Saturday, March 09, 2024

Absurd is the Word

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

Oh, tell me what could be
Holier than absurdity
Neil Innes

Neil Innes (1944-2019) was recognized here in the States (if at all) for his collaboration with the Monty Python troupe, or for being a member of The Rutles, an alternate universe parody of The Beatles. In addition to playing Ron Nasty, the John Lennon surrogate, he wrote all of the Rutles' music, which sounded Beatlesque without copying their songs.

In Britain, he was beloved as a member of the wonderfully absurd Bonzo Dog Band, where he served as co-leader with the quintessential English eccentric Vivian Stanshall (1943-1995). Side note: any article about Stanshall must refer to him as a "quintessential English eccentric."

I first encountered the band during high school, when I bought the double LP History of the Bonzos, which I'd been looking at and wondering about during frequent visits to a downtown Pittsburgh record store. I unwrapped it and pored over the booklet inside the record's gatefold sleeve on the bus ride home. After listening to it several times, I became a lifelong fan, collecting every LP and 45 I could find.

Innes released his first solo album, How Sweet to Be an Idiot, in 1973. I listen to How Sweet more often than any of the Bonzos' records, as much as I love them. The couplet quoted at the top of this entry comes from his song "Immortal Invisible." I interpret the lyric's meaning as stressing the importance of having a sense of absurdity rather than exhibiting absurdity, which can be positive or negative. 

Recognizing the absurd, especially in oneself, is a rare gift. Innes had that gift and he used it to celebrate human behavior at its best and call it out at its worst. His work remains rewarding and continues to reveal truths in a humorous, deeply human way.

I listened to How Sweet to Be an Idiot while drawing this week, and it sounded sweeter than ever, providing a respite from the horrific absurdity so frequently displayed by human beings.


Today's pipe pic is an antique postcard showing a rock formation on a mountainside near Napa California.


According to the Napa Valley Historical Society, someone added the metal pipe in 1911. A sharp-eyed Bizarro reader named Nancy found and reported the image to Bizarro Studios. We tip our hats to Nancy for her contribution to the blog. 


We hope the latest Bizarro cartoons added a bit of positive absurdity to your world.



We finally figured out what that word means.


Every profession has its hazards.


Wednesday's panel was a rare one containing no Secret Symbols. I'd placed one or two in different locations but couldn't come up with an arrangement that didn't interfere with the joke.


This gag is more than a little late. The organization I allude to implemented this strategy more than forty years ago. Nowadays their fascist ambitions are at center stage. In retrospect, it's my least favorite gag of the week, and it generated some hateful and wrongheaded comments.


Fortunately, I had a cartoon I'm quite happy with for Friday's slot; one of those delayed-reaction jokes.


We opened and closed the week with bits of wordplay, so at least this batch had some symmetry.


In this early sketch, I notice that the character on the left resembles Pee-Wee Herman. That was unintentional, but seeing it brought a smile to your cartoonist's face.

That's the latest from the Little Shop of Humor in Hollywood Gardens, PA. I hope you enjoyed my words and pictures. More of this sort of thing will await you in seven days.


Bonus Track

Neil Innes: "Immortal Invisible"
From The Innes Book of Records
BBC2 Television, 1979


Six years after the song's initial release, Innes made a video for it.

Bizarro Bonanza



  

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4 comments:

  1. Vere Nekoninda4:18 PM

    I love the joke with Jalapeno/Jalapeño! And since it appeared on International Women's Day, I'm going to assume that the Chief Chef is calling his mother.

    The O2 Secret Symbol is fun in the gnome cartoon, using the center of the flower for the 'O'. I'm sorry that Edison missed out on a secret symbol. Although it would have been small, I can imagine an 'O2' as part of the spiral filament in the light bulb.

    Thanks for all the fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wayno8:42 AM

      Thanks for your kind words. I love hearing that people enjoy the symbols almost as much as the gags themselves!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous1:38 AM

    Ah, Wayno. I think that I have found the song that I want, joyfully, yo be played at and funeral/memorial service that my survivors might conduct: Neil Innes’ “Immortal Invisible.” Such majesty. 🩷

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wayno9:25 AM

      An excellent choice, but I hope it's not required in that context for a very long time!

      Delete

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