The North of England was a Yorkist stronghold, not sure if that’s relevant
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Andy Capp, 2/24/26
Honestly, there’s just a lot to enjoy here in today’s Andy Capp. I like that Chalkie is taking the opportunity in the middle of the game to roast his teammate for deservedly getting beat up, and I like that the quizmaster is doing such a half-assed job that he just asked an open-ended “when” question about a series of interrelated conflicts that stretched intermittently over multiple phases over 16 years, or possibly 32 years. I love that we learn that the winner of this thing will take home cold, hard cash, which explains why Andy, not really known for his enthusiasm for intellectual pursuits but always short of beer money, is participating, and also means that, given that we know the questions have answers that will be easy to dispute, it may give rise to a further scrap tonight.
Mary Worth, 2/24/26
Look, I’m not saying that I have perfect gaydar, or that gaydar honed in the real world would be at all functional in the Mary Worth universe, but I do want to say that when a dapper elder gentleman with an ascot arrives in a new community and tells the local nosey women that he’s a widower, and then when he realizes that excuse has passed its expiration date blurts outs “I have a girlfriend named, uh, Trixie, but you wouldn’t know her, she goes to a different school” at their approach, there’s reason to believe he may be dissimulating to a certain extent.
Pluggers, 2/24/26
Ha ha, it’s funny because eventually you get to an age where you retire but just keeping your failing body alive feels like a full-time job! PLUGGERS!
82 replies to “The North of England was a Yorkist stronghold, not sure if that’s relevant”
Mary Worth Mashup: I added a hot tub action to yesterday’s strip. Whaddya think?
Pluggers specifically avoid asking their doctors if they are still healthy enough for sexual activity.
ACapp: I don’t care about the joke, but those are well rendered pints of Guinness.
RMMD-“I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. Spielberg.”
RMMD-‘Sunset Boulevard’
MW-Trixie? Your new girlfriend. Right.
FC-“Couldn’t you have used Vaseline when you took my temperature?”
MW-When your character is dressed like a stereotypical elderly gay person it is alright to assume that the character is gay.
Luann-“Hold on we’re doin your homework?” It’s not like she is asking you to interview people you are the one being interviewed.
MW: Look at Mary and Toby’s eyes. They’re on goofballs again.
MW- Is Trixie’s last name name Norton?
MW My gut is saying Trixie is actually a wealthy and successful engineer finishing a contract in Turkey. She just needs a little more money to get home because she had to pay out of pocket for unused materials and oh no she was robbed of her wallet just outside the airport!
(Sigh)
My comments are disappearing.
AC: Look at the way the host is shrugging; he knows this question is weak. Of course, with the way he’s daintily holding the microphone half a yard from his face, it’s a wonder that anyone can even hear him.
MW: “She…uh…lives in Canada.”
Pluggers’ wives are sick of their bullshit.
MW:
“Didn’t you wear that purple cowl to my wife’s funeral a year ago?”
“Yes, and I haven’t taken it off since!”
Pluggers:
You know you’re a plugger when you begin to resemble the family pet or local livestock.
MARY WORTH:
I would hope so Josh, because an elderly gentleman being for real when he says he has a girlfriend that “goes to a different school” would be a lot more controversial.
MW: The shared thought balloon is missing from that second panel. “He must mean WILBUR!”
@Pozzo: my immediate thought as well.
GT: What is going on with Keri’s eyes? Is she supposed to be crying or are her eyes melting out of their sockets?
The Phantom: The adventures of The Ghost Who Watches Other People Fight And Does Nothing
MW: I love the beginning, when anything is possible. Trixie: 1) imaginary 2) inflatable 3) a catfish 4) Belle Batsfrey 5) a beard
SO excited!
PLUGGERS: Sad to say, I could easily contribute to this strip. I’ll let y’all know if I ever have a moment in the spotlight.
MW: Where is Mary looking? Did she adopt a cat offscreen and go blind from toxoplasmosis? “Parasites are great!”
JP: How are these people so tan in the middle of winter? Do gulags offer sun beds to make sure their starving prisoners aren’t vitamin D deficient?
@Cloots: I’m with you. The ascot is supposed to show he has money. He was scrolling his phone, he’s getting texts from a scam artist.
JP Did they copy some zombie meme for the drawing of the guard in panel 1? That face looks familiar.
MW: Hope to God this isn’t a Hi & Lois crossover…
Okay, Luann, let me get this straight. You’re in your 20s, taking a middle school-level “career paths” class that requires you to interview three people. You choose your immediate family, whom any competent instructor whould have forbidden you from using for this assignment, and whose career paths you should already know. Then you have to bribe them with fast food, as if your own family won’t sit down with you unless you offer incentives. Fast food that your father says he shouldn’t be eating, further showing that you don’t know or care anything about them. Then when Bwad correctly calls you out, you get self-righteous that you’re not using AI. Really, Luann, is that something to be proud of? That you’re not using AI to do a junior college assignment that an average 7-year-old could complete? You sure act like it is, sitting there with that smug look on your face as if you’ve outwitted the room.
@Baja Gaijin: These are all perfect.
MW – I hope he is gay, or else this will be a story about an old man getting catfished, or being in love with an AI bot, or getting catfished by an AI bot.
Mary Worth: 3/10 gaydar, mismatched ascot and pocket square indicate failed metrosexual
Whoops, another comment disappeared. Is it ICE or an overzealous Comics Curmudgeon IT department?
@CanuckDownSouth:
JP Did they copy some zombie meme for the drawing of the guard in panel 1? That face looks familiar.
Looks like Gowron.
Pluggers: It’s right about this point in the Plugger lifecycle, when the doctors’ appointments end and the nursing visits begin, when the kids start throwing around words like palliative and DNR, that I show up asking if they’d like to hear a little scripture and a prayer. (Pluggers always want the “footprints” “prayer.”)
MW: Mary and Toby looking at each other in the last panel sharing a thought balloon containing one word in quotes: “Girlfriend?” was right there.
MW: Where else but a Charterstone pool party would three distinct extraterrestrial species wearing ill-fitting skin suits bump into each other? What a country!
@Hibbleton: @CanuckDownSouth: It’s giving me less “zombie” than “made out of silly putty,” but YMMV.
MW: It’s possible Moy recently heard of catfishing and we’re about to be “treated” to a twelve-week-long PSA on the dangers of online dating. However, I think we’ll see a more traditional plot. For example: Mr. H’s daughter Sharon, who is 47, disapproves of Trixie, who is 22. Hijinks ensue, and Mary is in meddler heaven.
MW-Trixie would be there but you can’t tear her away from a good sunbeam.
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Are you posting about MW and using Mr. H’s first name? It’s on the banned list.
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Oh, I HATE the footprints prayer.
Mw- we’ve already had a catfishing storyline, so let’s hope it is a coming out story. I’ll let the Wortharian historians figure out if the strip has had a gay character before. If not, there may be a lot of clutched pearls from the non-mudges out there.
@2+2=7: I don’t want to learn no more about the Chartestone Game
@nescio: Nah, I think Pluggers are more like “Bob from Enzyte.” Old, horned up, fueled by medication, and don’t care who knows about it.
AC — The bar is handing out cash prizes–they’ve got a few guineas, sovereigns and ha’pence left in the till. . .
Sometimes you want to track down the person being thanked in the daily Pluggers and give them a hug, telling them you’re so sorry their life has turned out like this.
MW: Toby and Mary are both braless and stoned in P1. If you’re going to be copy and paste from an old strip, it better not be one from the sixties.
MW – I am loving panel two, in which Mary and Toby are able to have a conversation without saying a word. “You buying this shit?” “Not for a second.”
“Uh, correct, 1455 to 1487! Now, why did the War of the Roses occur? Who were the major leaders, and what significant military-political events can we point to as turning points in the conflict? What was the role of France? Come on, there’s cash prizes for you, and my A-Level exams are coming up. Cambridge, here I come!”
Andy Capp: While the bartender/quizmaster’s mic discipline is terrible – no one can hear you when you hold your mic at arm’s length, champ! – I like his overall affect. He’s gesturing demonstratively, like a ’90s comedian.
“The Lancasters keep fighting the House of York! What’s the deal with that?”
MW – Let’s assume he means famous drag queen, Trixie Mattel. Honestly, if that happens, I am going to forgive Moy and Brigman for a few of their larger transgressions. Like, at least three Dawn and Wilbur stories. Go forth an sin no more.
GT: Watch out for my giant earrings up ahead, Daddy!!
@Charterstoned:
@MKay:
@Ken:
Fellas, the answer is obvious. We had a catfishing storyline already long ago (remember Arther, Wilbur’s even grosser double who catfished either Irish or Eshtelle?). We just went through two storylines of ‘Pets are Good’. We’ve done fish, we’ve done mammals, we’ve done birds. ‘Trixie’ is going to be a reptile of some sort, either some sort of boa snake or large lizard.
@Banana Jr. 6000: Especially when she immediately folds and confesses she will be using AI, but only ‘a little’.
Dirk Twacy Hollistic Defective :”….and we’re out of coffee.”
Personally, I think with Mary Worth, its too early to do a gay storyline (if that’s what they’re even going with)
I mean to quote one online reviewer on a horribly dubbed Lion King ripoff (with awkward stilted dialogue) where a Crocodile was speaking with an Australian accent “You’re attempting accents? You already can barely do English.”
MW: Supporting Josh’s hypothesis is the fact that, while no cisgender woman has called herself “Trixie” for decades, it’s perfect for a drag queen. Or a pet. (Or a furry…oh God, has all this “animals are awesome” talk been a soft launch for pet play in Mary Worth?)
Pluggers are retired, but never go anywhere other than the doctor’s office. It’s sad, really.
Dennis The Menace…..Dennis shreds some paper, throws it in the air, and calls it snow, fooling poor dense Joey. Very menacing.
If you’ve ever questioned Luann’s intelligence, the fact that she chose to interview these three for a college paper should end all doubt.
MW: How about, he’s dating the sideshow attraction from Sam&Max “Trixie the giraffe-necked girl from Scranton”
I mean, we have a woman, an animal theme, it all fits together!
AC: Is Four Roses whiskey sold in England? Because that’s the only War of the Roses I’d expect to be referenced in any pub Andy frequents.
@TheDiva: I have never met a woman name Trixie, and even in cartoons and such the name is usually delegated to prankster characters.
@Banana Jr. 6000: I like the “butt print” prayer (or poster) better.
@The Quiet Man: When I was a child, and had to do “interview some adults” type schoolwork projects, we were generally forbidden from interviewing relatives. I realize now that the idea was to make the child do some social interactions. Which, as you might guess from our ongoing conversation, was a challenge for me. But if a college level course isn’t even holding the students to *that* very low standard (or if they are, and Luann is trying to circumvent it) than it’s reasonable to ask: what in the hell is the point?
@2+2=7: Oh. I met her on the island.
No. Not that island.
Uh, sorry ladies. I really gotta be going.
Whoops, looks like the spambot is still eating comments about the new main character in Mary Worth.
MW- ” Oh hello Mary,…Toby,..I was just reading this fascinating article about surrendered parrots!”
GT: Who’s honking the horn? Is Gil celebrating the expression of parental authority like a high-schooler would?
DtM: As long as Alice remembers You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun I think we’re safe here.
RMMD: Enter the poor dope who always wanted a pool.
@Banana Jr. 6000: It most likely won’t be, but I would hope the point is, once this ‘heartwarming’ family dinner is finished, for Mommy and Daddy to sit Luann down and tell her the truth about being an adult and how it involves hard decisions.
Then they do what my parents had to do to get me to leave the nest at age 20. They gave me an ultimatum: either go work full-time and get an apartment, go to school full-time (on my own dime which would have meant loans) and live in the dorm, or join the military. If I could have thought of a fourth option they were open to hearing it, but continuing to live at home was NOT an option.
@Hannibal’s Lectern:
what in the hell is the point [of this “ask an adult how/why they got their job” assignment]?
The Watsonian explanation is that Mrs Fogarty is a terrible guidance counselor, but Luann’s misgivings about it went away when she got an assignment even SHE could do.
The Doylist explanation is that it’s a good pretext to update Bwad’s origin story (“I was a rudderless young adult fresh out of high school, saw 9/11 happen on TV, watched first responders (and firefighters in particular) be hailed as the REAL heroes, immediately applied to firefighter academy”) to deal with the fact that it hinges on an event that happened 25 years ago. And also to finally elucidate on what Frank DeGroot’s job actually is (we know he’s a white-collar office worker, but in what capacity, exactly? For what company/employer?
Sex Organ V.D.: “….Blockbuster after blockbuster, then Blockbuster went out of business, taking Ms. Starr with it.We are still trying to reach her siblings, Brenda and Ringo,for a comment other than ‘Bugger off, we only talk to ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT!’ “
MW: It’s nice to see that Ian McKellen is still getting work.
Even if he’s just rehearsing for a revival of “The Honeymooners” at the Santa Royale Playhouse.
“Hey, Trixie! Ralphie and I going to the Lodge. Don’t wait up. Ah-voo-voo-voo-voooo!”
@Anonymous: I read your “Hello Mary…” line in Hannibal Lector’s voice, now I can’t unhear it. I’m going to be hearing every line this guy says from now on in Anthony Hopkin’s voice, but really any excuse to spice up this wreck of a comic.
MW – (Narrated in a stage whisper) Unknown to Trixie, H*rvey Hart is really Speed Racer’s older brother, Rex Racer, who ran away from home years ago!
C’shaft: Yes, this is EXACTLY the sort of insight into the creative process people are dying to hear about!
Dustin: Good idea, then the security cameras won’t pick up his face when he bludgeons you to death outside your high school.
FG: “Master Dynamo” would be a great name for a supervillain.
JP: You sure you’ve got the right guy, April? I mean, that statement was only 25% accurate.
Luann: I hate this. I hate that Luann trapped everyone into this with a “family dinner” rather than coming out and asking if they would help her with this. I hate that Brad doesn’t understand how interviews work. I hate that the use of AI is treated like a “lol, the kids these days and their ChatGPTs!” punchline rather than something that could incur serious academic consequences. I hate the implication that Luann and Brad still squabble like twelve year olds. Hate. Hate.
MT: You’d think someone like Mark Trail would be worried about the amount of food waste generated by buffets…
Pluggers – Michael Gallup wants to know what they should do with their days off? I dunno, maybe you should take a POLL! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
Don Abundio, translated:
“Don Abundio, the neighbor’s house is on fire!”
“The neighbor I’m always fighting with?”
“Yeah, but… shouldn’t we do something?”
@Peanut Gallery: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
The Familiar Mucus: “Mom! That thermometer tastes weird! What does ‘rectal’ mean?”
@TheDiva:
On Luann : how about the part where Luann’s “family dinner” was, in fact, just ordering fast food for four people (and, considering it was a surprise, she didn’t even ask them what they wanted)? And, considering she WORKS at said restaurant, she probably got it at a discount? And that she was playing it up with a “look at me adulting, getting a meal ready for my family like a grown-up!” ?
…. Well, there’s one way it could be worse; it could be a ready-made meal from Kafe Kablooie that she paid FULL-PRICE for (or, knowing TJ and Les, was somehow tricked into being overcharged).
MW: Since the modbot hates the H word, from now on we’ll refer to the new guy as Gay Peter O’Toole.
I’m not an actor. I’m a movie star!
FC: Mommy! The glass thermometer broke off in my anus! Get it out!
Apple Annie – Look, all of us think Trixie is obviously a catfisher and I’m sure she probably is…but what if she isn’t? What if this storyline ends with Trixie being very real? I for one think that would be neat, mainly because otherwise this is like our fourteenth catfishing storyline.
6 Chix: I thought I was reading Pearls Before Swine today.
BLONDIE: Well, they did it again. Same artwork from at least 2 other strips from the past year with all new dialogue. This time it looks like a mirror image, though. They must not want us to catch on…
CS: “So what were those early days of working on your strip like?” …Good to know that on Month #19 of the interview, we’re getting into the deep, hard hitting questions.
DTM: Easy for you to say. You don’t have to shovel it.
LH: Uh-oh. Leroy is officially a Plugger.
@Anonymous: Who said she got a discount? She’s a table busser at best, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this business doesn’t ‘vest’ employees with a discount until they’ve at least worked their way up to working the register.
Who said she even paid for this ‘feast’? She probably grabbed someone’s DoorDash order off the pickup shelves. ‘Weenieworld just puts free food out for people to take. They’re such a kind place to work! It’s super easy and convenient!’
Mary Worth: “Hi and Lois” got its start in 1954. So if you consider normal, real world-style aging, a 73-year-old Trixie Flagston Mitchell van Pelt Yokum Doonesbury Arbuckle would be completely age-appropriate for our dapper gentleman here.
@The Rambling Otter: #64 MW- Glad to hear it! I was thinking along the lines of Charles Nelson Reilly or maybe Paul Lynde.
Crankshaft-When you run out of ideas just revert to interviewing this guy for his biography.
@The Rambling Otter: I see you’re also acquainted with Lion and the King.
@GarrisonSkunk: #62 RMMD- Don’t forget her Uncle, hall of fame QB Bart.
MW – Anyone who’s got a fetish for space aliens with big tits, today’s first-panel Toby is for you.