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July 08, 2007
Oom
Here's how I imagine Scott Stantis tells a knock-knock joke:
Stantis: Knock-knock.
You: Who's there?
Stantis: Interrupting cow.
You: Interrupting cow who-
Stantis: Oooom! See, I interrupted you before you could finish, because I'm an interrupting cow, so that's funny. But I didn't want to say "moo" because you would expect that, so I said "oom" instead, and that makes it funny too. And the joke is about a cow, and cows are cute and funny, so that makes it a cute and funny joke.
Think I'm crazy? Check out today's strip. It starts off with Winslow commanding something to fly, then getting dragged through the desert. (Yeah, yet another lame "Winslow tries to fly strip." Like I said, these are his versions of knock-knock jokes). Of course he fails.
Then we get the punchline. Well, punchlines. We learn that Winslow, who is an idiot, has hooked himself up behind a turkey, a penguin, and an ostrich. Um, ha? Personally, I don't get it. Maybe if it was one of the three, or three of one of them, it might make a little more sense. So why these three? Carmen informs us because Winslow is conducting a "flightless to witless iditarod," which was of course a bad idea.
All together now: huh?
I'm guessing it's yet another strip Stantis thought up with while punching the cornflakes box, but he didn't take the time to do simple things like "edit" and "rewrite" and come up with something that both made sense and was funny.
"Hey, what if Winslow was part of the iditarod! But he wouldn't have dogs pulling him - it would be birds, because he's always trying to fly! Like a penguin! Ha ha ha - they can't even fly, and he's so stupid...that could work! Oooh wait - what about a turkey? They can't fly, can they? Oh man - an ostrich! That's hysterical! Hell, I'll have him use all three! Wait - can ostriches fly? Well, they're really stupid like Winslow - probably too stupid to fly. I guess I could look it up, but instead I wonder if there's a play on words I could use...like "witless to flightless" but not that dumb sounding."
After Toby reads it: "Hey, this is awesome! Pellucid's gonna love it. Oh, wouldn't it be cute and funny if Carmen hinted that she wanted to kill and eat the turkey?"
There you have it. Anatomy of how Scott Stantis tells a joke.
Comments
Usually even when the joke is bad, I can still tell what Stantis was trying to do. But this one is just a complete mess. Carmen says that she told Winslow a "flightless to witless Iditarod" was a bad idea. So does that mean Winslow knew the birds were flightless before he strapped them in and commanded them to fly?
What does "flightless to witless" even mean. It sounds like Flightless is the starting point, and Witless is the destination. But it is obvious that this whole thing started at Witless and never left.
Posted by: John at July 8, 2007 12:41 PM
"But it is obvious that this whole thing started at Witless and never left."
Line of the day, easily.
Posted by: The Furnace at July 8, 2007 01:51 PM
You libs just keep grasping at straws and trying to make sense of your warped views. What dumbasses!
Posted by: Rudy at July 8, 2007 04:08 PM
Um, actually we're trying to make sense of Stantis's warped neo-con views, but thanks for stopping by.
Posted by: The Furnace at July 8, 2007 10:18 PM
