Flashy
Cidu Bill on Feb 8th 2010
Nicole: Paul Szep does editorial cartoons and is a two time Pulitzer Prize winner as well as a Harvard fellow ….. you would think his comics would be clear.
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, humor, political cartoons | 29 responses so far
Charlene Feb 8th 2010 at 07:00 pm 1
The old joke about the extremely nerdy guy who’s worried about looking too flashy, even though there’s no chance of that no matter what car he picks.
James Schend Feb 8th 2010 at 07:17 pm 2
So you can just make up a stereotype and write a comic based on it?
Also, is that comic from like 1978, or is it a retro car shop?
Lihtox Feb 8th 2010 at 07:24 pm 3
Maybe we’re reading the order of events incorrectly here. Maybe the guy says “I don’t want to look too flashy”, and then the salesman shows him this car. Or maybe the guy has *chosen* this car because he doesn’t want to look too flashy.
The guy on the right looks a little like Mr. Magoo to me, which adds another layer entirely– as in, you shouldn’t be buying a car period.
Or could it be a caricature of someone?
paperboy Feb 8th 2010 at 07:42 pm 4
The guy on the right is saying “I don’t to look too FLASHY”, while he’s exposing himself. (look at the salesman’s eyes…)
Tullia Feb 8th 2010 at 08:19 pm 5
Yeah, I think Lihtox has it — the guy chose that car to avoid looking too flashy. What is that, anyway? It looks like the General Lee had a baby car with a pimpmobile, except boring, as if the baby car became a monk.
Mark M Feb 8th 2010 at 08:40 pm 6
He’s bound to get noticed driving a car when he has no arms.
Nicole Feb 8th 2010 at 08:58 pm 7
I still don’t get it
Aaron Feb 8th 2010 at 09:06 pm 8
Is the car salesman Bob Dole?
Catelli Feb 8th 2010 at 10:19 pm 9
Not only is the car salesman Bob Doyle, he’s a car/human hybrid. His body has merged with the car’s structure.
Though why he picked a ‘64 Buick Skylark is open to discussion….
AMC Feb 8th 2010 at 10:25 pm 10
The customer is saying “I don’t want to look too flashy”, but the salesman knows - this is a guy who needs all the help he can get to be noticed, and the customer - deep down - knows it. And, of course, the salesman knows it - he’s seen a hundred mid-life crises - and will use it to sell the guy a flashy car.
It’s kind of a Troy Polamalu thing, only with cars instead of hair. All you need is the salesman to say “really?” a couple of times.
Lola Feb 8th 2010 at 10:46 pm 11
He looks like Alan Greenspan.
How old is this comic? Even the background cars look like 70s/80s bodies
Nicole Feb 8th 2010 at 11:06 pm 12
I do believe it was published yesterday
Joshua Feb 9th 2010 at 02:09 am 13
A few years ago, Szep had a comic panel in the Boston Globe titled “Top Secrets,” which became the subject of some discussion on rec.arts.comics.strips due to its reported absence of humor, or at least a minimal concept of what qualified as humor.
In this panel, I think the joke is “the customer either doesn’t realize or doesn’t want to admit that, due to his old-fashioned personal style, he is not going to look flashy no matter what car he drives.”
Soup Dragon Feb 9th 2010 at 02:37 am 14
Paperboys suggestion (#4) is certainly the funniest, but I’m not so sure that’s what the artist had in mind.
But why doesn’t the customer has a back?
Tullia Feb 9th 2010 at 02:40 am 15
Oh, man. Now I think it’s the other, original explanation — the guy thinks he might look flashy if he’s not careful because he’s just hot that way, so he’s telling the salesman to help him pick a car that won’t over-accentuate his natural flashiness. The salesman is meanwhile thinking “as if” and has half-picked some truly chunky old crate for the guy, since the “flashy” guy wouldn’t know a Jaguar from a Chevette and will buy anything blocky and dull, and will still worry that he looks too much like a hot stud.
Problem is, I had to keep retelling the cartoon to myself to make it settle down into one or another explanation. And it’s not like the basic idea, given all the way up there by Charlene, is so difficult to grasp … it would probably help if the car looked more distinctly old and dull, say a sub-compact, rather than a 1970s movie-car-chase-scene car.
Morris Keesan Feb 9th 2010 at 09:02 am 16
I think we’re supposed to recognize the speaker, but I don’t.
More to the point, where’s the “ANN” and/or the “AMY”? Szep always used to hide his wife’s and daughter’s names in the cross-hatching, like Hirschfeld’s “Nina”s.
Kevin A Feb 9th 2010 at 11:08 am 17
“Amy” was sliced off at the bottom left.
Kevin A Feb 9th 2010 at 11:08 am 18
pardon me, “AMY”.
Dan W. Feb 9th 2010 at 11:53 am 19
Could it have something to do with the fact that the customer claims he doesn’t want to be too flashy, and yet he is wearing a rather nice looking suit/tux while out car shopping? His suit looks much more formal than the jacket and tie on the salesman.
MCS Feb 9th 2010 at 11:56 am 20
The salesman looks like Ralph Nader to me. Maybe something to do with boxy American cars versus flashy foreign cars? Maybe something to do with simpler times and simpler automobiles?
In light of everything going on with Toyota, that is.
Jesse Feb 9th 2010 at 12:04 pm 21
I was trying to figure out why there is a big gap before “FLASHY”. I think it original had this right in front of it:
*puts on sunglasses*
Rainey Feb 9th 2010 at 12:08 pm 22
Nicole, perhaps it’s BECAUSE Paul Szep was smart enough to go to Harvard that he can do a strip that’s difficult to understand.
Morris Keesan Feb 9th 2010 at 12:15 pm 23
I don’t think the customer is meant to be dressed formally. I think the intent of the bowtie is to show his dress as old-fashioned, and I suspect that the bowtie is probably an identifying feature meant to help us recognize a specific individual (along with the glasses, bald head, and nose).
Lola Feb 9th 2010 at 01:08 pm 24
Maybe Jack Benny? http://www.tv-now.com/stars/jackben.html
Lihtox Feb 9th 2010 at 01:45 pm 25
Are we assuming that the car IS flashy, here? Because besides its color, it actually looks rather old and cruddy, though that could just be the art style. Maybe the joke is that Mr. Bowtie thinks the car is fancy, when it really isn’t; like someone turning down a ‘83 Chevy Nova because it was too stylish.
paperboy Feb 9th 2010 at 04:02 pm 26
Thanks for the kudo, Soup Dragon#14, but the answer is Charlene#1.
David A. Rooney Feb 9th 2010 at 08:46 pm 27
Don’t you guys recognize ‘retro’ styling (both cars and suit) when you see it?
Mark in Boston Feb 10th 2010 at 12:31 am 28
Then there was the student at Whole Foods in Cambridge with twelve items at the “6 Items Or Fewer” register. The lady behind him said “I know you go to Harvard or MIT; I just don’t know which one.” “How do you know?” said the student. The lady pointed to the sign and said “Either you go to MIT where they didn’t teach you to read, or you go to Harvard where they didn’t teach you to count.”
Lola Feb 10th 2010 at 12:33 am 29
Maybe it’s Jack Benny. Not only would he not want it flashy, he wouldn’t want to pay for it.
http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jack-benny/154847