–try it again.
Hey, it’s another joke! Well, actually it’s the same joke, but at least it’s a joke. It’s been so long since this strip has featured any jokes that Tom Batiuk is probably kind of rusty at it, so I’m willing to give him a mulligan on this one. Free advice: It might help the “humor” aspect if Funky didn’t look as if he was dying right in front of us in panel two. “Argh, I’m melting, melting! What a world, what a world! I’m also losing even more of my hair!”
As I noted yesterday, working out on the treadmill is very boring…to the point where I’m surprised Trainer Greenhair hasn’t suggested a portable music device of some kind to help pass the time (or at least keep Funky awake). One of the things a trainer is supposed to do, after all, is help you to enjoy exercising. Would a Sony Walkman(c) cassette player be considered evil in Westview? You can actually still find tapes…if there’s a Goodwill store in town.
I’m hoping that tomorrow’s joke (assuming there is one, after all–two in a row is damn rare here, three in a row might shatter the universe) won’t be a third variation on “exercise is boring” but..well, baby steps, man, baby steps.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Yesterday I speculated that this week might just be a garbage dump of sorts for the fitness center gags that failed to make the cut the first two times around. Just wanted to point that out again. Yesterday’s gag was a rare one that was rooted in reality and mostly believable, but I would think that any reputable fitness center would probably give you the heave-ho if you were actually falling asleep on the equipment. Then again, this place is in Westview so how reputable can it be?
It’s so depressing, it’s so anti everything Americans should be doing! This guy is in his early fifties and looks like he is in his 70’s?
We should eliminate the first two panels, draw some dog or bear ears on him (maybe even some kangaroo ears. Who knows what these Boomers are going for?.!) and just say in a quote below the drawing: “You know you’re a Plugger when you’re too out of shape and pass out while using the exercise equipment!”
Of course, I may feel bad tomorrow if I hear that Funky had a heart attack.
I’d comment on the level of apathy the trainer is showing right now, but really, who can muster any sort of interest in Funky’s well-being?
Hell, I was confused enough with the background that I forgot to mention, it actually looks like Funky did have a stroke there.
Seriously, at least with the creeping dark background you can say that he’s being grim, as is his tendency.
It’s not that hard to do a basic background. You do one or two, then you use them as stock background art. Not that difficult. He was perfectly capable of doing one yesterday.
Exercise is Boring is this week’s theme. A couple of weeks ago the theme was “John Darling called his daughter Jessica Darling by the pet nickname Barbie.” It takes Batiuk a full week to hammer the theme home, every single day.
Exercise, however, is usually enough to keep you awake. Funky passing out while exercising has happened twice now, I sense a coming theme week.
Ponytail: “You know, if this were a reputable fitness center and I was a qualified employee, I’d be alarmed by your behavior and would have at the very least called 911, then summoned my supervisor.”
Funky: “I know.”
Ponytail: “But this is Westview, where nobody’s qualified, nobody cares, and the only option other than this dive? Jogging with Les Moore!”
Funky: “GAH! I’m up, I’m up!”
**********************************
Seriously, though, Tom? Tone down the negative depictions of women as being either stupid losers, evil witches, or uncaring taunters. Yeesh. Sexist old geezer.
I’m sorry, but… that seems impossible. Maybe this is a lead-in to a narcolepsy storyline?
Funky’s gotta be the first person I’ve ever seen gain weight while physically using a treadmill. And he certainly picked a bad time to fall asleep, what with the gym apparently on fire as smoke fills the room.
I’d rather have seen a theme about consulting a doctor before deciding on an exercise regime. Perhaps if that had happened, he wouldn’t have picked one on the Dark Side of the Moon.
This actually happened to me when I was first starting to work out on the treadmill. I would get up super early in the morning and come to the gym at work. One morning I was using the treadmill and suddenly found myself standing on the floor behind the treadmill with no idea how I got there. I had totally dozed off. I did not, however, collapse on the floor. Something like that should definitely bring the paramedics running.
One has to wonder…what unlucky young woman, trying to make ends meet in a low-paying stop-gap but high stress job, had the UTTER GALL to serve Tom Batiuk one day and not be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT?
To the point that he redraws her every time he needs a “coldly snarking worthless worker,” over and over again.
I don’t know, John. I’m reminded of an interview another persnickety cartoonist gave; the woman insisted on jamming it to a waitress for not being sufficiently servile and grateful to bask in the presence of THE Lynn Johnston. Five bucks says that that girl did the same ‘wrong’ thing: get on the bad side of a sour donkey looking for an excuse to be a jerk.
I think Slager is on to something. This must be the first salvo in Tom Batick’s attempt to win the 2014 Narcolepsy Network Public Awareness award. Stay tuned for “Funky falls asleep while at work” and “Funky falls asleep while driving.”
Those of you who remember Act II’s 2nd-most very special storyline know that Funky has quite a bit of experience being passed out on the floor.
I’m not saying he’s back on the sauce, just that the passing out on the floor part may still be a habit of his.
Yes I agree with Slagger- we are looking at the start of the very first comic strip arc that deals with Nacrolepsy -as this is not the first time Funky has fallen asleep while on the treadmill. ‘Fell asleep again” nothing else really makes sense.
Stilll I don’t think Mr. Batuilk shold be getting the tux out of the closet in case the pullitzer people call again. It’ll be a first, not a good first.
I have a theory that this was originally supposed to be “Funky has a heart attack” strip..but Batiuk decided he needed to use it for his fitness joke arc.
Somehow Funky dying of a massive coronary is funnier than these strips ever could be.
@oncologist – I think it’s more along the lines of the “Wally appears to be killed by an IED but it turns out he’s only playing a video game” trick. We’re set up in the first two panels for something tragic, only to be told by nameless personal trainer in the third panel that Funky just “fell asleep again”.
It’s refreshing to see 50-something Funky Winkerbean do a face-plant onto the carpet in this “reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.”
Oh wait! Not “refreshing.” What is the word? Nauseating. That’s it.