Gah! While we’re waiting to find out who’s calling Les on the White Courtesy Phone, TB “treats” us to another of Tony Montoni’s wacky holiday postcards. On the plus side, at least this time Tony is not posing in old lady drag. The downside? He’s showing us his legs. Are those the reflections of Florida palms on the water, or is it the lingering residue from last spring’s oil rig disaster?
The ol’ “low battery” conversation-ender, eh, Les? I usually go the “kssshhhh! kssshhhh! You’re breaking up kssshhhh!” fake-static route when I’m trying to cut a cell phone call short.
Doesn’t Les know that in the Funkiverse, to note the absence of “any problems” is to bid them appear? It’s called jinxing yourself. The White Courtesy Phone doesn’t need batteries, Les…and it tolls for you.
Seriously. I can’t take it anymore. We get it: people love cancer stories and the men who write them. I went back and counted: this is the seventh strip depicting adoring fans lining up to kiss Les’ literary ass. Seems like there have been a lot more than that. Ponderous, man, effin’ ponderous. Today’s groupie is sporting the “pink with black scribbles” jacket made popular by Ann Apple!
“…I tell ya, wives: even in death they continue to nag, amiright?” Tsk. With his projector on the fritz, Les resorts to a little standup technique to engage his fans.
This strip appears to be little more than a shout out to Brazos Bookstore, a popular independent bookstore a few blocks north of Rice University (and 20 miles from the Brazos River) that hosted TB’s tour stop in Houston.
billytheskink
December 7, 2010 at 10:54 am
A big tip o’ the SoSF coonskin for that bit of info, Billy! I had assumed that it was some kind of a play on the name Amazon (the Amazon and Brazos are both rivers, and both names have z‘s) or maybe the name of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But sho’ nuff, TB has borrowed from real life. Compare the “exterior shot” from today’s strip with the one from Brazos Bookstore’s website: it’s the same place, with a couple TB touches, like changing the color of the building and transforming the car that’s parked outside to one of his trademark generic minivans!
Les can’t figure out why the laptop isn’t synching with the projector. I can’t figure out what is going on with the guy’s head in the third row: the poor man seems to be suffering from some hideous, tumorous facial deformity. To compliment his increasingly slack and haphazard “writing”, TB has been playing fast and loose when it comes to drawing characters that are even remotely lifelike. In recent weeks we’ve been treated to a Mr. Incredible look-alike at the book signing, a goofy band-turkey customer, and numerous characters with impossibly tiny hands.
Son of Stuck Funky 
