Prattling before the Pratfall

I’m prejudiced against political cartoonists who introduce a regular comic strip. Comic strips done by someone who is primarily a political cartoonist are invariably bad. For example, I think Mike Peters consistently has some of the best ideas for political cartoons, yet “Mother Goose and Grimm” is consistently awful.

I also believe the opposite is true — that people born to create comic strip characters aren’t good political cartoonists. For example, above is the best-known example from Bill Watterson’s brief foray in the genre. Who remembers the Jimmy Carter killer bunny incident?

I’m late getting this posted. Pearl Harbor Day is almost over!

It’s been eight years since my first eBay bid. So now, at age 51, with 51 positive comments, I’ve crossed some significant milestone and have been promoted by eBay. Yay. I’d guess about ten sellers failed to leave feedback for me, so the count should be higher, but it’s still a relatively modest number.

My late mother, who had six children, was a big fan of Phyllis Diller, who had five children. I have vivid memories of my mother enjoying Diller on TV in the 60’s, watching the Bob Hope specials.

Phyllis, born in 1917, is still with us, and there’s a new interview with her on NPR. Click here to hear. She’s still sharp, and there are excerpts of her doing a live performance in 2002. No need to apologize for her age — the jokes and Diller’s delivery are very funny!

This one is a bit Boston-centric. Someone who played songs and someone who made songs.

In the background is longtime Boston FM radio fixture, DJ Charles Laquidara. I knew his cousin Bob Laquidara at dear, old Westfield State College. The inserted picture is Yusuf Islam, otherwise known as Cat Stevens.