Today’s strip reaches a level of trippy surrealism that even Heathcliffe’s current descent into nonsensicality cannot match for madness. Admittedly, I am not much of a Mötley Crüe fan, so perhaps Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars both attempting to play and chew on the same guitar is their MO. However, what the third Google Images result for “Mötley Crüe” is doing next to an image of Franklin Roosevelt (with his trademark cigarette holder photoshopped out) boring Funky’s dad and a couple other octogenarians is beyond me.
Also, it’s another Throwback Thursday!
Guess what TB was publishing on this very date back in 1983?
If you guessed essentially the same “Ha! band kids don’t practice!” shtick he was doing on Monday, you win one of several internets.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Wow…LOL, that certainly caught me way off-guard. It’s not really that bad of a bad MC drawing, I have to say. Although the joke itself doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. At first I thought that maybe that’s how the Bedside Manor residents were seeing Dinkle, which is almost sort of funny. But then I realized that the band itself is supposed to be the “motley crew”, which dampens the humor considerably. Still, all in all, being a solid thirty years behind the times is a step forward for FW, as I’d expect him to use the Tommy Dorsey band or something like that instead.
Mort Winkerbean deliberately took up smoking a few years ago so it could hasten his terminal cancer. And now THIS.
Geez, Batom® just doesn’t want to kill anyone off anymore…
What the f–…
What the fuck, I don’t even really like Motley Crue all that much but this is the best Winkerbean strip ever.
Oh I get it. It’s a “motely crew” of old people (maybe) excited to play instruments again.
So did the nursing home already have a drum set? Since Dinkle only mentioned bringing horns. And how in the heck can Mort play trombone, isn’t he on oxygen?
I’m really hating this week, since the only thing close to a gag is Batiuk apparently thinking the idea of seniors playing in a bad is absolutely hilarious.
IMO this is maybe the single weirdest FW strip since that “Seinfeld” one he did a while back. He even remembered to use the umlauts. Then there’s Pa Bean, whose recovery is nothing short of astonishing. He’s gone from muttering basket case to learning the trombone in what, five years or so? Incredible.
Are we quite sure that’s Mort and not Funky? Oh, wait, he’s way too lively to be Funky.
From left to right:
Guy who has to be Mopey Pete’s grandfather (or Act VI Pete)
Earl Campbell
Helen Hunt after running into the same fountain of age that hit Funky
Mort the retired mob enforcer
Woman who may actually be Harriet Dinkle
A truly killer lineup. Lefty is gonna be jealous.
Why do I get the feeling a certain cartoonist watched the documentary Young@Heart recently?
Why do I get the feeling that said cartoonist, instead of being touched or uplifted by this true story of senior citizens who cross the country singing Metal, Rock, Pop, and other modern music decided –
“Hey! I have a home for geezers established in the strip! And Dinkle is so FUNNY! Dinkle, Dinkle, Dinkle! Old people thinking they can be in a band! HAW!!!!”
Said cartoonist then frowned. Evil, stupid young people. He’d better add Wally to the story, to kind of, sort of pretend he was Sensitively and Honestly Tackling Their Contemporary Issues. Hmmph!
So, Dinkle sees his new band as….a rock group that has no connection to their generation. Okay then.
Also, that’s the saddest looking drum kit I’ve ever seen…though I am impressed by how the tom manages to stay suspended in midair like that.
“Shout At The Dinkle”…props to you BILLYTHESKINK for a great blog post title.
Although I must confess that using the Crue in this strip coupled with that title, for me conjures up what Pamela was doing to Tommy in that infamous video.
Please, don’t let this be the start of a trend. We don’t need to contrast competent musicians to this sad sack and his crew of apathetic old people.
Ha! It’s funny because Dinkle has finally found people older and more musically pathetic than he is.
It wasn’t until I read the comments here today that I realized that the punch line of this strip is the connection between “Motley Crüe” and “Motley Crew”. It will be interesting to see how Mort, who can’t even remember what he had for lunch, will be able to remember the notes for any piece of music longer than a couple of bars.
I’m guessing every now and then the Brown Acid kicks in. But even so this is weird. Especially with the Senior Funky on Trombone.
They’re not so motley. They’re all the same age, and only 2 ethnicities are represented.
Never has so much been done…for the sake of a shitty pun joke.
I mean seriously. If your going to go to the trouble of drawing the members of Motley Crue, why not have them appear in the strip in a better plotline. Like how about Motley Crue re-unites to do a tour in Westview or something.
This reminds me of when Berke Breathed drew the Rolling Stones way back in the 80’s for one of his Bloom County Strips. That was four a whole weeks worth of strips. It had a point other than a throwaway line.
What a waste of time. A phrase that I constantly spout about Funky Winkerbean.
By the way, the official Funky Winkerbean Statement of Purpose has been altered:
“Created by Tom, Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.”
You’ll notice that “young people” need no longer submit their applications.
And as if this weren’t bad enough, the contemporary issue about to be depicted in a sensitive and thought-provoking manner is the EVIL INTERWEBS!!!