Tag: Fred Fairgood

Naus-talgia

It’s over? The wedding is over?? You’ve got to be kidding.

Les and Cayla set up dozens of chairs; for whom? We saw, but never got to meet, a couple of Cayla’s presumptive relatives; and didn’t see any relatives of Les’ except Summer. Instead of a heartfelt, moving toast to the happy couple, we got Bull’s backhanded “overpunted his coverage” compliment. Nothing whatsoever to show us what is so special about these two becoming one, aside from the fact they did so on their front lawn. Trust Tom Batiuk: on those rare occasions when you want him to spend more time on a story arc, he drops it like a Scapegoat dropping an end zone pass.

Married for ten years already, Jess and Darin have just moved into their “first real place” (the apartment over Montoni’s). At this rate, who knows, they might even have their own car before the decade’s out. Meanwhile they must depend on Fred and Ann for a ride home, which mean they must endure a “newstalgic” tour of the Fairgoods’ old neighborhood.

Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty

Still with me after yesterday’s post? Thank you, reader.

Let the celebration begin. By some remarkable coincidence, both Funky Winkerbean and Montoni’s Pizzeria celebrate their fortieth anniversaries this week!

Jimmy
March 23, 2012 at 2:05 pm
So, 40th anniversary strips coming up? If Bathack brings us in the wayback machine, I get the feeling they’re going to be a reminder that Funky Winkerbean wasn’t all that good in the 1970s either.

Into the Wayback Machine we go: looks like TB’s going with a “now and then” theme, and if every day is like today’s strip, snarker Jimmy may be on to something. If panel 2 is indeed an original, and not a “reimagining” a la Lynn Johnston, there was probably an original first panel that set this up as an actual joke (Funky dashes into Fred’s office: “Mr. Fairgood! I need to use your phone! It’s an emergency!”). The absence of humor here leaves us to contemplate the young, likeable, slender Funky, whose cargo pants conceal the merest suggestion of a butt that forty years later would threaten to burst right through Montoni’s window.

Don't Stropp Believin'

Once again,
Les’ upper lip has retracted under
his mustache

Sunday’s strip got my hopes up that we would at last be done with BasketBull. However, today Les’ mention of that damn highlight reel triggers in Bull a sepia-toned flashback. Well, not a flashback, because Bull wasn’t there. The coach (he’s the one in panel three wearing the t-shirt that says coach) is the late Jack Stropp, who not only fostered Bull’s athletic development but also passed along his gift for malapropism.

Because She's Dying!

I read today’s strip and suddenly had a hunch as to why TB chose to elevate second-stringer Ann Fairgood to such a prominent role. It took her years, but Fishstick Annie has gone from equipment girl all the way to assistant coach of the (Division III) State Champs! Her life is now complete. Now she’s taking a mental picture of the empty arena. Next month: Ann visits the doctor and gets some very bad news…

Tape-stry

Charles
December 15, 2011 at 11:38 pm
…So the thing sat in Summer’s tape storage shelf for over a decade when Summer finally decided to give him a tape for his birthday (was it his 30th? That might make a little sense, but not enough).

sourbelly
December 16, 2011 at 2:40 am
Was there some sort of “Do not watch until so-and-so date” note on this videotape? If so, why? Why would Lisa want Darwood to wait X amount of years before viewing it? That makes no sense.

This birthday celebration could plausibly have been Darin’s 30th, allowing for Westview’s chronosynclastic infundibulum aka Batiuk’s ever-more-confounding time jump. According to the Meet the Cast page on the official FW site, Darin’s pushing 30 (we just don’t know from which side). But the videocassette is just marked “Darin’s Birthday”. Maybe they make him watch it every year? That would be nutty. Anyway, the party’s (finally) over, and the tape is rewound and returned to the Lisa Library.