Published 2021-Mar-07, which among other things on the designated-days calendar was the Sunday of Celebrate Your Name Week. Dunno if that explains anything.
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They are each following a different script. The “Cut” and trailer reference indicates this is all a production. (Although panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is “Mexico.”)
Targuman, I agree they are on different scripts. Your remark “panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is ‘Mexico.’ ” would apply if they were just out of step but on the same script. I think it’s more like different scripts altogether, and “Mexico” in its right place would be an answer to “Where do you lugworms migrate to, anyway?”.
As someone who generally keeps captioning set to On, I have enjoyed our threads about how it can go amusingly wrong. Of course, sometimes it is unamusing and just annoying. That applies to both “about 30 seconds out of sync” and “captions are from the script of the outright wrong episode”.
BTW, Targuman, while we have you here, did you just not see or didn’t care to answer the indirect comments saying your appearance on “Wait wait!” had been noted and appreciated?
This cartoon is using the old trope where the comic strip characters are actually actors portraying the characters.
(I saw this on “Garfield” once where Garfield and Odie accidentally dressed up in each others’ suits — so that Garfield was wearing a yellow “Odie” suit, and Odie was wearing an orange “Garfield” suit. This gag supposedly revealed that the players behind the “Garfield” comic strip were simply actors paid to show up and perform their roles for the daily strip.)
As a consequence of actors playing the parts of the comic strip characters, sometimes they make mistakes and recite the wrong script, which is what you see here. There’s a little confusion in the first panel (not uncommon for a multi-panel comic strip), but the confusion grows in the second, until it’s revealed in the third that even the characters don’t know what they’re talking about.
And the “CUT!” in the last panel makes it clear that it’s a (possibly live) performance gone wrong, thanks to one actor performing the wrong joke.
Arlo & Janis did a similar treatment (actors playing the roles of the characters) for a week. The premise was that the actor playing Arlo was sick and his part was being played by an alligator.
Ollie and Quentin was discontinued a while ago; so March 7th may not be the original publishing date.
@Mitch4 My thinking about panel 2 was that after Quentin says “Mexico” Ollie replies, “Mine? It’s embarrassing.” Either way, clearly out of sync.
@Mitch4 I did not see the reference to Wait Wait! Thank you so much for pointing it out… Now to find where they are!
Thanks for sharing, Blinky the Wonder Wombat. That Arlo & Janis story arc was fun to read.
It’s nice when cartoonists put some light-hearted humor into their work.
Yes, that old ARLO AND JANIS arc was fun.
The alligator at one point indicates he’s a consummate professional who’s been in the cartoon business a long while, which leads me to wonder if he’s “supposed to be” Albert Alligator from POGO (he doesn’t look or sound like him, but again, actors playing parts….). At least I can’t think of any other alligator who had a long run as a “professional” comic strip character.
@Mitch4 I can’t seem to find the comments regarding wait wait don’t tell me, but thank you all for noticing! It was great fun to be on it, A dream come true.
Sorry, didn’t mean to make it hard. I originally commented in two threads where I could enter it as reply to comments of yours; these threads were called “Peticure? Pawdicure?” and “Whiskey Buffalo”. All they said was “Hey, is that you on “Wait wait!”? 🤓✔️👍🏼” . I thought I was being discreet if from an overabundance of caution in case I was misusing behind-the-scenes info from your CIDU emails to recognize your real name and professional identification when I heard it on the radio. But today I realized all that was available to anyone who clicks on your Gravatar!
J-L says: It’s nice when cartoonists put some light-hearted humor into their work.
Top award for “he remarked drily” category!
“They are each following a different script. The “Cut” and trailer reference indicates this is all a production. (Although panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is “Mexico.”)”
No, it doesn’t.
The duck has Script 1: That goes like this:
Duck: Quentin ‘Sparticus’ Shortstuff. That’s a cool middle name.
Lugworm: Thanks, what’s yours?
Duck: Mine? It’s embarrassing.
Lugworm: I’m sure it’s fine. I want to hear it.
…. eventual joke….
And the lugworm has script 2 that goes
Duck: Say where are you from?
Lugworm: Mexico
Duck: Do many lugworms come from Mexico?
Lugworm: Yeah, the crawl in V-formation the whole time.
…. eventual joke…..
And being somewhat self-absorbed actors they simply plow through their lines for two panels before noticing that the other is reacting to an entirely different script.
—“the Sunday of Celebrate Your Name Week. Dunno if that explains anything.”
It explains the “do you know what day it is” comment.
Woozy: It explains the “do you know what day it is” comment.
Or maybe the lugworm is using tomorrow’s script instead of today’s.
In the “Zippy” comic strip, it’s revealed that Zippy is played by an actor, Laszlo something or other I think.
At one time, the “comic characters are played by actors” gag was fresh and new, but I think it’s getting tedious by now.
On the other hand, it’s been going on for decades in animated cartoons without being tedious. Betty Boop played Snow White, Dizzy Red Riding Hood and many others. Disney’s Goofy played various characters named George in “How To” cartoons in the 1950’s, or as some would have it, George Geef played Goofy.
One bit I still recall from Conan O’Brien’s old network TV show from the ’90s was that the role of “Conan O’Brien the host” was actually played by an actor named Chip Whitley. Conan played Chip in a behind-the-scenes spoof.
IIRC around the same era Jay Leno played with the trope as well. I don’t recall Dave Letterman doing similar.
Comics I Don't Understand 
They are each following a different script. The “Cut” and trailer reference indicates this is all a production. (Although panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is “Mexico.”)
Targuman, I agree they are on different scripts. Your remark “panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is ‘Mexico.’ ” would apply if they were just out of step but on the same script. I think it’s more like different scripts altogether, and “Mexico” in its right place would be an answer to “Where do you lugworms migrate to, anyway?”.
As someone who generally keeps captioning set to On, I have enjoyed our threads about how it can go amusingly wrong. Of course, sometimes it is unamusing and just annoying. That applies to both “about 30 seconds out of sync” and “captions are from the script of the outright wrong episode”.
BTW, Targuman, while we have you here, did you just not see or didn’t care to answer the indirect comments saying your appearance on “Wait wait!” had been noted and appreciated?
This cartoon is using the old trope where the comic strip characters are actually actors portraying the characters.
(I saw this on “Garfield” once where Garfield and Odie accidentally dressed up in each others’ suits — so that Garfield was wearing a yellow “Odie” suit, and Odie was wearing an orange “Garfield” suit. This gag supposedly revealed that the players behind the “Garfield” comic strip were simply actors paid to show up and perform their roles for the daily strip.)
As a consequence of actors playing the parts of the comic strip characters, sometimes they make mistakes and recite the wrong script, which is what you see here. There’s a little confusion in the first panel (not uncommon for a multi-panel comic strip), but the confusion grows in the second, until it’s revealed in the third that even the characters don’t know what they’re talking about.
And the “CUT!” in the last panel makes it clear that it’s a (possibly live) performance gone wrong, thanks to one actor performing the wrong joke.
Arlo & Janis did a similar treatment (actors playing the roles of the characters) for a week. The premise was that the actor playing Arlo was sick and his part was being played by an alligator.
The fun starts here:
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2002/04/01
Ollie and Quentin was discontinued a while ago; so March 7th may not be the original publishing date.
@Mitch4 My thinking about panel 2 was that after Quentin says “Mexico” Ollie replies, “Mine? It’s embarrassing.” Either way, clearly out of sync.
@Mitch4 I did not see the reference to Wait Wait! Thank you so much for pointing it out… Now to find where they are!
Thanks for sharing, Blinky the Wonder Wombat. That Arlo & Janis story arc was fun to read.
It’s nice when cartoonists put some light-hearted humor into their work.
Yes, that old ARLO AND JANIS arc was fun.
The alligator at one point indicates he’s a consummate professional who’s been in the cartoon business a long while, which leads me to wonder if he’s “supposed to be” Albert Alligator from POGO (he doesn’t look or sound like him, but again, actors playing parts….). At least I can’t think of any other alligator who had a long run as a “professional” comic strip character.
@Mitch4 I can’t seem to find the comments regarding wait wait don’t tell me, but thank you all for noticing! It was great fun to be on it, A dream come true.
Sorry, didn’t mean to make it hard. I originally commented in two threads where I could enter it as reply to comments of yours; these threads were called “Peticure? Pawdicure?” and “Whiskey Buffalo”. All they said was “Hey, is that you on “Wait wait!”? 🤓✔️👍🏼” . I thought I was being discreet if from an overabundance of caution in case I was misusing behind-the-scenes info from your CIDU emails to recognize your real name and professional identification when I heard it on the radio. But today I realized all that was available to anyone who clicks on your Gravatar!
Mitch4 – OH! That was reasonable, I should have checked those. Yes! It was great fun. For those interested, I was one of the “listener contestants.” https://www.npr.org/2021/02/27/971952615/whos-bill-this-time
J-L says: It’s nice when cartoonists put some light-hearted humor into their work.
Top award for “he remarked drily” category!
“They are each following a different script. The “Cut” and trailer reference indicates this is all a production. (Although panel two seems to imply that Ollie’s middle name is “Mexico.”)”
No, it doesn’t.
The duck has Script 1: That goes like this:
Duck: Quentin ‘Sparticus’ Shortstuff. That’s a cool middle name.
Lugworm: Thanks, what’s yours?
Duck: Mine? It’s embarrassing.
Lugworm: I’m sure it’s fine. I want to hear it.
…. eventual joke….
And the lugworm has script 2 that goes
Duck: Say where are you from?
Lugworm: Mexico
Duck: Do many lugworms come from Mexico?
Lugworm: Yeah, the crawl in V-formation the whole time.
…. eventual joke…..
And being somewhat self-absorbed actors they simply plow through their lines for two panels before noticing that the other is reacting to an entirely different script.
—“the Sunday of Celebrate Your Name Week. Dunno if that explains anything.”
It explains the “do you know what day it is” comment.
Woozy: It explains the “do you know what day it is” comment.
Or maybe the lugworm is using tomorrow’s script instead of today’s.
And of course, we all know that Ludwig (Arlo’s cat) is played by a terrier.
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2004/07/19
In the “Zippy” comic strip, it’s revealed that Zippy is played by an actor, Laszlo something or other I think.
At one time, the “comic characters are played by actors” gag was fresh and new, but I think it’s getting tedious by now.
On the other hand, it’s been going on for decades in animated cartoons without being tedious. Betty Boop played Snow White, Dizzy Red Riding Hood and many others. Disney’s Goofy played various characters named George in “How To” cartoons in the 1950’s, or as some would have it, George Geef played Goofy.
One bit I still recall from Conan O’Brien’s old network TV show from the ’90s was that the role of “Conan O’Brien the host” was actually played by an actor named Chip Whitley. Conan played Chip in a behind-the-scenes spoof.
IIRC around the same era Jay Leno played with the trope as well. I don’t recall Dave Letterman doing similar.