Your Call Is Important

In the spirit of full disclosure, I freely admit that today's Bizarro cartoon pokes fun at a movie I've never seen.

I have, however, seen the trailer several times. With each viewing I found it to be more ridiculous. To be fair, though, it seemed quite risible the very first time. 

As tough-guy cinematic catch-phrases go, Neeson's speech doesn't approach the efficiency of "Go ahead, punk. Make my day," or "Hasta la vista, baby." Still, enough people found it appealing to push its box office to over $145 million, and prompt a sequel that was also a moneymaking monster.

This is sort of an update of the "action hero gets revenge" genre, since Neeson delivers his threats via iPhone. Maybe in "Taken 3" he'll text the bad guys and will have to limit himself to 140 characters, and use a frowning emoticon to emphasize his seriousness. (Nuts! I probably could have squeezed another gag out of it using that angle.)

Here's my submission sketch, which employed a wider view than Dan Piraro's zoomed-in shot.

 

The text in my first sketch was an abbreviated version of the movie's dialog. After looking up the original soliloquy from the film, Dan and I agreed that making our version more like the long-winded movie quote made for a funnier gag. Usually, it's better to pare down a cartoon's text, but sometimes verbosity is part of the joke.

I just hope the big galoot doesn't call me to complain about this cartoon. Who has time for that?

By the way, of millions of fans who saw Taken, nobody enjoyed it more than these guys. Like the Taken trailer, the Key and Peele clip always makes me laugh.

If you'd like to see other examples of the way we combine our "particular set of skills," please check out the previous Piraro/Wayno duets at your leisure.