The servers at the Subpoena Cafe have extra skills.
Mitch4 sends this in: “I’m calling it LOL only because the question I have does not rise fully to CIDU, nor is it a 4th-Wall thing under any narrow definition.
It’s just this: Does she pronounce it as “chitterlings” or treat that as a fancy spelling for spoken “chitlins”?”
Chemgal sends this in: “I feel like I’m going to “get” this Barney and Clyde, but at the moment I don’t. I do get that Grandpa is misunderstanding which “hit” is intended, but is that the whole joke? If so, I guess I should be submitting this as an “OY!” rather than as a CIDU.”
Seems obscure enough for a CIDU.
Usual John sends this in:
JMcAndrew sends this in: “I believe the object on the left is an old style computer. I’ve spent longer than I care to admit contemplating the mechanics of how this “affair” might happen.”
This might be filed under “jokes that don’t work well anymore”. At the time this was done (1987), this would be hard. Now, linking computers to TVs is ubiquitous in several ways, most obviously via HDMI, which dates from the early 2000s. There’s some history of HDMI here: https://blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/sordid-history-hdmi-revised-updated/
Parenting isn’t quite what it used to be, either (or, as JMcAndrew suggested, this deserves an Arlo tag).
And: would Alice’s condition be covered by United Healthcare?
Tony sends this one in, which began as a CIDU: “as I was writing this realized that the punchline was about a nose job. It didn’t even notice the change at first. I guess not having a nose must be pretty miserable, but I couldn’t even tell that sphinx was supposed to be a living creature.”
Jack Applin sends in this New Year’s CIDU. “A tepid comic, not much more than “Huh”/“You know it”. Two things: Is 2024’s beard talking? Point that speech bubble toward his mouth!
Also, was I the only person to stumble over “ ’nough said”? I blame Stan Lee for making me so used to “ ’nuff said” so that I didn’t recognize the standard spelling. See https://cbr.com/marvel-comics-stan-lee-fantastic-four-nuff-said/ for a history of that.”
And a big Happy New Year wish for all of us. Here’s a classic Nancy.
Boise Ed suggested this venerable “For Better or for Worse” strip (from 1993), commenting: “This one really warmed the cockles of my heart (and I have no idea where that idiom came from).“
…
P.S. Ed didn’t give it a category, he called it “just sweet“, so I’ve added an “Awww” tag.
The New York Times has a Flashback quiz, which asks you to place 8 historical events in chronological order. The New Yorker has now started Laugh Lines, in which you are asked to put some New Yorker cartoons in chronological order. Here’s one:
https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/laugh-lines/no-2
I haven’t tested to what extent these are available to non-subscribers. The cartoon version would seem impossible, but there’s usually a clue to some event (e.g. the word “Obama”).
This one popped up at the end when I finished:
And now a few more Christmas LOL’s / Awws:
Danny Boy send this cutie in: “The pets’ fondness for a “little pink sock” is a running trope. But then the pairing of sock/stocking is I guess “the joke””
And a few holiday entries:
Jack Applin submitted this “Edison Lee” last year as a CIDU, but Comics Kingdom refused to produce it, until I remembered to change the URL from the old “.net” to the new “.com” address. Ooops.
…
Jack commented: “Sure, the Rankin/Bass special. But what’s this about a finger in a nose? It wouldn’t BE in the special, if he were edited out.”
The humor is mostly just slapstick, but “nose” is probably a reference to the line in “The Night Before Christmas” (and the elf just messed up while “…laying his finger aside of his nose“).
Speechless Santa. Fill in your own dialogue. (GoComics posting error on 12/15. It’s clearly a GoComics error, because Arcamax shows the dialogue. GoComics corrected the error a day later.) It’s oddly meta, because panel 3 in the actual dialogue accuses Santa of not keeping up with the latest technology.
Steve B. sends this in. “Thought this was clever. Not sure everyone will get this if they don’t pay attention to the news.”
Mark H. send this in, noting “It took me a while”.
Comics I Don't Understand 