
This Comic Doth Confuse Too Much

Almost a pun failure, as it is arguable the joke of her equivocation is already well-cemented in panel 3 and then the clues in panel 4 are just a waste. But probably it is also arguable that many a reader would miss the gag in panel 3 and there is a definite need for panel 4 …
And this dampens my hope of someday understanding what “fugue state” is or is not related to.
Yes, it’s the same David Mamet better known as a playwright.
And it does match! But … but … just when did she think that?
This is a semi-cidu: you just have to know the title this is a sequel to.
And nobody had to spell “sommelier”!
We thank Andréa for sending this in. She says “I think it was the surprise ending that got to me.”
Aaron shared this Tom Falco (via the Suggest-a-CIDU form) , noting that it belongs with the coordinated event of over 100 cartoonists making some sort of Peanuts allusion as a tribute for Charles Schulz’s 100th birthday.
The CIDU editorial team noticed one or two of these on the day, and thought of posting a few in a bonus collection-type post; but frankly, didn’t get around to it. Aaron sending this one in reminded us, and it looked like a good idea to post this and one or two others that seemed appealing.
And we invite further of these from readers, in comments to this thread.
[For those who might prefer their Schulz-tributes wholesale, Kevin A in a comment last Thursday reminds us of the tribute event and notes “[…] the Charles M. Schulz Museum page, where all of them appear. ..or DO they? :~) . NOTE: the strips are linked; once you click into one, you can navigate forward and backward through all the strips. (6 x 17 = 102 tribute strips) https://schulzmuseum.org/tribute/ I REPEAT, the strips are linked; once you click into one, you can navigate forward and backward through all the strips. (6 x 17 = 102 tribute strips)”. ]
This excellent Bizarro by Wayno received special mention in several quarters. His comics partner, and founder of Bizarro, Dan Piraro, discussed it and added his own note on Schulz, at his weekly Bizarro blog. Retired linguistics professor and noted comics-explainer Arnold Zwicky made this panel the center of a blog post, where he calls it “A monumental puzzle in cartoon understanding” — but initially makes it a puzzle by omitting the tribute line along the bottom of the panel.
This Bliss appeared on 03 December, a week late for the Schulz anniversary, if that was the intention. So we are looking for a Gorey-related news prompt for this. Not that Gorey isn’t always worth thinking of!
Any others you found particularly interesting or funny or touching? Please drop into the comments thread!
From Andréa, who points out for the synchronicity inspectors that although the Knight Life is a rerun or classic, its appearance on GoComics was 2022/11/08, same as the Candorville. The Candorville is a pretty good LOL at the end, too, despite edging up kinda near to partisan politics.
(Post-posting edit: As noted in comments, the following was the intended Knight Life, which actually uses the phrase “I can’t believe”.)
And for some additional fun on the “Can’t believe it” topic, Andréa also sends a link for this scene from The Vicar of Dibley. Impressive memory and facility from Emma Chambers, playing Alice.
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?”
I did figure this one out, but it took me a while. The problem for me is that the faces of the two at the table sent me in a different direction. The dialogue balloon being placed next to the person who isn’t speaking didn’t help.
Why indeed? A friend and sometime-lurker sent me this, suggesting it for CIDU, and I have to agree. Maybe there’s something about philately?
Mitch suggests that there may be a joke in the way the therapist is probing for something the guy is leaving out–perhaps his hairpiece is also something he thinks the wife criticizes too much. He also asked: Why does the diploma alternate between an MA and a PhD? What is the significance of the therapist doodling instead of making notes?
This Mother Goose and Grimm is analyzed at Arnold Zwicky’s blog.
I also posted this F-Minus, with remarks, in a comment on that same Zwicky blog entry.
Several selections contributed by Andréa coming up:
“I KNEW IMMEDIATELY WHO THIS WAS, EVEN BEFORE READING THE CAPTION . . . DOES THAT MAKE ME A GEEZER??”
Synchronicity–
This Bizarro from Andréa is also taken up under the Arnold Zwicky analytical microscope. I like his term “a Desert Crawl cartoon” for the main trope here.
“SYNCHRONICITY – ABOUT *NOT* LEARNING A LESSON . . .”
And one final OY contribution:
My attempt to look up whether the first two panels have the accurate tartans for those clans was hampered by starting from a position of zero knowledge, and by what turned out to be a huge set of variants for any name. However, most samples of Sinclair Modern seem to have a lot more red than in the comic. Shrug. Anyway, the pun is in panel 3, and is pretty good.
It’s not uncommon for these two guys to end a conversation with that mutual exchange of “What?”. And actually I’m generally quite content with that and wouldn’t demand more punchline delivery.
When I first heard about a State of the Union speech I figured it must be to announce an award, and wondered if Florida had a chance.
… but I couldn’t say what the joke is in a narrow sense, nor if there are correspondences to a specific target. The credits for The Oldersons do a cute quick job of telling the story of how legacy strips get managed.