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
When I’m writing the first draft I’m constantly reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.
Jordan Peele
As with nearly all quotes found on the internet, I share the above with the caveat that it's attributed to Jordan Peele. I hope it's something he actually said. In any case, it's a valid characterization of the creative process, applicable to art of any kind.
Most of my cartoons begin as scrawled text or a scribbled thumbnail in a sketchbook. I might use a word other than "sand" to describe what I'm shoveling into a box, but the point is that it's important to get something down on paper as a starting point.
Moving beyond that blank expanse is the key.
I chose this quotation and intro because a Substack subscriber recently asked about my process for creating six new cartoons every week. Later today, I'll respond with details and examples in my newsletter.
Thanks to Jordan Peele for the quote, and while we're at it, for his inventive, sharp, and super creepy horror films.
Today's pipe pic is a 1957 print ad from a Carmel, California newspaper.
Thanks to my pal Candi S for this amusing piece of cartoon pipe ephemera.
Zooming forward from 1957, here are the most recent Bizarro cartoons.
Since we had a canine pipe pic, it seems appropriate to kick off the week with a feline gag.
Some people pursue their art despite having a noncreative upbringing. Hats off to those who rebelled.
We predict the next advancement in machine learning will be Artificial Indolence.
I was reminded of a childhood toy when drawing the unhappy customer.
I subsequently learned that long after my days of Play-Doh use. Hasbro introduced a variation called the Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop:
The name is off-putting, and the GIF is even worse. Plus, I am now unable to get that weird smell out of my mind's nose.
That'll teach Management to force workers back into the office.
I recently re-established contact with a friend whom I had not seen in many years. I closed an email with, "Hope we have a chance to get together and tell each other we haven't aged a bit."
I thought that might work as a panel, so I appropriated it from myself. Sometimes a gag arises from everyday conversation or correspondence.
That's the latest output from Bizarro Studios North. I hope you enjoyed at least some of the gags.
Drop by next week for yet another batch of cartoon fun.
Bonus Track
The Impressions: "Keep on Pushing"
From the album Keep on Pushing ABC-Paramount Records, 1964
Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions offer beautiful words of encouragement.
Bonus Clip
A tip of the old porkpie to Steve D for this amusing excerpt from Leave It to Beaver. I was hoping that Ward might have done a sketch of Gus the Fireman, portrayed by character actor and native Pittsburgher Burt Mustin (1884-1977)
Buckets of Bizarro
If you like what we do and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of 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'm not sure, but I'm almost positive that all music came from New Orleans. Ernie K-Doe
Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and I hope those who celebrated have recovered by now. I've been to New Orleans many times over the decades but have never attended its most famous annual event. I do love much of the city's music, from its earliest roots to the present day, and I hope to visit again in years to come.
Although Ernie K-Doe's words aren't literally true, the music of New Orleans has profoundly influenced innumerable artists and genres.
K-Doe's biggest hit was "Mother-in-Law," but he had a long career and made a ton of terrific records. He was an over-the-top character and is the subject of an entertaining biography, Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans, by Ben Sandmel.
He was fond of crazy catchphrases, often shouting, "Burn, K-Doe, Burn!" on stage or while DJing on community radio. For a while, he referred to himself as "Mister Naugahyde," until the trademark owner issued a cease and desist order. Ernie explained that it was a simple misunderstanding and that he was actually calling himself "Mister Ma-Nauga-Ma-Hyde." He later adopted the title "Emperor of the Universe."
He may have been lurking in your cartoonist's brain to inspire one of last week's cartoons.
Today's pipe pic comes to us from Stephen R., a good friend of Bizarro.
It's a pensive photo of Winnie-the-Pooh's creator, A. A. Milne.
Thanks to Stephen R. for adding a literary touch to the blog.
Now, a look at our most recent cartoons, including, naturally enough, a New Orleans-inspired gag.
Monday's panel comes from an unpublished cartoon book, Zen and the Art of Sesame Seeds.
Music finds its way into another Bizarro comic with this tribute to the legendary Muddy Waters.
For the first time, I've done a Mardi Gras gag after the holiday.
Thursday's comic reminds us that things we learned in grade school can serve us well into adulthood.
They wrote an original number called "Papa's Got a Brown New Bag."
As I write this post, I notice that I colored a little bit outside of the panel borders. That's rather embarrassing, and I promise it won't happen again.
Saturday's caption can be read as a joke or simply a description of the objects in the panel.
Well, my friends, that's the latest output from Bizarro Studios North. I hope you got a few chuckles from my scribbles. Please stop by again next week for another batch.
Bonus Track
Homer & Jethro: "The Bagel Song"
From the album Somethin' Stupid RCA Records, 1967
Additional Bizarro Sources
If you like what we do and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of 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
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
The First Law of Robotics Isaac Asimov, from I, Robot
If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.
Fudd's First Law of Opposition The Firesign Theatre, from I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus
We hear more about artificial intelligence every day and see grotesque examples filling our social media feeds. I don't know enough to have a deeply informed take on this thing, but I know I don't like it. Some say that only Luddites oppose AI, like those who thought that radio and records would destroy the livelihood of musicians, but that feels disingenuous and reductive.
Artists routinely absorb and reflect the influence of their predecessors and contemporaries, and there are plenty of glib quotes like, "Bad artists copy, great artists steal." The infinite reach and limitless capacity of thieving bots change the equation, particularly since most social media users refuse to acknowledge intellectual property rights. It's already too easy to steal the work of creative artists, automating the theft makes things much worse.
Asimov's First Law ought to apply to virtual robots, and should prohibit causing humans financial harm. The online magazine Contemporary Art Issue estimates that 85% of visual artists make less than $25,000 a year, and it's unlikely that generative AI will improve that figure. It will never benefit creators whose work is digitally scraped for impersonation.
Ideally, an individual's conscience ought to preclude them from directing this software to steal from an artist whose work they admire.
If you play with AI for amusement, please
don’t prompt it using the names of any artists, especially living artists.
Fudd's First Law of Opposition applies to people as well as objects.
Today's pipe pic was provided by faithful Bizarro reader and musical connoisseur David R.
Our model is British personality James May on the set of the Top Gear TV series. He's showing off a pipe that was made by Porsche.
A tip of the porkpie to David R. for alerting us to this photo.
Without further ado, here are the week's Bizarro gags. No artificial intelligence was employed in the making of these cartoons.
In response to some contentious online discussion, here are helpful notes on Monday's gag:
Note 1: Cats are obligate carnivores, and require a meat-based diet to survive. Cats should not be fed a vegetarian or vegan diet, and we do not advocate a meatless diet for them.
Note 2: One shouldn't look to gag cartoons for veterinary advice.
Note 3: Don't put boxer shorts or eyeglasses on your pets, either.
In fairness, the dialog could have read, "I know canned food is nutritious, but I miss the taste of fear." It has fewer words, so maybe that would have been a better choice.
The original art for Tuesday's comic was drawn at 0.01 percent of the printed size.
Our current average is 1.83 gags per year poking fun at Batman and/or Robin. I love having everything documented in a spreadsheet.
In the late 1980s, Bird Police could have been a short-lived black & white comic book series.
Believe it or not, Naugahyde upholstery vinyl is still available, and Uniroyal Global still sells Nauga dolls.
Vintage Naugahyde print advertisement
In the 1970s, the manufacturer assured consumers that they weren't slaughtering Naugas and that the fictional creature could shed its skin in large rectangular sheets.
We wrapped up the week with a spin on a common complaint about restaurants. My favorite detail is the customer about to use a spoon to cover his eye.
I adjusted the body position of the doctor/server to fit into the strip layout, and I think this arrangement conveys the feeling of a darkened restaurant better than the panel.
That's the latest from my Little Shop of Humor. I hope you enjoyed this batch of pictorial drollery. More of the same will await you a week from now.
Bonus Track
Mose Allison: "Your Molecular Structure"
From the album I've Been Doin' Some Thinkin' Atlantic Records, 1968
One of many examples supporting the contention that Mose John Allison, Junior was one of our greatest composers and performers.
We Have More Bizarro For You
If you like what we do, and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of 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
Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find.
Peter Ustinov (1921-2004)
Anyone who even occasionally shares their art or music online can most likely relate to these words from Peter Ustinov.
Remember, all you 21st-century artistic types: Pay no heed to commenters who want to tell you what's wrong with your art, even though they create nothing of their own. Devote your energies to doing it your way. As Thelonious Monk said:
A genius is the one most like himself.
Today's wonderfully weird pipe pic is an old National Geographic photo by J. Baylor Roberts.
I discovered this in the Facebook photos of my longtime friend Candi S and had to share it with you. How could I resist a giant corncob pipe? Thanks for leaving this where I could run across it, Candi!
As we tore off the first page of the 2024 calendar, I celebrated the end of JanuHairy by getting an old-fashioned straight-razor shave from a barber named Jeff who works in my area. It was a relaxing experience, and I felt like a grownup from the 1940s.
In a "small world" moment, I also learned that Jeff is a self-described "Spooky folk artist who makes art on extra spooky objects," and that he currently has some of his work on exhibit at East End Brewing Company's taproom, which is also in my neighborhood.
Check out Jeff's appealingly creepy work on Instagram.
Let's review this week's Bizarro comics. Most of these were published while I was still sporting scruffy whiskers, so I'm looking at them with a fresh face.
I never had the desire to get a vanity license plate, not wishing to draw extra attention on the highway. Besides, nothing will ever beat the DEVO license plate an old friend had in the 1980s. I wish I had a photo of that.
Typing this caption was the most counterintuitive thing I've done in a long while.
Your cartoonist will use any excuse to draw a tuxedo.
If you're playing lounge music, you may as well solo from a recliner.
This is my favorite gag of the week by a wide margin. When I showed a rough sketch of it to Dan Piraro in December, he didn't get it at first and was writing to tell me that. Suddenly, he remembered the one thing most people know about Dante, and the joke hit him. That made me very happy.
What's wrong with immortal kids these days?
I hope you enjoyed this batch of pictorial drollery. More of the same will await you a week from now.
Bonus Track
Louis Armstrong: "We Have All the Time in the World"
From the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Late in Armstrong's career, he recorded this Bond theme, written by John Barry (music) and Hal David (lyrics). He was too ill to play trumpet, and it's rumored that Herb Alpert played on this recording.
Plenty More Bizarro Stuff
If you like what we do, and appreciate that it comes to you free of charge, we encourage you to explore any or all of the following links.
