Brother Act
Cidu Bill on Jan 29th 2009
Lehman Brothers. Bankrupt financial services firm. what’s the joke, though?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Hilary B. Price, Joe Martin, Lehman Brothers, Mister Boffo, Rhymes With Orange, comic strips, comics, humor, synchronicity | 13 responses so far
buzz Jan 29th 2009 at 01:01 am 1
Dey ain’t gots no mo’ money, so this is their idea of a night on the town.
Charlene Jan 29th 2009 at 02:20 am 2
I think the second one is some kind of pun on “Kraft Macaroni and Cheese” - which is I think what they call Kraft Dinner in the US. But even then it makes no sense, because Kraft makes tons of different kinds of cheese that don’t come with macaroni.
jjmcgaffey Jan 29th 2009 at 03:49 am 3
It’s a stretch. But it’s always Mac’n'Cheese (when you’re talking about that stuff), never Cheese and Mac(aroni). Of course cheese is independent…hmmm, unless he represents only the orange powder that Kraft and similar _call_ Cheese in the boxed stuff. Yeah, really stretching here.
Powers Jan 29th 2009 at 07:28 am 4
Yes, but Kraft’s commercials for their Macaroni and Cheese Dinner product emphasize their “It’s the Cheesiest!” slogan by having characters suggest that it should be “Cheese and Macaroni”. So to say it’s *never* “Cheese and Macaroni” is wrong.
furrykef Jan 29th 2009 at 07:29 am 5
I think the cartoonist simply got the names Mac and Cheese backwards on the last comic and nobody had noticed…
Elliott Jan 29th 2009 at 08:46 am 6
I think Bill nailed it. Apparently only Cheese doesn’t know that it stands, alone.
Nicole Jan 29th 2009 at 09:34 am 7
Buzz has got the first one right — Lehman Brothers can’t afford anything but the neighborhood bar these days.
Matthew Jan 29th 2009 at 10:59 am 8
These two strips seem to be explained, but just to summarize (forgive me, if I’m being redundant):
Top strip: The Lehman Brothers used to be fantastically wealthy, but their company went broke, so now all they can afford for a night out is to go to the neighborhood bar for beer.
Bottom strip: One of Kraft’s most popular products is their macaroni (mac) & cheese. This strip imagines that Mac & Cheese are the Kraft brothers, and, since the nation refers to the product as mac & cheese, that Mac is the older brother. Thus, Cheese has all the younger brother issues, exacerbated by Cheese’s lowly status in the box as simply a little envelope of powder. The joke (which, I’ll grant, isn’t’ much) is lost if you extend Cheese’s world to all the cheeses in the world.
Rasheed Jan 29th 2009 at 12:33 pm 9
Charlene, are you from Canada and/or familiar with the Barenaked Ladies’ song “If I Had $1,000,000″?
If I Had $1000000
We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner.
(-But we would eat Kraft Dinner.
-Of course we would, we’d just eat more.
-And buy really expensive ketchup with it.
-That’s right, all the fanciest Dijon Ketchup. Mmmmmm.)
Andrew Jan 29th 2009 at 06:25 pm 10
Another point for the Kraft brothers joke is that although (to my knowledge) macaroni is only referred to as “Mac” in the context of “mac and cheese”, Mac is more believable as a name, or at least a form of address, to keep the reveal that the brothers are “Mac and Cheese” for the punchline.
Elliott Jan 29th 2009 at 08:17 pm 11
And we have yet to explore the mysteries of the Smith Brothers: Mark and Trade.
Or is that Trig?
Lindsey ^_^ Jan 29th 2009 at 10:35 pm 12
I think if you’ve ever made Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, which I have a lot, it might make more sense. The cheese is this powdery stuff that comes in this little packet. You definitely don’t want to eat that on its own, that would be disgusting.
Bob Jan 30th 2009 at 12:19 pm 13
Yeah, but the cheese stands alone in the (Farmer in the) Dell.