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 think funny is just the foundation. I don't really think, to some extent, funny is the absolute most important thing. It should also communicate some idea through the medium of cartooning. Just to be funny is... You know what, the things that you laugh hardest at aren't cartoons.
Robert Mankoff
Cartoonist Robert Mankoff was the New Yorker's cartoon editor for around twenty years, and he's done a lot of thinking about cartooning specifically and humor in general.
I've found that the most satisfying gags usually begin with a topic or premise. The cartoonist's job is to come up with a funny way of commenting on the subject matter. Of course, creating a cartoon from scratch every day, year after year requires multiple approaches to humor—some simple and straightforward and others more nuanced or pointed.
However, many readers would disagree with Mankoff. Cartoonists routinely receive online comments complaining about a gag being "political," which usually means it expresses an idea the reader doesn't like.
We routinely see comments telling us to "stick to puns." Apparently some readers only want to see a specific type of gag, and when we hear from them, it's a sign that we've gotten an idea across. We rarely, if ever, receive this kind of response to a blog post or newsletter, and I believe that's because the relationship between the artist and the audience is more personal, and readers are aware that an actual human makes this material.
If a reader tells us that a gag has upset them in some way, we can reply and hear what they have to say. These conversations are almost always positive experiences.
On public sites, there's more distance and a greater level of anonymity, so people might feel emboldened to be aggressive and demanding.
We're fortunate to have forums like blogs to exchange ideas directly with readers, and we have an engaged and lively readership, for which we are grateful every day.
Bizarro field correspondent JP of San Jose provided today's subtitled pipe pic; a screen grab from his television.
JP wrote:
I was watching two different things recently and saw pipes in both so I took a quick photo of each for you to use if you like.
The first was from the show Star Next: The Next Generation season 1 episode 6. "Lonely Among Us," where Data first shows interest in Sherlock Holmes and takes on some of his mannerisms, including holding a pipe while solving a mystery on the Enterprise. I have been doing a rewatch of this series and this was an episode that I had completely forgotten. There are many more episodes later with Data imitating Sherlock, even having his best friend Geordi as Watson.
A tip of the Bizarro beanie to JP for taking the time to snap some pipe pics for our entertainment. His other contribution will pop up at some time in the future.
At times, cartoonists generate multiple ideas on a particular topic. That was the case a few months ago when I was working on this batch. All six of the week's cartoons feature crash test dummies.
Let's see if any substantive ideas are lurking beneath the surface of silliness.
Everyone has their own way of seeing progress, and crash dummies might use a phrase like this.
"Yes, but make sure the tires are melted."
Literalizing the metaphorical is a venerable cartoon tradition.
There's a controversy within the dummy community regarding talcum powder versus cornstarch.
Is this dummy a doomsayer or an optimist?
Come to think of it, someone has already invented self-crashing vehicles. Unfortunately, they don't limit the destruction to research labs.
Thanks for visiting the cartoon refreshment stand.
That wraps up Crash Test Dummy Week. Actually, I wrote more than six gags about the dummies, so there are a couple more to come.
See you in seven days, good buddies.
Sartorial Essentials
Bonus Track
Dave Edmunds: "Crawling From the Wreckage"
from Repeat When Necessary
Swan Song Records LP, 1979
Graham Parker wrote "Crawling From the Wreckage" for his 1979 album Squeezing Out Sparks, but wasn't happy with the way it sounded, and suggested to Edmunds that he might want to record it. It turned out rather well.
The Repeat When Necessary album features Edmunds backed by Nick Lowe (bass), Billy Bremner (guitar) and Terry Williams (drums). The same four musicians recorded Lowe's 1979 LP Labour of Lust. Seconds of Pleasure came in 1980, under their collective band name, Rockpile.
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