Probably something obvious I’m missing here. What is it?
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I think I see it, but it’s not well phrased. Let me take a crack at it… He’s 65. He makes a certain amount of money, but is not rich. Despite this, he is willing to bet that he would make more money than if he were all three of those supermodels “put together”. The caveat being that it might not be much anyway, as how much money could a 65-year-old model with 6 arms and three heads make?
The joke is he’s switching the subject of “put together”. The normal meaning of “earning more than you 3 put together” would be that the wages are put together. He’s applying it to the models, creating an unemployable monstrosity that he can easily out-earn.
He isn’t 65, the three models together would be. Along with the multiple heads and too many limbs and all that.
“He isn’t 65, the three models together would be.” Ahhhh, yes. that makes more sense. The ‘sugar daddy’ comment led me astray, as they’re generally older gentlemen.
What precisely is going on here? Did he recognize them as supermodels, or did they dismiss his initial overture with “Get lost, we’re supermodels” or similar exposition? Is the reference to a sugar daddy an unprovoked insult, or a response to a remark about his looking less than suitably wealthy? And are we witnessing a botched face-saving after a failed pickup, or did he just spontaneously favor them with an old joke revamped very sloppily?
The old joke is the schoolyard wheeze that you can jump higher than a house. You clear the ground by a few inches, then point out that’s higher than a house can jump. It’s not funny unless you get somebody to take the bet, or at least scoff, before jumping and delivering the punchline.
Will note in passing that the would-be humorist is cohabiting with a woman and marriage is a frequent issue, yet both of them are often seen on their own in a bar, chatting with members of the opposite sex.
@Benson, I don’t think this strip is supposed to have any continuity. Sometimes the characters are married, sometimes dating, sometimes single. As to this one, yeah, it looks very much like Lee started with a weak punchline, couldn’t make a great setup, and forced it.
@Andrew Millar: For some reason (maybe to please his syndicate), Vic Lee came up with names and descriptions for the characters in his strip, even though the characters’ names are rarely mentioned and the characterizations are irrelevant to the jokes.
For me, the weakness here is that the guy himself is the one who introduces the “three of you put together” phrasing into the discourse. It might have worked better if somebody else had used the phrasing, and then when he comes up with the unexpected physical literalism for it, we accept that he totally misunderstands the wording. But as is, he must already know it to have it in his phrasing-bank as a way of comparing something like incomes, so his muddling in the second half is less believable.
Once you put 3 supermodels together you get one with 3 heads, 6 arms, and a total age of 65. After that they don’t make much money and so he makes more than they would.
What is under the left shoulder strap of the one in the middle and what is going down the back of the one in purple? Tattoos?
Brian R – You have the correct interpretation of the joke (as did others), but if they were combined Rule 34 of the internet along with access to OF would suggest they’d make even more than they make now.
“I’d rather have two girls at twenty-one each than one girl at forty-two.” — W.C. Fields
Mark: I just saw a reference to a husband who, on his wife’s 40th birthday, joked about trading her in for two 20-year-olds. Her response: “You’re not wired for 220!”
Not PC but I like it, she won the exchange.
He does not look like he is in his 60s to me – not only is his hair not shown as grey, but his face does not look old nor do his pants look like what an old man would wear.
Then again – my husband is in his 70s and he still wears the same type of clothing as he did when we met in our early 20s -jeans and button shirts. But his hair turned grey long ago and continued on to a lovely shade of white. It is still long and still in a pony tail – though he calls it a que now as he keeps for reenacting purposes, not because it is a current style.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think I see it, but it’s not well phrased. Let me take a crack at it… He’s 65. He makes a certain amount of money, but is not rich. Despite this, he is willing to bet that he would make more money than if he were all three of those supermodels “put together”. The caveat being that it might not be much anyway, as how much money could a 65-year-old model with 6 arms and three heads make?
The joke is he’s switching the subject of “put together”. The normal meaning of “earning more than you 3 put together” would be that the wages are put together. He’s applying it to the models, creating an unemployable monstrosity that he can easily out-earn.
He isn’t 65, the three models together would be. Along with the multiple heads and too many limbs and all that.
“He isn’t 65, the three models together would be.” Ahhhh, yes. that makes more sense. The ‘sugar daddy’ comment led me astray, as they’re generally older gentlemen.
What precisely is going on here? Did he recognize them as supermodels, or did they dismiss his initial overture with “Get lost, we’re supermodels” or similar exposition? Is the reference to a sugar daddy an unprovoked insult, or a response to a remark about his looking less than suitably wealthy? And are we witnessing a botched face-saving after a failed pickup, or did he just spontaneously favor them with an old joke revamped very sloppily?
The old joke is the schoolyard wheeze that you can jump higher than a house. You clear the ground by a few inches, then point out that’s higher than a house can jump. It’s not funny unless you get somebody to take the bet, or at least scoff, before jumping and delivering the punchline.
Will note in passing that the would-be humorist is cohabiting with a woman and marriage is a frequent issue, yet both of them are often seen on their own in a bar, chatting with members of the opposite sex.
@Benson, I don’t think this strip is supposed to have any continuity. Sometimes the characters are married, sometimes dating, sometimes single. As to this one, yeah, it looks very much like Lee started with a weak punchline, couldn’t make a great setup, and forced it.
@Andrew Millar: For some reason (maybe to please his syndicate), Vic Lee came up with names and descriptions for the characters in his strip, even though the characters’ names are rarely mentioned and the characterizations are irrelevant to the jokes.
https://comicskingdom.com/pardon-my-planet/about
For me, the weakness here is that the guy himself is the one who introduces the “three of you put together” phrasing into the discourse. It might have worked better if somebody else had used the phrasing, and then when he comes up with the unexpected physical literalism for it, we accept that he totally misunderstands the wording. But as is, he must already know it to have it in his phrasing-bank as a way of comparing something like incomes, so his muddling in the second half is less believable.
Once you put 3 supermodels together you get one with 3 heads, 6 arms, and a total age of 65. After that they don’t make much money and so he makes more than they would.
What is under the left shoulder strap of the one in the middle and what is going down the back of the one in purple? Tattoos?
Brian R – You have the correct interpretation of the joke (as did others), but if they were combined Rule 34 of the internet along with access to OF would suggest they’d make even more than they make now.
“I’d rather have two girls at twenty-one each than one girl at forty-two.” — W.C. Fields
Mark: I just saw a reference to a husband who, on his wife’s 40th birthday, joked about trading her in for two 20-year-olds. Her response: “You’re not wired for 220!”
Not PC but I like it, she won the exchange.
He does not look like he is in his 60s to me – not only is his hair not shown as grey, but his face does not look old nor do his pants look like what an old man would wear.
Then again – my husband is in his 70s and he still wears the same type of clothing as he did when we met in our early 20s -jeans and button shirts. But his hair turned grey long ago and continued on to a lovely shade of white. It is still long and still in a pony tail – though he calls it a que now as he keeps for reenacting purposes, not because it is a current style.