Usually I get the references in this strip, but I don’t get today’s?
Anybody?
Ummm…
Wow.
That must be pretty obscure.
Help??
I’m not sure it actually means anything – I laughed just because it was such a non-sequitur. (Plus I live in Philly.)
If you’re talking about the Mexico thing I think that’s just a corny random joke.
If you mean the proctologist part, I think that’s a reference to Seinfeld.
Kramer: Have you ever met a proctologist? Well, they usually have a very
good sense of humor. You meet a proctologist at a party, don’t walk away.
Plant yourself there, because you will hear the funniest stories you’ve
ever heard. See, no one wants to admit to them that they stuck something
up there. Never! It’s always an accident. Every proctologist story ends in
the same way: “It was a million to one shot, Doc. Million to one.”
That’s why I laughed. I think the non-sequitur is what Darby was going for.
I don’t get it either, but I’m guessing the punchline’s based on some actual author’s name.
I love that strip and I agree, today was a bit of a reach. I’ll agree with the non-sequitur thoight. A lot of the strips are spoofs on Bucky speaking on a whole different plane than Satch, and Satchel’s inability to make much sense of the things spouting from Bucky.
If cats could talk though, I like to think there’s a lot more Bucky in my critters than there is of that moron Garfield.
I don’t think it’s a reference to anything. The initial implication is that the writer is “Big in Japan,” (except it’s Mexico.)
The guy is obscure. Some people are obscure at home, but smashing successes in foreign parts. I used to live next door to a guy who’s band had a significant following in Japan. He made just enough money to get by without really trying – from overseas royalties. The band played bars and stuff here – but occasionally Japanese tourists would come up to him in the street like he was Sting, or something.
In the strip, the set up leads you to think that it’s that sort of thing. Obscure guy who’s famous elsewhere. Except that it turns out he’s just an obscure guy who doesn’t travel.
Then again, maybe there is a (funnier) joke that I just don’t get. I don’t think so, though.
Is it joke like, “Doc, will I be able to play the violin when my arm heals?” “Yes” “Good, because I couldn’t before!”
He can’t walk down the street in Mexico because he lives in Philly? 
I guess I was trying to read more into it than I should have.
I think Rob has it right. The guy is famous in Mexico, but Satchel took the line literally.