Tag / Mark Anderson

by EditorM

Saturday Morning Oys – December 4th, 2021

Here’s a funny pun from Boise Ed:

The dancer’s foot-across move in the last panel seems like just the right punctuation to signal a punch line, much like a rim shot. (Have there been tap-dancing stand-up-comedy acts?)

Picked this one up from Arnold Zwicky’s blog, where there is a full description and analysis.

And I just was watching Beanie Feldstein.

by EditorM

More Minor Mysteries, Ooopses, and Not-Quite-Rights

This Wrong Hands is almost a good Oy, playing on “usher” being both a family name and a role in a wedding. But do we make sense of the different kinds of dwelling the two people have?

This Pardon My Planet is not really wrong. But it’s not right, either.

(Not repeating in full the discussion from before on the issues of whether and how to use Far Side comics, but as before this will be not copied nor embedded but just linked.)

Sent in by Max C. Webster, III, who says “I assume Old Jake is the dog, and the familiar sight is his boy, but as for the joke . . . huh?”

This one from Ken Berkun.. The zombie could have said something about “Brains!” and the scarecrow may connect to the Oz Scarecrow who felt the lack of brains. But do those line up right for a “I hear that”?

Wait up, I’m still stuck on “I hear that”. Does that somewhat less common expression offer any advantages (besides maybe shortness) over the more modern / natural sounding “Now you’re talking!” or “You said it!”?

Crankshaft often uses a pun or attempted pun as the punch. Can it be that “processing” is meant to work that way here?

I guess this is meant as a critique of how some people think of the process of teaching and learning?

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies and Minor Mysteries – LOLs and Semi-CIDUs, October 10th, 2021

Eats, shoots, and leaves.

Minor Mysteries

These are comics that somebody thought were pretty good, or even full LOL, and not baffling but a little hard to pin down. Like, you can think of a rather plausible explanation of the chuckle — or maybe two! — but there’s nothing that clinches the case that *this* or *that* just has to be the key to what’s going on.

For example, with something like this Andertoons, we might think of the minor mystery as expressed in terms of providing the missing caption. Is it about the odd feeling you’re being watched? Or more like “Oh, where did I set down my glasses?”. It could be either, do you agree?

A Minor Mystery from Darren, who says “I can’t tell if Watson’s jarns need to be interpreted as a specific term.  I’m flummoxed.  Apparently the squirrel is as well?”

Okay, the joke here is that the threatened punishment will involve a cannister vacuum cleaner (in what seems to be a photo clip?) rather than a conventional physical beating or the like. But it’s an unanswerable mystery just what the threat is. Torture by exposure to noisy motor, like a household pet? Being inhaled altogether? Having some portion of his body inhaled?

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, September 26th, 2021 

This Bliss is something of an LOL-Eww.

Sent in as a LOL or semi CIDU-LOL by Chak, who asks “And do we think the bowling bag is important here?”

How annoying, to be mis-speciesed!

by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, September 19th, 2021

Ah, so young to be falling into the essence of Meta!

Cul de Sac
Mannequin on the Moon

And thanks to Shamie F who sent it in and says: “I think it has something to do with a flying cup looking for a flying saucer. If that’s the whole point then OY!  I’m thinking I must be missing something though.” We think the default tag here would be LOL moreso than OY (a flying saucer is called that just because of resemblance to an ordinary saucer), but how does the gang weigh in on the “is that all there is?” factor?

Adult Children
Tomversations

Here’s one from BillR:

Sp;eedbump
Andertoons

Very smart to use Peter’s name – the others are more easily identifiable.

But on the griping side of things, the wolf I think did not emerge a winner from any of their encounters. Maybe it depends on versions of the stories.

Thanks to Michelle for this LOL bit of pained irony:

Batch Rejections
And a LOL from Michelle:
In the Bleachers
Reply-all
by EditorM

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, August 22nd, 2021

(This was actually part of a linked series, but seeing the preceding strips wouldn’t make much difference, apart from explaining what might otherwise be a mysterious detail — she was hit in the head by a flying baseball, and is holding an ice bag to it for pain relief.)

And a second shot for Pardon My Planet. This one is a LOL-CIDU. It did take a couple minutes before we got it – but not hard enough to justify making it a separate CIDU post. Also (I confess) it shows the perils of holding on to a negative attitude about some comic strip — one reason I didn’t get it at first was dismissing some meaningful details as merely haphazard artwork.

LOL-synchro from an unlikely pair!

And a last minute Sunday Bizarro LOL.