Thanks to Darren for sending in this Rudy Park (via our not-entirely-new Suggest-A-CIDU form). He says “I don’t get it. Is the scone description odd in some way? Why does panel three focus on the customer without dialog? Is Rudy annoyed at someone ordering something to use the bathroom, or is something else happening?”
Okay, it’s clearly not a CIDU because there’s no doubt what the joke is.
But this is sooooo familiar. But I don’t know from where, exactly. This is thus a Comic Whose Familiarity I Can’t Pin Down.
I think I’m thinking of a classic (or at least “very old”) bit by a comedy sketch group, like maybe Second City or The Groundlings or maybe even Nichols and May. Can anybody ID a sketch using this idea or pattern?
That is: a dialogue in which the actually uttered words are descriptions of the place in the structure of the scene occupied by the character’s turn or line; or description of the tone and effect of a line that would go there; or some similar meta-level description in place of the expected base-level line of dialogue.
Also, can you make a short and snappy name for the trope? And more examples, in any genre?
GoComics commenter “The Brooklyn Accent” posted a link to the song clip below, “Title of the Song” by Da Vinci’s Notebook, which does some of the same things and probably belongs within the same trope.
The LOL-Yikes (horror) that you were promised, with a dollop of fourth-wall.
And haven’t we been seeing a lot of the Potato Head family of late?
The basic joke here is pretty clear. But what’s with the lack of color and the change in the woman’s eyes in the second panel? Part of the joke?
The next day we have the same coloring quirk, still without explanation.
I remember my many years with window A.C. units, and remember the fall struggles to get them out (easier, though, than the spring struggles to get them in). But is there a joke here? None of the family members ever found my request for help with this task funny.
Could this also be a geezer alert? I think current units are better conditioned for winter, so they are commonly left in all year. But maybe I’m wrong about that.
I’m delighted with how the Bizarro literalizes the idea of the fourth wall.
So then the problem-solvers’ question is “what are we seeing on the left side of the drawing?” And the answer should be “The adhesive side of the wallpaper”.
The contributor sending in the Macanudo points out that it’s a very old joke (probably could be found in Mutt & Jeff :) ), but this is still a very good realization of the idea.
And they pair well because the Macanudo is at the other end of sticking to the metaphorical.
P.S. Wayno prepares two versions of each Bizarro he makes, a squarish panel and a more horizontal strip format. Occasionally in his weekly blog he shows the variation, and in the week covering this cartoon it was the one getting that treatment. Here is that alternate image:
The angel isn’t standing down. The angel doesn’t match the characterization of angels I’m familiar with. Are there no uniform designers who made it to heaven, for a more professional look?
Is it nice to pose a math problem on a Sunday?
I had a stationary bike. After a few years, I had done 12,500 miles on that bike — halfway around, at the equator. But I wondered what degree of north latitude would be12,500 miles long (so I could see what cities were at that latitude). I thought I’d figured it out, but wanted validation; it had been a long time since I was in junior high. We were having parent-teacher conferences, so I asked the 7th grade math teacher. She took the problem and said she’d get back to me. Never did. When my daughter asked about it, she said she’d lost the problem — but didn’t ask for another copy.
I repeated this with math teachers each year. Never got an answer.
Can you finnish this problem?
Thanks to Chemgal for this Zits, which earns a LOL-Ewww!
And here is your LOL-CIDU-Geezer for the week!
Another CIDU-LOL, or Arlo-LOL, and the one calling for the category tag about “There must be a popculture reference that will clear it up instantly” — if you can see putting the chess world in “popculture”. Yes, something upsetting happened recently in the world of chess, and then Twitter has its way with answering some of the questions raised.
Thanks to dollarbill for this DSOH, featuring one of their favorite tropes, counting sheep.
See also the posts in Random Comments and Site Comments on his idea for a structured-commenting game. (Please respond there, not so much here.)
And now, a mini-fest of Wrong Hands!
Comics I Don't Understand 