Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 20th, 2022


I was thinking of this as a CIDU until I saw a comment at GoComics suggesting they are collecting signatures on a petition — for a candidate or for a ballot measure, we can’t say. The car does put them outdoors. Certainly there are still questions, but can we ask all to refrain from objecting to the co-occurrence of the “(Not a CIDU)” category for the LOL listing post and a stray “CIDU” categorization for the lingering doubts of this cartoon?



So it’s still snail week at BOB MANKOFF PRESENTS: SHOW ME THE FUNNY (ANIMAL EDITION).


A Sad-LOL fer shure:


Saturday Morning OYs – November 19th, 2022


Is anybody else bothered by the use of “interrogate” in Theory-laden political and social discourse?


If you’re having any uncertainty about the main pun (which comes about third in sequence), think brand name.


Remind you of the title of a contemporary pun-loving panel comic?


Do the macanudo

What actual painting is this scene based on?

I think it’s a famous one I can’t bring to mind.

But I can’t help thinking of Poussin’s A Dance to the Music of Time (banner to this post), which in turn I’m aware of mostly from its use in Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time.

The Poussin has four figures (they could be the Seasons, or in Powell’s treatment the Kindly Ones, i.e. Furies), facing outward; while this scene has five, facing inward. The Poussin dates from 1634-1636, while this other scene with its contorted nudes surely is showing an influence of Impressionism or later.

Later: okay, I have been informed. It’s La Danse by Henri Matisse with versions from 1909 and 1910.

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 13th, 2022


Okay, maybe something of a CIDU-LOL. Google Translate is not as helpful as one would like — I don’t trust “cable castanets” . I do rather trust “box castanets” but why “light box castanets”? That’s not a “light box” as used in graphics arts, anyway. And I think the primary joke is our stand-in character enjoying “vulgar castanets” instead of “common-or-garden castanets”.



Is her expression already reacting to this irritating oversight?

But maybe this one was meant to make up for that?


Saturday Morning OYs – November 12th, 2022

And here’s another Lard for you for this week!

I wanted to say something like “This is not just a pun, but etymologically correct!”. It turns out something like that is justified, but not quite so simple and direct. Both Etymonline and Dictionary.com recognize a verb maze or amaze meaning “to daze, perplex, or stupefy” or “overwhelm or confound with sudden surprise or wonder,” but seem unclear on how it is related to the noun meaning  “labyrinth, baffling network of paths or passages” . But yes, it is related, some way.

Oh gosh, and here’s this entry mazy (adj.) “like a maze, winding, intricate,” 1570s, from maze (n.) + -y (2).! Brings back writing a paper on Book 9 of Paradise Lost, full of narrative about “the mazy serpent”.


The pun is not new, but as an oldie it is a goody!


Truss didn’t make it as prime minister long enough to outlast a head of lettuce, or the lead time for this comic.


Sunday Funnies – LOLs, November 6, 2022

Kilby sends this in, wondering why it was run on September 11, 2022. There are some standard characters (Ahab, Diogenes, Napoleon), among others. I’ve earnestly tried to figure out the two characters in the upper right corner of the 2nd panel, but frankly I don’t get it.

Kilby also notes that November 6th is the 50th anniversary of Frank and Ernest. Their Wikipedia entry has some interesting notes. The strip is distributed in Spanish as Justo y Franco. The strip depends so heavily on wordplay that I wouldn’t think it would translate well.

But by hitting the random button at GoComics, I see many that are understandable in any language.


This Frank and Ernest is a CIDU to me. 8 isn’t straight.

For obsessives who feel you need to see the Carolyn Hax column this accompanied, here is a guest link. For the rest of you, the connection to the cartoon is just that the advice question involves parent/child conflict.


Don’t you want to hear a few more rrrrr’s in that?


Ludwig is such a patient little guy! This semi-LOL is in truth mostly an Awww for the ailurophile crowd. And the White Meat Chicken Florentine from Fancy Feast Medleys in the 3oz can with green label is a standby in the Mitch4 household.


Saturday Morning OYs – November 5th, 2022

Some of these are somewhat CIDU for me, actually. I’m just guessing “Frankenstein’s Castle” is a thing, and “Vampire Bass” draws a blank.


Since we seem to have a subcategory under Oy for “Literalizing an Idiom”, might as well provide it some examples!


When he dons it, is it part of his gay apparel?


Should this strip have appeared on a Throwback Thursday?


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Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween — a good excuse to post some monster-themed cartoons. Here’s a couple that might fit into a Halloween-themed library.



This man isn’t worried that he’s out of candy, because he’s planned ahead.


If there is something left, it might not be the good stuff.

Andréa sent in this ThatABaby, and reminded me of an earlier CIDU discussion of Candy Corn: https://cidu.info/2020/09/07/ot-candy-corn/#comments

One measure of how influential Peanuts was is how familiar the Great Pumpkin is to us all.


First mention of the Great Pumpkin, October 26, 1959. You can follow this arc at https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1959/10/26


Some veggie substitutes work out well. Others …

So, Monty Python’s science was right!


If you’re partying tonight, party responsibly!

Andréa sends in this synchronicity. Cartoonists are always looking for a new angle, but sometimes push it too far.


Finally, like that house at the end of the night that gives out multiple candy bars so they won’t eat them all themselves, there’s this bonanza from John Atkinson — some cartoonists would have spread these out one at a time, and gotten a whole month out of this idea.


Sunday Funnies – LOLs, October 30th, 2022

You knew there had to be one of those! (But I was befuddled looking for it at the wrong side.)

Y’know, I basically hate straight-out Ewwwws. But the way this one exploits the dispensing shape, you just gotta laugh.


A new take on the Law of Identity?


Thanks to Rob for this Tom Falco.

Is it a CIDU for any readers? We’re figuring no, everybody knows the sandwich franchise.