OMFG! A funny BC strip!

[Lute Skywatcher]

strip of 14 May

A bit of the old brilliance showing through.

[xvxdarkknightxvx]

I didn't think it was that funny, but that could be because I needed a dictionary.

[Kamino Neko]

You think that's scary?

Today's Family Circus made me giggle.

Not a whole lot, but it did.

[Larry Mudd]

OMFG! A hair/hare pun!

That's frigging hilarious!

I haven't laughed so hard since I mislaid my 1916 first edition of "Japes for gentlemen, a compendium of wit for use in the aid of ice-breaking during business and social engagements."

[Miller]

Originally Posted by Larry Mudd

OMFG! A hair/hare pun!

That's frigging hilarious!

I haven't laughed so hard since I mislaid my 1916 first edition of "Japes for gentlemen, a compendium of wit for use in the aid of ice-breaking during business and social engagements."

Okay, so it's a joke that hasn't been funny for almost 90 years. It's still a joke that used to be funny, which puts it head and shoulders above anything Hart's written in my life time.

[Ethilrist]

Huh. I thought the joke was about using electricity to remove the Energizer Bunny from his head.

Guess I'm no fun at parties.

[Maus Magill]

Originally Posted by Miller

Okay, so it's a joke that hasn't been funny for almost 90 years. It's still a joke that used to be funny, which puts it head and shoulders above anything Hart's written in my life time.

It's a twist on the hair/hare pun, which I'd neer seen before. It made me smile. Much better than the usual "X got Y!" joles he does.

[kaylasdad99]

Originally Posted by Larry Mudd

OMFG! A hair/hare pun!

That's frigging hilarious!

I haven't laughed so hard since I mislaid my 1916 first edition of "Japes for gentlemen, a compendium of wit for use in the aid of ice-breaking during business and social engagements."

I don't get it. What's so funny about losing a book?

Unless it was a really dreary and depressing book (the title woud tend to suggest that it may have been), and you were laughing with relief.

[Snooooopy]

Originally Posted by Jeff Olsen

strip of 14 May

A bit of the old brilliance showing through.

Old brilliance? When was Johnny Hart ever brilliant?

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Originally Posted by Snooooopy

Old brilliance? When was Johnny Hart ever brilliant?

Well, I dunno. I thought his stuff from the sixties was hilarious, but I was a lot younger.

It makes me sad how few of his recent strips even attempt something I can recognize as a joke.

[Mister Rik]

I thought it was at least cleverly subtle. At least the sign over the cave didn't say "Hair Removal".

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by Rube E. Tewesday

Well, I dunno. I thought his stuff from the sixties was hilarious, but I was a lot younger.

Exactly! Remember water balls?

I haven't laughed so hard at a BC strip since the last time I pulled out one of his paparback collections from the early '70s. Then again, I'm a sucker for visual puns.

[Larry Mudd]

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

I don't get it. What's so funny about losing a book?

That's just it. Where can I turn to for yucks without it? At least I still have this one committed to memory:

"Pa," quoth Sammie to his sire, "why don't you go out west?" "Why do you ask, my boy?" "Because Bill Higgins' father went and he struck a banana." "A 'bonanza', you mean, Sammie." "Well, what's the difference?" "Why, when people strike a bonanza it sets them up, and when they strike a banana it sets them down, and very emphatically, too."

Thankfully, Johnny Hart is there to fill (in his small way) the void left by my cherished copy of Japes for gentlemen, a compendium of wit for use in the aid of ice-breaking during business and social engagements.

[tracer]

Larry Mudd: Reminds me of the "1,001 Riddles" book I had as a kid, which contained such immortal knee-slappers as:

Q. When is a boy not a boy?

A. When he's abed.

[World Eater]

I must be some kind of dumbass, I totally didn't get the joke.

[Johnny Angel]

Ah. I remember the one day the Laugh Parade was funny. Preposterous, you say? Chequez vous:

Background, a flying saucer.
Foreground, an alien with an acoustic guitar.
"I have a message for the people of earth, and it goes a little something like this."

[The Controvert]

I enjoyed this particular strip. Non-obvious visual pun with a subtle undercurrent of bizarre (no electricity in pre-historic times). Good for a chuckle.

[Kneepants Erasmus, the Humanist]

World Eater:
Electrologists remove hair. He had a hare on his head. *snort*

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by xvxdarkknightxvx

I didn't think it was that funny, but that could be because I needed a dictionary.

Ditto. Electrologist, in case we're not the only ones. Even after I read it, it wasn't that funny. The Family Circus thing I adamantly refuse to believe.

[World Eater]

Thanks guys, no chance it will be funny now though.

[Max Carnage]

Originally Posted by tracer

Larry Mudd: Reminds me of the "1,001 Riddles" book I had as a kid, which contained such immortal knee-slappers as:

Q. When is a boy not a boy?

A. When he's abed.

Or

Q: When is a bonnet not a bonnet

A: When it becomes a young lady.

Hyuck hyuck!

[IKinSpelGud]

When is a door not a door?

SPOILER:

When it's a jar!

Comedy gold.

[Snooooopy]

Well, Hart does deserve credit for not overwriting the joke. If this were "Mr. Boffo," drawn by Joe "I think my readers are complete dumbasses, so I include a huge explanatory panel in every cartoon that spoon-feeds them the punch line" Martin, the strip would probably feature something to the effect of, "Another way to tell when you're dealing with someone who isn't clear on the concept of homonyms."

[Rube E. Tewesday]

Originally Posted by Jeff Olsen

Exactly! Remember water balls?

I haven't laughed so hard at a BC strip since the last time I pulled out one of his paparback collections from the early '70s. Then again, I'm a sucker for visual puns.

Ah yes, water balls, the Midnight Skulker, "clams got feet", and Wiley's tirades against water, women and woodpeckers.

Sigh.... I don't suppose the Cute Chick is even loose anymore.

[Weirddave]

Boy, I tried using some of the jokes in this thread, and a pie came out and hit me in the face, while a giant hook draged me away offstage.

[Baldwin]

Give Johnny Hart a break. "B.C." is old-fashioned and usually lame, but have you looked at some of the competition? I've been habitually reading "Overboard" for years now because it was funny once. Ever since then, the writer consistently kills his own half-baked jokes by smothering the punchline. Idiot. And have you ever looked at a panel called "Pardon my Planet"? Jesus wept.

[Gorgon Heap]

I have to admit to feeling utterly stupid. I've never heard of an electrologist, so I thought it was something akin to electro-therapy and the B.C. was a "hare-brain."

Unfortunately, it reads just as funny both ways. That is to say not.

[Beauty Personified]

While I didn't think the strip in question was truly funny, I'm surprised no one else has picked up on the double joke involved. Aside from the "hair"/"hare" pun, there's also the allusion to the magician's trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. To be perfectly honest, I got the magician allusion before I got the "hair"/"hare" pun. I found the strip quite clever when both parts of the joke registered with me.

Anyhoo...

[Gorgon Heap]

Oh, I got it, but I couldn't fathom any way to make it work as part of the joke.

[xvxdarkknightxvx]

Originally Posted by Beauty Personified

While I didn't think the strip in question was truly funny, I'm surprised no one else has picked up on the double joke involved. Aside from the "hair"/"hare" pun, there's also the allusion to the magician's trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. To be perfectly honest, I got the magician allusion before I got the "hair"/"hare" pun. I found the strip quite clever when both parts of the joke registered with me.

Anyhoo...

What's funny about a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat? That was the first thing I thought of, too, before I went to dictionary.com, but I still didn't find it funny.

[Winston Bongo]

This thread reminds me of a quote by Winston Churchill: "Never has so much inspiration been inspired by something so uninspiring. And 90 percent perspiration." Or was that Thomas Edison?

And in conclusion: Clams got suspenders!!!