A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

“Of course your daughter’s here!”

By Jimmy Johnson

February 5, 1998


To make up for the site being down almost 24 hours, I’m throwing in a Sunday post. Although I had a doozy of a mother-in-law for inspiration at one time, I haven’t produced a lot of mother-in-law jokes over the years. I figure such humor became cliché shortly after Gutenberg invented the printing press . The few mother-in-law jokes I’ve done have tended to be oblique, such as the above. (In all fairness, how would you feel if your son-in-law made slightly more than minimum wage working for a remote weekly newspaper and aspiring to be a cartoonist?)


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51 responses to ““Of course your daughter’s here!””

  1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    By saying that she was a doozy and mentioning slightly more than minimum wage, should we assume that the relationship was a little rocky at times?

  2. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Obliviously, that was a excellent plan, JJ.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Where is speel chek when you need it to catch typos?

  3. joe d Avatar
    joe d

    Nice to have the site back up. I wonder what all the tinkering was?

  4. rayray Avatar
    rayray

    I apprieciate this Sunday post. I lost my Uncle Joe Friday due to Covid. But this strip reminds me so much of him. He always answered the phone by saying something similar to this.

    1. Cozmik Cowboy Avatar
      Cozmik Cowboy

      You’re Joe Friday’s nephew?? Tell us about him – but just the facts.

      Seriously though, deepest condolences on your loss; the ‘vid took my last aunt a while back.

    2. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      I’m sorry for your loss, rayray. I had a total of 6 uncles and 6 aunts from both sides if the family, all gone now. The only bright spot was that my mom was the last of the group to pass, at age 96.

      1. Cozmik Cowboy Avatar
        Cozmik Cowboy

        That was my total, as well. With the loss said aunt, my dad is all that’s left of that generation; he’s 89 and, to be honest, has been in better health………..

  5. Llee Avatar
    Llee

    Actually, you were doing pretty well if you got at least Min. for art. (You don’t go into if you want $$$……altho I really wouldn’t mind a few)
    And think how much gas $ you saved!
    No, I don’t suppose that would have helped, either. Oh well,

    1. Jimmy Johnson Avatar

      I was a reporter, editor, photographer, page designer and proof reader. I wasn’t an artist.

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        Being “a remote weekly newspaper”, I’m surprised you weren’t the janitor, also. 🙂

      2. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
        Galliglo from Ohio

        Sounds like my late ex, on a small-town newspaper. He also had to run some machine – I do not remember the name – to use photos that he had taken and make print-ready images. Times certain have changed.

  6. Cozmik Cowboy Avatar
    Cozmik Cowboy

    When I met Her, I was soundman for a bar band – but I lost the gig 2 weeks before the wedding. Didn’t get too much trouble from Her family, but I credit that less to their open-mindedness or my own sterling character than to the fact that Her ex was such a total scumbag I couldn’t help but look good…….

  7. Jon in Denver Avatar

    My father-in-law was a total outdoorsman. He loved hunting and fishing, especially for Muskies (which is an almost impossible task). When my wife and I had been dating for quite a while (marriage was eminent) we were at a party at her sister’s house and I suddenly found myself alone with her father in the living room. He said, “Do you hunt or fish?” When I said “No”, he looked at me sadly and left the room. We didn’t talk again for a long time, but we eventually garnered a good respect for each other.

  8. Sideburns Avatar

    Duffy’s tavern, where the elite meet to eat, Archie the manager speaking, Duffy ain’t here.
    Oh, hello, Duffy!

    1. Oldbear Avatar
      Oldbear

      {^¿^} I remember it well.

  9. emb Avatar
    emb

    Was Duffy ever on the program?

    This from the AWAD Mail issue 970:

    From: Alexander Drysdale (acd1 iprimus.com.au)
    Subject: Cats and Dogs

    A man went into his Datsun car dealership looking for a special cog for his car. The cost would be 2c but there were none available. So he chartered a plane to go to Japan to collect a load of cogs and bring them home to sell at a profit and make a bob or two for himself. On the way home, the plane ran into trouble and the cargo had to be jettisoned. As the material fell on a paddy field in east Asia, the workers said, “Look it’s raining Datsun cogs.”

    Alexander Drysdale, Lyndhurst, Australia

    1. Sideburns Avatar

      I’m not old enough to have heard the radio show, but I might have seen the TV version when I was a baby. Checking, Wikipedia says that Duffy never appeared on the radio, TV or movie versions.

  10. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 1-31-21 real-time cartoon: This brings back memories of childhood “don’t miss” TV shows of which I’ve not thought in years…Sergeant Preston of the Yukon* (and his faithful lead dog, King); You Asked for It; Sky King; I Love Lucy; The Lone Ranger; The Mickey Mouse Club; The Roy Rogers Show (still remember the words to “Happy Trails”); The Honeymooners; Maverick; Route 66; Leave It to Beaver; and 77 Sunset Strip, among others.
    Here’s something I’ll bet you haven’t heard lately, if ever: “Quick, kids! Draw Winky Dink a ladder!”
    *I’d been a faithful listener to the radio show of the same name, prior to my family, or anyone else in the neighborhood, getting a television set. I remember being a bit disappointed the first time I saw the TV show, that it wasn’t exactly the same as the radio show, with pictures.

    1. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
      Galliglo from Ohio

      Remember all the other shows except Winky Dink.

      Did you listen to “The Shadow” on radio? Don’t remember much, except… “The Shadow knows”

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        My radio series memories are primarily of Sergeant Preston and one about a young boy that inherited a ranch out West and had adventures with his cowboys. I want to think his name was Bobby Boyd, but I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.

        “Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows.”

        1. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
          Galliglo from Ohio

          Right! And the little boy was Bobby Benson of the B-B Ranch!

    2. BarbaraRivera Avatar
      BarbaraRivera

      I remember spreading a clear plastic adhesive over the screen of the tv and having a special waxy implement to draw with. We had to draw things that would help the hero get out of jams. Was that Winky Dink?

    3. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
      Ruth Anne in Winter Park

      Winky Dink! Bob and I both had “magic screens”.

  11. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Jimmy in 1961 I worked for our college news bureau and newspaper for Minimum Wage of $1. I wrote, proofed, edited, typed, copied, mailed, answered phone and sometimes photographed. My boss taught journalism and sometimes wrote. He was often hung over or intoxicated in his office. I learned a lot fast.

    I wish with all my heart I had been stubborn enough to fight my way after college as you and Rhetta did in the real world.

  12. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Radio was almost nonexistent where I grew up in rural Louisiana and Venezuela. I remember Amos and Andy and my grandmother seemed to listen to some soap opera plots.

    I was 17 in 1961 and got a portable television, our first on the farm. Too old for children’s shows I remember Route 66, Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, Leave It to Beaver and Adventures in Paradise.

  13. Tom (formerly from the Front Range) Avatar
    Tom (formerly from the Front Range)

    Name the radio program with this theme:

    If you go down in the woods today
    You’re sure of a big surprise
    If you go down in the woods today
    You’d better go in disguise!

  14. Judy in Conroe Avatar
    Judy in Conroe

    Gosh – I can name that tune – The Teddy Bears Picnic – but I didn’t know there was a radio program that used it as a theme. Can’t wait to find out!

    1. Tom (formerly) from the front range Avatar
      Tom (formerly) from the front range

      Answer. Big John and Sparky

      1. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
        Galliglo from Ohio

        Know the song, but didn’t know the program.

    2. Tom (formerly) from the front range Avatar
      Tom (formerly) from the front range

      Sometimes spelled: Big Jon and Sparkie

  15. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    I was in high school in Pennsylvania but I seem to recall Rocky and Bullwinkle and Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound being on television. That would have been late 1950’s?

    I just watched YouTube of Winky Dink and You. So boring! It had little to compete. Wasn’t Howdy Doodie then with Clara Belle?

    No wonder Sesame Street did so well.

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Rocky and Bullwinkle were early 1960’s. I think Yogi didn’t start until the early ’60’s either, but Huckleberry Hound might have been right at the end of the 1950’s. Howdy Doody was gone before I noticed. Did you know Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) was Clarabelle on Howdy Doody? I recall watching Westerns as a very young tv fan, Rin Tin Tin, Sky King, Highway Patrol.

  16. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Have been reading. History of Howdy Doody is fascinating 1947-1960. I went to studio in 1959 on a private tour of television studios and sets, age 13. The travel agency didn’t know what to do to entertain me for a week. Mostly the tourists at New York studios took photos of me and asked for autographs.

    Yes, Bullwinkle was around in late 1950s as was Huckleberry Hound. More popular with adults than kids, I watched them in 1958-59 at boarding school. Our television watching was highly restricted and limited.

  17. Llee Avatar
    Llee

    Jimmy, you did great! a “Bravo” button!!! And the oh-so-polite offer to share. 🙂 Congratulations
    .

  18. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Today’s strip (02-1-2021) brought back memories of my Dad. He often would do work in his suit pants, which of course would need to be dry cleaned, if they were not ruined. My Mom would be much more vocal than Janis.

  19. Jon in Denver Avatar

    “The Shadow” “The Green Hornet” “Mr District Attorney” “Racket Squad” “The Bell Telephone Hour” “Fritz the Plumber” (Local to Milwaukee). I could go on but my point is: Jimmy, based on these posts your audience is going to be gone in a matter of a few years.

    1. David in Granbury Avatar
      David in Granbury

      Jon, not his A & J audience hopefully, but the website audience may thin out. 🙁

      1. Ghost Avatar
        Ghost

        I remember several people of a certain age who posted here pretty regularly years ago and have been absent from the Village for a good while. I suspect at least some of them may fall into that category. 🙁

    2. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
      curmudgeonly ex-professor

      On radio: The “Monday night of music on NBC” featured not only the Bell Telephone Hour, but a Firestone-sponsored program before the BTH and a “Cities Service Band of America” following it. [Did I recall those correctly?] The Firestone program featured various guests, including Bidu Sayao from the Metropolitan Opera. She sang beautifully, of course, and her name stuck with me. Annually, the Cities Service production played college football songs in one fall program.

      Remember “Twenty Questions”? “Baby Snooks”? “Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons”? “Bob (Elliot) and Ray (Goulding)” [and their take off, “Mr. Trace, Keener Than Most Persons”]? “Tarzan”?

      1. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
        curmudgeonly ex-professor

        Just looked it up: “Voice of Firestone” was the program.

        1. Oldbear Avatar
          Oldbear

          Milton Cross the “voice” of the Metropolitan Opera . 1931 to 1975
          His was a mellifluous voice.

  20. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 2-1-21 real-time cartoon: “It’s one of your good shirts!” Must be the material, because I swear it looks just like the shirts he wears for all activities.
    For most of my working years, my “uniform of the day” was suit, dress shirt, tie, and wingtip dress shoes. I got many comments on the way to and from work was to how well-dressed I was. My standard reply: “I’m just wearing my work clothes.”

  21. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    I have an absolute aversion to wearing dress clothes of any kind thanks to my mom and grandmother’s insistence I wear them to church every Sunday. Being on a low budget, they bought things made of material that I found totally uncomfortable, such as wool-based fabric, early polyester which had the feel of fiberglass and was about as stiff, and of course a tie. I hated the ties worst of all because that meant I had to button the collar all the way up and miss even that bit of comfort. I haven’t been in a suit coat since I got married and if anyone tries to have me buried in one I’ll come back and haunt them.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Many years ago, I knew a very proper lady who, rather than being placed in a casket for the viewing, was on a chaise lounge wearing a nightgown with a dressing gown over it. Her family explained her reasoning…one could not sleep comfortably in one’s clothes. She did, in fact, look quite comfortable. (She was placed in the casket for burial, however.)
      Similarly, my father, who wore glasses his entire adult life, was buried without them. His reasoning…it was silly. He wasn’t going to be reading anything in the casket, and he wouldn’t need them where he was going.

  22. emb Avatar
    emb

    1. Old? “Jello again,” followed by “Lucky Strike Green has gone to war.”
    2. Adult iggle just brought a branch to the Decorah north, IA, nest. No activity yet at the older Decorah nest, much farther S, though I’ve seen adults nearby. Far enough apart to avoid conflicts. Magpie yesterday at the MT osprey/goose nest. Neat corvid w/ a peculiar geogr. range.
    https://explore.org/livecams/birds/decorah-eagles-north-nest
    Peace,

  23. Philippe Gut or Symply Fargone (u pick) Avatar
    Philippe Gut or Symply Fargone (u pick)

    Wow, this place looks Symply spiffy, I almost didn’t Fargone recognize the joint…kudos JJ outstanding with the “like” and share buttons…very impressed. Not many other artists would take the time to do and maintain a site like this. The village appears to be active again!

    1. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
      Galliglo from Ohio

      And we Symply miss you!

  24. Oldbear Avatar
    Oldbear

    Collage girl friend & roommates answered:
    “City morgue – you stab’em we slab’em”
    .
    “Never Never Land – Tinker-bell speaking”

  25. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Hey am I asleep on the switch? We have a Bravo! button????