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
People with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric and more realistic in their view of the world and more humble in moments of success and less defeated in times of travail.
Bob Newhart
I've always enjoyed Bob Newhart's humor, whether on records or in his various television shows. I was saddened by the news of his death in July of this year, although making it to age 94 isn't too shabby.
The Bob Newhart Show (1972 to 1978) is my favorite of his TV projects. I have little memory of Bob, the 1992-93 series where he played a comic book artist, and I'd like to watch it again to see how it holds up.
In his 2006 memoir, I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This, the comedian offered the sharp insight quoted above. It rings true. Egotists and narcissists don't have a sense of humor because seeing the absurdity in a situation requires being able to recognize it in oneself. When a narcissist says they were "only joking," it's usually in defense of something awful. In their world, cruelty and diminishment of others constitute humor.
A healthy sense of humor fosters humility. As the year comes to a close, I've been thinking about this topic and trying to remind (or convince) myself that making cartoons has value to society, even if circumstances make us feel otherwise.
So we'll continue to do what we can to provide a daily moment of laughter and hope that it benefits our readers.
Next Saturday is the Winter Solstice, which we celebrate at my house. As of Sunday, December 22, we'll start seeing more extended periods of daylight, so please get some sunlight when it's available.
My old friend Candi sent me this week's pipe pic from a 1935 ad for Edgeworth pipe tobacco.
Here's the entire ad, with a testimonial from a cartoonist named Lex Fadely.
Perhaps dizziness brought on by tobacco smoke might produce visions that could be turned into comic panels, but I'm not willing to suffer that much for my art. I would consider the vest and bow tie ensemble.
I can't find anything online about Lex Fadely, and I welcome any information or examples of his work. If he existed, I assume he didn't do the drawings in the ad.
If I had a storefront, I'd have a hanging sign made from the Edgeworth ad:
Thanks to Candi for the amusing image and for introducing me to a mystery cartoonist from the past. This week's Bizarro comics were created without any form of tobacco.
We kicked off with a sequel to a gag from September.
There may be more Nearly Super Heroes in the future. If I create enough, we can collectively call them the Prosaic Comics Universe.
Tuesday's panel toyed with the symbology of cartoons in a literal sense. My friend and colleague
Maria Scrivan correctly pointed out that the gentleman would be happier if he were reading the comics page of the paper.
The Near-Emergency Services number in the UK is 998.
A reminder that you can't trust the photos on InstaGrimm.
The appliances in our home, which are over twenty years old, have started to die off. We recently replaced the dishwasher and discovered that, although it has a "physical" control panel on the door, some functions can only be started using a phone app.
Big Appliance will now collect data on how often we use the rinse cycle to do with as they will.
Comic book heroes bookended the week. I like this gag, but I had some difficulties drawing it and kept rotating the page 180 degrees while working on it. Maybe I should have tried a bowlful of cool, restful EDGEWORTH pipe tobacco.
That's the latest from my Little Shop of Humor. If you enjoy this sort of thing, try a subscription to my free weekly newsletter, which is delivered by email every Saturday and includes a link to the latest blog post. It also features a peek at a future cartoon, an old image from my archives, and other oddities.
Mose Allison: "I Looked in the Mirror"From Ever Since the World Ended
Blue Note Records, 1987
Mose John Allison Jr. (1927 – 2016) will always be in regular rotation in the cartoon studio.
An unnamed reporter (supposedly) once said to him, "You were a social critic before Dylan; you were satirical long before Newman; you were rude long before Jagger; why aren't you a big star?" Mose replied, "Just lucky, I guess."
