When Nobody’s Watching, Scott Hilburn Searches CIDU For Argyle Sweater Comics
Cidu Bill on Sep 5th 2010
The Ashton Kutcher panel was a LOL for me; the Stephen Hawking, a CIDU
Filed in Ashton Kutcher, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Stephen Hawking, comic strips, comics, comics that made us laugh out loud, humor, lol | 22 responses so far
Detcord Sep 5th 2010 at 12:34 pm 1
Hey! That Stephen Hawking’s one is legit. I mean, doesn’t everyone get their news from the comics pages?
Kilby Sep 5th 2010 at 12:39 pm 2
You know that you are “out of the loop” when 4 out of 6 names in a published cartoon are a complete mystery.
Jeff S. Sep 5th 2010 at 12:59 pm 3
So THAT’S how The Last Airbender sold those 200 tickets.
Seth Finkelstein Sep 5th 2010 at 02:38 pm 4
The Stephen Hawking one is like the cliche of a kid in school secretly reading comics with the comic behind a textbook (”studying”).
Kamino Neko Sep 5th 2010 at 03:09 pm 5
OK, Kilby, I assume Hawking is one of the 2 you recognized, who’s the other one?
(I suddenly feel young and in touch for recognizing all 6… Tough I only know Carson Daly’s NAME…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything he’s done, and I’d have to think to even remember any of it.)
mindermensch Sep 5th 2010 at 03:22 pm 6
Hawking would probably very glad if he could hold a newspaper like this …
turquoise cow Sep 5th 2010 at 04:25 pm 7
I know who Carson Daly is, but I don’t stay up late enough to watch his show. I don’t think the picture looks much like him. I haven’t a clue what Lady GaGa looks like, and Simon Cowell, Stephen Hawking, and M. Night are shown from behind so it’s not a deterrent. I think Ashton Kutcher is the only one who actually sort of looked like himself…without the captions beneath I would never have guessed, though.
Rebecca Sep 5th 2010 at 05:21 pm 8
Kilby:
Lady Gaga is a pop singer who dresses flamboyantly and strangely, so she’s going to raid Madonna’s sale of her conical bras.
Simon Cowell is a caustic music judge who we’d expect to hate preteen sensation Justin Bieber, so it’s funny he’s going to his fan site.
Ashton Kutcher is an actor/TV host who’s in a relationship with Demi Moore. She’s older than him. People mock him for this, even though Demi is totally hot, and male film stars who date women a lot younger than them are given a pass. I don’t get it, myself.
I hope I don’t have to explain who Stephen Hawking is.
M. Night Shyalaman directed “The Last Airbender,” which didn’t do so well at the box office.
Carson Daly hosts a TV show called “Last Call with Carson Daly”; nobody watches it.
amo Sep 5th 2010 at 08:21 pm 9
I really liked this one for some reason. I think it was the Carson Daly kicker because all the others were secretive things that the celebs probably wouldn’t want you to know about and for Carson Daly it’s what he actually does… but nobody cares. It wasn’t a complete LOL but it definitely got a chuckle.
CTew Sep 5th 2010 at 08:26 pm 10
Hawking is probably reading the once a month or so Sunday Brewster Rockit strip that start out giving legit astronomical info before falling into the gag panel.
James Pollock Sep 5th 2010 at 09:34 pm 11
Hawking, being well noted for leading-edge scientific examination of astrophysics, is assumed to be deep in thought all of the time, especially because of his physical frailties. But, thanks to this expose, we now know that he goofs off just the same as everyone else… because what greater waste of time is there than reading the comics page?
David N Sep 5th 2010 at 10:40 pm 12
It would have been funnier if Hawking was going to CIDU, though. A little inside joke perhaps, but I know I would have lost it.
Jeff S. Sep 5th 2010 at 11:13 pm 13
CTew, Hawking could be reading Fox Trot. It’s known for accurate physics and math formulae and computer programming code.
Usual John Sep 6th 2010 at 12:13 am 14
Hawking is a theoretical physicist, so it’s not expected that he would conduct research. Especially research into cartoon physics.
Ted in Fort Lauderdale Sep 6th 2010 at 12:38 am 15
Re: Hawking investigating cartoon physics - well, he’s appeared on Futurama dealing with something that certainly _seemed_ like cartoon physics… He’s also appeared on the Simpsons. For that matter, he was on Star Trek: TNG, which is arguably cartoon physics even if the show itself isn’t…
Kilby Sep 6th 2010 at 02:25 am 16
@ Kamino Neko (5), with thanks to Rebecca (8) - for the record, the names I recognized were Stephen Hawking and Lady Gaga. I should have counted Justin Bieber and Madonna, that would have upped my tally to 4 out of 8. On the other hand, I have no idea what Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga look like, even though I did recently see a (slightly synchronous) cartoon of her in a Madonna-esque bra contraption.
furrykef Sep 6th 2010 at 03:29 am 17
I’m with mindermensch on this one. Stephen Hawking is famous for not being able to move any part of his body, excepting a few very small movements like twitching his cheek (which is how he types into his computer, as it watches for the twitching). If this were something not many people knew about him, it would be understandable to ignore reality in favor of humor, but this is almost akin to showing Christopher Reeve walking to the store. (If, y’know, he hadn’t died a few years ago.)
padraig Sep 6th 2010 at 11:15 am 18
The Carson Daly one is a great example of the “So mean, yet so true” vein of humor. Ya wince and laugh at the same time. Or if you just laugh because you hate Carson Daly (and who doesn’t?), congrats, you just learned the German concept of “schadenfreude.”
Lola Sep 6th 2010 at 12:32 pm 19
All the others were just set ups for the the Carson Daly one. The wording is what gets it. “What celebrities do when nobody’s watching.” As we go through the first 5, we interpret it to mean things they would do when they feel secure nobody is watching. Poor Carson does his thing when he hopes to be watched, but alas, quite literally, nobody is watching. I loved this comic, even though I nearly choked on my tea laughing.
James Pollock Sep 7th 2010 at 03:24 am 20
In retrospect, I think one interpretation of Stephen Hawking is that when people see him, he’s immobilized by his illness… but when no one’s looking, he is less limited than people think he is, and can sit up and read the paper.
Mike in St. Louis Sep 7th 2010 at 08:49 am 21
Is the creator of Argyle Sweater known to have a position on religion? Hawking’s new book contains the following quote: “Because there are laws such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself out of nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.” So a mini controversy has started over Hawking denying the existence of God. Showing him “researching” in the comics would seem to be a jab at his scientific method.
John in Tronna Sep 7th 2010 at 03:39 pm 22
@David #12
I smiled at the comic, but your idea of Hawking reading CIDU almost made me spit-take my coffee. Thanks for that chuckle — I’m set for the week.