Bizarro is brought to you today by…
While at the National Cartoonists Society’s annual convention a couple weeks ago I met a cartoonist from Vancouver. She reminded me of a cartoon I did in 1999 that became her favorite. I’d forgotten all about it but looked it up in my archives and wanted to share it with you. It is a bit of an inside joke to cartoonists, but I’m sure that anyone can understand it.
The inspiration for the gag was the vast numbers of letters that people like me get that say something along the lines of, “I don’t ever find anything funny about your cartoons and they don’t even make sense. You should consider another line of work.”
The thought this kind of letter expresses is completely understandable; not all cartoons are for everyone and there are many in the newspapers that I feel the same way about. But what is odd to me is the fact that they took the time to express this thought to me. What do they hope to gain? Do they actually expect me to say, “Gosh, you’re right. I’m throwing away my pens and enrolling in a tech school today. Thanks for enlightening me!”?
Cartoonists like me (and my regular readers) actually take pride in the fact that not everyone gets the joke. Feeling that you’re in a special club of people who are able to think around corners is part of the fun of Bizarro. Or at least, I hope it is. When I get letters like this, I usually just tell the person that they are absolved from their responsibility to read Bizarro. Or, more simply put, “If you don’t get it or like it, don’t read it, stupid. Are you a masochist?”
Thanks to Susan Camilleri Konar for reminding me of this cartoon. Check out her work here, she’s got some great cartoons.
Great post, and I agree with everything you said (and usually say)! I’ve been collecting your “Bizarro” books for as long as I can remember, and the only newspaper strips that make me laugh or smile with any regularity are yours, “Dilbert”, “Garfield” and “Zits” (and “Far Side” and “Calvin & Hobbes”, previously). The more people laugh at something, the less sophisticated the humor is, and that’s what I’ve always appreciated about “Bizarro”. I had to explain last Sunday’s “smoke signals/word balloons” one to Mom, and that didn’t make me appreciate it any less. Keep up the smart & funny!!
Thanks, Tom. All of your cartoon choices make sense except “Garfield.” Does it really make you laugh?
Not out-loud, but on the inside (usually). I have a cat, and I’m pretty sure the same kinds of things go through her mind that go through Garf’s. And I only laugh at “Dilbert” ’cause I’ve been stuck in a cubicle-esque job myself for 14 years … Gawd help me.
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I sometimes want to say to people, “Do I need to draw you a picture?” Apparently that wouldn’t help.
This one is super, Dan!
…but the hoovering spacecraft up to the left and the eye down to the right is still baffling me…
I didn’t get it because only a small portion of the cartoon appeared on my smart phone. Then I tapped the picture and it all became clear. Great job, Sir.
Sadist: one who enjoys inflicting pain on others.
Masochist: one who enjoys inflicting pain on themselves.
I suspect they’d be more inclined to call you a sadist.
Duh. Of course. I had a major brain fart. I’ll correct it now, thanks for the proofread!
Shameful waste of trees, yes, but paper? Paper isn’t a resource, but to maybe a handful of people and there’s more than enough to go around for the likes of them.
I’ve been a fan of yours from back in the newspaper only days. Cut them out and have quite a collection. Was happy to see you had a website.
One of my faves was a woman asleep in her bed with her cat sleeping at the end of the bed dreaming. The cat’s dream (in the balloon) was someone telling it that it was not really the center of it’s owner’s universe or similar wording. It was posted on my fridge for so long that it eventually fell apart. I don’t remember how old it was – other than several years.
Can you re-publish it on your website or Facebook? I’d really like a replacement.
Keep up the Bizarro work!!!
Would be happy to but I have no idea where to find it. I started my career before the age of home computers so all my cartoons are only filed by print date. Ugh!
I take great pride in the fact that no one ever gets my cartoon gags… and I mean no one. I LOVE this cartoon. Question: What really goes on in these clandestine National Cartoonist’s Society Meetings? Can you talk about it, or are you all sworn to silence by some sacred oath.
We just hang out with each other and drink all weekend. No big secret at all. :o)
Very cool. I have publicly named you and Rick Stromoski as my favorite cartoonists. Anything you want to tell us about Rick?
Oh, and one more thing… The fact that you actually answer my postings makes you the best cartoonist in America… if not all of North America (Excluding Canada and that long skinny country underneath us)
I have nothing to add to that but I feel I must respond now. :o)
I shared a room with him at the NCS convention last week and he does not snore.
Also, he’s a genuinely good guy.
I’m not sure why, but I think I saw this cartoon posted somewhere recently. And I love it as much now as then.
In addition to the gag, I especially like the shoe and sign that extend past the “regular” border.
In any case, I think that the best jokes in general are those that are not obvious and that the listener/reader really realizes that they got it.
I noticed the extended shoe and thought I was extra cool. Until I read Bob’s comment and realized I came up short.
Some people are just born to complain about trivial things. I like your cartoons but I don’t like all cartoons by all artists. I find this problem very neatly resolved by not reading the ones I don’t like. Perhaps you could suggest this to these critics or say they are for people with an ‘eclectic sense of humor’. They probably won’t know what the word eclectic means and be too lazy to look it up.
Haha! Very funny, Oh Great Pickler! (I’ll use these sycophantic forms of address until they catch on, dammit).
Then I’ll deconstruct them.
Hi, I’m just a senior who chases down your cartoons everyday in our paper.
Especially shocked to see a recent one using my family name….an unkown in a sea of “anglo-phile” monikers!!… Curious! wonder how that happened????
Thanks for the gift!!! …cut out and framed:)
“Ms. Gonsalves”
I think the published date was June 1, 2012.
LA Times.
Glad you enjoyed it. I have a friend who has that last name so I thought I’d use it as a friendly not to her. :o)
Gotta love it…
Why put Charles Darwin in the parade? That makes no sense…
He does look a bit like Darwin but that wasn’t my intention, of course. IF ever there was an abstract thinker, it was Chucky D!
This cartoon reminds me of one of my favorite old MST3K “invention exchange” segments: The Cartuner takes those stodgy, bland, ambiguous cartoons, mixes them together, and makes them funny. Basically, you take two stodgy, bland, ambiguous strips, throw them into the Cartuner, crank the grinder, and presto! There’s Mrs. Lockhorn crashing her car into the shop where Cathy is trying on swimsuits and going “AAAACK!”