From Zbicyclist. Yes, we are aware of the “reluctance” meaning of “reservation” — but does that make anything clear?
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Why does red jacket person have a box hidden under the back of the jacket?
This rather hagiographic Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_and_Ernest_(comic_strip) is actually usefully informative about some design factors in the strip. But doesn’t take up character art. I think he always looks like that, and the clothes are just ill-fitting and lumpy… Not smuggling a box under his jacket though you are right that it kinda looks like that!
Being at the right place at the right time is usually due to luck (or as some may put it, being prepared with an opportunity arises). It’s not something for which one may make a reservation. So he’s at the right place, and it’s the right time, but . . . he doesn’t have a reservation, so he’s out of luck. The joke is a bit of a Catch 22.
My guess is that it’s a restaurant in Florida.
Aha! Stan, that is a big help! Not that the setting is a restaurant , but that the sign is the name of the place, or at least their official motto, and is actually displayed on the wall by the desk or window. The cartoon was confusing when that wording seemed to be part of the picture plane and not part of the depicted location.
Max C. Webster, III interprets it much as I do. I see it more as irony/false advertising than a Catch-22 but I do believe the joke is just a simple incongruity that it isn’t the right time at the right place if he needs a reservation and they are giving him a hassle.
I think Max has it – Ernest (or is that one Frank?) is such a loser that even when he is in the right place and the right time he still loses due to not having a reservation.
” Ernest (or is that one Frank?) ” It’s Frank. Ernest is the short one without a mustache.
A couple talking in bed:
A: Can I be frank?
B: Aw no, I think it’s my turn to be Frank tonight.
It would probably be easier to get if it were told by Rodney Dangerfield. “I don’t get no respect. There was only one time in my life that I was in the right place at the right time … and they kicked me out because I didn’t have a reservation.”
I seem to remember the punchline to a forgotten joke/standup routine setup:
“I had reservations, but I ate there anyway.”
Similar to “At my last job I had a lot of responsibility. Whenever something went wrong, almost always I was the one responsible.”
Similar to Stan and others – If the place is the right place at the right time, then no reservation should be needed, so it is not the right place at the right time as it is of no help.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Why does red jacket person have a box hidden under the back of the jacket?
This rather hagiographic Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_and_Ernest_(comic_strip) is actually usefully informative about some design factors in the strip. But doesn’t take up character art. I think he always looks like that, and the clothes are just ill-fitting and lumpy… Not smuggling a box under his jacket though you are right that it kinda looks like that!
Being at the right place at the right time is usually due to luck (or as some may put it, being prepared with an opportunity arises). It’s not something for which one may make a reservation. So he’s at the right place, and it’s the right time, but . . . he doesn’t have a reservation, so he’s out of luck. The joke is a bit of a Catch 22.
My guess is that it’s a restaurant in Florida.
Aha! Stan, that is a big help! Not that the setting is a restaurant , but that the sign is the name of the place, or at least their official motto, and is actually displayed on the wall by the desk or window. The cartoon was confusing when that wording seemed to be part of the picture plane and not part of the depicted location.
Max C. Webster, III interprets it much as I do. I see it more as irony/false advertising than a Catch-22 but I do believe the joke is just a simple incongruity that it isn’t the right time at the right place if he needs a reservation and they are giving him a hassle.
I think Max has it – Ernest (or is that one Frank?) is such a loser that even when he is in the right place and the right time he still loses due to not having a reservation.
” Ernest (or is that one Frank?) ” It’s Frank. Ernest is the short one without a mustache.
A couple talking in bed:
A: Can I be frank?
B: Aw no, I think it’s my turn to be Frank tonight.
It would probably be easier to get if it were told by Rodney Dangerfield. “I don’t get no respect. There was only one time in my life that I was in the right place at the right time … and they kicked me out because I didn’t have a reservation.”
I seem to remember the punchline to a forgotten joke/standup routine setup:
“I had reservations, but I ate there anyway.”
Similar to “At my last job I had a lot of responsibility. Whenever something went wrong, almost always I was the one responsible.”
Similar to Stan and others – If the place is the right place at the right time, then no reservation should be needed, so it is not the right place at the right time as it is of no help.