Greetings from Bizarro Studios North, where we're happy, but a little tired. Last night my musical trio gave our first public performance since March 2020, at a local community's street event. One day, we hope to be able to afford roadies. Until then, we have to transport and set up our own sound system, but we know it's not the worst problem in the world.
This week's pipe pic features actor Fred MacMurray (1908-1991), who partly inspired a cartoon this week.
MacMurray was often photographed with a pipe, and as a musician, he played the most pipe-like of instruments.
Before becoming a single parent on a sitcom, MacMurray enjoyed a long movie career. He appeared in Billy Wilder's classic film noir, Double Indemnity. For Bizarro, we imagined an ovine version, set in New Zealand, where sheep outnumber humans six to one. In our film, the leads were played by Baa Baa Stanwyck and Fred MacMutton. We hear it's popular on EweTube.
Our friends Rina Piccolo and Hilary Price, of Rhymes With Orange, also ran a gag involving sheep on Monday. That was just the first coincidence involving our comics. I later learned that Monday was also the 25th anniversary of the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell.
Tuesday's gag baffled many readers. I received dozens of comments, emails, texts, and phone calls from those who were confused by it.
The premise was simply that the clever mice had cut a tall hole in the wall, making the household cat think that extra large mice had moved in. The joke failed to land for a lot of readers.
I'm now thinking that I probably should have drawn the opening in the shape of a large, musclebound rodent. Perhaps I'll redo this one some day.
We offered a less mystifying scene on Wednesday, with one of our favorite character pairs: a ventriloquist and a dummy.
It occurs to me that they each may have been looking at the other's chart.
We love to draw clowns, even more than dummies. When we manage to place a clown, in a poop joke, without words, it's a trifecta of cartoonist enjoyment.
We took advantage of the strip's landscape layout to put the balloon dog at the end of a longer leash.
Friday was Streptonym Day here at the studio, and we paid tribute to a genre of music we often listen to while working.
Saturday's panel was built on the idea of ghosts addicted to "spectral media," which didn't feel like it was (trans)substantial enough to make a gag. The youngster's response, however, added another dimension and completed the joke.
That's the latest roundup from me. Don't forget to visit Dan Piraro's blog for his thoughts on these comics (as well as other topics), and to admire his latest Bizarro Sunday page.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you're all cool, safe, and well.
Bonus Track
"That Mellow Saxophone" Roy Montrell and His Band Specialty Records, 1956
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