Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? This is the most bizarre `mainstream’ comic strip I’ve ever seen. I honestly don’t think it’s funny, and I have no freaking clue what Conley is trying to do here.
On the other hand, that’s an interesting use of the classic Indian-head test pattern. It’s good to see someone has respect for the classics.
What’s going on is that the strip is having technical troubles - the ‘sound’ fades out when Bucky’s talking, and doesn’t come in again until Rob speaks. So, it goes to the test pattern, just like on TV.
I think it’s funny. Weird, and it took a moment to get it, but funny.
Okay, that makes sense. I still don’t think it’s funny, and I guess that’s what threw me: I was sure there was a joke I wasn’t getting.
I thought Bucky’s blank “speech balloon” was supposed to indicate blanked-out obscenity of some sort. So when he did it to Satchel too, it totally threw me. The explanation makes sense, though.
Hey, when you’re innovative you’re gonna have a few “misses” among the classics that people remember. “Cow Tools,” anyone?
I got where he was going with the strip…I just figure it’s not over yet either. Probably continued tomorrow.
I thought it might mean he’s going on vacation for a bit.
I didn’t get this one either–sometimes my paper isn’t printed right, and I thought it was a mistake.
What’s “Cow Tools?” 
ME
A famously confusing Far Side cartoon that people get confused by looking for meaning that isn’t there.
Oh–Cow Tools! I remember that.
:smack: I was thinking it was a “Get Fuzzy” thing.
ME
So, just a technical glitch? I thought that it might mean that the strip was over (you know how they put the test pattern on after the day’s programming back in the olden days), fade to black. Had me scared there.
“On the same monkey?” is pretty funny without context. The strip made me laugh.
I thought it was hilarious, though I can see why younger readers wouldn’t get it. The TV test pattern is kind of archaic, but then so am I.
Wondering exactly what Satchel could have been saying in panel 2 is the best part.
I’d never seen that test pattern before; it actually makes sense now, instead of just being so incredibly bizarre that it makes me giggle.
Daniel
I thought the strip was a reference to the FCC policing/fining obscenity more strictly lately.
Bucky and the Satchel spout some forbidden dialog, which results in the strip getting pulled by the gummint and/or broadcaster. Fade to dial tone.
It used to be a lot more common, like through the sixties esp. when most TVs were black & white. Since most stations broadcast 'round-the-clock, test patterns are pretty rare and the ones you do see are likelier to be vertical color bars over a horizontal black one.
There’s an old Cheech & Chong routine that starts out with the baked duo in the living room late at night:
CHONG: What’re you doing, man?
CHEECH: I’m watching this movie about indians. It’s really boring!
FYI, the “indian head” test pattern used in the strip can be found here.
Biffy and pepperlandgirl have it - trying to imagine what in the world Satchel said for Rob to say “On the same monkey?” because you didn’t ‘hear’ what Satch said (because the strip is having technical difficulties) is where the humor is. It doesn’t work without the test signal, because without it, people would just think it was a misprint error by the newspaper.
Once it was identified as a TV test pattern, I recognized it from Pleasantville.
Definitely a satire on government censorship. Conley did something similar a couple of years ago (when Ashcroft had the statues draped), where he put Satchel and Bucky into clothes. This time, it’s about Bucky’s life-long dream of eating a monkey. I suppose the fact that Satchel is on board with the idea now is making it “too dangerous” for the public.
I thought “Cow Tools” was hilarious, actually. I never understood why anyone wouldn’t get it.