CSotD: Observational Humor

Thank god I don’t still have his voice in my head like this fellow in the Banx cartoon. But the political cartoons are currently evenly divided between Tucker Carlson and the November elections. I’m trying to be done with the former and, as for the latter, I’m taking the Scarlett O’Hara approach: I’ll think about that tomorrow.

Instead, here’s an update on Zits (KFS), where it turns out Scott and Borgman do know something about high school students after all, since Jeremy’s friends have all made plans for the summer.

I like the spectrum represented, with Sara advancing her education, Hector advancing his wallet, Pierce perhaps under a little “What are you doing to do?” pressure from the folks and Dijon with a skilled summer job.

However, while it overturns my suspicion that they were painting all kids as slackers, it makes Jeremy seem like even more of one. I suppose if he were more of a “typical teenager,” the strip would turn into Luann or Gil Thorpe, but, as the gang seemingly transitions into senior year, it reminds me of the last, best season of “Leave It To Beaver,” when Wally was a senior.

Only Jeremy is Lumpy rather than Wally. Fair enough, I guess.

And there’s some precedent for that, as seen in this strip from 2002. Even with the better haircut, I’m not sure Hector is good-looking or athletic enough to be Wally, but then Pierce isn’t evil like Eddie, just equally impulsive. Meanwhile, Sara has more personality than Mary Ellen Rogers, and Dijon is completely off the charts in that department.

Dijon belongs over in “Dobie Gillis.”

And to extend the conceit, the folks in Daddy’s Home (Creators) would be more analogous to “Married With Children” or “Grounded For Life,” which came after TV writers gave up on modeling good families and went for a more realistic least-objectionable — or maybe least-common-denominator — approach.

Which worked, but, like Too Much Coffee Man (AMS), it didn’t work for me. One of the strange things about football season is that I get to watch promos for network television shows that look like some kind of SNL parodies but apparently are not only real shows but real shows that people watch.

The encouraging part being that broadcast TV isn’t doing so well, such that breathless boasts of “America’s favorite new show!” don’t carry as much weight as they might have a few decades ago.

I’d like to think there are nearly as many Clarisse McClellans as there are Mildred Montags, but I’m pretty sure that’s not true. Still, however their relative numbers come out, Clarisse is busily raising hell, and will show up at the polls despite attempts to silence her.

Meanwhile, I wish the hapless Dagwood in this Rhymes With Orange (KFS) were just a TV stereotype left over from “The Life of Riley,” but, alas, I see multiple examples of him every time I go to the store, his phone against his ear as he checks in with Command Central to see if tomato paste and tomato sauce are the same thing.

Frazz (AMS) breaks its usual format by having the kid be remarkably unperceptive. Generally, though not always, the kids are hipper than the grown-ups here.

However, while I don’t think anyone puts the unbroken chips at the top of the bag, I am convinced that, when they package 3-pound bags of onions, they check to make sure they include a moldy one that will quickly turn it into 1.5 pounds of onions and 1.5 pounds of yuck.

Buying single onions is more expensive, except that you actually get to use them, which evens things out.

Today’s Loose Parts (AMS) reminds me that I never had much luck in on-line dating, by which I mean I had none in half a dozen hapless attempts.

Specific to the cartoon, the one who looked most like her on-line photo was a graphic artist who hadn’t touched things up at all. And we did meet twice, though the second was mostly a chance to say it wasn’t happening, which at least was more classy than Rupert and Jerry’s breakup.

YMMV, but the people I know who found romance on line found it by happenstance in forums, not on dating apps.

The dog park isn’t a bad place to find a compatible person, though, as in this Speed Bump (Creators), it can take a while to learn people’s names. Aside from answering the primary question — “Love me, love my dog” — you can tell a fair amount about a person at the dog park.

Suzi is mostly concerned with whether they carry cookies, has her own list of soft touches and will run the length of a football field to greet them. I don’t discount that factor, though I try to be more restrained in my response, but I find that well-socialized dogs have well-socialized people.

Dave Coverly is kidding, by the way. We don’t refer to “Fluffy’s person and Fifi’s person.” That would be silly.

We call them “Fluffy’s Dad” and “Fifi’s Mom.”

We’re finally getting some Spring at our park along the banks of the Connecticut River, and a good selection of brown thrashers and northern mockingbirds to produce long, complex musical selections in the bushes while we soak up some sun and watch the dogs play.

As They Can Talk suggests, the geese are not expected to join in the chorus, though we are hoping for a good selection of goslings in a little while, along with mallard ducklings, whose parents are much more quiet than the geese and mostly just mutter to themselves.

While speaking of noise I don’t need to hear, Oslo Davis echoes my impression of audience participation, not just at speeches and presentations but also on the radio. I switch stations when they go to the phones, which may stem in part from having been a talk radio host for a year or so, which gave me enough audience participation to last a lifetime.

However, I’ve noticed a trend on NPR shows like 1A to ask people to comment but then select and either edit or summarize their questions and comments. It’s similar to the way live presentations will ask people to put their questions on cards.

Or the live presentations could feature this, though it would require the person who hands people the microphone to also clip on a few leads.