My Cartoon Collection (#14)

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 amusing, educational, hygenic, and endorsed by 4 out of 5 dentists who enjoy cartoons. Oops, I just went past something.

Title reads: The Toothpaste Personality Test. Underneath are four tubes of toothpaste. Tube #1 is squeezed from the middle (“impulsive, life of the party”), #2 is rolled up from the bottom (“thrifty, prone to depression”), #3 is squeezed near the opening (“stubborn, slow witted”), and the last tube goes unused ("antisocial, bad breath").

Okay so I, like, found this cartoon in the July 2007 issue of Funny Times. I Googled the cartoonist, Evan Fisch, but see no info about him (or her?) to link you to. This is known as the Evan Fisch Enigma.