# Ohmigod -- is "The Family Circus" going to live on after Bil Keane?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840 "2004-07-13T03:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/21 "2004-07-13T16:52:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Are we going to have to kill them both? Is that what it’s going to take? I keep thinking this should be a movie. Call it _Kil Bil_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/22 "2004-07-13T16:55:07Z")
Somebody posted about this online cartoon, which is pretty darn funny. Warning: Some of the material is NOT for kids, **at all**. [You Damn Kid](http://www.youdamnkid.com) ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/23 "2004-07-13T18:16:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > For so long I’ve been waiting and hoping for Bil Keane to drop dead so readers everywhere will finally be able to open the comics page without having to risk a glimpse of his stupid, horrible, humorless, abomination of cutesiepoo whitebread smugness. I mean, it can’t take much longer, can it? The fuckhead has only been doing _The Family Circus_ since 1960 . . . > > But lately I’ve noticed the byline includes Bil **and** Jeff Keane! In other words, he’s brought his son on board as co-toonist. His (relatively) young son. > > Are we going to have to kill them both? Is that what it’s going to take? My fantasy is that son Jeff takes it in a different direction. Maybe he starts with Jeffy killing the other characters in a bloodbath, and leading into a much more interesting format . . . As lame as Family Circus is, though, I have a much deeper hatred for other comics. “Mutts” and “Marmaduke” set the bar so low an ant couldn’t limbo underneath. I mean, even B.C. with its preaching and sometimes entirely absent jokes doesn’t hold a candle to Marmaduke burying a bone for the 58th week in a row for sheer suck-the-humor-out-of-the-room lameness. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/24 "2004-07-13T20:00:58Z")
When I was little I liked FC. I think it’s for little kids. (Although I have seen a FEW funny ones-where a saleswoman told Thel she didn’t work-surrounded by crying, sick kids and a messy house-and she slammed the door in her face). Bizarro is still pretty decent. But the day that Bill Watterson retired is the day the laughter died. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/25 "2004-07-13T20:02:14Z")
I only get the paper on Fridays so I just read the cartoons I like online. Many of them you can get sent to your email. Some of my faves: [9 Chickweed Lane](http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html) mainly because I love how Brooke draws them she (he?) does some really cool angles and I cut them out just for that. Plus I love the cat. [Get Fuzzy](http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/index.html) I love Bucky (the cat). [The Other Coast](http://www.comics.com/creators/othercoast/index.html) because sometimes they come out with some really amusing one, though the rest of the time is sort of bland. One of my favourite panels was captioned 'Where the other sock goes" with an image of a peg leg pirate digging in the washing machine… ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/26 "2004-07-13T20:19:16Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > I don’t really know that I can blame him for being upset about that. He’s been drawing the cartoon for almost 45 years, and he’s based the characters and situations on his own family, and their lives. It must be disconcerting when you read something like that, and the character based on your 8 year old son is saying he’s going to go over to a friend’s for anal sex, or whatever. OING! I never thought of it quite that way. However, I’ve always considered it one of life’s little ironies that bland, insipid, unfunny Family Circus inspired one of the edgiest humor phenomena on the intarweb. The DFC is teh funnay. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/27 "2004-07-13T20:20:21Z")
I’m surprised no one has yet brought up the utter crap that is “Cathy”. _shudder_ See me??? I’m a single woman! I am hopelessly obsessed with my weight! I dread trying on bathing suits! Store saleswomen are EVIL!!! HA HA, look how funny I am! ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/28 "2004-07-13T20:22:06Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > [9 Chickweed Lane](http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html) mainly because I love how Brooke draws them she (he?) does some really cool angles and I cut them out just for that. Plus I love the cat. That would be “he”. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/29 "2004-07-13T20:39:19Z")
Surely a simply programmed computer could take over when Bil Keane passes on? Someone’s got to have a old 486 PC lying around that’s just taking up space… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/30 "2004-07-13T21:21:49Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > [9 Chickweed Lane](http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html) mainly because I love how Brooke draws them she (he?) does some really cool angles and I cut them out just for that. Plus I love the cat. You should check out [Pibgorn](http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/archive/pibgorn-20040614.html), his other strip. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/31 "2004-07-13T22:48:43Z")
Yeah, I can’t see how Family Circus can show it’s face on the same page as Boondocks! 😉 Although I must admit, I had an amazing Family Circus “moment” once. My most beloved grandpa died on January 15, 1998. On the same day that his obituary was printed in the LA Times, Family Circus ran a scene showing Billy writing a note that read “Dear Grandpa- if you’re not too busy in heaven, could you get God’s autograph for me?” Or something similar. Whoa. Hit me like a brick, but it was a cool coincidence too. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/32 "2004-07-13T22:56:01Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > Yeah, I can’t see how Family Circus can show it’s face on the same page as Boondocks! Well, here in KC, they remain separated by a page or two. Of course, that’s because the local paper has decided to segregate those comics that are “political”, so they get their own page. Except for Non Sequitur, which is on the regular page. Oh, and Zippy is on the political page. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/33 "2004-07-13T23:05:16Z")
From **[Go](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139239/)**: > [@](#): > > Claire: What do you have against the Family Circus? > Todd: Okay, you sit down to read your paper, and you’re enjoying your entire two-page comic spread, right? And then there’s the Family fucking Circus, bottom right hand corner, just waiting to suck. And it’s the last thing you read, so it spoils everything you read before it. > Claire: You could just not read it. > Todd: I hate it, yet I’m uncontrollably drawn to it. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/34 "2004-07-14T01:01:45Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > You would think a few new cartoonists would have emerged over the years, but in my humble opinion, Kings World and paranoid editors have made sure that the comic section remains “safe” from any attempt at real, topical, edgy humor. Doonesbury has long since lost its luster, but even that sad remnant sometimes is hidden within the back pages of the stock market index to make sure nobody reads it, dare there be a controvertial subject matter that week. Here’s an amen from [Stephan Pastis,](http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20040711.html) , author of _Pearls before Swine_ Some good news. The St Louis Post-Dispatch has just dropped _The Wizard of Id_, which hasn’t been funny in 30 years, _Dennis the Menace_ not funny in 40 years, and _The Lockhorns_ not funny in a million years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/35 "2004-07-14T01:11:17Z")
> [@GLWasteful](#): > > Oh, and Zippy is on the political page. Go figure. 😛 Oh, well, why not? Zippy for God-Emperor! ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/36 "2004-07-14T01:29:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Oh, well, why not? Zippy for God-Emperor! Nah, then he’d never have time to commune with the remaining muffler men. And that would be sad. ---
**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/37 "2004-07-14T01:30:59Z")
Peanuts sucked, too. It was never funny, and it was always the same. Don’t worry, I also hate Family Circus. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/38 "2004-07-14T01:37:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But lately I’ve noticed the byline includes Bil **and** Jeff Keane! In other words, he’s brought his son on board as co-toonist. His (relatively) young son. Relatively young compared with himself, perhaps. It’s not like it’s some kid doing it. But isn’t it funny how Jeffy’s the one who gets the promotion to a co-byline? After all, it’s always been Billy who stepped in as a sub for papa Bil in the past. So Bil is Johnny, Billy is Joan Rivers, and Jeffy is Jay Leno. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/39 "2004-07-14T01:40:11Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > You should check out [Pibgorn](http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/archive/pibgorn-20040614.html), his other strip. Ooo I’m gonna have to read that regularly too. And thanks _lawoot_, when I see the name Brooke I want to say she, but you never can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840/40 "2004-07-14T03:39:15Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > Some good news. The St Louis Post-Dispatch has just dropped _The Wizard of Id_, which hasn’t been funny in 30 years, _Dennis the Menace_ not funny in 40 years, and _The Lockhorns_ not funny in a million years. Amen to that. How anyone can think the Lockhorns, with its dated, sexist stereotypes could ever have been funny is beyond me. Dennis the Menace? Not funny either, and never has been (and IIRC is another strip that going to be ‘inherited’ when Hank Kesham (??) decides to retire.) There will be no end to our pain, apparently. Oh, I also find Fox Trot damn funny. Zits and Get Fuzzy also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ohmigod-is-the-family-circus-going-to-live-on-after-bil-keane/254840.md?page=3)