Roy and the Tiger
Cidu Bill on May 30th 2009
S. P. Charles: Um… Scott Hilburn does know that a tiger attacked Roy and almost killed him a few years back, doesn’t he?
Filed in Argyle Sweater, Bill Bickel, Scott Hilburn, Siegfried & Roy, comic strips, comics, humor | 16 responses so far
Rutskarn May 30th 2009 at 01:25 am 1
I believe it’s implying that Siegfried’s tongue was bitten out.
Annie Benson May 30th 2009 at 03:18 am 2
That was my first thought too, but the cop’s laughing in the background stumps me. It’s like they are setting the other cop up for some kind of a prank on Siegfreid.
I’m not really feeling the funny on this one.
Fnord May 30th 2009 at 03:22 am 3
The cops in the background are just the laugh track. The cartoonist wants to be sure you know the joke is really very funny.
Spiritcatcher May 30th 2009 at 05:23 am 4
notice the tiger jacket. so it was led to attack roy in a quite sexual way ?
Adny May 30th 2009 at 07:40 am 5
For some macabre synchronicity: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25546107-2703,00.html (New Zealand zookeeper mauled to death by white tiger)
Back in the funny papers though, I like the way Spiritcatcher is thinking
Powers May 30th 2009 at 09:11 am 6
This looks like it’s in realllly bad taste.
Rainey May 30th 2009 at 11:11 am 7
@ S.P. Charles: If the tiger attack happened a few years ago as opposed to a few weeks ago, Scott Hilburn really should have no qualms about including it in one of his comics. Just like it is more acceptable to reference Columbine and the Oklahoma city bombing today than it was just after these events took place.
Chakolate May 30th 2009 at 11:51 am 8
@Rainey No, it’s not more acceptable to reference those, and it’s not more acceptable to reference Roy’s accident. These things don’t become more acceptable until all the people who were hurt/frightened/scarred by them are dead.
Mitch4 May 30th 2009 at 12:04 pm 9
Hard to discuss if we’re restricted to “reference”. There needs to be a way to distinguish “take too lightly”, “present disrespectfully” and so on. (And just being in a comic doesn’t by itself put something in those piles.)
That said, this one does seem rather tasteless. And indeed, obscure in its intended humor — which is where we started. What is the joke at least supposed to be? We don’t quite know …
S.P. Charles May 30th 2009 at 12:08 pm 10
And even then Chakolate, “acceptable” doesn’t necessarily mean “funny.”
Elyrest May 30th 2009 at 12:25 pm 11
As the old saying goes, tragedy plus time equals comedy.
To some people there is never enough time and to others time is irrelevant. This is why there will always be sick groaner jokes right after a death - especially of someone famous. It helps some people deal with pain and loss. After My youngest brother died we all sat around and told stories and made jokes, Not because we didn’t care, but because we did,
That said - this comic isn’t very funny.
Howabominable (aka Lindsey ^_^) May 30th 2009 at 01:37 pm 12
Sure, you can reference Columbine easier now than you could a few years ago, but it’s still no more funny now than it was a few years ago. Same with this tiger attack. I mean, I’m the type of person who jokes in order to cope with stress and hard times, but even so, this comic just isn’t funny, and there are some things that just aren’t funny no matter how hard you try. And since this comic doesn’t seem to be trying very hard, well, it fails.
Wisteria May 31st 2009 at 01:02 pm 13
I saw this in an entirely different way. Presumably the attack just happened and the fat cop just made an tasteless attempt at humor in a tragic situation while the other cops laugh in the background - the joke is that cops are clueless jerks.
Poor Roy
Jordan May 31st 2009 at 01:20 pm 14
I think the difference with making a joke about a deceased family member is that you’re doing it out of love and you’re helping yourself and others deal with the grief. I highly doubt the cartoonist has any love for Roy (or Sigfried) and just used a real-life tragedy to serve a lazy pun.
I don’t really care for Sigfried and Roy myself, but seriously. If you’re going to make light of a personal tragedy, do it in a way that helps people feel better about it. This is just pointing and laughing like a schoolyard bully.
Derek Jun 2nd 2009 at 05:06 am 15
Maybe the joke is that the cat literally got his tongue. Not that funny though. Personally I don’t see what happened to Roy as a tragedy, merely the almost inevitable result of capturing wild animals and teaching them tricks for the amusement of idiots. It seems to me Roy got exactly what he deserved.
David A. Rooney Jun 2nd 2009 at 09:29 pm 16
Elyrest got it. The day after Deforrest Kelly of Star Trek died, I drew a comic showing his headstone with the words “I’m dead, Jim.” I never put it on the my web-page until a couple of years after.