(remove NoSpam to Email)
Mike Peterson
"Dan Jones" <djo...@transmeta.com> wrote in message
news:3E4D883D...@transmeta.com...
>
> First runner up:
> I won't have this quite right, but there was a Willie 'n Ethel panel
> where both of them are in bed. Willie has a comptemplative look on
> his face and says: "How about cardboard? Do you love me more than
> cardboard?"
Same era, same strip:
Willie: I borrowed $2000 and lost in in a business investment because I was
misinformed.
Ethel: Did this business investment by any chance have four legs?
Willie: That's the part I was misinformed about.
Mike Peterson
Glens Falls NY
Bobcat
"John DiFool" <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3E4D1FEF...@earthlink.net...
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
> panel you have ever seen.
> My (admittedly subjective) vote goes to Calvin & Hobbes, when
> the good duplicate 'has an evil thought' and 'spectralizes'. Hobbes'
> quip of 'Another casualty of applied metaphysics' never fails to get
> a chuckle out of me...
> John DiFool
I guess it doesn't really qualify as a strip, but a cartoon that's stayed
with me for years is George Booth's "Ip Gissa Gul" in the New Yorker. In
caveman-speak that means Ip, an alpha caveman decides he wants a gul (girl),
so goes off with his club to find one. The humour is indescribable when he
finally does gissa (get a) girl, because as usual it's in the dialogue and
the artwork and in this case, Booth's genius.
stnic...@cox-internet.com
>He says to her, "Can I buy you an egg?"
LOL!!! That's great.
Rhonda
Mark Jackson
Cover of the /Warning! Willy and Ethel/ collection. ("Warning! Do
not stick your hand in the cage or the gorilla will hit it with the
hammer!")
Charles B. Whitney
> John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> writes:
> > Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
> > panel you have ever seen.
>
> Thinking about this too much will just make the choice impossible, so
> here's what first came to mind:
With that thought in mind:
There was a Mutts strip from 1995. Mooch and Earl are outside and
Mooch looks up at the ominous storm clouds above and says (paraphrase)
"Ooh, it looks like a bad storm's coming, we have to get inside!"
Earl asks why, and Mooch says "Because we'll get wet and cats *hate*
getting wet!" Then Earl points out "But if you hate getting wet, why
are you always washing yourselves?" Mooch sits there blankly for a
panel and then says (with tongue sticking out) "We like spit."
The expressions made it priceless.
Although I loved a recent 9CWL comic recently, and not even for the
punchline. After reading it, I may just, when walking through a room
where a relative is sitting on the couch reading, start shouting at
them:
"AND WHAT ABOUT GAME SHOW HOSTS?! ARE THEIR LIVES FOR *NOTHING*??"
Brooke, if you're reading this, thank you for that.
C
Peter Gullerud
Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2003 11:14 AM
Message-id: <b2jfa...@enews3.newsguy.com>
One Larson strip I always liked (had it pinned to my desk at Warner Bros) was
one he titled "God as an Adolescent" and pictured a Tyronnosaurus Rex getting
gored by a Triceratops and a balloon coming from heaven saying: "Coooooool...."
Leisa
>
> panel you have ever seen.
>
>
Paraphrasing. but the "Far Side" that has some guy's face close up, and you
can see parts of another scene behind him. Caption says something like
"Suddenly, someone jumped into the frame, ruining the best gag ever."
Leisa
Kas 300
favorite is "Dip in Road," showing the road sign, and starring a cave-era dip,
on his wheel, in the middle of the road. That was a LOL before LOL was
invented!!
Kas
Dan
invented!!>>
It's hard to believe now that most of us grew up in a world without "LOL" or
":-)"
We were very deprived as children...it's amazing that we made it through! <g>
Dan
SJohn77265
with me for years is George Booth's "Ip Gissa Gul" in the New Yorker. >>
I hesitate to end my long-term lurk because there are so many I have a tough
time narrowing them down to a reasonable amount. "Ip Gissa Gul" doesn't bring
belly laughs, but I often find myself responding "hom tont ho" to much of life.
One of the Booth panels that still gets me is in the car repair shop. The
hydraulic lift is at full height, but the car lies upside down on the floor.
The head mechanic says to the assistant (paraphrasing) "What will I tell Mr.
Smith? Jamie made a boo-boo?"
The philistines at work shook their heads in confusion over the Willy 'n Ethel
in which W&E encountered a hot dog pushcart proclaiming "Fred & Tom's Hot Dogs.
Leon is our middle name."
All time favorite--A small furry animal we presume to be a weasel looks at a
human and simply goes......"Pop!"
ronniecat
"Dan" <high...@aol.comNoSpam> wrote in message
news:20030215182229...@mb-mo.aol.com...
> It's hard to believe now that most of us grew up in a world without "LOL"
or
> ":-)"
>
> We were very deprived as children...it's amazing that we made it through!
<g>
Why, I remember when we had to carry our bits and bytes to and from work in
buckets.
Uphill!
BOTH WAYS!
We didn't have yer floppy disks and your whatchacallums, cee dee melters or
what have you.
Nope.
Brian Jones had a cee dee melter, and you know where he is now?
DEAD!
ronniecat
"SJohn77265" <sjohn...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030215184549...@mb-mg.aol.com...
> All time favorite--A small furry animal we presume to be a weasel looks at
a
> human and simply goes......"Pop!"
Oh my god. Now *this* may very well be, if not a contender, *the funniest*
single panel of all time.
I am embarrassed to admit I threw my head back and *really* guffawed out
loud just at the description. Thank Weasel I was at home and not at work.
I suspect the weasel in question may never be as funny as the one in my
mental image... but regardless. *This* is brilliant.
> I hesitate to end my long-term lurk
Based on this first contribution, I'd say "by all means; end it!"
ronnie
--
"I used to live in a 2-room apartment; neighbours knockin' on the wall;
times were hard; I don' wanna knock it. But I don't miss it much at all."
- Tom Petty
* address altered to foil spambots - remove mycollar to reply *
* mon pied a terre virtuel - http://www.ronniecat.com *
Chris Clarke
peterg...@aol.comics (Peter Gullerud) wrote:
> One Larson strip I always liked (had it pinned to my desk at Warner
> Bros) was
> one he titled "God as an Adolescent" and pictured a Tyronnosaurus
> Rex getting gored by a Triceratops and a balloon coming from heaven
> saying: "Coooooool...."
There's a B. Kliban single panel I've loved for about 20 years.
Scene: A roadside rest area kind of dealie with picnic tables. On the
road, there's a military police checkpoint, and armed soldiers level
automatic weapons at a few people at the picnic tables, who're eating
with frightened looks on their faces. Above the checkpoint is a large
sign that says "Stop 'N' Eat."
--
Chris Clarke | Editor, Faultline Magazine
www.faultline.org | California Environmental News and Information
Barbara Need
J.D. Baldwin <baldwi...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>In the previous article, John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious
>> single panel you have ever seen.
>Honorable mention: "The real reason dinosaurs became extinct." Some-
>thing about the look in that T-Rex's eye just slayed me.
Can you provide more information about this one? I know that line, but I
can't see the picture or the context in my mind.
Barbara Need
UChicago--Linguistics
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Barbara Need <ne...@midway.uchicago.edu>
wrote, quoting me:
> >Honorable mention: "The real reason dinosaurs became extinct." Some-
> >thing about the look in that T-Rex's eye just slayed me.
>
> Can you provide more information about this one? I know that line,
> but I can't see the picture or the context in my mind.
It's a Gary Larson panel of some dinosaurs smoking, and I swear, they
look like teen-agers trying to appear "tough." Hilarious.
ameijers
>
> The philistines at work shook their heads in confusion over the Willy 'n
Ethel
> in which W&E encountered a hot dog pushcart proclaiming "Fred & Tom's Hot
Dogs.
> Leon is our middle name."
>
elucidate. I promise to be properly embarrased after the lightbulb goes off.
aem sends....
Michael Kieras
: Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
:
: panel you have ever seen.
Since we're talking a single-panel, I'll go with a single-panel Sunday
strip from Bloom County:
"GENE SIMMONS NEVER HAD A PERSONAL COMPUTER WHEN HE WAS A KID
How do we know? We know because our own well documented research
has shown conclusively that a child who lacks his own personal
computer during those earliest school years will very probably
grow up to be a bass player in a heavy-metal rock band who wears
women's fishnet pantyhose and sticks his tongue down to his
kneecaps. Just like Gene Simmons."
The accompanying drawing of Gene Simmons is priceless.
--
nn ,-==. '
(..) _`. ''
\/._>.__)''
C The Shocker
news:b2j8q7$p9t$1...@reader1.panix.com...
> Also, Calvin's mom on the floor, laughing,
> after Calvin does an "impression" of his dad -- "Calvin, go do
> something you hate. Being miserable builds character."
Bingo.
--
C The Shocker
OTL
>panel you have ever seen.
I'd probably have to go with an old Funky Winkerbean, from the high school
days. Les and Funky were at a fast food place, and Les accidentally left
his retainer on the tray and threw it out. When they went back, the
garbage can had already been emptied to the dumpster, so Les had to look
in the dumpster for the retainer. He told Funky not to tell anyone that
he threw out his retainer, as it would be too embarrassing.
The panel is the dumpster, with Les' legs sticking out, and Funky telling
someone, "He forgot to finish his fries."
--
Brian Perler bpe...@sprynet.com
"[T]he devil you know is better than a kick in the groin on a cold morning"
-Bastard Operator From Hell
Geoduck
Mad Magazine's Don Martin did a similar gag; a group of construction
workers are arguing, and one of them calls another a 'dip'. The dip
than gets run over by the paving machine, and the last shot is of a
small bump in the finished road with The Sign posted next to it.
My favorite Don Martin toon, though, is probably the one that features
a seedy-looking bum silently panhandling on the sidewalk. A man in a
business suit stalks by and snaps "Get a job!" The next shot shows the
bum, still dressed in his shabby rags, sitting behind an enormous desk
in a large office high up in a skyscraper.
Geoduck
Visit The Mansion of E
http://www.olywa.net/cook/toons/toons.htm
Chris Schumacher
wrote:
> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
>
>panel you have ever seen.
>
> My (admittedly subjective) vote goes to Calvin & Hobbes, when
>the good duplicate 'has an evil thought' and 'spectralizes'. Hobbes'
>quip of 'Another casualty of applied metaphysics' never fails to get
>a chuckle out of me...
>
> John DiFool
The Far Side, where the clown is buying the gun and thinking "Laugh at
me, will they?"
-==Kensu==-
John DiFool
Well, my fave clown FS cartoon has to be the Strategic Pie
Limitation Talks...
John DiFool
--
============================================
Reach heaven far too high
============================================
D Olz
I don't understand either. And how does Phil O'Stein (owner of the only
Kosher deli in Dublin) come into the joke?
Olz
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
Len-L
Sparky gets my vote for the panel with Charlie Brown anxiously
awaiting the rising sun to see if it would be normal or a baseball as
he had been imagining, only to see......
Alfred E Newman!!
Hail
>
> panel you have ever seen.
>
> My (admittedly subjective) vote goes to Calvin & Hobbes, when
> the good duplicate 'has an evil thought' and 'spectralizes'. Hobbes'
> quip of 'Another casualty of applied metaphysics' never fails to get
> a chuckle out of me...
>
> John DiFool
That is a tough one. Funniest probably changes from day-to-day and as
my memory graces me with panels that it deins to give back to me.
One that I recently put up on my bulletin board -- and is probably
only funny to people in the graphic arts field -- is from "Off the
Mark" and shows a letter "K" on the stairs shouting down to a lower
case "d" and "h" snuggling on the couch: "Young lady, let's see some
more kerning between you two..."
And I've always loved the Far Side panel showing the school for the
gifted with the kid pushing on the door labeled "pull"
Barry L. Gingrich
>news:<3E4D1FEF...@earthlink.net>...
>> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
>> panel you have ever seen.
The Far Side (paraphrased from memory): several penguins on an ice floe...
one says to another "And now Edgar's missing! I tell you, something's
going on here!" In the middle of the floe is a huge, well-fed polar bear
with a fake penguin beak tied around its head.
Either that or just about any panel in Don Martin's "National Gorilla
Suit Day"....
stnic...@cox-internet.com
a restaurant, a sign about frog legs being served, a legless frog
comes out the kitchen door on a cart, paddling itself along.
Wish I still had a copy.
Rhonda
stnic...@cox-internet.com
Rhonda
Michael Kieras
: I don't remember who did this one. S. Gross, maybe. People eating in
: a restaurant, a sign about frog legs being served, a legless frog
: comes out the kitchen door on a cart, paddling itself along.
:
: Wish I still had a copy.
National Lampoon. Which brings to mind another hilarious panel which
is unfortunately completely unsuited for any public discussion group
or really any private one, either.
But back to the frog toon above. It was the cover strip for "That's
not funny, that's sick!" A quick Google search came up with this,
which has the cover in miniature:
http://www.addreviews.com/readreview.php?rev=1185
ronniecat
"Peter Gullerud" <peterg...@aol.comics> wrote in message
news:20030215150948...@mb-mt.aol.com...
> One Larson strip I always liked (had it pinned to my desk at Warner Bros)
was
> one he titled "God as an Adolescent" and pictured a Tyronnosaurus Rex
getting
> gored by a Triceratops and a balloon coming from heaven saying:
"Coooooool...."
or: A chubby, bespectacled kid with his glasses askew, scorch marks on his
clothes from the explosion that has obviously just taken place in the room;
feathers float through the air and lie in piles around him. Caption: "God,
as a kid, tries to make a chicken in his room."
stnic...@cox-internet.com
Kieras) wrote:
>
>But back to the frog toon above. It was the cover strip for "That's
>not funny, that's sick!" A quick Google search came up with this,
>which has the cover in miniature:
Thanks! That's the one.
Rhonda
>
Peter B. Steiger
> (Setup is Monty and Robotman arguing about whether the Venetian blinds
> should be open or closed. Final panel is on a submarine.)
> Officer looking in periscope: "M-Y-S-P-A-N-I-E-L-H-A-S-A-G-O-I-T-E-R"
> Other officer: "Sir, are you sure we have the right checkpoint?"
> OK, maybe you hadda be there.
No, that was great! I was on the phone with a customer when I read it, and
I had to reach over and whack the mute button *FAST* before the loud laughs
went right into the microphone.
--
Peter B. Steiger
Cheyenne, WY
If you must reply by email, you can reach me by placing zeroes
where you see stars: wypbs**1 at bornagain.com.
ShadZ
> stnic...@cox-internet.com wrote:
> : I don't remember who did this one. S. Gross, maybe. People eating in
> : a restaurant, a sign about frog legs being served, a legless frog
> : comes out the kitchen door on a cart, paddling itself along.
> :
> : Wish I still had a copy.
>
> National Lampoon. Which brings to mind another hilarious panel which
> is unfortunately completely unsuited for any public discussion group
> or really any private one, either.
One of my favorites from National Lampoon:
A man and a woman in business attire return home from work. They are met
at the door by a dog, wearing an apron and carrying a wooden spoon.
The Man: "Oh, Bowser, Bowser, Bowser. If only you didn't cook with water
from the toilet"
ShadZ
OhSojourner
> In the previous article, John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious
>> single panel you have ever seen.
> The clear winner, for me: "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell
> with it." I don't know why I find that to be such a gut-buster, but
> I chuckle out loud every time I think of it.
> First runner-up: Bill Clinton sneaking back into the White House
> from a lodge meeting with the GOP, a bottle of "Old Budget Cut"
> sticking out of his pocket. HRC is waiting for him with a rolling
> pin. (A MacNelly cartoon from 1995.) The subject is amusing, but the
> way the principals are drawn is absolutely hysterical.
> Honorable mention: "The real reason dinosaurs became extinct." Some-
> thing about the look in that T-Rex's eye just slayed me.
I can't say for sure exactly which cartoon panels would be a favorite of mine.
A couple spring to mind, tho:
(Political cartoon): A couple presidential races ago after Pat Buchanan won an
early Republican primary, someone (can't remember the artist) drew a cartoon of
Buchanan dressed as a caveman, sitting on top of a T. Rex that was in the
process of devouring an elephant, whole. All you saw of the elephant was its
fat butt and back legs sticking straight out at odd angles. It was a funny
drawing even if you didn't know what it was about.
(Runner-up): political cartoonist Willis, years ago drew a commentary on draft
registration. The cartoon in question featured a line of sullen-looking,
pimply-faced teenagers at a line in the post office. Commentary by registrar:
"It's a fine thing to see all these young men eager to defend their flag".
American flag in background: instead of stars and stripes, it's cars and pipes
-- little cars in place of the stars and oil pipelines in place of the stripes.
(Especially relevent now...)
Gary Larson: I always thought it was hilarious the way he drew all his female
characters with beehive hairdos and cat's-eye glasses (including the Jane
Goodall types out in the jungle...)
> There are a few Calvin & Hobbes panels that are on my short list;
> most of them involve snowmen. Also, Calvin's mom on the floor,
> laughing, after Calvin does an "impression" of his dad -- "Calvin,
> go do something you hate. Being miserable builds character."
*******************************************************
http://sojourns.150m.com/photoindex.html (updated 5/04/02)
reply to ohsojourner@yahoo dot com
OhSojourner
funny: Husband and wife yuppies, both preoccupied talking on cell phones as
husband is entering front door (apparently home from work);
Wife says (caption): "I have to go now... you just got home."
(*Could have been the husband saying this to the wife, but at any rate, the
serious, preoccupied look the cartoonist gave the characters was a perfect
caricature of "high powered urban professionals.")
Bali
a new gag in the book). Binkley's father is sitiing in a chair,
thinking about how miserable his life is, and he doesn't know how
one more thing can go wrong. The last panel, Binkley comes in,
and says, "The cat barfed in the sock drawer." It was funnier in
the paper than it sounds.
Bali
Peter Gullerud
Date: Tue, Feb 18, 2003 5:59 PM
Message-id: <20030218205952...@mb-cf.aol.com>
Hard call, but hmmm... here's a recent New Yorker gag I thought was pretty
funny: Husband and wife yuppies, both preoccupied talking on cell phones as
husband is entering front door (apparently home from work);
Wife says (caption): "I have to go now... you just got home."
(*Could have been the husband saying this to the wife, but at any rate, the
serious, preoccupied look the cartoonist gave the characters was a perfect
caricature of "high powered urban professionals.")
>>
Funny.. I remember another New Yorker where a real snooty looking guy at an
outdoor cafe was on a cel phone and the caption was s omething like : "I have
hang up now, no one is around to notice I'm on the phone."
Geoduck
wrote:
I wonder how many of them Breathed changed for the books. I remember
one where Bobbi Harlowe is talking to her parents about thier sex
life. Bobbi's mother says that the two of them haven't slept in the
same bed for years, because she evident 'snores like a congested
heifer'. The original reply from her husband was "It's true. It
boggles the mind." In the book, this was changed to him making
sarcastic snorting noises. I think the first version was funnier.
Yngvar Fųlling
> Mad Magazine's Don Martin did a similar gag; a group of construction
> workers are arguing, and one of them calls another a 'dip'. The dip
> than gets run over by the paving machine, and the last shot is of a
> small bump in the finished road with The Sign posted next to it.
>
> My favorite Don Martin toon, though, is probably the one that features
> a seedy-looking bum silently panhandling on the sidewalk. A man in a
> business suit stalks by and snaps "Get a job!" The next shot shows the
> bum, still dressed in his shabby rags, sitting behind an enormous desk
> in a large office high up in a skyscraper.
> Geoduck
I remember both of these, but I think these were late in his period as
a Mad Magazine cartoonist. I can think of earlier ones that I thought
were much funnier, especially as they relied a lot more on his odd
drawing style. The late ones were often not written by him at all, but
either by Don/Duck Edwing or Charlie Kadau.
For instance, back when he tended to use "Fonebone" as his generic
character name. A couple walks down the street, passing various stores
along the way. One says "Fonebone's glasses" with a giant pair of
"cat's eye glasses" on the sign (like I just learned here that those
glasses are called). Then they pass "Fonebone's swimsuits" with a giant
swimsuit on the sign. Then "Fonebone's shoes" and possibly a few more
stores, all advertising their garments with giant samples underneath
their signs.
Then, as you turned the page, you saw a gigantic pot-bellied man
dressed in the same glasses, shoes, swimsuit etc, and holding a sign
saying "Fonebone."
Yngvar
ronniecat
> panel you have ever seen.
I don't know how I could've forgotten this one, but I was on business in
Halifax last night and woke out of a sound sleep in the hotel to remember it
(in the context of this thread). All of which says much more about me than I
care to analyze. But:
James Thurber's panel which shows a man and woman sitting up in bed. She's
looking cross, he's looking frustrated; he's turned away from her. A seal is
peering congenially over the headboard, behind and above them, and well out
of their line of sight. The woman is saying impatiently to the man, "All
right! Have it your way. You heard a seal bark!"
That single panel says *so much* about marriage. In fact, while looking for
a sample to show y'all I found this analysis of the panel with a background
story of where the panel came from - which is an interesting story in
itself:
http://www.compedit.com/raskin1.htm
And here's the cartoon, along with some other great New Yorker cartoons,
including one discussed in this thread ("I say it's broccoli and I say the
hell with it."): http://www.compedit.com/nygraphics.htm
ronnie
--
"There is no such thing as an 'exotic pet'." - Mike Peterson
~ address altered to foil spambots * remove my collar to reply ~
~mon pied a terre virtuel * http://www.ronniecat.com ~
Ted Kerin
As I recently told my wife, I always wanted to get a custom-made headboard,
carved into the likeness of the bed in that cartoon, with the Thurber seal
looming overhead.
Jim Ellwanger
<ronn...@mycollar.hotmail.com> wrote:
> James Thurber's panel which shows a man and woman sitting up in bed. She's
> looking cross, he's looking frustrated; he's turned away from her. A seal is
> peering congenially over the headboard, behind and above them, and well out
> of their line of sight. The woman is saying impatiently to the man, "All
> right! Have it your way. You heard a seal bark!"
There was a parody of "The New Yorker" published about 15 years ago
that had a takeoff on this cartoon: the art was the same except that
the seal wasn't there; the caption read, "All right, have it your way.
I'll bark like a seal."
--
Jim Ellwanger <trai...@mindspring.com>
<http://trainman1.home.mindspring.com> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."
Yvonne Dionne
about Ruby in FBORFW, and read every item in this thread and had a few
good chuckles, especially "He didn't finish his fries".
I don't laugh out loud at many comics, and when I do I cut them out
and save them.
One was Dennis the Menace walking purposely past his Dad who is
sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. "Dad, where do we keep the
glue?"
Another Dennis (or maybe it was Calvin) that makes me chuckle is two
panels: At the dinner table he says "Please pass the fish eyes and
glue." In the second he is facing the corner in his chair saying
"Please pass the tapioca pudding. Please pass the tapioca pudding."
I saved my favourite one for years - it's lost now - but the thought
of it still makes me laugh.
It's a Far Side, in a cave, with a Daddy bear telling his two cubs a
good night story. Daddy bear has a skull on each of his two paws, and
the three of them are sitting on a pile of bones.
"Daddy, Daddy, please tell it one more time!"
"Ok, then it's off to bed for the both of you. 'Hey Bob, do you
suppose there are any bears in this cave?' 'I dunno Jim, let's take a
look.'"
Yvonne
Mark Steese
wrote news:df38ce4a.03022...@posting.google.com, on the day of
21 Feb 2003:
> I found your delightful group today while searching for information
> about Ruby in FBORFW, and read every item in this thread and had a few
> good chuckles, especially "He didn't finish his fries".
>
> I don't laugh out loud at many comics, and when I do I cut them out
> and save them.
>
> One was Dennis the Menace walking purposely past his Dad who is
> sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. "Dad, where do we keep the
> glue?"
>
> Another Dennis (or maybe it was Calvin) that makes me chuckle is two
> panels: At the dinner table he says "Please pass the fish eyes and
> glue." In the second he is facing the corner in his chair saying
> "Please pass the tapioca pudding. Please pass the tapioca pudding."
That's Dennis -- I had a book with that one in it when I was younger. It
may have been the same book that had my all-time favorite Dennis the
Menace panel - Dennis is holding up a box of dog biscuits and saying to
his mother "Look! I *told* ya he don't know what he's eating for
breakfast!" His father is sitting at the table, reading the paper, and
eating a dog biscuit with a look of blissful content. That never failed
to crack me up.
> I saved my favourite one for years - it's lost now - but the thought
> of it still makes me laugh.
>
> It's a Far Side, in a cave, with a Daddy bear telling his two cubs a
> good night story. Daddy bear has a skull on each of his two paws, and
> the three of them are sitting on a pile of bones.
>
> "Daddy, Daddy, please tell it one more time!"
> "Ok, then it's off to bed for the both of you. 'Hey Bob, do you
> suppose there are any bears in this cave?' 'I dunno Jim, let's take a
> look.'"
My personal favorite Far Side panel is the one that shows a dead cowboy
lying face first in front of a sloth holding a smoking six-shooter. One
onlooker is saying to the other "Well, the sloth got him...you know, ol'
Zeke never was what you'd call 'fast on the draw.'" It's not that great a
gag, but I find something irresistibly Pythonish about a sloth
gunslinger.
-Mark Steese
--
there's a ribbon in the willow and a tire swing rope
and a briar patch of berries takin over the slope
the cat'll sleep in the mailbox and we'll never go to town
till we bury every dream in the cold cold ground
cold cold ground -Tom Waits
ronniecat
"Ted Kerin" <tf.k...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:b3634...@enews4.newsguy.com...
Well, *I'd* order one :)
ronnie
--
"Stop, Drop and Roll! No, wait. I mean, Shout No and Run Away!"
- a nervous friend tries to tell her daughter to "Just Say No" to drugs
* address altered to foil spambots - remove mycollar to reply *
* mon pied a terre virtuel - http://www.ronniecat.com *
ronniecat
"Yvonne Dionne" <dio...@magma.ca> wrote in message
news:df38ce4a.03022...@posting.google.com...
> I found your delightful group today while searching for information
> about Ruby in FBORFW, and read every item in this thread and had a few
> good chuckles, especially "He didn't finish his fries".
Welcome, Yvonne. I hope you'll stay - we talk about For Better Or For Worse
more and more often than almost any other strip.
> Another Dennis (or maybe it was Calvin) that makes me chuckle is two
> panels: At the dinner table he says "Please pass the fish eyes and
> glue." In the second he is facing the corner in his chair saying
> "Please pass the tapioca pudding. Please pass the tapioca pudding."
I laughed just at your description of it :)
It's a nice group - stick around :)
ronnie
Rex F. May
ronn...@mycollar.hotmail.com wrote on 2/22/03 7:55 PM:
>
> "Ted Kerin" <tf.k...@gte.net> wrote in message
> news:b3634...@enews4.newsguy.com...
>>
>> As I recently told my wife, I always wanted to get a custom-made
> headboard,
>> carved into the likeness of the bed in that cartoon, with the Thurber seal
>> looming overhead.
>
> Well, *I'd* order one :)
Me, now, I've always wanted a piece of furniture pained red with black and
yellow strips around the middle.
Yvonne Dionne
> It's a nice group - stick around :)
>
> ronnie
Thanks Ronnie - I read FBOFW online, and the site, letters from
characters, etc, faithfully every day, and am delighted to find
someplace to talk about it. I admire how well Lynn & FBOFW team use
the web so well.
I read all the earlier FBORFW threads too, and look forward to more.
I also read the Far Side thread and realized you liked the bears in
the cave one too. Great minds laugh alike....
Yvonne
Paul L. Madarasz
Gingrich) wrote, perhaps among other things:
>>John DiFool <jdi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>news:<3E4D1FEF...@earthlink.net>...
>>> Not the funniest strip (consistently), but the most hilarious single
>>> panel you have ever seen.
>
>The Far Side (paraphrased from memory): several penguins on an ice floe...
>one says to another "And now Edgar's missing! I tell you, something's
>going on here!" In the middle of the floe is a huge, well-fed polar bear
>with a fake penguin beak tied around its head.
And as he noted (In _The Prehistoric Far Side_), he was embarassed by
this, since the two species involved are antipodilly (antipodically?)
located.
--
Paul L. Madarasz
Tucson, Baja Arizona
"How 'bout cuttin' that rebop?"
-- S. Kowalski
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Mark Jackson
> On 16 Feb 2003 17:35:25 -0700, bgin...@nyx10.nyx.net (Barry L.
> Gingrich) wrote, perhaps among other things:
> >The Far Side (paraphrased from memory): several penguins on an ice floe...
> >one says to another "And now Edgar's missing! I tell you, something's
> >going on here!" In the middle of the floe is a huge, well-fed polar bear
> >with a fake penguin beak tied around its head.
>
> And as he noted (In _The Prehistoric Far Side_), he was embarassed by
> this, since the two species involved are antipodilly (antipodically?)
> located.
Antipodally.
It strikes me that this actually makes the cartoon slightly *more*
plausible: assuming the polar bear could actually travel to
Antarctica, the penguins would have no instinct to tell them that the
big, white, furry mound in their midst was actually a dangerous
predator.
Doesn't explain the penguin mask, though.
--
Mark Jackson - http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~mjackson
A retired physicist reading the /Encyclopaedia Britannica/
can do just so much toward securing world peace.
- Brian Hayes
Paul L. Madarasz
Jackson) wrote, perhaps among other things:
>Paul L. Madarasz <pl...@dakotacom.net> writes:
>> On 16 Feb 2003 17:35:25 -0700, bgin...@nyx10.nyx.net (Barry L.
>> Gingrich) wrote, perhaps among other things:
>
>> >The Far Side (paraphrased from memory): several penguins on an ice floe...
>> >one says to another "And now Edgar's missing! I tell you, something's
>> >going on here!" In the middle of the floe is a huge, well-fed polar bear
>> >with a fake penguin beak tied around its head.
>>
>> And as he noted (In _The Prehistoric Far Side_), he was embarassed by
>> this, since the two species involved are antipodilly (antipodically?)
>> located.
>
>Antipodally.
>
>It strikes me that this actually makes the cartoon slightly *more*
>plausible: assuming the polar bear could actually travel to
>Antarctica, the penguins would have no instinct to tell them that the
>big, white, furry mound in their midst was actually a dangerous
>predator.
>
>Doesn't explain the penguin mask, though.
There's a toy store right around the nearest floe.
Chris Clarke
mjac...@alumni.caltech.edu (Mark Jackson) wrote:
> Paul L. Madarasz <pl...@dakotacom.net> writes:
> >
> > And as he noted (In _The Prehistoric Far Side_), he was embarassed by
> > this, since the two species involved are antipodilly (antipodically?)
> > located.
>
> Antipodally.
>
> It strikes me that this actually makes the cartoon slightly *more*
> plausible: assuming the polar bear could actually travel to
> Antarctica, the penguins would have no instinct to tell them that the
> big, white, furry mound in their midst was actually a dangerous
> predator.
If penguins don't know polar bears are dangerous, why did they name
their continent "No Bears"?
--
Chris Clarke | Editor, Faultline Magazine
www.faultline.org | California Environmental News and Information
Rex F. May
ccl...@faultline.org wrote on 2/24/03 10:07 AM:
> If penguins don't know polar bears are dangerous, why did they name
> their continent "No Bears"?
Wow. I am impressed. Good linguistic jokes are rare.
rm
Geoduck
<yngvar....@c2i.net> wrote:
>In article <3e4fd500...@nnrp.atgi.net>, geo...@webave.com says...
>
>> Mad Magazine's Don Martin did a similar gag; a group of construction
>> workers are arguing, and one of them calls another a 'dip'. The dip
>> than gets run over by the paving machine, and the last shot is of a
>> small bump in the finished road with The Sign posted next to it.
>>
>> My favorite Don Martin toon, though, is probably the one that features
>> a seedy-looking bum silently panhandling on the sidewalk. A man in a
>> business suit stalks by and snaps "Get a job!" The next shot shows the
>> bum, still dressed in his shabby rags, sitting behind an enormous desk
>> in a large office high up in a skyscraper.
>> Geoduck
>
>I remember both of these, but I think these were late in his period as
>a Mad Magazine cartoonist. I can think of earlier ones that I thought
>were much funnier, especially as they relied a lot more on his odd
>drawing style. The late ones were often not written by him at all, but
>either by Don/Duck Edwing or Charlie Kadau.
(snip)
I came to Mad relatively late in Martin's stint there, so I never saw
a lot of the earlier stuff.
Chris Clarke
Peter Gullerud
have major surgery.
Paul L. Madarasz
wrote, perhaps among other things:
>In article <BA7FA546.72B0%rex...@attbi.com>,
And a Ernie Kovacs (a fine Hungarian) -- or was that Fred Allen? --
fan, to boot!