# Tom TOmorrow & Mallard Fillmore.... do they make you LAUGH? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772 "2002-04-15T16:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/21 "2002-04-16T03:47:50Z")
May I add one? Non sequitur was funny for awhile. Then it got old, fairly quickly. No, scratch that. It was old to begin with but it just happened to be new to me. Here’s his routine: Monday: Lawyer joke Tuesday: Politician joke Wednesday: Government joke Thursday: The same lawyer joke Friday: The same politician joke Saturday: The same government joke Sunday: All three jokes warped together in color. Need I say “Monday: repeat”? We get that “the system” is confusing. Moving on… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/22 "2002-04-16T04:05:49Z")
I quite like “This Modern World.” But I don’t think I’d ever buy a compilation – by its very take-on-current-event nature, the strips grow dated almost instantly. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/23 "2002-04-16T04:12:44Z")
The few times I’ve read Mallard Fillmore it just seems too whiny to me. Duck: “The liberal media is biased and never gives conservatives a fair shake.” I know there are plenty of people that agree with this, and they’re entitled to their opinion. It really gets old though when it’s run into the ground. The guy might have a case if his cartoon whining about the “liberal bias” wasn’t syndicated in however many newspapers around the country. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/24 "2002-04-16T06:53:30Z")
Whaaaat? Do some people think that Mallard Fillmore is a shrill cartoon devoid of humor and only concentrating on political propagandizing? Meet the [Leftersons.](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/Leftersons.asp) Only been on for about three weeks, and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see what a festering pile of poop it is. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/25 "2002-04-16T07:14:38Z")
There are a handful of This Modern World strips that I found absolutely hilarious (off the top of my head, the “find the mistakes” one and the “Gorebot 2000 on the death penalty” one), many others that are at least servicably funny, and some that were never _intended_ to be funny (e.g. Amadou Diallo). All in all, he has a good track record. I don’t think it really matters, though, because TMW isn’t _about_ cheap laughs or sight gags. He’s making some serious points, and yes, it may come across as preachy, but that’s just how it’s done. In his own words, “Free speech isn’t a part-time job.” I think he’s doing a fine enough job injecting some much-needed alternative…and common-sense…viewpoints that I can take the occasiaonal lapse into pedantry. Mallard Fillmore isn’t so fortunate. As a humor strip _and_ a strip trying to make a point, it’s so incredibly shallow as to be nearly worthless. I followed it for about a year and just couldn’t take it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/26 "2002-04-16T10:41:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kantalooppi \* > \*\*Whaaaat? Do some people think that Mallard Fillmore is a shrill cartoon devoid of humor and only concentrating on political propagandizing? > > Meet the [Leftersons.](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/Leftersons.asp) > > Only been on for about three weeks, and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see what a festering pile of poop it is. \*\* Boy, does that suck. ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/27 "2002-04-16T13:02:32Z")
Tom Tomorrow? He **rocks**. I’ve been a fan ever since he was a local cartoonist for the SF Weekly, doing strips on San Franciscan issues like rent control and ballot measures. A very, very funny fellow, and quite innovative in his own way. He deserves every bit of his success and I hope he gets a Pulitzer. I think one of the reasons conservatives don’t like him is because he’s very wordy, and reading is hard for some people. (Same thing goes for _Doonesbury_.) Mallard Fillmore? Never heard of him … I don’t recall seeing the strip in any of Florida’s major dailies. Apparently his message is not as popular with the general public as Tomorrow’s or Trudeau’s is. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/28 "2002-04-16T13:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kantalooppi \* > **Meet the [Leftersons.](http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/Leftersons.asp)** Whoa. That’s some seriously crappy material. Is he trying to ape the Tom Tomorrow “cutout” look? Thank god so few right-wingers with brains or a sense of humor choose to enter into the low-income field of cartooning. (I met Tom Tomorrow at a San Francisco book fair a few years back. He was a smug little walking cliche of a leftist political media artist, with his little goatee and stylish hiphop pants and all. I don’t think highly of his work, but at least he’s better than Ted Rall.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/29 "2002-04-16T14:19:16Z")
Okay, I have my answer. Even conservatives don’t find Mallard Fillmore funny, but Tom Tomorrow seems to leave the far Left in stitches. Apparently, a duck saying “Clinton sucks” day in and day out isn’t funny, but a penguin saying “Bush sucks” week in and week out is hilarious. Which proves only one thing: you guys on the Left are VERY easily amused. So it goes. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/30 "2002-04-16T14:51:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Okay, I have my answer. Even conservatives don’t find Mallard Fillmore funny, but Tom Tomorrow seems to leave the far Left in stitches. Apparently, a duck saying “Clinton sucks” day in and day out isn’t funny, but a penguin saying “Bush sucks” week in and week out is hilarious. > > Which proves only one thing: you guys on the Left are VERY easily amused. > > So it goes. Enjoy. \*\* Wow. Sorry for not agreeing with you. Next time why not just a tthread that says, “Tom Tomorrow isn’t funny, and anyone who disagrees is a far-left ultra-liberal who is easily amused.” It’ll save us the trouble of replying. ---
**Author:** ![joshmaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a587f6/32.png) [@joshmaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joshmaker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/31 "2002-04-16T15:09:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Apparently, a duck saying “Clinton sucks” day in and day out isn’t funny, but a penguin saying “Bush sucks” week in and week out is hilarious. > > Which proves only one thing: you guys on the Left are VERY easily amused. > \*\* No, it proves that penguins are funnier than ducks… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![obidiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/32 "2002-04-16T15:25:42Z")
The thing I hate most about Mallard FIllmore is the look on that ducks face when he “makes” his “point”…that smug “look at how cleverly ironic I am, being a duck and all” look. Eeerrgghh, that is anoying. Outside of the fact that he is blatently unfunny…he seems to strive at being droll and sophmoric. Tom Tomorrow is funny, however. Of course, our right-winged duck friends certainly are NOT so easily amused by anything. Perhaps is is the stick up their butt, but I’m not sure and don’t have time to figure it out…I’ve gotta go stoke my penguin with my left-wing. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/33 "2002-04-16T15:41:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Okay, I have my answer. Even conservatives don’t find Mallard Fillmore funny, but Tom Tomorrow seems to leave the far Left in stitches. Apparently, a duck saying “Clinton sucks” day in and day out isn’t funny, but a penguin saying “Bush sucks” week in and week out is hilarious. > > Which proves only one thing: you guys on the Left are VERY easily amused. > > So it goes. Enjoy. \*\* Astorian, you’re being unfair. Tom Tommorrow’s strip has a lot more to it than a penguin saying “Bush sucks.” It also has very funny pictures, as for instance the time he juxtaposed famously up-tight politicians into the clothes of cross-dressers. Tommorow also uses the very clever tactic of accurately quoting his targets, thus pointing out the absurdities and hypocracy there. Further, his targets are those in power, be they Democrats, Plutocrats or Republicans, or did you happen to miss his strips aimed at Clinton and Gore? Nevermind, don’t answer that. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/34 "2002-04-16T19:36:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > Even conservatives don’t find Mallard Fillmore funny, but Tom Tomorrow seems to leave the far Left in stitches. Apparently, a duck saying “Clinton sucks” day in and day out isn’t funny, but a penguin saying “Bush sucks” week in and week out is hilarious. Never ask a question if you can’t handle the answer. (So, I guess **Astorian** is proof that Conservatives _don’t_ have a sense of humor, eh? 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/35 "2002-04-16T20:42:28Z")
I usually find Tom Tomorrow to be entertaining. He’s had sort of a bad year or two, though; I think some of his earlier work was funnier. Also, when he gets into the conspiricies (aliens, etc.) he loses some of his appeal. Mallard Fillmore makes me laugh in disbelief. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/36 "2002-04-16T20:57:17Z")
I like Tom Tomorrow a lot. Yes, he’s a commie pinko, but he’s clever about it. Lots of humor comes from the absurd, and heaven knows, he has enough material there. Mallard Fillmore just isn’t clever, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/37 "2002-04-16T21:17:31Z")
For those not blessed by Mallard Fillmore: A recent week’s worth of strips made hay out of a poll of college professors that showed that 0% of college professors identify themselves as conservative. No, it didn’t mock the pollsters who poorly designed their poll. And it didn’t mock the media source that published the poll (unfortunately, I don’t remember which media source – it may’ve been the Washington Times). Instead, it took the poll at face value and spent the week mocking colleges. As anyone who’s been near a college campus in the last decade can tell you, there’s plenty of professors who would identify themselves as conservative. Hell, I went to a school that had Mumia Abu Jamal as the graduation speaker, and I can think of two conservative professors I worked for or took classes from. It’s pretty common for him to harp on some obviously incorrect bit of information like that. While Tom Tomorrow may exaggerate or oversimplify, I can’t think of him ever doing it as egregiously as MF does regularly. Besides which, TT’s humor includes a big dose of the surreal and the bizarre. MF’s relies almost exclusively on smug contempt. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/38 "2002-04-16T21:54:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by joshmaker \* > \*\* > > No, it proves that penguins are funnier than ducks… 🆒 \*\* But are penguins TASTIER than ducks? That’s the real question. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/39 "2002-04-17T00:55:21Z")
Reasonable question. But I must point out that a cartoon doesn’t have to be ROTFLMAO in order to be a good strip. For example, it can be provacative. Or it can merely show an interesting perspective on its material (e.g. For Better or Worse, among nonpolitical strips). It is worth noting, however, that most comic strips are neither funny nor provocative nor even halfway interesting. 90% of everything and all that. BTW, I like this Modern World. Sometimes T.T. beats against a straw man, but he does this much less than he did in his early work, IMO. And as another poster has pointed out, he often quotes those who are in his cross-hairs. And if T.T. tends to be somewhat didactic, I’d respond that at least he’s different than the bulk of his competition. If other cartoons were reliably funny, **Astorian** ’s implicit criticism would have more bite. Finally, I admit that T.T. does make me chuckle. More to the point, I look forward to reading his strips, which is something that I can’t say for (e.g.) Herblock. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772/40 "2002-04-17T03:05:31Z")
flowbark writes: \> More to the point, I look forward to reading his strips, which is \> something that I can’t say for (e.g.) Herblock. Given that Herblock is dead, it’s probably a good thing that you aren’t looking forward to reading his strips. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tomorrow-mallard-fillmore-do-they-make-you-laugh/103772.md?page=3)