Metapost: Return to the planet of the comment of the week
Wait, what’s this? Why, your favorite Uncle left a parting gift — some comments of the week for me to sift through! Here’s the new COTW, at long last:
“A crime-fighting judge? What a novel and entertaining idea. You might also consider adding a disease-fighting nurse, an illiteracy-fighting middle school teacher and perhaps a fire-fighting fireman, to add to the variety. Throw in a busman who drives buses and you’ll be all set.” — Henning Makholm
And some runners-up!
“The specificity rolls on! For Herb, it must feel liberating, like coming out of the closet. ‘And I have a whole bunch of Captain & Tenille albums! And I eat Grape-Nuts for breakfast! Hee hee! And I drive a Ford! No, not just a Ford… dare I say it?’ ‘Don’t do it, former NBA star and longtime friend with whom I run a restaurant! You don’t know what’ll happen!’ ‘No, I’m gonna say it! A Ford Crown Victoria! And I prefer R.C. over Pepsi or Coke!’ — The Spectacular Spider-Brick
‘‘Is Spider-Man Really the Vulture?’ ???!? Why would someone who IS a secret identity NEED a secret identity?” — Pozzo
“I’m fairly sure Osama bin Laden has wept at some point today. If America’s the devil, then having Peter Parker mention your name must be like the most tediously pathetic version of hell.” — kitty
“Mary: You’ve driven me into the arms of another man, Jeff!
Jeff: How’d I do that?
Mary: By implying that I date other men!
Jeff: Huh?
Mary: Grovel, Jeff! Grovel!” — Hogenmogen“Unfortunately, in Judge Parker’s book, the judge disappears on page 25, and the next 200 pages feature almost totally unrelated characters doing all of the crime-solving. Someone must have told him to write what he knows.” — Windier E. Megatons
“I love the serendipity of placing the ‘Learn to Draw the Human Figure’ blogad adjacent to Dick Tracy, whose illustrators have never, ever taken any such course.” — Evan
“Kitty is going down a bad path. Next thing you know, she is going to be doing lines of cat nip and having threesomes with Morris and Garfield. Stop her Rufus before it is too late.” — Walt’s Wallet
“If ya wanna date Mary Worth, ya gotta love dead fish.
Somehow I already guessed that.”– mojo“Suddenly Coach Thorp’s team is trying to qualify for the playoffs, not the playdowns. Did their town move?” — Saluki
“Bonus! More similes for Dick Tracy villains! -
• Easy as chewing milk!
• Easy as shoveling wood!
• Smooth as a baby’s resume!
• Fungible as pie!
• Platitudinous as February 3rd!
• It was just like driving a train to the dentist!
• It was just like putting a rubber band around a lava lite!
• Like sand through the hourglass; these are the days of our lives!” — Muffaroo“Gosh, was this just the best darndest Mary Worth ever or what? In one fell swoop, Ron goes from potential ‘friend with privileges’ to ‘friend with shriveleges.’ There’s a reason Mary wants you to order the raw oysters, Ron. Actually, a couple reasons.” — gh
Ahh, feels good to have the COTWs back, don’t it? Enjoy!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Situation normal! Throw me beads and candy! Enough to make up for two weeks! And just because all you floaters are so dang funny!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
… and the cosmos regains its balance. Congratulations, y’all.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Ah, Mary Worth. Always the best target. Welcome back, Josh.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Congrats to the COTWeekers! Being reminded of such fun has required me to change my Depends again.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I’d like to thank the deity of my choice, for condemning so many others to a week of bitter disappointment — a week I know all too well — so that I could strut around my basement office, punching the air like a malfunctioning John Travolta robot.
I’d like to thank my fellow COTW’ers (ooh, I get to say that) for being really funny so that by the time a reader gets to me, they figure I must be really funny too.
Most of all, I’d like to thank the stagehand who’s coming at me with a big shepherd’s crook and a hypo full of zzzzzzzzzz
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
After careful analysis, I can say that these are all particularly strong examples of what the Earth people call humor. From my studies of their ways, what they call congratulations are called for.
But for the teachings of Surak, I might even laugh, myself. Stupid Surak.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
I actually printed out Muffaroo’s comment because it was so priceless. Muffaroo made it seem as easy as taking candy from juniper bush, or as easy as falling off a barnacle. Or as simple as milking a pick-up. As easy as plucking a fruitcake. Like bathing with wombat.
Anyway, congratulations to all, especially Henning Makholm (Of the Hampton Makholms?)
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 am
Muffaroo: Is that deity of your choice the famous one that everybody’s been talking about lately?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 am
Those are all mighty fine comments, but it was Islamorada Girl’s Mary Worth’s WASP Lasagna Casserole (115 previous thread) that had my wife rolling about laughing for close to a minute.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 am
Thursday observations:
FC: hey, Billy, sometimes it’s best just to keep your mouth shut.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/2632374093/
MT: well, someone has to say it…GOAT!
MW: oh, my GOD! The UNTHINKABLE! Jeff Corey is doing DOCTOR STUFF!
Phantom: oh-kayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…
RMMD: thank you, God!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9545446@N07/2633233922/sizes/o/
FOOB: usually a child learns from a parent…evidently the opposite is true in FOOBville when it comes to etiquette.
(I keep wondering if Sparky was pleased or flattered or cheesed off by how much Michael and his little friends resembled Charlie Brown and his little friends.)
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 am
Congratulations and a tip of the hat to Henning Makholm and the very merry float-ridin’ runners-up! Y’all owe me a keyboard.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:38 am
Congratulations to Henning Makholm and all the COTW float riders, especially Spider-Brick and gh! Great snark all around! And welcome back, Josh! Didja bring me anything goat related?
Let’s go snarkin’ real quick!
BB Hey. No taking goats in vain, pal.
Curtis Ms. Honeystump. No, that’s not subliminal, nosirree.
DtM I feel happy for Mr. Wilson today.
FC I’ll bet she’ll give it right back to you, Billy, since you are not well tenderized enough.
FBoFW Eric Cartman is alive and living in panel one.
GA A simple mind is about to be blown.
(WTF)GT That’s because Dr. Pearl is a little more sensitive than you are.
Scenes from Suburban Hell Hey you kids! Quit bothering those bees, they have to grind later!
JP Wait wait wait. Sam says he’s not up on Intellectual Property law, so the judge hands him the galleys of his FICTION BOOK?!? Is this to let Sam know that there is very little intelligence to be found in the book so the IP laws are moot? Shouldn’t Sam be, oh I don’t know, brushing up on his IP law skills instead?
La Cucaracha good meta snark on Cathy.
Luann Mama DeGroot is saying “Hold On” because:
1) the insurance is paid up and she wants a new kitchen makeover;
2) maybe TJ will kill himself THIS time;
3) she wants to win her MILF merit badge and TJ is going to get her there
MT GOAT!! GOAT!!! GOAT!!! I don’t even know or care what was said in panels one or three, just look at that GOAT in panel TWO! Lookie, look! Oh great Jackelrod, I doff my hat to you today, sir!
MW We may think Jeff’s life is better now without Mary, but the mere fact that we are finally looking at him doing his job in the hospital without Mary around bodes ill for the future of his freedom from her.
OBH Ruthie knows who Groucho Marx is, but April Patterson didn’t know any songs earlier than the 1980’s. Ruthie FTW.
Phantom Would that be the same criminals who own the platforms and have every right to visit their property? I mean sure, criminals = oil company executives, but work with me here.
RMMD The interesting thing about serial strips is that people with Bluetooths can open their mouths and talk with nobody around, but when they are talking directly to someone in the same panel, their mouths are often closed despite a large filled word balloon.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
Now that I have actually read Mark Trail, I see that Pete Moss says he is going to ride Kelly Welly. Wha?
I’ll just stick to admiring the goat in panel two, thank you.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 am
MT: A goat that floats! Without a boat! Or do they really hop on all fours?
A3G: Not a mouse, Margo,
its a Louse selling Dope.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 am
MT — Is there any hope that after a couple more shenanigans, Kelly Welly will be staked out in the sun to be devoured by ants? Dang, I was afraid of that.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:59 am
7/3 (Ah, something NEW’s been added!):
FW: Yeah, the pizza has changed since Funky took over: it’s more rude, selfish, plumper, and generally depressing and mean-spirited. Stupid, stupid pizza!
FC: “After I stop beating you, Billy! Remember: next time you go joy riding all over my begonias, you may get hurt on that thing.” (I apologize to the whole world for that last item!)
Lockhorns: Those were Mick ‘n’ Keith’s original lyrics.
Garfield: And speaking of lyrics, this was edited out of the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
S-M: …And which marriage vow was that, MJ…?
FOOB: Yeah, protoFOOB eating habbits, I know, but considering how yecchy liver is, I don’t blame Mikey this time.
Zits: Stretch Armstrong IS Jeremy Duncan!
N-S: Way to stretch out a very old, tired editorial cartoon joke there, Wiley.
BBailey: “You don’t?” “Fuck, no!”
A3G: Obviously, Margo has never seen a Tom & Jerry cartoon.
S4th: You see, Hilary, during the Bicentennial, it was the very 1st season of Saturday Night Live (y’know, back when Chevy was actually funny!) — did you know they had to originally call it “NBC’s Saturday Night” since Howard Cose—- …..What??……
Marvin: …Or at least on some comic strips.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 am
Ok. Josh? I am jeeealous. Of your vacation! I have not yet left the US of A in my short lifetime, but I hope that my first overseas trip is to Spain and/or Italy.
Oh, yeah. Welcome back!
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:52 am
Congrats to everyone! And welcome back, Josh :)
From a real life illiteracy-fighting middle school teacher :)
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 am
9CL: Well, looks like Thorax is back to being a prick again (granted, not a long-winded prick, so that’s something, at least). Must mean he’ll be uncharacteristically entertaining again on Friday. Seems like an every-other-day type situation.
DT: Hey, pal, get your “But” outta my face! (EEWW!) Honestly, even for a strip that specializes in constant claustrophobia, that’s too huge a close-up!
GA: …And reality is about to smash Cap Boy right in the mellon!
MW: “Doc!! That suggestion was obscene! And Mr. Abner’s name is NOT Mary! It’s Li’— Oh, great! Now you’re grovelling! Get up off the floor, Cory! MAN!!”
MC: …Not to mention elitist! Hope she’s not “bitter” or anything…
The Phantom: Ghost-Who’s-About-To-Do-That-Circular-Finger-Twirl-By-The-Side-of-His-Head-Motion.
PC: Oh, dear… Stantis forgot he was a conservative again today! (Jeez, those idiots are lost without their hero Reagan, aren’t they?)
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 am
FunkyWankerbean- I wonder how the pizza at Montoni’s has changed?
No longer floridated?
Extra carcinogens?
Lacking Tony’s “secret cheese?”
Completely thawed?
Not as musky?
Needs more mescalin?
Maybe Tony should show them how to throw (up) a pie.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:08 am
16. Mibbitmaker. If you’re referring to Time is on my Side, the composers were Jerry Ragovoy and Jimmy Norman.
Amazingly, the first recording was by Kai Winding and his Orchestra!
I think the Irma Thomas version is the best though.
SF: Did Starland Vocal Band tour in 1976? If they did, thankfully I missed them. I did go to see the American Freedom Train. There’s something that hasn’t lasted in popular memory anywhere as well as “Afternoon Delight”.
I discovered the following trivia about them:
Group founder Bill Danoff co-wrote “Take Me Home, Country Roads” with John Denver. SVB opened for John Denver on his 1975 tour (which I also managed to avoid).
The band hosted a self-titled variety show that ran on CBS for six weeks in the summer of 1977. David Letterman, then unknown, also participated in the show, as did Mark Russell, Jeff Altman, and Proctor and Bergman.
Summer serieses. Manhattan Transfer did one in 1975 that I remember as one of the best shows ever on TV. I did a quick search to see if it’s out on DVD, without definitive result. Sonny and Cher’s comeback started with a summer series as well, I think. Not such a classic though.
I suppose it’s a dinosaur concept in these days of hundreds of TV channels, but back in the day summer serieses provided a respite from the dreadful fare that dominated the regular season TV schedule.
Unfortunately for the younger generation, all of those horrible old TV shows are now being remade as movies, so you will have to suffer through them as we once did.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:50 am
True Fable already beat me to it, but here’s the link for La Cucaracha’s nice meta-snark on Cathy:
http://www.gocomics.com/lacucaracha/2008/07/03/
Also in today’s Judge Parker, try removing the third line from the Judge’s speech balloon in the first panel:
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20080703&name=Judge_Parker
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 am
Doonesbury: Toggle still speaks haltingly. And yet, this halting speech isn’t as annoying as that of Shannon in FBoFW. How is this? Well, Toggle isn’t a freaking plaster saint, only brought in when April needs to be brought down a peg.
Mary: Dr Cory is prescribing a series of whiny, pleading phone calls.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 am
C’Shaft: Like . . . a moth to . . . butter . . . ? Really, Batuik? That was the best you could do? Were you late for a tee time? Just awoke from a concussion? Like a moth to fucking butter?! YOU GO TO HELL, TOM BATUIK! May you get hand cancer and never, ever write another abominable “joke” again.
Curtis: Don’t do it, Curtis. Jungle fever has brought many a good black man down.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
# 21 – The Freedom Train was supposed to go by our school early one morning but it couldn’t get up a hill near a neighboring town. Seriously. It eventually made it or got a push or something, and they let everybody out of school long enough to watch it. Since it was running late, it was flying at cruising speed, so the whole experience lasted about 30 seconds. What a rip-off.
Anyway, your post brought back a flood of memories, so thanks, Mr. O’Malley. I’ll think of you as I’m singing Afternoon Delight all day long which, of course, I will be doing.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:50 am
MW — Poor Dr. Jeff. Working at the hospital. How and where is he going to meet another woman to take the place of mary Worth?
LuAnn — Next week the entire extended DeGroot family is huddled under a tent on the lawn in front of the smoldering ruins of their house. Then along comes Toni and Dirk and she waves to Brad and tells him how he blew his chance.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:16 am
MW: “I’ll call his answering machine and whiningly beg for forgiveness for days. Get me a phone, stat!”
Foob: This might be funny, if all the Pattersons didn’t still eat this way.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 am
Too much bucking often puts fractures in horses. Perhaps Moss Green is not a native English speaker.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Yay! I’m back on the float! *starts tossing contents of bag to crowd* Wait, this isn’t candy!
Anyway… Mary Worth wears Depends with Snoopy’s picture on them, and the slogan “Happiness is a Warm Poopy.”
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Welcome back…even though Uncle Lumpy can run rings around you with his wit.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
Okay, I think I’m getting yesterday’s Crankshaft now that I’ve seen the context. Those damn exterminators didn’t kill Crankshaft’s moths! And then they probably ran over Keesterman’s Summer Mailbox before the Crank could get to it! And then it rained and the toxins washed into the ground water and now everyone is going to get cancer and die!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
A3G: Clearly Alan’s just stumbled into the studio and he’s feeling quite “super”. Prepare for impending hilarity as Margo mocks Alan for his substance abuse.
ARchie: Archie’s fairly obvious, but who are these other two mutants? Does the guy next to veronica have the world’s oddest shaped gut or a growth that he should really get a doctor to look at?
Blondie: So Dagwood is the only employee worth keeping? What does he do and how do I get into a sweet gig like that?
‘Shaft: Goddammit, there isn’t a joke here! he’s just stupid!
Crock: Something’s been bothering me about this strip for awhile now. There’s constant jokes about people getting lost and such, but then you get a strip like today’s where the kid’s talking like he lives in suburbia. So where are they exactly? Is this a comic strip version of The Village
FW: We don’t care, Tom, we just don’t.
JP: “Here you go, I want you to read this entire novel in one night and let me know what you think.” Seriously, unless this book is on the same level as Encyclopedia Brown, it may take a bit more than a night.
MW: Seafood? A sail trip? Viagra? What’s Dr. Jeff’s prescription? I must know!
PBS: I’d actually like Rat to write mine, at least it’d be amusing.
S-M: Uhm…but he didn’t -actually-promise anything.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 am
Mad props to Henning – can I still use that “mpad props” cliche? Too ‘05? I read an article in Slate that said it was still ok, so long as I noted that it was a white bread cracker expression that said “I’m desperately trying to be urban chic by using tag lines that I don’t fully comprehend”. So noted.
Anyway, slightly less angry props to the runners-up. I like those who call us “float riders”, because I had previously imagined us to be “coat-tail riders”, and coat tails haven’t been in style since James Garfield was president.
#21 – O’Malley – Well, someone’s had an extra cup of bitter this morning, eh? No offense intended, but one step farther, and you’re Ed Crankshaft. As far as all those old TV shows coming back from the grave as movies, I don’t think I’d even rent a movie version of “Room 222″ or “Rich Man, Poor Man”. “Welcome Back, Kotter” might be amusing.
JP: So how does reading the novel enhance one’s knowledge of intellectual property law? Oh, it’s that kind of novel… zzzzz…
How does Jack mistake the sound of a full grown stoned adult stumbling about an art studio for a 1 ounce mouse?
Phantom: Are these the same “criminals” that built and legally own the platform and want some vagrant monkey wrench weilding lunatic to vacate the premesis? What has this guy been eating for three years, anyway?
Bigoted Duck: I can’t give Tinsley “mad props” for doing a non-partisan joke, I’ll just say the props are a little perturbed.
MG&G: Absolutely furious props to MG&G for dissing the crossover and all the paltry comics that come of it.
Gil Throwup: Irate props to GT for putting three panels in a row on the same day in sequence that all concerned the same story line.
MW: “I have a suggestion… ”
Oh, this just leaves the door wide open, doesn’t it? Too many possibilities.
I have a suggestion…Eat fish and go sailing.
I have a suggestion…I had the same situation not long ago. Holy shit, I’ve brought the Cambodian plague here to the states!
I have a suggestion…Go ask Mary Worth, she’s always right!
I have a suggestion…Zipper your fly, boy. I appreciate the offer, but I just don’t swing that way.
I have a suggestion… If you ever find photographic evidence of your girlfriend’s infidelity printed in the local newspaper, make sure you grovel like the pathetic worm that you are and still be rejected my God what have I done with my masculinity its all a black void my life is over, oh, and have you given this patient Amoxycillin?
Mark Trail: Say it with me, folks. Moss is going to be ridin’ that ass!
I had no idea that goats could levitate. The “float goat” if you will (and even if you won’t – that goat is still floating).
Chagrinned props to Doonesbury, for showing a realistic depiction of speech impediments, rather than just shouting “boxcar!” inexplicably. Trudeau is taking on the speech thing, Iraq war vets and housing credit crisis simultaneously. It’s not terribly funny, but it manages to tell a realistic story with at least a little bit of humor and without the saccharine patronizing of FOOB that can’t handle any one of those elements without falling on its face.
And I couldn’t let this one go Fuming, livid props to whomever kicked the snot out of Billy Keane. Yah!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Curtis: Where da white women at?!
Seriously, comics are becoming so dirty these days, my fragile young mind just can not take it. =P
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Is it just me, or does anyone else find the animated “Learn to Draw the Human Figure” ad…strangely….mesmerizing…..
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Luann: Wasn’t TJ paying rent at the other house? So what’s up with not paying now?
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
MT: If I’ve learned anything from the westerns I’ve seen it’s that there’s only one way to handle a horse with a broken leg.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Mark Trail– I don’t know much about horses, but if that horse has a fractured leg, I don’t think a bandage (not a “splint”, not a “cast”, a bandage) will help.
I think the poor girl will soon be frolicking with Barbaro and Eight Belles in that big pasture in the sky. Her blood will be on your hands, Kelly Welly!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
38/ Tweeks – You forget, there are mountain lions in these parts. Letting the horse walk by down the trail by itself accomplishes the same thing while saving ammo.
21/ Mr. O’Malley – I never saw the SVB summer show, but was absolutely flabbergasted to find out shortly after its run that Procter and Bergman (half of the Firesign Theatre) had been regulars. I was torn between being frustrated over missing them and totally appalled to think of the depths to which they must have sunk to appear with such a light confection as SVB.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
MT – Ok, ever since this blog got me reading Mark Trail again, I’ve seen talking animals, a man being french-kissed by a bear, ducks the size of a Piper Cub and a miracle-working puppy. Today, we have what appears to be a mountain goat tripping over a stone. I guess realism just isn’t MT’s strong suit.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Blondie – Well done. This one blindsided me.
Bitter Old Crank – Ed’s way with similes is like… crap, I dunno. Wait, that’s it: crap.
Curtis – Poor Curtis has one of those stiffies that uses up all his energy. Wackiness to ensue when he finds that Ms. Honeystump’s name used to be “Roger.”
DT – Why does the henchman on the viewer’s right have a woodpecker on the side of his head? And will Mr. B’s continued sentence finish up tomorrow, or will it keep going until it ties in with the Sunday strip?
DIesel Sweeties – Just out of curiosity, what gender are any of the characters in this strip? Are they real people, or talking inaction figures?
FC – Billy, don’t bother Mommy, or you’ll be “walking into” another “door.”
FOOB – True story; maybe fifteen years ago, a comic artist we knew was acquainted with Lynn, and reported that the thing she was proudest of was her realistic drawing.
FW – Uh oh. You guys shouldn’t have changed the mayo.
GA – Now they’re going to explain “cartoons” to ol’ Rufe, and he’ll be so surprised he’ll actually shut his mouth, assuming it can.
GT – Sounds like Dr. Pearl knows the actual lyrics to “La Cucuracha.”
H&J – I had no idea that one of the “You Want It WHEN?” guys had gotten a sex change operation.
JP – See? SEE? He’s going to read the manuscript! I predict the ensuing fantasy sequence will take three to four months, especially with the first panel of each day’s strip wasted with a shot of Sam looking at the pages.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Damn! I didn’t notice the new thread! Apologies for necroposting the above to all of you who happen to be checking back here.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
What? New thread? Aw, nuts.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am
bats :[ @10 – I couldn’t help noticing the same resemblance to Peanuts characters in that FOOB. I think it was just lazy drawing.
Mibbitmaker @19 Good call on the Phantom thing. I’ll be disappointed now if he doesn’t.
Mr. O’Malley @21 – The Starland Vocal Band is apparently from my home town. They had Proctor & Bergman??? Jeez. I have a very lo-fi recording of a livecast they did over KFML from Ebbets Field in Boulder around that time. I ran across a web page that replays those old live shows as podcasts, but now I’ve forgotten its URL. Must look. (In 1975-6, I was hoping to find a “John Denver Go Home” bumper sticker, but failed. I never managed to get an “Eat My Bicentennial” either, though I had an “I Lost It” for about a month before my car died forever.)
Dub Not Dubya @22 – It’s no reflection on the quality of the La Cucuracha strip that just as I was clicking away from it, I glimpsed a line of text that registered on my brain as “Be the first to laugh at this comic strip.” That was just my brain.
Rob in Japan @35 – Huh? Wha-? … Oh god, is that the time?? Where’s everybody?
Dithers?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Variety show = 70’s as Reality show = ’00’s.
Didn’t EVERYBODY have a self-titled variety show in the mid-70’s? I remember some MIMES, hosting a variety show in the summer of ‘77. I ask you, what kind of nonsense is that?
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Golly, Nil Zed! Shields and Yarnell weren’t just mimes, they were a sensation. They were like a silent version of The Carpenters.
I still fondly remember their sitcom within the show, “The Clinkers,” about a pair of… I dunno, robots or something. Totally inexplicable and just right for the time.
Then there was a TV movie sequel to “The Wild, Wild West” (the real one), where Paul Williams was the son of Miguelito Loveless. He had created killer robots — Six Hundred Dollar Men! (”I expect the price to come down with mass production.”) They were, of course, played by Shields and Yarnell.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Bill Danoff! A fine American. And co-author of my handle.
*smiling proudly*
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I majorly approve of gh’s “shrivileges” coinage. Bravo!
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
“A crime-fighting judge? What a novel and entertaining idea. You might also consider adding a disease-fighting nurse, an illiteracy-fighting middle school teacher and perhaps a fire-fighting fireman, to add to the variety. Throw in a busman who drives buses and you’ll be all set.”
I immediately cast this with Tommie, Miss Honeystump, Brad and Crankshaft. It was only then I knew that the takeover of my brain was complete.
July 4th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Squeee! Thanks, everyone.
Pete Moss: I’m afraid I don’t even know where or who Hampton is, so no. (I think there has been at least two waves of Makholms emigrating to the US; neither are related to those of us found in Denmark).
July 7th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Actually, not all judges are crime-fighting. Take a look at the “Judge Wright” comic strip over at Stripper’s Guide:
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2008/07/obscurity-of-day-judge-wright.html
It seems that Judge Wright, the main character of a strip that lasted for a short time in the 1940s, enjoyed giving criminals one chance after another. The arc on display at the link shows the judge planning to give another chance to a delinquent teenager who had been sentenced to probation the previous morning, committed a larceny and a burglary, was given another chance by being put into the judge’s custody, and then the next morning fractured the skull of one of his criminal cohorts.
Apparently Judge Wright was a crime-fighter in the same sense that Garfield is anorexic.