Missed opportunities
So a couple of times a week my wife says to me "You need to blog about that." or "You need to cartoon that." about something funny or pithy I say. Thing is, we know each other really well and have a lot of inside jokes like most couples and close friends do. Much of the time I am pretty sure that this will only be funny to her and that is why I tell her -- because I want to make her laugh so she will like me.
Here is an example of one of the stories she tells a lot of people that I do not think is funny in the retelling. There are no visual aids, ever. Oh, and I will be including a lot more detail that she does.
I used to smoke American Spirit cigarettes, and in the fine tradition of wooing youth to smoke, they had trading cards on the pack. One small card per pack, and there were different series of cards like American Innovation, Native Americans, and Endangered Species.
One animal on the Endangered Species list was the Cape Pangolin. On the front of the card is a picture of the animal, and on the back is a small blurb. "When threatened, the Cape Pangolin rolls into a ball and emits a foul odor." Since my wife is notoriously gassy after consuming dairy I said -- in that sweet jackass teasing way I have -- "That's what you do, honey!"
After she beat me for awhile she said "You should draw a cartoon of that!" And I did. I drew a cute little Cape Pangolin rolled in a ball with those cartoon wavy lines that equal bad odor wafting up from him. Then as I was drawing it I was thinking "Oh, there is a Cape Buffalo, too." So I then drew a Cape Buffalo rolled into a ball with the aforementioned wavy stink lines coming off him. The buffalo turned out so well (side view, ass in air, neck on ground ) that I wanted to draw other things "Cape." This was pre -google but Yahoo search did me right and told me of the Cape Zebra. So I drew the zebra, rolled up and stinking. True to my self, I needed one more thing to ball up and stink, so I drew -- what else-- the Caped Crusader, side view, ass in air, neck on ground, bewildered/startled look on face, foul odor lines emanating. I showed it to her and she LOVED it. I was happy.
However, in the telling, I am sure you can say, oh yes, yes, very clever. Or that sounds like a dumb cartoon, or I don't get it. But you are not laughing. Because cartooning is visual and it is not funny when you tell it in words. And it was based on an inside joke that you really "Had to be there". This story marks one of my funniest and most un-funny moments -- the moment I inadvertently coerced my wife into endlessly recounting a story where she was the butt of a fart joke, but it ends up making me look like the lamest "cartoonist" ever.
Here is an example of one of the stories she tells a lot of people that I do not think is funny in the retelling. There are no visual aids, ever. Oh, and I will be including a lot more detail that she does.
I used to smoke American Spirit cigarettes, and in the fine tradition of wooing youth to smoke, they had trading cards on the pack. One small card per pack, and there were different series of cards like American Innovation, Native Americans, and Endangered Species.
One animal on the Endangered Species list was the Cape Pangolin. On the front of the card is a picture of the animal, and on the back is a small blurb. "When threatened, the Cape Pangolin rolls into a ball and emits a foul odor." Since my wife is notoriously gassy after consuming dairy I said -- in that sweet jackass teasing way I have -- "That's what you do, honey!"
After she beat me for awhile she said "You should draw a cartoon of that!" And I did. I drew a cute little Cape Pangolin rolled in a ball with those cartoon wavy lines that equal bad odor wafting up from him. Then as I was drawing it I was thinking "Oh, there is a Cape Buffalo, too." So I then drew a Cape Buffalo rolled into a ball with the aforementioned wavy stink lines coming off him. The buffalo turned out so well (side view, ass in air, neck on ground ) that I wanted to draw other things "Cape." This was pre -google but Yahoo search did me right and told me of the Cape Zebra. So I drew the zebra, rolled up and stinking. True to my self, I needed one more thing to ball up and stink, so I drew -- what else-- the Caped Crusader, side view, ass in air, neck on ground, bewildered/startled look on face, foul odor lines emanating. I showed it to her and she LOVED it. I was happy.
However, in the telling, I am sure you can say, oh yes, yes, very clever. Or that sounds like a dumb cartoon, or I don't get it. But you are not laughing. Because cartooning is visual and it is not funny when you tell it in words. And it was based on an inside joke that you really "Had to be there". This story marks one of my funniest and most un-funny moments -- the moment I inadvertently coerced my wife into endlessly recounting a story where she was the butt of a fart joke, but it ends up making me look like the lamest "cartoonist" ever.