Words at Play

This is the weekly 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 created Bizarro in the late twentieth century and continues to do the Sunday comic from Rancho Bizarro in Mexico.

Wayno

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A pun is the lowest form of humor—when you don't think of it first.
Oscar Levant

Our opening quotation is a rerun, but it's apropos, as will become evident a bit later in the post.

In the coming weeks, my workspace will be in the middle of a construction site, when our 75-year-old house gets a long overdue bathroom update. The first few days will be loud and dusty, and we'll have plastic barriers up to contain the demolition debris. I'll also assess the effectiveness of a pair of noise-canceling headphones.

I'll do my best to keep up with weekly posts and the newsletter, but given the anticipated disruptions, the next few offerings may be briefer than usual. Wish me luck. 

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I was pleased to find a photo of the dashing young Eric Idle with a pipe (and an ascot!)

A shot from the same session appeared in a 1965 edition of Footlights Review.

In the past, I've shared pipe pics of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. I have a John Cleese example in my files but haven't yet located a photo of Terry Gilliam with a pipe. If you find one, please send it my way. 

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Recently, in an unusually productive writing session, I created enough gags for two weeks. When deciding on how to sequence them, I realized that half used punning captions, or pun-adjacent wordplay. Normally, if I have multiple puns within a week, I separate them by a couple of days, but with six on my hands, I decided to embrace the pun and place them all in a single week. Let's call it an homage to Dan Piraro's old Sunday Punnies pages.

I'm fond of sneaky captions like this one. My hope was that the reader's default mode network would initially interpret it as the familiar phrase annual percentage rate and that a second look would reveal the alteration.

When a gag has a word balloon and a caption box, I usually have to place them both on the right-hand side of the image to allow room for the art. Sometimes that means that the staging has to be flipped horizontally.

Tuesday's panel featured characters from children's literature. Pippi is flanked by Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline & Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's Eloise.

The widescreen version also included Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

Sharp-eyed readers noticed that the cartoonist undercounted Secret Symbols in this Egyptian-themed gag. The hieroglyphs in the background actually include ten Bizarro symbols.

Poe isn't just a literary giant; he's also fun to draw.

The important elements of the Poe gag formed an elongated "L" shape, which allowed the word balloon to be placed near the center of the strip. To avoid crowding the text, I'll occasionally make the balloon larger and tuck it behind part of the art.

My favorite gag of the batch appeared on Friday.

Our seafaring existentialist is tormented by two more shipmates in the strip configuration.

He's chilling but not shilling.

That's it from Bizarro Studios North for another week. Drop by again any time. And look for a photo of Terry Gilliam smoking a pipe.

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Bonus Track

Bobby Charles: "Save Me Jesus"
From the LP Bobby Charles
(Bearsville Records, 1972)

Earlier this week, our favorite local music venue had a pre-opening party after a multi-year expansion and upgrade. Many local musicians took turns performing to celebrate the long-awaited reopening.

The evening opened with a couple of tunes from Shane McLaughlin and Bryce Rabideau of the band Buffalo Rose. One of the songs they did was "I Must Be In a Good Place Now," written and originally recorded by Bobby Charles.

Charles is an important figure in the history of Louisiana music. He was active from the 195gh to the 1990s, with his self-titled 1972 album being a high point.

Light in the Attic Records reissued the LP in 2014. Their website includes this informative discussion of Bobby Charles and Bobby Charles:

Bobby Charles pioneered the musical genre known as swamp rock – he wrote the early rock n roll classic "See You Later, Alligator" (best known via the version by Bill Haley & the Comets). Another early gem penned by Bobby Charles was "Walking to New Orleans" as recorded by Fats Domino. He also appeared at the legendary "Last Waltz" concert in 1976 – in which he performed "Down South in New Orleans" accompanied by The Band and Dr. John.

 

But the main reason that musicians like Andy Cabic of Vetiver sing his praises (and cover his songs) is for Bobby’s 1972 self-titled album released on Bearsville. Despite numerous CD reissues through the years, this is the first time in decades that the seminal album has appeared in its original vinyl LP format.

 

A virtual who's who of classic roots rock, the album features ten Bobby Charles classics supported by the likes of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel of The Band, long-time Neil Young sidekick Ben Keith, Bob Dylan’s former running mate Bob Neuwirth, session maverick Amos Garrett, the esteemed Dr. John, Geoff Muldaur, and several others.

 

But this is far from an all-star jam session – this is an ensemble record in the truest sense of the word – with each musician simply supporting the Louisiana vibe that flows thru the 10-song collection of country, blues, R&B, and folk that all have that distinctive Bobby Charles signature sound. The album also includes the slow burner "Street People" as featured on Country Funk 1969-1975, Volume 1.

Perhaps Dr. John said it best: "I think all of Bobby’s songs have something to offer at all times, for all people."

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Supplemental Bizarro Stuff

 Wayno's Weekly Bizarro Newsletter

 Dan Piraro's Weekly Bizarro Blog

Dan "Diego" Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel

 

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