Today’s strip is best read in print… on a popsicle stick, or maybe a Laffy Taffy wrapper. I would even guess TB took lifted this gag wholesale from a Bazooka Joe strip but for, um… obvious reasons.
My only question is, where is this snarky Funky when Les gets to thinking he’s Shecky Greene?
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Tagged as Anon-O-Character, comma eyes, complete lack of humor, curmudgeonly oldsters, doctors, four eyes, Funky, Funky Winkerbean, glib doctors, medical professionals, Now Funky, Old dying people, old gags from the 1970's, Sarcastic Old Bastard, stupid, the inevitable ravages of age, the ravages of age, very old gags
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Son of Stuck Funky 
Yeah, I mean it was pretty obvious yesterday that we’re in for a week of “Funky gets new eyeglasses” gags, with the eye chart jokes and etc. And it could be worse, I suppose. But the, uh, paucity of premises lately is kind of alarming, as the strip appears to be getting even more mundane, which shouldn’t even be possible.
Coming soon: the twelve week “Funky gets a colonoscopy” mega prestige arc begins with Funky remarking to Holly about how unnecessarily complex these car key fobs have become over the years. Two long weeks later, they actually enter the car.
Dude’s been spinning wheels since Adeelagate, in particular.
We’ll have to wait until after what we can assume to be an upcoming week of Dinkle smirking at band conference signs to see how long it takes until he gets to Something Serious going again.
Can I snark at the Bazooka Joe comic instead? It’s got more substance.
Tom Batiuk, how do you sleep at night?
The same way he draws: with his eyes shut.
I was going to give Funky guff for walking into an opthamologist’s office and announcing “I’m here for my eye exam.” as if there is anything else he could be there for, but that’s not really fair. No one walks into Montoni’s and says “I’m here for my pizza.”, so I can see why Funky might not realize how dumb he sounds here.
No, they say “I’m here for my coffee”, of course.
I thought they said “I’m here to collect three live reindeer that some guy named Tony rented from our petting zoo for the holidays. By the way, the total comes to $2,550.00, plus tax.”
That “roof draft” comment, and the gales of laughter that ensued, really sticks in my craw. That moment showed that Tom Batiuk was a hack who had no intention of doing anything with his strip other than shilling for awards and marking time.
That forced laughter could have been one of Lynne Johnson’s FBoFW bobbling-heads scenes. “This is a joke. The punchline has just been delivered. It is now appropriate to join the laughter.”
Is it too late to change the strip’s name to “Everyone is an Asshole in Westview”?
“I got paid to write this.”
It’s so called jokes like this that killed vaudeville.I guess we’re in for an entire week of this lame output.
This could have killed on “The Jack Benny Program,” with Jack getting his eyes checked and the great Frank Nelson (“Yeeeessss?”) as the optometrist. Heck, it might have worked with Nelson in “Gasoline Alley.”
Of course, Jack would have had the good sense to simply stare at the audience with one hand on his face and not make some ham-handed comeback (Is Funky trying to look “hip” by referencing Netflix and using the verb “drop” instead of “air” or “come out”?
Why is everyone in Westview full of sass and petty harassment? Does Batiuk just not know how unprofessional it is for the receptionist to say something like that?
I mean, Batiuk clearly does, since he has Funky respond negatively to it, but he doesn’t take the next step and realize that that’s why the receptionist wouldn’t say it in the first place.
It could be a little bit endearing if he established a good rapport between the two, and Funky didn’t look like someone farted in his mouth.
Keep in mind, this is Westview, where practically everyone in town has a publishing contract of some sort. So it’s possible the “funny” receptionist at Westview Optical really does have a Netflix special.
Which is reason #3492 Tom Batiuk’s jokes don’t work. They don’t recognize the inherent absurdity in his world. If Les Moore, Lillian, Dinkle, the Bedside Manorisms, the incompetents at Atomik Komix, and others can get paid to create the shit they do, Funky’s question isn’t that far-fetched. She should have answered “April 13” or something like that. Even if it’s a sarcastic answer, it’s still something an actual witty person would say.
Funky Winkerbean really needs to get some self-awareness. It’s too devoted to its “quarter inch from reality” ideal that it does not actually adhere to in any way. It is completely incapable of introspection or self-deprecation.
It’s really just Batty’s view of reality. His likes, his interests, and his political views all mashed up into a tedious, unfunny mess.
Batiuk’s “humor” has no truth to it. Every “joke” is to reinforce something he believes, something he thinks is funny, or to shill one of his characters or causes. It’s like a bad, preachy, wish-fulfillment webcomic.
After yesterday’s strip, I figured that both Funky and Holly would be there.
And how soon before there’s a version of today’s strip where Funky’s last line is changed to something like, “So when do you get your Pulitzer?”
I don’t understand how we’re expected to react to this strip. Are we supposed to chuckle at the receptionist’s quick wit, or sympathize with Funky because this pedantic stranger “zinged” him for no reason? Whose side are we on here?