Stan: “Wood you explain this, please. I get the idea, sort of, but when has this ever occurred? It seems like a pretty wild stretch just to make a ‘joke’ work. Am I missing a reference to something? Also, if it’s a ‘post-wood’ era, then what is the podium behind him made of? It looks like wood to me.”
And a CIDU-Eww from Ignatz.
From Stan, who says I’m ‘Racking my Brain’ to work it out.
But truth to tell, we just wanted an excuse to try out the poll feature and see if it really works. So here are two cases where various and sundry editors and senders-in were unsure whether and how to agree on how something would be taken, and said: let the vox pop have a say.
First up, Boise Ed sent this one in as a CIDU, asking: “What does the Casper the Friendly Ghost toon have to do with mattresses?”
However, it turns out the puzzle entirely dissolves, and the connection is clear, for people who happen to be aware of a certain fact. But is this a fact most readers will know, or only a few? And then, when you do know, is the cartoon a good joke, or a shrug?
Please record your view in the poll just below. And commenters, please refrain from explaining it all for about 24 hours, if you don’t mind. Thanks!
Next up, Andréa and Chak both sent in this Reality Check of a giant feline on the rampage!
It’s been called a CIDU, a LOL/Oy , and an Ewww. As CIDU: “What is this, just Catzilla? Or is there more to it?” . The Oy factor is the wordplay from the usual sense of “Big box store” for the kind of building, to an idea that it could mean a place to obtain a big box. The Ewww might be if you thought the giant cat wanted to find a suitably large litter box. And the LOL reading is still with the idea of obtaining a very big box, but just for the giant cat’s comfort and amusement — just like your housecat, who will play with and curl up in an empty cardboard box even in preference to the toy or pet bed that may have come in it.
Sent in by FrostedDonut, who says “Where’s the punchline? That just seems like a normal thing to say: I’d like (X). You may have (X). I’ll have to thank her for letting me have (X).”
From DanV, who says “The first two panels of today’s Frazz were clear enough. But then Frazz starts talking about the kid’s pants. Even if I did understand what that had to do with the conversation (which I don’t), where is the joke?”
Maybe the answer is in context? Try for yourself! The weeklong series begins Monday, October 12: https://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2020/10/12 .
From Stan
Submitted by guero and CaroZ.
Whatever you prefer to call the day, what does it or this picture have to do with disco?
This is true, but where’s the joke? If Loretta was insulting Leroy, I would understand this as a standard Lockhorn comic, and not needing anything additional. But this doesn’t seem mean, so much as a basic statement of fact. If anything, it’s a little reassuring.
Mitch4 asks:
Is the waiter making a smart or a nasty suggestion?
(Even granting the presupposition that people would love to have some Limburger but normally refrain from concern about offensive breath.)
1) Now is the chance, as customers are masked and will be protected from others noticing their bad breath the rest of the day. So the waiter is making a good suggestion.
OR 2) But actually he is leading them on, knowing that a masked person will be smelling their own breath all day. So he is nasty and taking out some revenge on customers.
Comics I Don't Understand 