Moustache man seems to be talking, and likely the joke has something to do with 2 clean shaven cowboys, 1 mustached, and 2 bearded ones. But what joke?
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My guess was that it was a legal meeting, setting up a limited partnership between some of these individuals (maybe the guy with his back mostly to us is the lawyer? Not obvious, anyway). The one to the far right (our right) has just finished signing; his partner gives the standard cowboy line of “Howdy, partner (pardner)” but adjusted for the limited partnership they just signed. Just a weak pun.
jjmcgaffey has it. It’s a weak joke about business-type partners and cowboy-type partners. Nothing to do with facial hair.
2nd joke?
What is the function of the laptop? It is facing away from the man nearest to it and to far for the others to reach.
Regarding the laptop: I figure the the bearded cowboys at the upper left are considering joining the two cowboys at the upper right. The bottom-left cowboy is a secretarial or administrative cowboy, who is facilitating the meeting. He has created an explanatory chart or graph that illustrates the benefits of the proposed arrangement, and presented it on his laptop to the rest of the group.
For anyone that this was a CIDU, I’m curious about the reason. Not from the US? Is it an age thing? For me this was an immediate understanding of the intended joke, so I’m wondering why I have that cultural reference needed for this while others don’t. Not a judgement, just curious.
TedD: I’d say it’s just such a weak joke that people were thinking “I must be missing the REAL point here”. I know that was my reaction!
Yeah, weak joke. It reminds me of one I saw once. A cowboy is walking along the street and encounters another cowboy who is wearing a woman’s dress. The first says “I see by your dress, sir, that you are a cowboy.” It’s a line from an old song. It’s a pun because “your dress” used to mean “the way you are dressed.”
And I don’t know how many puns I’ve seen about getting a long little doggie.
The song goes “I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.”
As for the laptop, Jack Applin’s explanation seems to makes as much sense as any. At first I thought its owner was farsighted, but the most likely candidate has pen and pad in front of him.
It also seems to be a misquote.
The song, is called Streets of Laredo.
It’d a traditional song with various versions, but all of them have “I see by your outfit …. ” rather than “dress”
I have heard it sung as “I see by your dress that you are a cowboy.” I can’t find the source. It did sound odd to me.
Everything I find has “outfit.” I can’t find the cartoon either. I was probably the only one in the world other than the cartoonist who got the joke, and it wasn’t much of a joke.
Comics I Don't Understand 
My guess was that it was a legal meeting, setting up a limited partnership between some of these individuals (maybe the guy with his back mostly to us is the lawyer? Not obvious, anyway). The one to the far right (our right) has just finished signing; his partner gives the standard cowboy line of “Howdy, partner (pardner)” but adjusted for the limited partnership they just signed. Just a weak pun.
jjmcgaffey has it. It’s a weak joke about business-type partners and cowboy-type partners. Nothing to do with facial hair.
2nd joke?
What is the function of the laptop? It is facing away from the man nearest to it and to far for the others to reach.
Regarding the laptop: I figure the the bearded cowboys at the upper left are considering joining the two cowboys at the upper right. The bottom-left cowboy is a secretarial or administrative cowboy, who is facilitating the meeting. He has created an explanatory chart or graph that illustrates the benefits of the proposed arrangement, and presented it on his laptop to the rest of the group.
For anyone that this was a CIDU, I’m curious about the reason. Not from the US? Is it an age thing? For me this was an immediate understanding of the intended joke, so I’m wondering why I have that cultural reference needed for this while others don’t. Not a judgement, just curious.
TedD: I’d say it’s just such a weak joke that people were thinking “I must be missing the REAL point here”. I know that was my reaction!
Yeah, weak joke. It reminds me of one I saw once. A cowboy is walking along the street and encounters another cowboy who is wearing a woman’s dress. The first says “I see by your dress, sir, that you are a cowboy.” It’s a line from an old song. It’s a pun because “your dress” used to mean “the way you are dressed.”
And I don’t know how many puns I’ve seen about getting a long little doggie.
The song goes “I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.”
As for the laptop, Jack Applin’s explanation seems to makes as much sense as any. At first I thought its owner was farsighted, but the most likely candidate has pen and pad in front of him.
It also seems to be a misquote.
The song, is called Streets of Laredo.
It’d a traditional song with various versions, but all of them have “I see by your outfit …. ” rather than “dress”
I have heard it sung as “I see by your dress that you are a cowboy.” I can’t find the source. It did sound odd to me.
Everything I find has “outfit.” I can’t find the cartoon either. I was probably the only one in the world other than the cartoonist who got the joke, and it wasn’t much of a joke.