Gag Me With a Spoon

This is the regular dispatch from Bizarro Studios North, where I have been writing and drawing the Monday through Saturday Bizarro comics since 2018. My partner and friend, Dan Piraro, who created Bizarro in the late twentieth century, continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

Wayno

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Although summer officially ends in about three weeks, the Labor Day weekend is when many people feel it's coming to an end. Kids are headed back to school (or have already started), and there's a whiff of autumn in the air.

Since many of you are probably firing up the barbecue and getting in some last-minute celebrating (or work), I'll keep this week's post brief, or at least do my best to stay on topic.

Today's oddball pipe pic was sent by longtime Jazz Pickle and good friend Jeff B. 

We're unable to confirm details, but it's purported to be a 1950s era photo of a beekeeper who was such a nicotine fiend, he smoked on the job. Not only does his protective netting have an opening for a pipe stem, but he also wore a jaunty tweed flat cap.

Thanks to Jeff, whom I have personally seen sporting some impressive headgear himself.

Now, as is our tradition, we review the week in Bizarro.

I showed an early sketch of Monday's gag to my friend and bandmate Tom Roberts to see if he had any suggestions. Tom is a piano player, composer, whistler, singer, historian, archivist, doggy-dad, and so much more. I figured he'd have something to add, and was right.

I wasn't sure if the gag should refer to Mozart, Bach, or someone else. After some discussion and pondering, Tom told me that "Mozart's stuff was already complex as a little kid, so go with Bach." 

I modeled the character in this one on a real person, and got some interesting wild guesses, including Dodo Marmarosa (who was a Pittsburgh-born piano player), and Mehmet Oz (who falsely claims to be a Pennsylvanian).

The drawing is meant to be a caricature of Glenn Gould (1932-1982), a Canadian classical pianist, known for his outstanding performances and recordings of Bach compositions.

His most famous album is probably his 1955 release of Bach's Goldberg Variations, a cycle of 30 compositions. Gould recorded them again in 1981.

My knowledge of classical music is laughably inadequate, but I know what I like, and Gould is a favorite here at the cartoon studio.

I recently ran across a reference to distraction therapy, which is a technique for helping patients manage pain, anxiety, or nausea, or to kick unwanted habits, such as smoking. For the comic, we took that idea to an extreme.

This strip is formatted vertically, because I wanted to show the entire image of the person juggling while riding a unicycle.

The art needed more tweaking than usual, but I was happy with the result.

Quite a few people found this one to be nauseating. If it's any consolation, I almost barfed while drawing the "kiddie pool" portion.

Once again, I tip my fedora to J.C. Duffy, creator of The Fusco Brothers, and king of fly in the soup comics.

Thursday's panel features the world's most efficient carny booth.

 

I'm embarrassed to admit that it's been over a month since my last clown gag.

Literally.

That's the type of humor we foisted on an unsuspecting public this week. Check in next time for robots, insects, the Big Bad Wolf, a kid with a report card (already?), and talking inanimate objects.

Don't forget to visit these fine resources, which I've described too many times in the past:

Dan Piraro's Bizarro Blog

Wayno's Bizarro Newsletter

Diego Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel

Thanks for the attention of your eyeballs and brain. Your readership and support are the reasons we do whatever it is we're doing here.

Bonus Track

Jonathan Richman: "That Summer Feeling"
from Jonathan Sings (Sire Records, 1983)

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