Trying to “catch” Santa in the act, literally; only got his boot and Santa seems a bit unhappy with him. I guess I don’t understand how this would have gone any better if the boot had not come off, but he may not have thought his plan out that far.
He got Santa’s boot and Santa’s not happy with him. That’s what’s literally happening here, but what’s the joke?
The generic “New Yorker” caption seems appropriate for this strip.
The joke is just slapstick, in this case “clever scheme rebounds on schemer.” It isn’t a very good joke, but it isn’t (to me) unclear what the joke is. As @MJSR says, the scheme isn’t clever enough to make for much humor.
I think the joke is that he misunderstood the idea of “catching Santa” – somebody else said, hey, maybe we can catch Santa (by staying up and watching for Santa (or whoever actually puts presents under the Christmas tree)) and he went and tried to *capture* Santa. And then realized he had no idea what to do next. I find expression on his face in the final panel mildly amusing.
Brevity is the soul of wit, so more briefly, he has just realized that “catch” did not mean “capture” in the context of Santa.
I think the cartoonist didn’t realize it logistically doesn’t make any sense to have the punchline of the joke be the exact thing as the set up.
The setup is: lio is trying to trap Santa.
The punchline is: lio trapped Santa.
Each would work on their own but as a punchline to itself?… well….
I think the expression in the last panel, in contrast to his earlier delight, is funny – the realization that catching Santa the way he did was not as good an idea as he previously thought.
Someone hit an instant naught list status. Present back into the sack, coal in his stocking.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Trying to “catch” Santa in the act, literally; only got his boot and Santa seems a bit unhappy with him. I guess I don’t understand how this would have gone any better if the boot had not come off, but he may not have thought his plan out that far.
He got Santa’s boot and Santa’s not happy with him. That’s what’s literally happening here, but what’s the joke?
The generic “New Yorker” caption seems appropriate for this strip.
The joke is just slapstick, in this case “clever scheme rebounds on schemer.” It isn’t a very good joke, but it isn’t (to me) unclear what the joke is. As @MJSR says, the scheme isn’t clever enough to make for much humor.
I think the joke is that he misunderstood the idea of “catching Santa” – somebody else said, hey, maybe we can catch Santa (by staying up and watching for Santa (or whoever actually puts presents under the Christmas tree)) and he went and tried to *capture* Santa. And then realized he had no idea what to do next. I find expression on his face in the final panel mildly amusing.
Brevity is the soul of wit, so more briefly, he has just realized that “catch” did not mean “capture” in the context of Santa.
I think the cartoonist didn’t realize it logistically doesn’t make any sense to have the punchline of the joke be the exact thing as the set up.
The setup is: lio is trying to trap Santa.
The punchline is: lio trapped Santa.
Each would work on their own but as a punchline to itself?… well….
I think the expression in the last panel, in contrast to his earlier delight, is funny – the realization that catching Santa the way he did was not as good an idea as he previously thought.
Someone hit an instant naught list status. Present back into the sack, coal in his stocking.