Small & Big

My cartoon collection is swelling like a three-day-old cow carcass. Carcass is a funny word, much like cookie . They rate as funny because they’ve each got the two “k” sounds. Of all the sounds in the English language, the k is supposed to be the most humorous to our brains. Cookie carcass. See? People, I couldn’t make this stuff up. Two vultures sit on a dead tree limb. One says, “It was a good rotting carcass, but it wasn’t a great rotting carcass.” Go see more of Tom Cheney’s funnies on this New Yorker page or buy stuff with this cartoon on it . More on funny words at Wikipedia

Lady, I concur. This one’s just plain weird. Hence its inclusion in my personal Cartoon Collection. The humor here is about contrast: contrast between a surreal super wave in an in-ground pool and the calm every-day reaction of the cartoon people involved. That’s all I have to say about that. Tom Cheney drew this beaut but he didn’t come up with the caption. Instead, it was the winner in a recent New Yorker cartoon caption contest. If you wanna try your hand at the next one, go to newyorker.com/captioncontest . Losing was never so funny. A couple sits poolside. The stunned man looks up from his newspaper at the huge wave about to break—onto them. The woman, still reading her novel, says, “I told you this house was too close to the moon.” Go see more of Tom Cheney's funnies on this New Yorker page or buy stuff with this cartoon on it .

Ah, yes. I remember that day. Getting a fresh perspective is healthy for the brain. The best humor can turn conventional thought upside down—and belly side up. Michael Maslin’s drawing style is pretty humorous in its own right. Look how much expression he puts in the man’s eyes with a couple circles. The exploding volcano spew cracks me up. A long time ago a man picked berries and a woman held a spear. An angry-eyed mammoth stared at the spear and the woman said, “On second thought—you hunt, I’ll gather.” Go see more of Michael Maslin's funnies on this New Yorker page or buy stuff with this cartoon on it .

I grew up eating peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. The Peanuts cartoon stips are full of rep, rep, repetition. Here, all four panels are pretty much the same. So simple. And simplicity works. I’m learning that less words can make for more humor. Write a fun story with 500 words and cut it down to 250 to see what I mean. Yes, it’s a painful process, but see if your humor isn't made more direct and to the point. What gets cut are the so’s, and’s, but’s, very’s, and a crapload of blah. Pull up a chair and let’s get personal. This Snoop Dogg cartoon is deep. It’s obvious to me and you that a dying leaf wouldn’t, couldn't smile back. Well, sometimes people are like leaves. They’re hurt or frightened or angry and they do not, they can not smile back. They were far from being healthy Snoopys before your attempt at a friendly connection. Don’t take it personally. And don’t stop connectin’. Snoopy the dog sits beneat...

Repetition is funny. This one plays off one of the biggie rules of comedy—Humor Comes In Groups of Three—in an unexpected way. First I read the sign, STOP AND THINK . Second, I read the caption about stopping and thinking. Third, I think, Did this cartoon trick me into reading the same thing twice? This makes me stop and think. This also makes my cartoon collection because it’s a big-bold-all-capital-letters dumb joke. I mean, come on. Two men in suits stand before a large STOP AND THINK sign. One man says, “It sort of makes you stop and think, doesn’t it.” Go see more of Sam Gross's funnies on this New Yorker page (especially if you could use a chuckle) or buy stuff with this cartoon on it .

Woo hoo! Maureen over there at Stale Coffee (now I'd Rather Be Blogging ) gived me a nifty nice award. Here's the proof. She says I rock. I rock hard like granite, feldspar, and mica. I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger. (How did she decipher P.L.'s femaleness? I thought that on the Internet nobody can tell you wear a skort.) Now comes the moment you've been anticipating: I divulge some of my fave XX-chromosomal bloggers, all alphabetical-like: Crystal @ Boobs, Injuries, & Dr. Pepper This blog is straight up funny, honest, and kinda nasty. Whee! Check it every day—Crystal is a gifted humorous storyteller. Even the ads are fun. ("Backless Lingerie"?) Meg and Girl Crew @ Cute Overload Go ahead, try not to be overpowered by animule cuteness and an invented language. Sully @ Sully's Design Studio Fascinating to see a daily visual diary put out by a professional artist and designer. How do she do it? I dutifully bestow the Rockin' Girl Blogger award up...

First place in the Doggiebuilding Championship goes to a dark-haired beauty from Victoria, Canada. She’s 28 years old (in human years) and loves playing ball, long afternoon naps, and eating medium-sized children. Just kidding folks! (She prefers the smaller ones.) Our winner is... Wendy the whopping whippet! Apparently, Wendy’s naturally ripped condition comes by way of inheriting two special genes from her Mammy and Pappy dog. Despite weighing 60 pounds she does nothing special to be all muscley. But I’ll bet when she decides to sleep on the people bed, she sleeps on the people bed. Read more at the Times Colonist or see more photos at The Daily Mail . And the second place winner? All other dogs.

My mouth says a lot about me. According to the Toothpaste Personality Test, it's that I'm “stubborn, slow witted” and, near the end of each tube, likely to spiral into “thrifty, prone to depression.” Too true. This cartoon gleefully ignores the “rule of three”: humor is most effective when it happens in threes. (That is, if the third item is different enough from the first two that it's a nice surprise to the brain.) Cartoonist Evan Fisch pulls a 1-2-Punch-Punch by offering that fourth tube almost as a follow-up joke. This doesn't always work. Like when we say something funny then keep on talking, perhaps even—gasp!—trying to explain our joke. This kills the Chuckle Factor. Comedians call this “driving past the post office.” As in, I drove to the post office, I meant to stop at the post office I really did but I drove right past it and stopped two doors down at the gas station. I give this cartoon four stars for being amu...