I pondered using Joe Dator’s cartoon because I’ve seen similar gags before, but then realized (A) there aren’t many absolutely brand-new gags, but a good cartoonist can make them fresh and (B) there are things that can’t be said too often. (A) is covered in Russian literary criticism, where they have an expression “making new,” […]
A bunch of funny stuff, today and in the past several days, and well-timed given the level of not-funny stuff we’ve all been dealing with. My definition of funny has less to do with pies in the face than with things that make you laugh because you can relate to them. (My sympathies to those […]
This Reality Check (AMS) raises an interesting question: Do you have to be a guitar player to get the joke? My feeling is that you only need a very basic understanding of music to get a chuckle, because the G-Clef tells you it’s about music and you should know there are majors and minors that […]
Loose Parts (AMS) hits at a good moment. I tried a hole-in-the-wall pizza place yesterday, and when I paid, got one of those screens. I don’t believe in tipping counterhelp and you’re not supposed to tip the owner, so I hit “No tip.” Again. Again. Again. Finally. “I’ll bet the 25% one goes right through,” […]
We’re skipping politics for the day, but first … Rabbits Against Magic Barney & Clyde — Counterpoint I’m all in favor of comic strips commenting on politics, but lead time can trip you up and both these strips were caught off-guard by Biden’s withdrawal. Granted, however, that there are still some political cartoons up on […]
David Ostow is right, and so was my professor, all those years ago. We were reading Hamlet and he led off the day’s discussion by asking what purpose the gravediggers’ scene served. Being sophomores, we knew everything, so we chattered away about rising and falling action and the need for comic relief in a tense […]
Barbara Smaller’s cartoon is hardly breakthrough humor, subconsciously echoing as it does a Tom Toro piece that has become a classic: It is odd that they both ran in the New Yorker. As an editor, I certainly would have recognized the repetitive nature and declined to run the second iteration. OTOH, if I were editing […]
I like cartoons that make demands on their audience, and Andertoons did a lovely job here of requiring readers to recognize a very unusual name and a key indicator of her voice. If you don’t get it, it’s completely explained in the comments, with a few people taking umbrage at not having been spoonfed but […]
Joy of Tech takes a shot at Facebook, which has launched a new way of tracking your activity in order to show you more ads, or, as they explain it, better ads. Which brings to mind the famous Monty Python sketch in which the woman protests, “But I don’t want any Spam!” Here’s an article […]
In today’s Between Friends (KFS), Maeve has been awarded the Cardboard Box and ambitious suck-up Jim is feigning surprise. But, to repeat something I’ve said before, I never lost a job I still wanted, which is relevant since Maeve was on the brink of resigning. I was fired twice, which isn’t bad over 40-some years, […]
Tony Carrillo gives us a clue to his lead time on F-Minus (AMS), given that the American Ornithological Society announced on November 1 that they intended to change the names of birds named after people. They should have made their secondary reason first, which is that using descriptive names rather than eponyms helps people identify […]
Today’s Pearls Before Swine (AMS) is how we know that Stephan Pastis either (A) is older than we thought or (B) went to a conservative Catholic school or (C) is channeling terrorized older Catholics. I only had two years of Catholic school before we moved to the wilds and I started going to public school, […]
If I’m going to use a New England-based Halloween pun in the headline, I should start with a New England-based comic, so here’s Wallace the Brave (AMS)‘s landscape of Snug Harbor, RI, to which I would add that social media has been full of wet blanket discussions of what candy is no good, but the […]
Wiley Miller lived in New England for some years, which he proves with this Non Sequitur (AMS). It’s nice to live in the Northern Forest because autumns are spectacular, but, yes, timing is everything and those “from away” must learn that it’s nearly impossible to plan a trip ahead of time that will put you […]
No, no, no politics today, despite Pearls Before Swine (AMS) sneaking a good one in. DD Degg’s news of another chain abandoning its local readers is depressing enough without delving deeper into the mire. UPDATE: Gannett has disputed the report, though it’s not clear how big a difference it makes. Stay tuned: DD Degg is […]