The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

STILL...


Still got the Deadline Monkey on my back. Can somebody think of something funny?

16 comments:

Carter said...

Funny...hmmm. Something about crazy people telling time with cuckoo clocks? I dunno. :P

nolanart said...

Can't come up with anything better than what you're doing with Cul De Sac these days...great stuff.

DH. said...

I have to agree with nolanart, though perhaps I can toss you a starting point or two. If you are looking for ideas for the Almanac, perhaps something to do with someone staying the course after being told that their preconceptions were wrong? Or the bittersweetness of holiday shopping-- that should be fertile ground.

For Cul de Sac, I'd love to see a competitor and/or love interest for the class guinea pig. I don't dare develop these ideas further-- your brain does much more interesting stuff than mine.

JoshM said...

Cows are funny. Draw a cow doing anything at all, and it's funny. (A lesson from "Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Cartooning I Learned From Gary Larson").

But then, Larson may have exhausted that particular comic gold mine. Maybe that's why he quit.

richardcthompson said...

Thanks for these, ya'll. You realize that I reserve the right to take any ideas proposed, monkey with them some, slather my name all over 'em, and then deny I ever did such a thing? Good.

But here's the working title; it's for an Almanack cartoon, and at the same time I'm finishing up a dozen spot illustrations and trying to draw some comic strips. The title is "The Year Without a Christmas Special", and the idea is with the writers' strike and all, we won't get any new heartwarming Christmas TV specials about how Christmas is almost cancelled because of some screw up, lack of faith, lack of belief in Santa, or just the weather's lousy. If it all falls apart I'll do a finger puppet, like usual.

Stacy Curtis said...

Writers Strike screws up Christmas Specials....

--Christmas is creepily normal this year, it's like going to a dysfunctional family Christmas gathering and nothing happens. Aunt Sophie kept her top on, Dad wasn't mean to my sister's husband, Grandma didn't fart "Jingle Bells" and Mom didn't go to the bathroom for occasional sips of hidden whiskey.

--Charlie Brown: I'm cool with the commercialization of Christmas. Metal Christmas trees are kinda neat.
--Rudolph's friends: Cool nose! Being different is good. No Christmas blizzard. Misfit Toys actually cooler than regular toys.
--No one wants Frosty's magic hat.
--George Bailey offs himself and no one cares.
--Miracle on 34th Street....yeah, so what?
--Linus goes on stage and reads from the Bible for a half-hour. It's the best we could do!

--Since there are no new Christmas specials this year with conflict and resolution, networks are running old "After School Specials," hoping you won't notice.

--The Year without TV Specials

Sorry, just thinking out loud, hoping something helps you beat the deadline monster.

-stacy.

JoshM said...

Here in New Hampshire, I think the Grinch stole Christams and replaced it with Election season. Yecch.

Danny Fry said...

You're on to something... How about the candidate's Christmas Specials... OBama Family Christmas, Miracle on K street, Hillary in Boyland (That sounds like a porn title), Giuliani saves Christmas...etc.

JoshM said...

Complete change of subject here, but I just have to say one thing about today's Cul de Sac strip:

Dill's hat just makes me happy.

here today, gone tomorrow said...

I think you should do more with your Grandma. I'm sure she'd have something to say about no Christmas specials...

richardcthompson said...

Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. And Josh, I'm glad you like that hat; me too, though I wouldn't want to wear it.

So what I'm going to do is, a Christmas Fun Page Cut Out Paper Doll thing, with beloved characters who Lose the Christmas Spirit, but Regain It after a Personal Epiphany. Doesn't that sound like a hoot 'n' a half? It'll have George Whatsisface from It's a Wonderful Life, Scrooge, a Who with doubts, etc. (I don't want to give the whole thing away). If there's room I'll cram in Dick Cheney because when in doubt cram in Dick Cheney.

richardcthompson said...

Final title is "Christmas Curmudgeon Play Set", unless I change it again. Gee, that was easy, and thanks for all your help!

Now how about next week's?

Stacy Curtis said...

I can't believe you didn't use my crappy ideas!

Do you ever use someone else's ideas or do use them as more of a spark for a self-induced Richard Thompson "Don't bother me now" brainstorm?

Your writing is so brilliant and unique, I would think it would be hard to use someone else's ideas without a major tweaking from your brain.

richardcthompson said...

Hey Stacy, I use I use other people's ideas all the time, I just steal 'em when they're not looking. Suggestions I can't use at all, they're too fraught with charity and good will or something. So maybe there has to be an element of larceny involved. I swiped the word "sphinctriloquist" from Nick Galifianakis once, though I changed the meaning and I think I gave him credit. But that's a word that should be in wider circulation anyway.

I'll use your ideas later, when you're not looking. But thanks!

And HTGT, my grandma didn't much hold with the idea of television, so the lack of Christmas specials would be just one more reason to dislike it.

Donna Callender said...

Richard, did you by any chance once live in West Springfield? In a cul de sac?

richardcthompson said...

Hey Donna,

Nope, although I lived in about three of 'em up in Gaithersburg.