HAnzMFG here, looking at today’s strip, and wondering: Does Tom Batiuk ever actually read aloud what he writes for dialog? Does it really count as a pun if you just slowly spell out a homophone? If an inoffensive “joke” is uttered in an old guy’s apartment and nobody smirks at it, was it even told?
Alas, we don’t even know if the cops have been called. Cindy happily introduces herself as if nothing’s unusual about harassing and entering an old man’s apartment via window after initially being denied entry at the front door.
But thank you, Cindy, for at last cutting to the chase, and sparing the long story of Buddyblogs and fading beauty and absurd discriminatory workplace firings. We’re here for what’s really important: the story of an old B-movie actor, who is possibly going to be press-ganged into Stan Lee-ing in an equally bad remake. Excelsior!
“I…D…L…E…?”…
Son of Stuck Funky 
This is one of those strips where you’re just embarrassed to be reading the thing at all. My guess is that getting a chance to use this gag has been a dream of his for years, in fact I’d even wager that it’s the entire reason the arc even exists.
Check out that lampshade knocked all askew, it indicates that Ol’ Cliff lives in abject obscure squalor because of course he does, silly. It wouldn’t be FUNNY any other way. Right after they filmed the final Starbuck Jones serial, “SJ vs. Abbott and Costello”, Anger was blackballed for violating the studio’s strict anti-beard clause and never worked again. Since then he’s been eking out a living by selling off his old SJ memorabilia very, very slowly.
Coming tomorrow: after giving Cliff a much-needed shave and bath, the gang takes him outside for the first time in sixty years, prompting a hilarious gag about taking the streetcar over to the Polo Grounds to catch a Giants game.
Wait, so she “worked her charm” on him without telling him who she was or what she was doing there? What exactly did that charm entail? I get the feeling that Batiuk thinks that every old guy living alone will just invite in any middle aged blonde who shows up outside his window on the fire escape. That says a lot about him.
Times are indeed tough for the forgotten and inactive Cliff Anger these days. Why, he can’t even afford to straighten his lampshades. Tragic.
I’m still wondering how this works back to Les getting a big payday out of the movie.
Aw, dammit. I just looked up at the banner and saw his ugly mug.
Yeah, pester the bitter old man about the glory days which only serve to remind him how far he’s fallen. That will end well, I’m sure.
Just out of curiosity…has this old man ever actually said that he was Cliff Anger? I mean, we’re all assuming it as read, but you know, that 50th is still several years away…lots of space to fill.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all, a week or two from now, for him to say “Cl;iff Anger? No, he moved out months ago! I’m his stunt double. Didn’t you see the sign?” (Points to poster, “SCTV’s Salute to Stunt Doubles!” with his autograph.)
His autograph, of course, reads “Stu N. Tubble.”
@beckoningchasm, yeah, you’d think that with years still ahead of him, Tommy B would try to pad things out, a la “my father John Darling.” This strip is sorely missing a daily mention of “Cliff Anger, who played Starbuck Jones.”
I do love how they refer to him as a matinee idol, when less than a week ago he was some guy they had to look up online to see whatever happened to , and he was in some movie they’d never heard of, despite featuring the very character their lives revolve around.
So in a way this is kind of like if Adam West had vanished into total and complete obscurity until around ten years from now, right? Yes, this seems highly plausible, as comic book nerds tend to really hate trivia and have little interest in films based on comics. Unless things have changed, of course, because these modern fads of today!
This is bullshit. He’d simply be a mildly prosperous character actor playing “Colorful Old Person #3” until he’s no longer insurable. If Batiuk cared about women, he’d talk about the injustice of the man’s costar being treated as if she were too old to live the second she hit forty.
So, since Cindy is just getting around to introducing herself, we now know that Cliff just randomly opened the window to let her in and passively let her open the door to let Mason and Pete into the apartment as well. In what universe would anyone even slightly sentient living in New York (or practically anywhere else for that matter) behave like this?
So here’s how T-Bats indicates “squalor:”
A tipped lampshade and a wrinkled slipcover on the couch.
Let’s take a look at how Mike Judge indicates “squalor:”
Note that there is no question that Beavis and Butthead live in a filthy dump. Notice also that the lampshade is straight.
Cliff is supposed to be forgotten and probably living on a small pension close to the poverty line. I’m pretty sure he’s still got his pride and some dignity left (though the longer he hangs around with these three the less he’ll have of both.)
FW: Damn, we should all look as good as Mr. Anger does when we’re 91 years old…
FW 2: “I.D.L.E.?” That’s what you’re supposed to fucking be when you’re 95 years old… I’m surprised he is able to dress himself, to say nothing of keeping his apartment relatively neat and clean…
FW 3: “You want to interview me? OK, but where the hell is your camera and equipment? And who are those smirky douchebags in the doorway? I’m calling 9-1-1, lady!”
You know with the growing problem of solicitors and scams on the elderly, this is a really poor message to portray. Hey elderly people, when a strange mildly attractive women breaks into your home, just welcome her in and those two strange men with her into your home. You could have an internet story written about you!!!
I’m not joking either. I have heard of scams where people pretend to be writers looking to do stories on war vets. They then are asked to provide info like social security numbers so they can “check out their records”. It’s really predatory stuff.
@HeyItsDave:
(It’s not really a lampshade; it’s a Starsuck Jones Nuclear Ray Projector)