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
What you're trying to do as a creative person is surprise yourself.
Ray Bradbury
In a 1974 interview, Bradbury perfectly expressed my approach to puns and wordplay.
Puns are often referred to as the lowest form of humor, and they certainly can be when they're painfully obvious or overdone, but if they're surprising and presented in an unexpected way, they can work as well as any other basis for a gag. A pun also needs a strong setup and possibly a second layer of meaning to make a satisfying cartoon. (I solemnly promise never to do a gag based on the homonyms "hair" and "hare.")
There are a couple of punning captions in this batch of gags.I hope they surprise you and make you laugh.
Let us recall the words of Oscar Levant:
A pun is the lowest form of humor—when you don't think of it first.
Today's pipe pic is a screen capture from a 1965 British Pathé newsreel.
In the image, we see a technician working at the transmitter for Radio Caroline, one of the UK's "pirate radio stations." Bizarro reader Petri V., found this and offered this historical context:
The BBC held a monopoly of the airwaves at the time, and the only way kids could get their modern music fix, would be to listen to a broadcast that was transmitted from international waters. One such station was Radio Caroline.
Thanks to Petri for bringing this to our attention. I had heard of Radio Caroline, but didn't know much about when they started, and just found out that they're still broadcasting.
We're still at it, too. Here are the latest Bizarro gags, which we hope contain some surprises.
If you thought their shows were interminably long before, imagine if they had an army of clones to continue jamming.
A reader contacted us about the caption, mentioning that since Jerry Garcia was a male, the caption should read "Muchos Garcias," and as written, it refers to many females named Garcia.
I had considered that when I wrote the gag, but thought that changing the caption sounded weird and ruined the pun on "muchas gracias."
We took a small liberty with language for the gag's sake, and I understand the reader's point, but stand by the panel as it is.
It would have been more horrific if they'd been drizzled with flavored syrup.
Here's our second genetic wordplay gag of the week, without gender-based language mucking things up.
Apartment living can be contentious.
The musician on the left went by the stage name "500 500 Ramone."
I wonder where the Loafers and Pickles are based.
The team names are shortened from the Lost Loafer Secret Symbol and Jazz Pickles, our nickname for Bizarro's community of readers.
That's the latest output from Bizarro Studios North in scenic Hollywood Gardens PA. Thanks for stopping by.
Please come by next week for more of this kind of material.
Oh, and happy Fathers' Day to all of you who are parents, whether your kids are human or otherwise.
Bonus Track
Dee Dee King: "The Crusher"
from Standing in the Spotlight
Sire Records, 1989
Dee Dee Ramone adopted another stage name for his 1989 solo rap album. It immediately acquired a reputation for being terrible. I don't recall hearing it before, but this song isn't all that bad.
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Many thanks!
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Dan "Diego" Piraro's Peyote Cowboy Graphic Novel
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Haaa. ALL of the above elicited 🐎-laughs!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dena!
DeleteI'm a fan of puns. As you said, people like to criticize them, but that's just part of the game. Puns are the only kind of joke that people are able to create spontaneously, and fairly often, in the midst of conversation. That's worth celebrating.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Vere. Thank you for that comment.
DeleteThe Grand Duchy of pirate radio, Radio Luxembourg. Our preferred station to the BBC 1-4. We thought we were so cool. Thanks for the memory I'd shelved.
ReplyDeleteYou WERE cool!
DeleteOur household always looks forward to your Saturday cartoons and missives! Gratitude from Yakima, WA. Jennifer
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer! Glad to be a part of your weekends.
DeleteRegarding puns, I hare you loud and clare
ReplyDeleteHa! Well done.
DeleteThere's a fun movie about pirate radio called "The Boat That Rocked." Been around for a while but it's worth looking up.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad spawned a whole new generation of punsters. When someone groaned about a pun, we always said, ‘just remember, two-thirds of a pun is P-U !’
ReplyDeleteOuch!
DeleteIs the snowperson wearing a bowl or a cone so they don't lick themselves?
ReplyDeleteTheir costume is a sno-cone.
DeleteI absolutely love your weekly epistles, but that cartoon from "Rhymes With Orange" is a definite classic! What kind of response did it elicit!!??
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think the Dead of Winter gag was well-received.
DeleteMy first pun spewed from my mouth at the tender age of eight when my older sister objected eating the meat on her plate as it was surrounded by goo. I said
ReplyDelete“I, ‘aspect you to eat your aspic!” I will never forget my dad clapping his hands together and then pointing at me. It was all downhill from there.
An auspicious beginning!
DeleteAnother great batch this week! The torn knee in the punk rocker's toga literally made me lol!!
ReplyDeleteKathy in Northern California
Kathy, thanks for noticing that detail :)
DeleteOn the Jerry gag; since the person doing all the work seems to be a female scientist, "muchas gracias" also works anyway. And since now it's a mega meta gag it's even more hilarious! 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI love pins and am convinced that there is no such thing as a bad pun. However, people say they are "dad jokes." Well, MY dad couldn't pun to save himself and rarely told a joke to me or in my presence. Take that, pun-dissers!
ReplyDelete