Comics I Don’t Understand

Sunday Funnies - LOL February 12

Cidu Bill on Feb 12th 2012

Morris Keesan: … because I had to think about it for a few seconds.

Lola:

Filed in 9 Chickweed Lane, B.C., Bill Bickel, Bizarro, Brooke McEldowney, Comics That Made Us Laugh Out Loud, Dan Piraro, Dave Coverly, Mark Parisi, New Yorker, Off the Mark, Speed Bump, clowns, comic strips, comics, humor, lol | 42 responses so far

42 Responses to “Sunday Funnies - LOL February 12”

mitch4 Feb 12th 2012 at 01:49 am 1

Yep, I also had to think about that 9CWL for a minute.
chuckers Feb 12th 2012 at 03:21 am 2

I am missing the reference. Jeff Dunham?
chuckers Feb 12th 2012 at 03:23 am 3

Okay, never mind. Google is my friend.

Edgar Bergen would have been a bit geezer-ish, I guess.
Detcord Feb 12th 2012 at 04:12 am 4

I’ve seen Jeff Dunham on You Tube. He’s very funny!

I got the 9CWL straight away. The question is, was his mind’s eye being prudish… or concerned she might catch a chill?

I presume blue-cap is going to get rational all over the place as soon as he swings that bat.
yellojkt Feb 12th 2012 at 06:41 am 5

Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist. One of his characters is Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
Kilby Feb 12th 2012 at 08:18 am 6

I agree with chuckers (@ 2&3), the joke is in CIDU territory with Dunham, the editors should have chosen Bergen.
Powers Feb 12th 2012 at 08:55 am 7

Geezerish? It’s B.C.; even Edgar Bergen would have been an anachronism.
amo Feb 12th 2012 at 08:55 am 8

I immediately recognized Jeff Dunham. And without the context of the comments I would not have gotten Bergen. That probably just shows my age. And the shower one is hilarious. So true!
mitch4 Feb 12th 2012 at 09:13 am 9

Isn’t Candace Bergen his daughter? Since she is almost a geezer reference, Edgar is surely even more so.

And where does Paul Winchell fit on the famous-bellyspeakers timeline? Which of these would I have seen on TV in the late 50s or early 60s? Who was Charlie McCarthy’s partner? Er, boss.
Mark M Feb 12th 2012 at 09:22 am 10

Think about it. Edgar Bergen was born in 1903. The guy in the comic would have to be around 110 now to have sat next to him in class. I’d have thought everyone’s heard of Jeff Dunham. Speaking of which:
http://www.popculturecomics.com/graphics/archive/strips/2012-02%20February/2012-02-02.gif
ANDREA Feb 12th 2012 at 10:16 am 11

1)
ANDREA Feb 12th 2012 at 10:18 am 12

1) a bit of synchronicity with the first one -
http://www.creators.com/comics/6/87103_thumb.gif

2) Jeff Dunham is the highest-paid comedian today. Who’da thunk a ventriloquist (bellytalker - great term) would reach that height in this day and age?
Joe Wombat Feb 12th 2012 at 10:23 am 13

For me the 9CWL would have worked better if, in the last panel, you couldn’t see her sweater & turtleneck…
Elyrest Feb 12th 2012 at 10:33 am 14

I had never heard of Jeff Dunham, but it was an easy loop-up. If I was reading it in a paper and not online I never would’ve looked it up and just let it go. I read more comics because of the internet and I understand more of them too because of it. I watch almost no television though and that means I don’t always get a number of current references.
Elyrest Feb 12th 2012 at 10:51 am 15

An easy loop-up? A typo, but hey what the hell.
Arthur Feb 12th 2012 at 11:50 am 16

No, I didn’t recognize the name Jeff Dunham. For quite a while I also had no idea why you were
talking about him. If you click the BC strip, you get the Speedbump strip, and for some reason,
I didn’t see the BC and clicked on its placeholder.

As for geezer vs. anti-geezer references, though, I think that Edgar Bergen may have entered our
national archive of meaning. He’s from before my time, but I recognize him and his name. Paul
Winchell, even though he’s from my time, and I actually watched him, requires more thought
to place.

So, what are we going to call the anti-geezer strips? Whippersnappers?
Mike Feb 12th 2012 at 11:51 am 17

I’ve never heard of Jeff Dunham, but after thinking about it for a minute, I figured he had to be a ventriloquist. then I googled it
Sal Feb 12th 2012 at 11:58 am 18

I didn’t know who Jeff Dunham was until MarkM mentioned Edgar Bergen and then the little light bulb came on.
CaroZ Feb 12th 2012 at 03:29 pm 19

Same as Sal… I’d never heard of Jeff Dunham and I just assumed it was a random name to indicate some loud classmate the two cavemen knew. But I got the Edgar Bergen references in the comments right away.

Either I’m a geezer at 40 or I’ve just been living under a rock somewhere.
Kamino Neko Feb 12th 2012 at 05:47 pm 20

Living under a rock, that was hidden under 5 other rocks, and buried in a cave that wasn’t on a map.

Dunham’s been around for ~20 years - Achmed the Dead Terrorist is actually one of his newer puppets, and he’s about 10 years old, now - and has been near unavoidable for the last few years. To the point that he’s developed a fairly impressive hatedom, even.
Dan V Feb 12th 2012 at 06:02 pm 21

When I was a child reading B.C. close to 50 years ago, one day Johnny Hart had Peter admiring himself in a mirror. He then looked out at the audience and said, “Eat your heart out, Victor Mature.” I had no idea who that was or why this should be funny. Actually, didn’t know what “eat your heart out” meant, either. But somehow I never forgot the gag.

I assumed this one was a shout-out to a friend, just like Hart and Schulz used to do.
Elyrest Feb 12th 2012 at 06:43 pm 22

Kamino Neko - It would appear that quite a few of us have been living under those rocks. It is often surprising that what seems ubiquitous to one person is a complete mystery to another.
Kamino Neko Feb 12th 2012 at 07:24 pm 23

Kind of interesting how that only applies to pointing out that he’s constantly on TV and elsewhere, not suggesting that he’s some obscure reference that nobody would get…
Pirk Feb 12th 2012 at 07:43 pm 24

at 24, I’ve heard of Jeff Dunham but not Edgar Bergen
Mark in Bostom Feb 12th 2012 at 09:21 pm 25

Paul Winchell had Jerry Mahoney and Danny O’Day (and Farfel the dog if I remember correctly) and also invented an artificial heart.
Mark in Bostom Feb 12th 2012 at 09:29 pm 26

I’m wrong about Danny O’Day and Farfel. That was Jimmy Nelson. But Paul Winchell had Jerry Mahoney and patented an artificial heart.
Morris Keesan Feb 12th 2012 at 10:40 pm 27

mitch4 #9, Edgar Bergen was Charlie McCarthy’s partner. Also Mortimer Snerd’s partner, but McCarthy was more famous. The amazing and impressive thing about Bergen is that he managed to be extremely successful as a ventriloquist on the radio.

ANDREA #12, the word “ventriloquist” comes from the Latin: venter (“stomach”) + loqui (“to speak”).

Mark #24/#25: You’ve moved?
Elyrest Feb 12th 2012 at 10:59 pm 28

Morris is right Mark. Is Bostom in Nassachusetts?
MollyJ Feb 12th 2012 at 11:01 pm 29

Wish I’d never heard of Jeff Dunham.

And the allspice one really had me giggling!
George P Feb 13th 2012 at 06:53 am 30

I only know Paul Winchell as the voice of Dick Dastardly and the father of April Winchell.
George P Feb 13th 2012 at 06:55 am 31

Oh, and I also had never heard of Jeff Dunham. I’ve not avoided television for the past five decades, but I must not watch whatever he’s been on.
chuckers Feb 13th 2012 at 07:08 am 32

To be honest, I *have* seen Jeff Dunham’s act on TV before but that would have been at LEAST 15+ years ago and his name didn’t ring a bell because he isn’t “constantly on TV” in my part of the world.

I was trying to remember other famous ventriloquists and the only other one I could think of was Willie Tyler but couldn’t remember his name, only Lester’s. Senor Wences would have been another good one but another geezer reference.

Ikkoku Dou would have worked (for me) as well but then it would likely have been CIDU for everyone else.
mitch4 Feb 13th 2012 at 09:13 am 33

Thanks to all for filling in the history re Bergen and Winchell and their characters. I also had been wondering about Farfel the dog, and misattributed him to Winchell. I don’t really remember Jimmy Nelson or Danny O’Day but certainly can’t shake “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle’s makes the very best …. chawwk-lit!”.
Morris Keesan Feb 13th 2012 at 10:32 am 34

How many people, outside of England and non-geezers, would have recognized the name Peter Brough?

Detcord #4, my interpretation of the 9 Chickweed Lane strip is not that he’s being prudish, but that he
just doesn’t want anybody else to see what his mind’s eye is seeing. But not wanting her to catch a chill
is equally valid.
Elyrest Feb 13th 2012 at 11:26 am 35

I loved Paul Winchell as a child and I was especially fond of his” Winchell-Mahoney Time”. That was a kid’s program that I only remember watching during summer vacations at the beach. I think, because of that, that I associate him with laughter and leisure. He’s grouped with Sandy Becker, “The Sandy Becker Show”, and “Diver Dan” as weird parts of childhood that still make me smile.

Sandy Becker - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Becker

Diver Dan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diver_Dan
George P Feb 13th 2012 at 02:09 pm 36

I guess I was a bit too young to watch Winchell on TV. I probably saw him but have no memory of it.

I know who Edgar Bergen is without being old enough to have seen (or heard) him when he was active. I am also familiar with Fibber McGee’s closet, and I’m certainly not that old.

I don’t think age has a lot to do with knowing about things like this. I think having broad interests count more. People who refuse to watch black and white movies aren’t going to know much about Casablanca, but that’s their fault.
Kilby Feb 13th 2012 at 10:15 pm 37

@ mitch4 (32) - I remember that jingle quite well, but as kids, we sang it with quite a different final word (coincidentally appropriate to my current opinion of the manufacturer).
Ooten Aboot Feb 13th 2012 at 11:22 pm 38

Enough already with you whippersnappers mocking geezers. Edgar Bergen, sure, but Candice? She doesn’t qualify for full Social Security yet.

When we geezers were whippersnappers, we were expected to recognize names that were way before our time, like Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, George Washington and Julius Caesar. Marco Polo was an explorer, not a game. Nowadays, if somebody’s debut “album” (have you ever seen a real record album?) has been on iTunes for a week, they’re old hat. Sorry - that was a geezerism.

Like Chuckers and George P, I had to Google Jeff Dunham. If Ed Sullivan were still around, we likely would have seen Jeff’s act last Sunday night.
Morris Keesan Feb 13th 2012 at 11:36 pm 39

Ed who?

(and no, he probably would have been preempted by the really big Grammy show).
Mark in Boston Feb 14th 2012 at 12:06 am 40

I postid that “Mark in Bostom” comnent on my iPnone.

Charlie McCarthy, Jerry Mahoney, Danny O’Day. Why were the dummies always Irish kids?

Listen carefully to the old Edgar Bergen / Charlie McCarthy radio shows. You’ll hear some weird stuff slipping by the censors.

Edgar Bergen is helping Charlie with his income tax. “Now here’s where you say if you are single, married filing separately, married filing jointly. Name of wife, name of husband. You don’t have a husband, do you, Charlie?”

Charlie, wistfully: “I DID have a husband once …. He beat me terribly.”
Mark in Boston Feb 14th 2012 at 05:48 pm 41

Charlie McCarthy also told jokes that went right over Edgar Bergen’s head! “Bergie” would respond with something noncommital that indicated that he didn’t hear or more likely didn’t understand what Charlie had just said. That was part of his genius. Sometimes you wondered which of the two was really the dummy.

And sometimes Bergie would suddenly open the trunk Charlie was sitting on, knocking Charlie to the floor behind it, so that Mortimer Snerd could pop up out of the trunk.
Meryl A Feb 16th 2012 at 02:25 am 42

We have a Jerry Mahoney in the basement, belongs to my husband.

Edgar Bergen and Charlie were in the original Muppet movie, so they are not completely geezer.