# Why Is This "Family Circus" Cartoon Funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579 "2010-03-07T02:29:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/1 "2010-03-07T02:29:34Z")
OK I rarely find “Family Circus” funny, but usually I can figure out what they cartoonist is going for. Because this is the 50th anniversary they’re rerunning old cartoons. Here’s one from [March 4, 1960](http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100304&name=Family_Circus) Is this supposed to be funny because “Mack The Knife,” would be unusual for a little girl to sing, at least in 1960 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/2 "2010-03-07T02:35:34Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Is this supposed to be funny because “Mack The Knife,” would be unusual for a little girl to sing, at least in 1960 I think so. _Mack The Knife_ is about a criminal. It starts out saying that a shark is armed. Mack is also armed, but not so obviously. The implication is that he’s a ‘shark’, but kills by stealth. The next verse (in a common version) describes a ‘body, oozing life’. The narrator suggests that he’s a victim of Mack The Knife. Then there’s a body being disposed of in a river, a disappearance of a man who had a lot of cash (and Mack suddenly spending like a sailor), and a list of women who apparently want to be with him (presumably for sex). ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/3 "2010-03-07T02:38:43Z")
Yes. It would be unusual, and rather creepy, for a little girl to sing “Mack the Knife” today as well. Cloris Leachman as Phyllis did a similar bit on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, by referring to her own experience in child beauty pageants, wherein she claimed to have sung “Ten Cents a Dance” - again, a singularly unsuitable song for a child to sing to a bunch of adults. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/4 "2010-03-07T02:39:35Z")
Right. Mack The Knife isn’t really a “little girl” song. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/5 "2010-03-07T02:43:58Z")
Her mother is entertaining proper guests, and “Mack the Knife” was a bit vulgar at the time, about the equivalent of singing a rap song about being a gang-banger. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/6 "2010-03-07T04:24:43Z")
One of the rarely-sung (in English) verses tells of a child raped in her sleep. This is the funniest Family Circus in 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/7 "2010-03-07T04:31:55Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > One of the rarely-sung (in English) verses tells of a child raped in her sleep. In German: _Und die minderjährige Witwe Deren Namen jeder weiß Wachte auf und war geschändet Mackie welches war dein Preis?_ Translation: _And the under-aged widow, Whose name everyone knows, Woke up and was violated Mack, what was your price?_ ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/8 "2010-03-07T05:09:28Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Yes. It would be unusual, and rather creepy, for a little girl to sing “Mack the Knife” today as well. > > Cloris Leachman as Phyllis did a similar bit on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, by referring to her own experience in child beauty pageants, wherein she claimed to have sung “Ten Cents a Dance” - again, a singularly unsuitable song for a child to sing to a bunch of adults. Stuff like that also happens in real life. When my uncle was around five years old, he was taken to church where the preacher asked the congregation if there were any hymns they could sing. My uncle innocently raised his hand and requested [“Pistol Packin’ Mama”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_Packin%27_Mama). ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/9 "2010-03-07T07:49:53Z")
That’s a question that could be applied to pretty much every Family Circus ever. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/10 "2010-03-07T07:55:46Z")
Wait…Family Circus is supposed to be funny? I thought it was supposed to be cute and slice-of-life-y, not funny… ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/11 "2010-03-07T10:08:31Z")
This was the climax in Little Miss Sunshine, a ten year old girl dancing to Rick James’ Superfreak as her pageant talent! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/12 "2010-03-07T12:48:16Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Yes. It would be unusual, and rather creepy, for a little girl to sing “Mack the Knife” today as well. Additional creepy points if the creepy no-neck monster shown in that cartoon were to sing it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/13 "2010-03-07T12:59:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > In German: > _Und die minderjährige Witwe > Deren Namen jeder weiß > Wachte auf und war geschändet > Mackie welches war dein Preis?_ > > Translation: > _And the under-aged widow, > Whose name everyone knows, > Woke up and was violated > Mack, what was your price?_ Nick Cave’s version (a faithful, if not literal translation) translates this verse as > [@](#): > > And the child bride, in her nighty > Whose assailant’s still at large > Violated in her slumbers > Macky how much did you charge? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/14 "2010-03-07T13:03:54Z")
On which note, actually, I’ve never been able to figure out that verse - WHO is paying Mackie to rape the girl, and WHY? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/15 "2010-03-07T15:30:21Z")
an example from 1933: seven year old Tommy “Butch” Bond singing “Just Friends, Lovers No More” in [Mush and Milk](http://www.archive.org/details/little_rascals_at_the_bleakhill_boarding_school) (at 12:50) After my own childhood, I never found "inappropriate awareness’ humor funny, since they never show what happens to the kid afterwards. The rare exception is “Three blocks away, Schwartz was getting his” from **A Christmas Story.** ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/16 "2010-03-07T15:56:07Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > … “Mack The Knife,” would be unusual for a little girl to sing, at least in 1960 It would? > [@](#): > > … “[Mack the Knife](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_The_Knife#Popular_song)” was introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956 {#20 hit single}, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded his version … on December 19, 1958 … In 1959 Darin’s version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 … and earned him a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. … It’s an “Uh-oh our little girl is growing up fast” moment, Darin being a teen heart-throb of the moment and at his career peak (1958 - _Splish Splash_ #3, 1959 - _Dream Lover_ #2, 1960 - _Beyond the Sea_ #6, _Artificial Flowers_ #20). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/17 "2010-03-07T16:47:36Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Stuff like that also happens in real life. When my uncle was around five years old, he was taken to church where the preacher asked the congregation if there were any hymns they could sing. My uncle innocently raised his hand and requested [“Pistol Packin’ Mama”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_Packin%27_Mama). I agree with you. I have seen this happen many times. Kids like the toons, and that is what they request or sing. They dont really pay much attention to hidden or subtle meanings. Mack The Knife was a cool sounding song, it sounded upbeat and catchy, something any kid would want to listen to, esp compared to what old women usually listen to . ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/18 "2010-03-07T17:09:29Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > On which note, actually, I’ve never been able to figure out that verse - WHO is paying Mackie to rape the girl, and WHY? I took it to mean that he pimped her out. Here’s a great video a fan of **The Shield** made: [Vic Mackey the Knife](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd1VWyfgfJc) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/19 "2010-03-07T17:12:52Z")
That’s a better Family Circus than any I’ve ever seen re being funny. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579/20 "2010-03-07T17:27:07Z")
> [@PetW](#): > > I took it to mean that he pimped her out. Oh-ho…that makes sense! :smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-family-circus-cartoon-funny/531579.md?page=2)