# Utterly pointless cartoon question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961 "2004-11-04T13:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/1 "2004-11-04T13:12:43Z")
What would Michigan J. Frog have done if more than one person had been present when he was disinterred from the cornerstone? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/2 "2004-11-04T13:21:09Z")
It can’t happen. A reputable company like Acme Building Disintegrators would never pad their payroll by hiring two people for something that is clearly a one-man job. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/3 "2004-11-04T13:21:20Z")
I say he wouldn’t do anything. He only sings when there’s just one person around to hear him. ---
**Author:** ![ShockingAlberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@ShockingAlberto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShockingAlberto)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/4 "2004-11-04T13:36:34Z")
I personally always thought Michigan J. Frog was a bit of a dick for always doing that. I mean, imagine the psychiatry bills that would rack up from witnessing such an event, but having no way to corroborate it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/5 "2004-11-04T14:07:15Z")
I never thought that M.J. did it deliberately. He couldn’t have. He couldn’t know that the rope would break when the poor schlub tried to open the curtain in the theater. He couldn’t know just when the door to the talent agent’s office would open or when the police officer would be walking past the park. That’s the one flaw in the first _Toy Story_, that the toys break character at the end to scare Sid means that they’re complicit in a grand deception. _One Froggy Evening_ is different. Michigan J. Frog sings for one person, and one person only, because that’s just the way the world works. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/6 "2004-11-04T14:48:47Z")
I always thought that Michigan J. Frog was an Emmissary Of Ultimate Evil.[ul] [li]Only one person ever hears him, his hapless victim.[/li][li]Random things, like ropes breaking, happen to help conceal his True Evil Nature from all but his hapless victim.[/li][li]The Victim always winds up on the skids[/li][li]Even after 100 years entombed in a stone block, he can **never die**! :eek: [/li][li]His song sucks. It needs guitar riffs.[/li][li]The background music appears to come from nowhere. Evil spirits at work for certain.[/li][li]Michigan J Frog is named after…well, _Michigan_, the Source Of All Evil, and the Devil’s own outhouse.[/li][li]Michigan J Frog used to shill for the WB Network–clear & certain proof that he is Evil.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/7 "2004-11-04T14:52:27Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What would Michigan J. Frog have done if more than one person had been present when he was disinterred from the cornerstone? He would have behaved as a normal frog until he was alone with each of the people. He’d have sung for them separately, leading to zany comic hijinks as they each try to secretly screw each other out of what they believe is a path to riches. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/8 "2004-11-04T14:54:50Z")
Everybody do the Michigan Ra-a-a-a-ag! Is obviously a mnemonic fo the demonic. Always so much violence and destruction in those cartoons! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/9 "2004-11-04T19:50:29Z")
And what’s the deal with My Mother, the Car and that bastard Mr. Ed?!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/10 "2004-11-04T19:57:16Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > I always thought that Michigan J. Frog was an Emmissary Of Ultimate Evil.[ul] > [li]Only one person ever hears him, his hapless victim.[/li][li]Random things, like ropes breaking, happen to help conceal his True Evil Nature from all but his hapless victim.[/li][li]The Victim always winds up on the skids[/li][li]Even after 100 years entombed in a stone block, he can **never die**! :eek: [/li][li]His song sucks. It needs guitar riffs.[/li][li]The background music appears to come from nowhere. Evil spirits at work for certain.[/li][li]Michigan J Frog is named after…well, _Michigan_, the Source Of All Evil, and the Devil’s own outhouse.[/li][li]Michigan J Frog used to shill for the WB Network–clear & certain proof that he is Evil.[/li][/ul] There are several problems with your theory. 1. the songs don’t suck, they are true genius. No one in the history of music has topped, “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my rag time gaaaaalllll” 2. Michigan is the home of all things wonderful and angelic, not demonic. I’ve lived here for several years and I know. 3. The WB is not evil, just misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/11 "2004-11-04T20:02:52Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > 1. Michigan is the home of all things wonderful and angelic, not demonic. I’ve lived here for several years and I know. That’s just what I’d expect someone from Michigan to say. The Devil, too, can quote travel brouchures. ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/utterly-pointless-cartoon-question/272961/12 "2004-11-05T00:58:34Z")
Did you know that cartoon was inspired by a real life horned toad that revived after being in a cornerstone for 31 years? They called him [“Old Rip”](http://www.texastwisted.com/attr/oldrip/).