Metapost: It is time for COTW
Post Content
No fuss no muss just comment of the week!
“Yes, New York City is a dangerous place. Not the people; the inanimate structure of the the city itself is violently rejecting Mary, like T-cells attacking a foreign organism.” –Peanut Gallery
And also time for the runners up!
“Ha, silly millennials, quitting their jobs because they find them uninspiring. No, the real way to do it is to never quit, and just double down on your napping and goofing off! Also, dress like an off-duty hearse driver. Not sure how that one helps, but don’t mess with the formula.” –pugfuggly
“There’s something haunting about Mary’s expression as Olive pulls her aside; her mouth is agape and her eyes are fixed ahead. It’s as if her soul has already left her body and begun its ascension, but Olive has unnaturally dragged it back to Earth. Once again, God’s Will that Mary Worth die in New York has been thwarted. But He will surely try again. Just as He has tried countless times to see Wilbur die at sea.” –Guts Dozier
“Dithers should ask the vending company to stock the machines with beverages fortified with vitamin D because it looks like everyone there has rickets.” –nescio
“Let’s say hypothetically, I was a criminal. And I ended up being arrested by a ventriloquist dummy wearing a enormous red bow-tie. The humiliation would prepare me for anything prison has to offer.” –The Rambling Otter
“At this point, I just want to see how long they can milk this. I want to see Roots Country Guy still sitting in the diner talking about not being some rando’s father in November.” –Banana Jr. 6000
“‘You had no idea Varla and Spuds were…?’ ‘None at all.’ ‘Despite the fact that Spuds wrote a whole thinly veiled album about it called I’m Cheating with Carla, Buck’s Estranged Wife, that you sang on, on a track titled Cuckold Blues?’ ‘The man had a way of hiding his crimes behind his art, what can I say?’” –Philip
“‘Horace thinks he’s funny but he ain’t‘: TFW you love the Carmen Saeculare but couldn’t care less for the Satires and Epodes.” –Ettorre
“Okay, so we can’t see his eyes, but we can see his navel? Things have certainly changed since the I Dream of Jeannie days.” –Pozzo
“If I wanted to hear a good joke I wouldn’t be reading Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. Give me the deadline-beating ‘This’ll do’ I’ve come to expect!” –Tabby Lavalamp
“When you’ve got an event called ‘The Meat Games’ with a blazing cauldron, flags celebrating various cuts of meat and thousands of cheering cats, you’d think Grandpa and Iggy would start wondering just why they were invited and what their role in all this is supposed to be.” –cheech wizard
“So of all the words in that last sentence the artist could have chosen to inform Widebody Redshirt’s mouth position, he went with ‘to.’ Huh. I mean, it’s fine, I guess, Baldy McYellow over there can speak every sentence while doing his best impression of a baleen whale, but for some reason I’m hung up on the guy on the right looking like he’s practicing his embouchure. (I guess that’s why the guy on the left lips up in panel 3; he’s just realized that this car that’s inexplicably flying through the air is not doing so to the movie theater, but to his buddy’s trumpet lesson. Hey, Haydn’s ‘Concerto in E-flat major’ ain’t gonna practice itself.)” –els
“You may think ‘the netherworld’ is one of Herb and Jamaal’s textbook nonspecificities, but in fact Herb is just a devout believer in Chinese traditional religion. He knows that after death, he’ll be condemned to Denghuo Diyu, Netherworld Court of King Chujiang, where he’ll be heated until he passes out, and then revived by an icy wind. Maybe if he practices in front of the fan, he can build an immunity.” –Schroduck
“I’d like to direct this plugger to the January 7, 2025, article in the New York Times titled ‘Is Peeing Just in Case Bad for Your Bladder Health?’ The answer is yes, the practice of ‘convenient or proactive voiding’ can lead to an overactive bladder. Doctors recommend mindfulness, working with a pelvic floor therapist, and cutting back on caffeinated and alcoholic drinks as ways of preventing this. I mean, far be it from me to suggest a plugger should listen to doctors, or give up those three hours sitting in a diner drinking coffee every morning, or those three hours in the afternoon drinking beer in his recliner while watching the game — or, worse, that he should read the New York Times — in fact, never mind, just forget I said anything.” –BigTed
“‘Spuds?’ ‘Truck’? Boy that Varla chick sure did have some awful taste in men let me tell you, ha ha ha ha… [Wanda ponders on something] Hey wait a minute… [Wanda’s eyes go wide at the shock of the stunning revelation] Oh no!!” –2+2=7
“Mary needs to get involved here! Nothing will make Olive cooler than a haranguing old lady coming to her defense!” –A Grave Mind
“Mary Worth just taught me that I do not like it when characters in the strip voice what I’ve been thinking for the last week.” –matt w
“Jalapeno poppers … hot wings … spicy sushi rolls … doro wat … revuelto Gramajo … palusami … keubaibat hail … lutefisk … I’m a bit concerned this restaurant lacks focus, boy. I knew we shouldn’t have gone to Random Places, Random Plates.” –Voshkod
“…and from hilarious to introspective and from introspective to soul-crushing. When some of the guys started talking about a suicide pact, I figured I’d better go home.” –Weaselboy
“I’m not sure if the border agent’s interrogation is a sign of the chilly state of US-Canada relations, or an acknowledgement that ‘I came all this way for a CFL game’ sounds like a cover story, and an unconvincing one at that.” –TheDiva
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48 replies to “Metapost: It is time for COTW”
Thanks, Josh, what an honor! And kudos to all you other funny commenters, and thanks to Baja and Scratchy for curating the bonus comments!
Whoop, got in at the buzzer!
Random Places, Random Plates… isn’t that just the Cheesecake Factory?
Anyway, congrats, all!
Good stuff this week!
Congratulations, all, including the Scroters:
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Activist
July 26th, 2025 at 8:05 am Reply
JP: An experienced spy? April should know to keep her back to the wall and eye on the door.
Guillermo el Chiclero
July 26th, 2025 at 9:30 am Reply
JP: Making a special guest appearance from Mary Worth, Shovy McShovington!
Astroboy
July 26th, 2025 at 5:23 am Reply
MW: Ooooo, Central Park. Is Shove Shovington still in “business” lo these many years later?
Charterstoned
July 26th, 2025 at 4:30 am Reply
MW: At Central Park, Mary lets everyone she meets know that she has taken a NAP.
Bob Tice
July 26th, 2025 at 4:55 am Reply
MW:
“Saturday,
In the park,
I think it was the 26th of July.”
— Chicago
No, wait a minute. That’s not quite it. And it isn’t Sunday Quote Box time yet, anyway.
Hibbleton
July 26th, 2025 at 5:38 am Reply
MW:
“Let’s go to Central Park!”
“Let’s. Do you think your parents would like to come?”
“Nah, they’re fucking.”
Ukulele Ike
July 26th, 2025 at 7:16 am Reply
MW: Generally, you don’t need to specify WHICH park you want to go to, New Yorkers will assume you mean the nearest one, so you just say “the park.”
Olive: “Let’s go to Central Park!”
Mary: “Nah, I want to go to VAN CORTLANDT Park. We can see Yonkers from there.”
Olive: “It’s a little….far.”
Mary: “How about the Adirondacks Nature Preserve? It’s only six hours north. I’ll call an Uber.”
lynn
July 26th, 2025 at 5:00 am Reply
MW: Just let me freshen up. Did you ever try to change an adult diaper in a plane bathroom? By the way, where do your folks keep the air freshener?
Artist formerly known as Ben
July 26th, 2025 at 12:00 pm Reply
MW: And then something else will need freshening up. The Taylors had almost forgotten Mary the Bathroom Wrecker.
Enormous Dump
July 26th, 2025 at 1:09 pm Reply
@Artist formerly known as Ben:
I notice many of you are commenting on Mary dropping a deuce and befouling a bathroom. With good reason. I tip my toilet seat to Mary. She is an ace when it comes to a deuce.
Also tor those who have inquired, I am no relation to that baseball player named the Big Dumper.
Left Nut
July 26th, 2025 at 9:19 am Reply
MW- “Freshen Up” = “Drop a Duece”
Needless Exposition
July 26th, 2025 at 9:43 am Reply
@Left Nut: I always assumed that Mary’s constantly saying “NAP” was her euphemism for dropping a deuce.
MW: While I question how close in proximity Central Park is to this apartment that the Taylors can’t afford, I’m more concerned about how I can’t see Mary and Olive’s hands.
Dustin: No jury alive could ever convince Dustin of patricide. The last thing Ed is going to see is Dustin smothering him with a throw pillow.
Banana Jr. 6000
July 26th, 2025 at 5:30 am Reply
@Needless Exposition: Yeah, Dustin is a walking school shooting. His whole family abuses him constantly, and he just doesn’t care.
pugfuggly
July 26th, 2025 at 4:51 am Reply
Dustin You know, you live your life, you do your best, things can be tough, but you tell yourself “At least I’ve never had to look at Dustin’s nipple.” And then one morning…
Liam
July 26th, 2025 at 4:32 am Reply
Dustin-“You can stay in that hammock and die!”
The Rambling Otter
July 26th, 2025 at 4:33 am Reply
The only time I ever genuinely laughed at Dustin.
GarrisonSkunk
July 26th, 2025 at 8:52 am Reply
The Old Krazy Glue™ in the Hammock Trick! Maybe Dustbin should see if there are any openings in KAOS.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Hibbleton
July 26th, 2025 at 4:41 am Reply
Lockhorns: The woman is a carpenter come to fix Leroy’s latest DIY project. He installed the door-lock one foot off the ground.
matt w
July 26th, 2025 at 5:41 am Reply
Today we learned that The Lockhorns doesn’t take place in Pittsburgh, where “still” and “steel” are pronounced the same and the joke wouldn’t make sense. I mean we already knew The Lockhorns doesn’t take place in Pittsburgh, and the joke doesn’t make sense anyway, but still. Steel. Whatever.
Astroboy
July 26th, 2025 at 6:12 am Reply
L’horns: Leroy removed the legs from the sofa just to add a few inches to his dramatic couch-swoon. Now that’s commitment to the bit.
Tabby Lavalamp
July 26th, 2025 at 7:13 am Reply
“I’m taking the Man of Still to see the Man of Steel. Stupidman is going to go to Superman. Clark Can’t to Clark Kent. This sleeping man to see a woke movie. Or is wack man to woke movie better? I’m still workshopping that one.”
Needless Exposition
July 26th, 2025 at 4:50 am Reply
On a brief side note of things, I just realized that the story about the Morgans getting a new son from June’s conveniently dying friend is like when Homer became a Bigger Brother and saw a heartwarming orphan that made him cry while asking the agency “Do you have him in blond?”
Artist formerly known as Ben
July 26th, 2025 at 12:00 pm Reply
C-Shaft: The next Blue Bombers game takes place in Toronto. Oh joy, we get to hear how Crankshaft mangles the word “poutine.”
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
MKay
July 27th, 2025 at 4:53 am Reply
RMMD: Personally, I’d have gone with, “long-winded ol’ goat,” but Wanda’s marrying him, so it’s her call.
MW: The Dangerous New York Stereotype Tour. Next up: a rude taxi driver and a shove off a subway platform.
The Quiet Man
July 27th, 2025 at 5:14 am Reply
MW: Was that a Commando 8?
Bob Tice
July 27th, 2025 at 4:42 am Reply
MW:
I am reminded of the great Three Stooges short, a takeoff on “Pygmalion,” where the episode ends in an inevitable pie fight, there is a dangling pie stuck to the ceiling, Moe is having a conversation with a society matron who is directly underneath the pie, in which she says, “I feel as if the sword of Damocles is hanging over my head!”, and Moe responds: “Lady, you must be psychic!”
Amelie Wikström
July 27th, 2025 at 4:42 am Reply
“We’re never given more than we can handle, Olive. Just world fallacy? Oh, I know that one. It’s when you fail to see the world is intrinsically just and try to change how things work. Then the world will punish you for acting above your station.”
BigTed
July 27th, 2025 at 4:43 am Reply
Mary Worth: In the past 40 years, there’s only been one documented case of a falling air-conditioning unit killing a person in New York City (although there have been several other non-fatal instances). Which I assume means Olive has been doing her job as a psychic, running around the city and warning people before anything bad happens, like the young Kyle Chandler in the mid-’90s TV show “Early Edition.” An oracle’s job is never done — and despite Mary’s cliches about never being given more than we can handle, I imagine Olive could use a vacation, but has already predicted that she’s not going to get one.
Rosstifer
July 27th, 2025 at 5:07 am Reply
Mary knows that it’s probably not healthy to enable the behaviour of someone who believes they have psychic powers, but it is VERY funny. It’s the same reason she keeps Wilbur around.
Astroboy
July 27th, 2025 at 6:22 am Reply
MW – The hell is with Mary’s neck in P3 and P7? Brigman doing some sort of tribute to Joe Giella’s occasional, random and hilarious losses of artistic perspective? You’re going to need to try harder, Brigman. In addition to all the ginormous sofas and laptops, Giella once gave Mary three hands. Top that.
Liam
July 27th, 2025 at 7:22 am Reply
MW-That’s odd. Today isn’t the day to be dropping air conditioners on that side of the street.
Bud
July 27th, 2025 at 5:18 am Reply
Watch Mary’s neck grow even longer as she inspects the damage.
Peanut Gallery
July 27th, 2025 at 7:24 am Reply
@Bud: A passing New Yorker growls, “Hey lady! We don’t like rubber-neckers around here!”
MW – Yes, New York City is a dangerous place. Not the people; the inanimate structure of the the city itself is violently rejecting Mary, like T-cells attacking a foreign organism.
MW – “We’re never given more than we can handle, Mary? Are you telling me that people never have mental breakdowns and never die before they’re ready?”
“Those are kinds of handling.”
Gil Bates
July 27th, 2025 at 6:30 am Reply
MW: Olive: “Mary, it’s time to share the source of my special gift.”
::Olive exposes her midriff, revealing a smiling face::
“Please greet my absorbed twin, my belly brain! I call her Pimento!”
TheDiva
July 27th, 2025 at 6:49 am Reply
MW: Really, Mary? New York is “one of your favorite places”? The busy, frantic pace? The astonishing variety of skin tones? The proliferation of establishments that serve bizarre foods like gyros and falafel? A musical where the Founding Fathers spout that awful “rap” noise? I can’t think of a place less suited to your vibe.
Bravo McGuire
July 27th, 2025 at 7:57 pm Reply
MW: We all know that Jeff was responsible for that little “accident.” Or it could have been the entire Comics Curmudgeon readership.
pugfuggly
July 27th, 2025 at 4:47 am Reply
MW: I know, let’s introduce our storyline about the magic girl with psychic precognition powers with a quote about how the future in unknowable. Perfect choice, no notes.
Blondie: Ha, silly millennials, quitting their jobs because they find them uninspiring. No, the real way to do it is to never quit, and just double down on your napping and goofing off! Also, dress like an off-duty Hearse driver. Not sure how that one helps, but don’t mess with the formula.
Vice President John Adams
July 27th, 2025 at 5:02 am Reply
“Is that an Urban expression? Curious. Alas, I am not proficient in the language of Urban. Fortunately, I have acquired a copy of the Urban Dictionary, which I have right here. This should prove most enlightening.”
nescio
July 27th, 2025 at 6:22 am Reply
Blondie: Dithers should ask the vending company to stock the machines with beverages fortified with vitamin D because it looks like everyone there has rickets.
Ettorre
July 27th, 2025 at 6:27 am Reply
Blondie, shame on you! You have almost a century of tradition behind you! Don’t just be bargain “Dustin”!
matt w
July 27th, 2025 at 6:35 am Reply
Today’s supplement to the canon of nephewism: Adult nephews are always in their twenties, no matter how old or young their aunt/uncle is.
cheech wizard
July 27th, 2025 at 7:32 am Reply
Blondie – “My nephew? Cripes, Bumstead, don’t you know your own bastard when you see him?”
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Hibbleton
July 27th, 2025 at 4:47 am Reply
FC: Dolly whacks Jeffy on the head. “It’s ‘open your legs’, stupid.”
Hibbleton
July 27th, 2025 at 5:20 am Reply
FC: Thel finds that reading her psalter doesn’t bring the inner peace she was seeking.
“Why do I keep going back to psalm 137:9: ‘Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.’” She thinks.
The Rambling Otter
July 27th, 2025 at 5:31 am Reply
@Hibbleton: My Mom has a refrigerator magnet, that says:
“Grandchildren are the reward for not killing your children.”
The Quiet Man
July 27th, 2025 at 5:17 am Reply
Luann: “Our daughter is having a mental breakdown.” “Must be a day ending in ‘Y’. *SIGH* I’ll go restrain her before she starts smashing crockery over her head and urinating on the floor again.”
CanuckDownSouth
July 27th, 2025 at 6:25 am Reply
JP: Good grief, they’re setting this up for “Sophie clues in Randy, Randy goes action hero and rescues April”, aren’t they? If you wanted to do a spy action hero, rather than trying to twist lawyer characters all out of recognition, you could try starting a new comic strip!
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Baja Gaijin
July 28th, 2025 at 4:36 am Reply
Rex Morgan: A light comes on somewhere in that beehive on Wanda’s head. “Hmm. Truck’s oblivious to cucking. I won’t have to try hard to hide keeping Mud Mountain as my side piece. That works!”
The Rambling Otter
July 28th, 2025 at 4:40 am Reply
@Baja Gaijin: God, I miss when Mud Mountain Murphy was drawn to look like a towering giant.
That made him unique and interesting, adding with his brusque callous attitude.
Rex Morgan M.D where personality goes to die.
Daisy
July 28th, 2025 at 8:12 am Reply
@The Rambling Otter: #6
“Rex Morgan M.D where personality goes to die.”
…and where readers’ enthusiasm goes to die…
Pozzo
July 28th, 2025 at 4:39 am Reply
“Cody has two half-siblings?”
“Yeah, Spuds Moron’s kids — Tater and Julienne.”
The Rambling Otter
July 28th, 2025 at 4:42 am Reply
@Pozzo: Julianne became a prostitute in her later years.
She took on the moniker of I-da-Ho.
Philip
July 28th, 2025 at 6:01 am Reply
Rex Morgan, MD – Wanda: “You had no idea Varla and Spuds were..?”
Truck: “None at all”
Wanda: “Despite the fact that Spuds wrote a whole thinly veiled album about it called I’m Cheating with Carla, Buck’s Estranged Wife, that you sang on, on a track titled ‘Cuckold Blues’? ”
Truck: “The man had a way of hiding his crimes behind his art, what can I say?”
Needless Exposition
July 28th, 2025 at 4:48 am Reply
MW: Well, Mary’s still alive and now there’s a broken air conditioner. They’re starting the disappointment early though our expectations were already low to begin with.
Treetown
July 28th, 2025 at 4:58 am Reply
MW: Most people when a heavy object smashes at their feet, would look up and wonder where that missile came from. Not Mary, she has her focus on the AC!
Horace Broon
July 28th, 2025 at 10:01 am Reply
MW: “Gosh, Mary, now we’ve both saved the other’s life! That means the debt is fulfilled and I never need to talk to you again!”
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Poteet
July 28th, 2025 at 7:34 am Reply
LUANN: So long-ago Luann was just left on Saturday with an urgent need to pee and no clue as to how to do it while arrayed as a giant pad of paper. Or was that Bernice? Either way, works for me. Just suffer, girl, whoever you are, until the next time the Evansii want an extended break.
GT: Even when sports are not being discussed, I find GT bewildering, and that’s fine. You followers of GT deserve to feel that you are part of something very special that is not readily accessible to outsiders. Enjoy! *tiptoes away*
Artist formerly known as Ben
July 28th, 2025 at 8:14 am Reply
GT: Out of context, “I’m vlogging, mothers” sounds like a line from the broadcast-friendly cut of a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson as a social media influencer.
Ettorre
July 28th, 2025 at 9:56 am Reply
“I’m vlogging, mothers”. Well, “Psycho 2, too psycho” is disappointing
Hibbleton
July 29th, 2025 at 4:46 am Reply
B. Bailey: Sarge uses the hockey method of pulling the shirt over the opponent’s head before a pummeling. I’d have figured him more of a southern brawler type.
Pozzo
July 29th, 2025 at 5:06 am Reply
BB: Okay, so we can’t see his eyes, but we can see his navel? Things have certainly changed since the “I Dream of Jeannie” days.
BillieVee
July 29th, 2025 at 6:52 am Reply
BB: The harshest thing in this situation is that Sarge expects the parade grounds to be mown using a standard push mower.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Charterstoned
July 29th, 2025 at 4:50 am Reply
MW: I’m confused. Shouldn’t Olive be praising MARY?
LTJpezcore1
July 29th, 2025 at 5:20 am Reply
MW: Not really sure that Olive understands what “One good turn…” means, and why when she said it did it come off as ominous??
Liam
July 29th, 2025 at 6:21 am Reply
RMMD-Say let’s go to that story. It’s probably more exciting than two people in a booth.
MW-“Oh, Olive, here and now with everyone watching?”
FC-“We’re poor aren’t we?”
Baja Gaijin
July 29th, 2025 at 5:59 am Reply
Family Circus: Here’s your chance, Thel. Tip the box up, run some shipping tape over the seam, and set it by the curb with “$50” written on the side. With a half-hour, half your melonheads’ll be someone else’s problem.
Guillermo el Chiclero
July 29th, 2025 at 10:32 am Reply
FC: All I can say is Thel’s rocking that summer shorts ensemble. She’s flashing more skin than every female member of the Luann cast put together.
Human-eared Dragon
July 29th, 2025 at 12:02 pm Reply
Luann: They’re making it sound like little tykes are just nonstop spewing on the table and spilling their drinks whenever they go out, which is nothing like what I see when I go to eat.
But it is heavily implied this is the Keane family, maybe that’s it.
Guillermo el Chiclero
July 29th, 2025 at 10:29 am Reply
Luann: Looks like the Evansii are doing a Bil Keane tribute week. Here’s the rest of the installments:
Mommy! Billy’s comparing the size of his weiner to the food!
Mommy! Daddy’s hitting up on that DeGroot girl!
Daddy! Mommy just left with that big, hunky Jack guy!
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
wesccov
July 29th, 2025 at 6:44 am Reply
I am not surprised at all the Brooke prefers shaved.
MKay
July 29th, 2025 at 4:52 am Reply
RMMD: They will NOT think it’s great to have a “surprise little brother” who expects them to attend his root country gigs at podunk dives, surrounded by people called Mud, Truck and Buck. They got free of that when Papa Spuds kicked the bucket.
Weaselboy
July 30th, 2025 at 4:49 am Reply
Pluggers – “Maybe I should. But then again, maybe I shouldn’t. After all, I’m a cat and we typically use litter boxes. Damn, it’s hell being anthropomorphic.”
Ettorre
July 30th, 2025 at 5:53 am Reply
“Maybe I should.” Pluggers struggle with gender identity, so they don’t know which bathroom to use if there isn’t a third neutral option. Take your time, cat they/them!
MAC089
July 30th, 2025 at 6:23 am Reply
Re: Pluggers, I fully agree with Billy Connolly’s dictum that after the age of 50, you shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to go to the toilet, although I do restrict that to still feeling like I might need to.
seismic-2
July 30th, 2025 at 6:41 am Reply
So after a certain age, you are a “Plugger” because your bladder and colon are… plugged. Take every opportunity to rectify that situation!
BigTed
July 30th, 2025 at 7:29 am Reply
Pluggers: I’d like to direct this plugger to the January 7, 2025 article in the New York Times Titled “Is Peeing ‘Just in Case’ Bad for Your Bladder Health?” The answer is yes, the practice of “convenient or proactive voiding” can lead to an overactive bladder. Doctors recommend mindfulness, working with a pelvic floor therapist, and cutting back on caffeinated and alcoholic drinks as ways of preventing this. I mean, far be it from me to suggest a plugger should listen to doctors, or give up those three hours sitting in a diner drinking coffee every morning, or those three hours in the afternoon drinking beer in his recliner while watching the game — or, worse, that he should read the New York Times — in fact, never mind, just forget I said anything.
Voshkod
July 30th, 2025 at 8:18 am Reply
If every time you see a bathroom you think you should use it, you might a combat veteran who remembers trench latrines, hastily dug into the frozen ground, and that every time something stirred in your guts you had to choose between maybe getting your head blown off as you made your way under the gaze of snipers to a foul smelling pit while remembering your drill instructor’s mocking words of ‘always use every flush toilet you see because it might be the last’ or crapping in your own hole to the disgust of your comrades.
Or you might be a Plugger.
2+2=7
July 30th, 2025 at 8:23 am Reply
PLUGGERS: Actually that Plugger is just pondering if he has the guts to use the glory hole in stall #3
Philip
July 30th, 2025 at 6:06 am Reply
Pluggers – Pluggers doesn’t have a lot to hang it’s hat on culturally, aesthetically, or historically as a piece of culture and media. But it can at least say that Marvin is not a Plugger.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
I speak Jive
July 30th, 2025 at 4:58 am Reply
Rex Morgan – It’s short for Truckwit.
Pozzo
July 30th, 2025 at 4:55 am Reply
“As a matter of fact, my real name is Mack.”
2+2=7
July 30th, 2025 at 5:30 am Reply
REX MORGAN M.D.: I dunno. With the way these bozozs keep reiterating these factoids over and over again, I think our roots country “star” should change his name to something more appropriate, like “Cuck.”
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
July 30th, 2025 at 5:31 am Reply
Rex Morgan, M.D.: Much like the Mafia, it seems to be a convention in the roots country world that performers get a nickname. I’m thinking Cody’s should be “Little Pussy Lawson.”
Astroboy
July 30th, 2025 at 5:38 am Reply
MW:
Olive: Tell me, Mary-san, which comes first, the challenges or the gifts?
Mary: [brain melts down]
TheDiva
July 30th, 2025 at 5:25 am Reply
MW: Neither of you is listening to a word the other is saying, are you?
Pozzo
July 30th, 2025 at 5:41 am Reply
Is “Beetle Bailey” setting up a Zero/Miss Buxley relationship? That would be akin to Miss Hathaway dating Jethro.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
Ukulele Ike
July 30th, 2025 at 7:46 am Reply
FC: Bil smiles down at Jeffy, wistfully imagining his high school graduation, and whether the local gas stations will be hiring.
Daisy
July 30th, 2025 at 8:07 am Reply
FC: Sweet, simple Jeffy is just not equipped with the subtlety and sleight of hand skills necessary for a career in espionage or anything else, for that matter.
MKay
July 31st, 2025 at 4:42 am Reply
MW: Three New York Classmates Die In Separate Falling Air Conditioner Incidents. Elderly Ninja Figure Sighted Each Time.
Hibbleton
July 31st, 2025 at 4:45 am Reply
MW: “Ew…Ugh! Weirdo…Get away from her, Olive.”
Needless Exposition
July 31st, 2025 at 4:46 am Reply
MW: Of course Olive is going to be bullied. Not only is she a delusional weirdo who thinks she has a “gift” but it’s perfect for Groomer Mary to convince Olive that she’s the only one who understands her. Mary obviously is pretending to look sympathetic but secretly she’s as ecstatic as Wilbur in a mayonnaise bath. Definitely worth the $50 she paid those college students to yell basic insults.
Schroduck
July 31st, 2025 at 4:49 am Reply
MW: New York City, capital of the world! Thrumming metropolis of millions, the city that never sleeps! And also if you go for a walk in Central Park you immediately bump into your hated classmates, all just hanging out together, no smartphones, just living in the moment.
The Rambling Otter
July 31st, 2025 at 4:51 am Reply
If I remember correctly, Olive in her first arc, had an Angel appear to her in the middle of the night (who looked vaguely like Mary) the Angel led her outside, then Olive fell in the Charterstone pool but Mary jumped in and saved her from drowning.
I mean, good thing Mary did that, otherwise how could they have a Charterstone Pool Party afterwards? It would be very awkward.
Tabby Lavalamp
July 31st, 2025 at 5:54 am Reply
Those girls were Olive’s friends up until a week ago when she started getting excited about hanging out with an elderly woman she’s not related to and kept monologuing about how they’ve kept in touch over the years and how wonderful Mary’s character is. It turns out that outside of Charterstone people have normal human reactions to behaviour like that.
LTJpezcore1
July 31st, 2025 at 5:59 am Reply
MW: This is all very…what’s the word? Dumb. Yup that’s it, dumb.
Where’s Rocky?
July 31st, 2025 at 7:57 am Reply
I don’t want to say that Mary Worth‘s depiction of New York City’s population is too “white,” but I understand even the cast of “Friends” have complained that it’s not diverse enough.
Dennis Jimenez
July 31st, 2025 at 8:48 am Reply
MW – What kind of spell can Mary and Olive cook up to fix these bullies? Henceforth, thy snatches shall smell like spoiled salmon squares….
Lord Flatulence
July 31st, 2025 at 10:02 am Reply
MW: Time to unleash the Mary Worth Fist-O-Justice!
Boomer
July 31st, 2025 at 11:44 am Reply
No, Mary. They’re calling you the weirdo.
pugfuggly
July 31st, 2025 at 4:53 am Reply
MW I don’t think you need that dramatic pause there, Olive — the bullying was pretty evident. You see, the rest of us without psychic powers just use a handy sense called ‘social cues’
CSh Really enjoying Jeff’s smug grin in that last panel. “Nope, I deliberately chose a restaurant with nothing for you to eat. Starve, bitch!”
Dmsilev
July 31st, 2025 at 6:21 am Reply
Airport restaurants are, by their nature, accustomed to serving customers with a wide range of tastes. Also this is the upper Midwest. I’m sure the menu includes “white bread topped with iceberg lettuce, served with a side of tater tots”; Ed is just, once again, being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. Jeff should “accidentally” leave him behind or put him on a direct flight to the upper Yukon or something.
Kyle
July 31st, 2025 at 6:34 am Reply
As an old(er) person myself, this is the first time I’ve ever felt like I understand Ed Crankshaft, and I don’t like it one bit.
Philip
July 31st, 2025 at 7:03 am Reply
Crankshaft – For the record, Crankshaft is in the Minneapolis Airport here, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz famously spoke about eating “white guy tacos” last year. “Spicy” is not the word for the cuisine here.
Ken
July 31st, 2025 at 8:43 am Reply
CS: I’m surprised Ed isn’t complaining about the airport food prices. Maybe Batiuk is saving that gem of an original joke for tomorrow.
Scratchy’s Scrotums of the Week
TheDiva
July 31st, 2025 at 7:18 am Reply
Luann: So the guy who’s weirdly anal about the quality and quantity of time he and Luann spend together is also irrationally jealous of any attention she gives to other men? Who knew?
Dustin: “I’m sorry, this isn’t negotiation. This is called ‘you either take what I put in front of you and quit whining like a five-year-old being told to eat his vegetables, or you get off your fat ass and learn to make yourself a fucking pan of Kraft Mac-n-Cheese if you can’t be bothered to eat like an adult.”
ValdVin
July 31st, 2025 at 7:34 am Reply
Dustin: A casserole with nothing but cabbage and kale? As a main dish? If I wanted asinine exaggerations of kale-eaters I’d go to Mallard Fillmore, which at least doesn’t pretend to be centrist and ordinary.
nescio
August 1st, 2025 at 5:58 am Reply
BB: Unfortunately things became hilarious when the general soiled himself.
Ettorre
August 1st, 2025 at 6:42 am Reply
Are we sure Halftrack was not drunk even this morning? He removed his jacket and under it he has… another jacket
BillieVee
August 1st, 2025 at 6:52 am Reply
BB: Mrs. Halftrack should be careful. Her husband’s drunk enough to start quoting Winston Churchill.
TheDiva
August 1st, 2025 at 7:20 am Reply
Luann: “Dammit, Luann, what will it take for you to break up with me? Do I have to bang your roommate?…Please tell me I don’t have to bang your roommate; she’s worse than you are.”
Anonymous
August 1st, 2025 at 7:01 am Reply
CS: “No pun intended.” “None taken.”
The Ghost of Jarrod
August 1st, 2025 at 6:57 am Reply
Shaft – Having just visited lovely Thunder Bay, I can tell you that the Canadian border agents are friendly and will not quiz you on Canadian trivia. American border guards are…well, about what you’d expect.
Needless Exposition
August 1st, 2025 at 6:05 am Reply
MW: Of course Olive’s problem is going to be that she’s bullied by her peers. And of course Mary is going to “solve” this problem in the creepiest way possible by doing nothing helpful and further isolating Olive by insisting that she’s so special and that Mary is the only one who understands her. Then she’s going to convince Ed and Evy that Olive needs “special attention” in California and they’ll be all too glad to shove them both down the stairs and run to the bedroom.
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Guillermo el Chiclero
July 26th, 2025 at 8:34 am Reply
CS: Strange how man-baby/eunuch Jeff berates his wife more over that stupid shirt than he did his father in law for ruining his comic book collection.
69. TheDiva
July 27th, 2025 at 7:13 am Reply
C’shaft: Though it isn’t on the same level as vinyl, apparently there is a bit of a hipster market for 8-tracks. So this may be the closest a Crankshaft character ever gets to being trendy.
Dustin: These are the people ChatGPT was made for.
Special Scrotal Awards to the Best No. 69 and Beyond of the Week
69. Ettorre
July 29th, 2025 at 6:40 am Reply
She did not delete it Curtis! She is simply protecting her privacy using the GDPR, which blocks access to your video. Next time, make your phone EU compliant!
Banana Jr. 6000
July 31st, 2025 at 7:26 am Reply
Luann: In a classic sitcom trope, Luann accidentally invites both of her non-boyfriends to the same place. Hijinks do not ensue.
CS: “Can’t blow my cover now,” Jeff thinks to himself. “Just smirk at whatever comes out of his mouth, lose him at the Winnipeg airport, and get on the flight to San Diego Comic-Con! Heh, I can’t believe he bought that Blue Bombers nonsense. Enjoy driving a school bus in three feet of snow, you hateful old prick.”
Thank you Josh, and a huge salute to our undisputed champ Peanut Gallery! Dude, I laughed my ass off at that one. High fives to all on the float! The Gravemind extra sees/envies Schroduck, matt w, els and Voshkod. Everyone here makes the Internet a better place.
Thanks Josh, and Scratchy! :3
Congrats to all of you ^^ (even those who didn’t make it on today)
You’re all loveable funny people!
@Scratchy Scrotum LXIX: Has there ever been an overlap of your post recognitions and the owner of this blog and his recognitions? If not is it intentional? Has his reward for comment of the week appeared in your list?
I want to thank Baja belatedly for last week’s Shadow COTW for my comment about Delaserbia.
Thanks Josh (and Scratchy), and congrats to P.G. and all the COTWs — very funny stuff!
Thanks to our host, claps for all the named, and I appreciate the scrote from Scratchy.
@Display for me the currency: I think so. I gather them during the week without knowing who will get COTW or be on the float.
Thanks, Josh and Scratchy!
Congrats to Peanut Gallery, everyone on the float and my fellow scratchies! Broon Croons to Guts Dozier, pugfuggly, Artist formerly known as Ben, Anonymous, and Needless Exposition!
Thanks Josh and Scratchy, and Voshkudos to Peanut Gallery, Philip, Ettore, Schroduck, BigTed, and TheDiva.
Congrats Peanut, and thanks scratchy for the mentions!
Congratulations to Peanut Gallery and the whole float crew, and also to the scratchies. Thanks to Scratchy Scrotum LXIX and Horace Broon for the mentions. Tips of the beret to The Rambling Otter, Philip, Ettorre, Tabby Lavalamp, and TheDiva.
Thanks, Scratchy.
Thanks, Scratchy, for the honor!
Thanks, Scratchy!
Congrats Peanut Gallery and everyone else on the COTW Runners Up.
Thanks for the mention and may all your hammocks be Krazy Glue™and DustDad free!
I am always delighted to be mentioned on this page for post of the week and for the scrotes! I think this is my first Special Scrote for #69! Thank you.
I got Scrotes! Thanks, Scratchy!
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 1
Charterstoned
July 26th, 2025 at 4:30 am Reply
Mary Worth: At Central Park, Mary lets everyone she meets know that she has taken a NAP.
pugfuggly
July 26th, 2025 at 4:51 am Reply
Dustin You know, you live your life, you do your best, things can be tough, but you tell yourself “At least I’ve never had to look at Dustin’s nipple.” And then one morning…
Scratchy Scrotum LXIX
July 26th, 2025 at 6:37 am Reply
Mary Worth: One of my all-time favorite comments on our site was someone writing that when you get mugged, you should always mime eating a Subway sandwich.
ValdVin
July 26th, 2025 at 8:32 am Reply
Beetle Bailey: “Silvermine Country Club”? Years of physical labor on a golf course made completely of mine tailings explains a lot about Zero.
2+2=7
July 26th, 2025 at 9:24 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Ok, these two just had sex right? And that’s why they’re sharing a tearful, tender embrace? (“We’ll keep that to ourselves” indeed!) I understand guys. I’ve seen Brokeback Mountain. I know that the sheer intimacy two men on the throes of hot writhing passion can share can really hit them in the “feels.” Boy those orgasms must have been really powerful to produce the kind of waves of overwhelming ecstasy that can bring you to tears, huh?
Schroduck
July 27th, 2025 at 4:35 am Reply
Blondie: Thank goodness Dithers’ nephew will have more time to devote to his side hustle: driving around in a hippie VW Bus solving ghost mysteries with three friends and a talking dog.
Bob Tice
July 27th, 2025 at 4:38 am Reply
Mary Worth: “If I were to anthropomorphize that portable air conditioner, Olive, I’d say: ‘You know you’re a “Plugger” when there’s an electrical cord attached to you’ !”
Needless Exposition
July 27th, 2025 at 4:55 am Reply
Mary Worth: I’m in favor of nurturing a child’s gifts and encouraging their personal growth and development but Olive’s “gifts” can only be treated with psychological help and a steady diet of SSRIs as well as staying away from meddling old biddies.
Bud
July 27th, 2025 at 5:18 am Reply
Mary Worth: Watch Mary’s neck grow even longer as she inspects the damage.
Hibbleton
July 27th, 2025 at 5:20 am Reply
Family Circus: Thel finds that reading her psalter doesn’t bring the inner peace she was seeking.
“Why do I keep going back to psalm 137:9: ‘Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.’” She thinks.
Charterstoned
July 27th, 2025 at 5:53 am Reply
Mary Worth: High above the sidewalk, a Roadrunner peers down from an apartment after dropping an ACME air conditioner from the window.
Handsome Harry Backstayge, Idol of a Million Other Women
July 27th, 2025 at 6:14 am Reply
Mary Worth: Olive’s clairvoyance was indeed impressive, but only for a few seconds. Then Mary looked down and saw the girl’s sneaker in a big pile of dog shit. ” There’s always something interesting happening here!” she smirked.
Scratchy Scrotum LXIX
July 27th, 2025 at 6:21 am Reply
Fudge Packer: If I got a call that started with, “You have to listen. I’m on a burner phone . . .,” I think I would listen rather than scream back into the phone. Fortunately, I have led a life that has never caused someone to call and say, “You have to listen. I’m on a burner phone . . . “
TheDiva
July 27th, 2025 at 6:49 am Reply
Mary Worth: Really, Mary? New York is “one of your favorite places”? The busy, frantic pace? The astonishing variety of skin tones? The proliferation of establishments that serve bizarre foods like gyros and falafel? A musical where the Founding Fathers spout that awful “rap” noise? I can’t think of a place less suited to your vibe.
Peanut Gallery
July 27th, 2025 at 7:24 am Reply
Mary Worth: Yes, New York City is a dangerous place. Not the people; the inanimate structure of the the city itself is violently rejecting Mary, like T-cells attacking a foreign organism.
The Rambling Otter
July 28th, 2025 at 4:38 am Reply
Dick Tracy: Let’s say hypothetically, I was a criminal. And I ended up being arrested by a ventriloquist dummy wearing a enormous red bow-tie, the humiliation would prepare me for anything prison has to offer.
Pozzo
July 28th, 2025 at 4:39 am Reply
Rex Morgan: “Cody has two half-siblings?”
“Yeah, Spuds Moron’s kids — Tater and Julienne.”
ValdVin
July 28th, 2025 at 4:39 am Reply
Snuffy Smith: Sous vide arrives in Hootin’ Holler, but further instructions are necessary, such as “dress the chickens for dinner”.
Charterstoned
July 28th, 2025 at 4:57 am Reply
Mary Worth: I’m no HVAC professional, but I know R-22 freon when I see it, and that’s definitely not it. That there is what you call ectoplasm. Looks like that AC unit is giving up the ghost.
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
July 28th, 2025 at 5:22 am Reply
Dick Tracy: Gosh, that coffee cup sure is curious. Why don’t we let it run this investigation?
Shadow COTW Contenders, Part 2
Philip
July 28th, 2025 at 6:01 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Wanda: “You had no idea Varla and Spuds were..?”
Truck: “None at all”
Wanda: “Despite the fact that Spuds wrote a whole thinly veiled album about it called I’m Cheating with Carla, Buck’s Estranged Wife, that you sang on, on a track titled ‘Cuckold Blues’? ”
Truck: “The man had a way of hiding his crimes behind his art, what can I say?”
pugfuggly
July 29th, 2025 at 4:43 am Reply
Beetle Bailey: Jeez, if Sarge doesn’t appreciate silly puns, then this whole universe must enrage him like, every single da– oh, I think I finally understand this character…
Ettorre
July 29th, 2025 at 4:48 am Reply
Snuffy Smith: “Horace thinks he’s funny but he ain’t”. Glass houses, “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith”. Glass houses
Charterstoned
July 29th, 2025 at 4:57 am Reply
Mary Worth: High above, in an apartment overlooking the sidewalk, a sinister figure cracks the window blinds and watches the two females approach. “THIS time, I won’t miss,” Carlos Alora mutters to himself, as he pulls the air conditioner plug from the wall and forcefully pushes the unit out.
treetown
July 29th, 2025 at 5:26 am Reply
Mary Worth: Just another day, when death crashes down from above, no need to wonder about what happened and such, just keep walking! Nothing to see here. Maybe it was doc ock battling Spiderman and they knocked over the AC unit. Maybe it was Daredevil fighting Bullseye or the Fantastic Four tangling with Silver Surfer. A good walk is not be interrupted!
Tabby Lavalamp
July 29th, 2025 at 5:47 am Reply
If I wanted to hear a good joke I wouldn’t be reading Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. Give me the deadline-beating “This’ll do” I’ve come to expect!
TheDiva
July 29th, 2025 at 6:45 am Reply
Heathcliff should rethink his branding. “Meat Olympics” sounds like either a bachelorette party game or a gay adult film series.
Little Guy
July 29th, 2025 at 12:06 pm Reply
Curtis: We’re missing the obvious. Grammy Pearl’s daughter put a VPN Torrent App on Curtis’ phone, and now he’s able to watch HBO Original Programming.
Artist formerly known as Ben
July 29th, 2025 at 2:49 pm Reply
Curtis: The bedridden old lady has psychic powers and uses them to gaslight a 10-year-old. How soon can she get her own spinoff?
Schroduck
July 30th, 2025 at 5:18 am Reply
Intelligent Life: I hate all the Intelligent Life strips* framed with the characters sitting in a car staring at the viewer. It makes me feel like I’m a speed camera and these freaks are speeding past me over and over, each time adding another line to their dialogue.
* you can cut the sentence off here and it’s still accurate
The Rambling Otter
July 30th, 2025 at 5:56 am Reply
Herb and Jamaal: “I wanted to go to Hell before, but after realizing that Hell is hot, made me think things over.”
Ukulele Ike
July 30th, 2025 at 8:10 am Reply
@Tabby Lavalamp: I’m in no way a Star Wars fan, but I do remember all the exciting lifesaver battles.
——————————–
Luke: “Wintergreen!”
Darth Vader: “Butter Rum!!! MWAH HAH HAHHHH!!!!!!”
2+2=7
July 30th, 2025 at 8:46 am Reply
Rex Morgan: Wanda (dismissive): “‘Spuds?’ ‘Truck’? Boy that Varla chick sure did have some awful taste in men let me tell you, ha ha ha ha…(Wanda ponders on something) Hey wait a minute…(Wanda’s eyes go wide at the shock of the stunning revelation) Oh no!!”
Dave
July 30th, 2025 at 10:40 am Reply
Mary Worth: “With the gifts come challenges… and with the challenges come gifts… and with those gifts comes a free frogurt…”
A Grave Mind
July 31st, 2025 at 4:32 am Reply
Mary Worth: Mary needs to get involved here! Nothing will make Olive cooler than a haranguing old lady coming to her defense!
MKay
July 31st, 2025 at 4:42 am Reply
Mary Worth: Three New York Classmates Die In Separate Falling Air Conditioner Incidents. Elderly Ninja Figure Sighted Each Time.
I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV
July 31st, 2025 at 5:29 am Reply
Crankshaft: I would say Ed needs a spleen to help digest those “spicy” foods, but if there’s one thing Crankshaft has plenty of, it’s spleen. No, wait, I’m thinking of terrible wordplay.
Kyle
July 31st, 2025 at 6:34 am Reply
Crankshaft: As an old(er) person myself, this is the first time I’ve ever felt like I understand Ed Crankshaft, and I don’t like it one bit.
Chaze
July 31st, 2025 at 6:56 am Reply
Mary Worth: Where’s a rogue window air conditioning unit hurtling through space when you really need one?
Vanya
July 31st, 2025 at 7:38 am Reply
Crankshaft: He has a point. I can’t remember the last time I saw Welsh rarebit, chipped beef on toast, red flannel hash or icebox cake on an aiport menu. The market for 110 year olds is really underserved.
richardf8
July 31st, 2025 at 7:49 am Reply
Crankshaft: So it’s MSP. Try the Tennessee Hot Lutefisk.
Bravo McGuire
July 31st, 2025 at 7:30 pm Reply
Mary Worth: Is “classmates” a new euphemism for “every single living organism in the universe?”
moscowtheclown
July 31st, 2025 at 11:09 pm Reply
Mary Worth: So Olive’s school nemesises are a blond, a brunette, and a redhead? This Sally Forth cross-over is not as amusing as I thought it would be.
Shadow COTW
——————
But What Do I Know?
July 27th, 2025 at 5:38 am Reply
Mary Worth: “The Quality of Mercy is not strained; it droppeth as a gentle rain from Heaven. But sometimes it’s like an room air conditioner.” William Shakespeare
Thanks Josh, Scratchy, and Baja for the highlights and Scratchy and Baja for the mentions. Funny stuff!
Thanks for all the mentions and congrats to Peanut Gallery, with special tentacle flaps to nescio, Ettore and 2+2=7!
Thanks Baja :)
Congrats to the big winners and thanks, Scratchy and Baja!
Thanks to Baja for two SCOTW Contenders. Nods to the coulda been a contendahs and congrats to BWDIKnow.
Thanks, Baja!
Double thanks, Scratchy! *very brief but enthused capering*
Loud cheering for Peanut Gallery, COTW celebrity, and more loud cheering for the fine parade of hilarity and also for Josh, Scratchy, and Baja! The poteeterisks* this week go to Guts Dozier, Ettorre, The Rambling Otter, and nescio.