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
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true—hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it. Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury knew what he was talking about. Practicing something you love, doing it repeatedly, and learning from the inevitable mistakes is rewarding. And sometimes, with perseverance and luck, other people who do your thing may tell you you're doing an okay job. When your work is recognized by peers, it's truly gratifying.
I experienced that feeling the other day when I learned that I'm a finalist for the National Cartoonists Society's Silver Reuben Award in the Best Newspaper Panel division for Bizarro comics published in 2024.
My fellow nominees are the excellent cartoonists Dave Blazek (Loose Parts) and Bill Whitehead (Free Range). Dave is also up for THE Reuben, the NCS Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, so I'm in excellent company with Dave and Bill.
The awards will be presented at the annual NCS meeting in August, but being included among the nominees is an honor in itself.
This week's pipe pic is a profile shot of actor Adrian Brody.
When watching the SAG Awards in January, Bizarro buddy Frank V. captured this image from his TV screen.
A tip of the old porkpie to Frank for grabbing the shot and sending it our way.
Let me know if I should hold onto any of these gags for next year's awards submissions.
Monday's panel exhibits a few layers of reflexivity.
Does sylvan defecation count?
On Wednesday, I cast three inanimate objects as characters in a gag.
I mistakenly thought it would be an easy conversion for the strip and planned to swap the percolator and teapot, placing the word balloon on the left end of the layout. However, when I tried it, the top half of the percolator was out of frame. The gag doesn't work if the glass knob on top isn't visible.
I had to devise an unconventional layout to fit all three characters and the word balloon.
Oh, hell, not again.
Regular blog readers know that I reserve the Friday slot for my favorite panel of the week and that I love coming up with a wordless gag. Creating an image that immediately follows or precedes something happening is also satisfying. A drawing of Ronald McDonald being beaten with an iron skillet wouldn't be funny, even to people who dislike clowns. But when we know it's about to happen, we find that amusing. The human brain is fascinating and weird.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is actually a thing.
That's another week of Bizarro in the books. We'll return next Saturday with a fresh batch of words and pictures for you.
Also, happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, whether your children are human, canine, feline, or any other variety.
Bonus Track
Hoagy Carmichael: "Baltimore Oriole"
from Hoagy Sings Carmichael Pacific Jazz Records, 1957
At Bizarro Studios North, we're fans of the great American songwriter Hoagy Carmichael.
Loads of Bizarro Loot
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, we encourage you to explore the following links.
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 a week we've had here. I was out of the studio on Monday to take care of springtime outdoor chores, figuring I'd put in a couple extra hours in the following days to make up for it. Atmospheric conditions had other ideas.
On Tuesday afternoon, we were slammed by a violent storm that stretched from Texas to New York. We knew it was coming and spent the early part of the day preparing. When it hit, it hit hard. We could see flashes from nearby electrical transformers as they overloaded and failed, and many large trees fell across roads, in neighbors' yards, or on top of vehicles and homes. Energized wires were lying on the ground or in fallen trees, creating potentially fatal hazards.
Outside of cleaning up storm debris and possibly having to replace a kitchen appliance, we were merely inconvenienced and reminded how we take on-demand electric power for granted. I lost a few days' work and am still trying to catch up.
This intro is a rather lengthy way of saying I'll keep today's post briefer than usual to devote my time to making new cartoons for you.
Of course, we must begin with a pipe pic.
Late last year, Bill Morrison, a brilliant cartoonist known for his work on The Simpsons and Futurama, shared this vintage ad for Textron pajamas. It features an illustration by Frederick "Fritz" Siebel, which is odd and strangely joyful. Two 1950s suburban dad types are at play in a cloudy holiday skyscape. One smokes a pipe while riding a huge log pulled by his pal.
I wasn't familiar with Siebel's name, but it's a safe bet we've all seen at least one example of his work. In 1957, he created the Mr. Clean character, who endures into the twenty-first century.
For more information on Siebel and examples of his varied work, check out Leif Peng's blog, Today's Inspiration, and Henry Giardina's appreciation of INTOmore.
Thanks to my friend and colleague Bill for introducing me to Siebel's art.
Fritz is a difficult act to follow, but we'll soldier on with the most recent Bizarro cartoons.
You have to admire this fellow's dedication to craft.
Thoughtful support from a partner can sometimes ease a difficult work situation. Other times, less so.
The US Navy chose the right person to promote to CPO.
Pity the vertical humorist whose life is conflict-free.
Your cartoonist enjoyed adding mistakes (or "hallucinations") to the drawing.
Can you spot the tiny change required for the strip layout?
We wrapped up the week with a balletic pun.
The strip layout made for a more dramatic composition.
That's another half-dozen Bizarro gags in the archives. Come back next week to check in on disaster recovery efforts in the area.
Bonus Track
Dr. John: "Blow Wind Blow"
from Dr. John's Gumbo Atlantic Records, 1972
It's never a bad time to listen to the good doctor, especially when he's covering a Huey 'Piano' Smith tune.
A Heap of Bizarro Hooey
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, we encourage you to explore the following links.
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
Happy Saturday from the Little Shop of Humor in Hollywood Gardens, PA. It's been a busy and tiring week here, so I'm skipping a lengthy intro this time around. Even so, we won't proceed without sharing a pipe-smoking personality.
Today's model is Ira Gershwin, who famously wrote lyrics for his brother George's musical compositions. The photo appeared in the New York Times Book Review last December, accompanying a review of a recent biography.
In the past, it was common for writers, scientists, actors, and academics to appear in posed photographs smoking or holding pipes. Maybe a pipe was seen as more refined than a cigarette, or perhaps it was meant to make the subject look thoughtful and engaged.
In any case, we're happy that so many examples exist.
Now, let's check out the week in Bizarro. Feel free to count the pipes, though they're rather sparse this week.
The tagline for this furniture is "Proximity Plus Privacy."
Tuesday's panel caused some head-scratching among readers. The caption came first, a play on "dial-up modem" for those who remember such relics. While trying to imagine a suitably surreal image for the caption, I remembered that Salvador Dalí had already created one in 1936, calling it the Aphrodisiac Telephone.
The assemblage was made from a standard 1930s phone with a plaster lobster mounted on the handset. The cartoon illustration deleted the handset and placed the lobster directly on top of the modem.
For the strip version, the two devices were repositioned slightly. In a break from tradition, the caption box is placed in the upper left corner, allowing space for the phone cord and the eyeball.
In Spelling Bee World, anger is tempered with restraint.
Choose your superhero name with care. Otherwise, you might end up with apostrophe syndrome.
We took some liberties with the design of Stonehenge.
The strip version offers a different perspective of the monument and uncharacteristically places the word balloon at the bottom of the layout.
The mystery endures.
Thanks for reading and supporting Bizarro. We'll be back in a week with more comics and commentary.
Bonus Track
Todd Rundgren: "Just Another Onionhead / Da Da Dali"
from A Wizard, A True Star Bearsville Records, 1973
Todd Rundgren refers to Salvador Dalí and the lobster telephone in the second part of this two-song medley from his hallucinogenic masterpiece A Wizard, A True Star.
This was the first album Rundgren released under his own name after two solo LPs credited to Runt.
A Bunch of Bizarro
Baloney
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free, we encourage you to explore the following links.
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
I sincerely think that humor will help save humanity from the swamp into which it is sinking. Today we can’t afford to be pessimistic, so let’s try to keep a sense of humor bolted on to our hearts, soul, and spirit!
Jean-Jacques Perrey (1929-2016)
Jean-Jacques Perrey was a composer, performer, and producer specializing in electronic pop music. With his partner Gershon Kingsley, he was among the first performers to release commercial recordings featuring the Moog synthesizer.
Earlier this week, my friend Dana Countryman, who edited and published Cool & Strange Music! magazine from 1996 through 2003, sent me a 1998 photo of JJP wearing a t-shirt I designed for the magazine.
The design includes caricatures of many of the artists profiled in the magazine. The very bottom is out of frame, but the faces are mostly visible. Clockwise from top left, they are Art Ferrante, Bettie Page, Monsieur Perrey, Lou Teicher (Ferrante's musical partner), Yma Sumac, Tiny Tim, Mrs. Miller, Christian puppet Little Marcy, Dean Martin, and Dolores Erickson (the model who appeared on Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream album.
All twenty-eight issues of Cool & Strange Music! have been collected in a set of four books. They're packed with interviews, profiles, reviews, and photos, and I highly recommend them.
The good will Perrey expressed in the quote at the top of this post was evident in his music, and the sentiment remains relevant today.
Today's pipe picture appeared on the Book of Farce last December in a post by Bizarro reader John Z.
John commented:
I'm watching a Kirk Douglas/Lana Turner picture called "The Bad
and The Beautiful"...there's a shot of Dick Powell in front of a
bookstore window, his character looking at his own books on display.
Powell certainly looks happy with the window display, and we're pleased to credit John Z. for the screen capture.
Let's see if we managed to bolt some humor onto the latest Bizarro gags.
The term "planned obsolescence" might easily be replaced with "scheduled mortality."
We all know people who take idiomatic expressions litter-ally.
Next season's hot designs will include mustard in yellow or brown.
Sasquatch embodies the familiar phrase "too big to file."
If it's an emergency, rap on the tabletop three times.
The patient's advance directive included a Do Not Scramble order.
Thanks for reading and supporting Bizarro. We'll be back in a week with more comics and commentary.
Bonus Track
Dean Martin and Line Renaud: "Relax-Ay-Voo"
Capitol Records, 1955
One of my favorite Dean Martin numbers is this duet with the French singer, actress, and AIDS activist Line Renaud. As of this writing, Madame Renaud is still with us at age 98.
A Variety of Bizarro Verbiage
If you like what we do and appreciate that it's free of charge, we encourage you to explore the following links.
