The Friday Special

October 11, 1966

I love the performance from this waiter. I love his overacting. I love him saying "Now I can afford to have the operation" which is always a great addition when talking about someone being cheap. I love the violin comment. And I love that he's saying this loud enough for everyone in the restaurant to hear and that they clearly love the performance as well. Bravo! Bravo.

"Golly-Neds" as used here is an old-timey colloquial used mainly in West Virginia, which is probably how Art heard it since Ohio is just a stone's throw from West Virginia.

Anyone who has read a BuzzFeed listicle knows restaurant/diner specials are what's leftover, what's about to expire, or what the place ordered cheap so Brutus should already know this. I find it hard to believe Brutus has never read a BuzzFeed listicle.

Diner Whiner

October 3, 1966

What the hell kind of bird is that? He says they got it at Easter so a chicken? Kind of scrawny and reminds me, for some reason, of the dodo bird in Porky in Wackyland.

The last of the dodos.

Look at Gladys sitting there with her tea. "Them's my boys," she proudly thinks.

Does Brutus think du jour is some kind of flavor and not "of the day"? Was "tomato" not written with the soup du jour? I have a lot of questions for this comic. But I always have questions when Brutus is shown eating at this diner.

"TGIF. Right, Brutus?" "That's right, Uncle Ted! Oh, shit! I forgot to go to work today!"

Now we're eating seafood at the diner? What is it with this place? Is it cheap? Does it have a good atmosphere? Is it literally the only place to eat in this city besides the fancy restaurant and the fast food place?

It's All Pig

September 12, 1966

On a casual glance with this comic, I initially thought "Oh, no! Their buddy (probably Thornapple) has been turned into a vampire! What a horrible night for a curse!" But he's just stuck in his sleeping bag and apparently we can't just pull that down to get him out?

It's fried ham slices/pieces. How can you not tell the difference? Has Brutus never seen bacon and/or Canadian bacon before? Is today is first day on Earth?

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Couldn't They Just Write the Special On a Board?

June 13, 1966

Car horn don't typically "die". They do rely on an electrical current to work so I guess a horn that won't stop blaring could eventually drain the battery. I've never had a horn malfunction so can a horn keep blaring if the car is turned off? I guess so, because you can still honk the horn if the car is off. I'm thinking about this and perusing this Boss Horn website too much. Women drivers, amirite?

Hope you like oysters in brown gravy, Brutus!

That was the most disgusting thing I could think of that this diner might have. I spent too much time learning about how car horns work.

You Wanted to Know

My governor, Laura Kelly, sent a letter to Secretary Linda McMahon of the Department of Education asking for some funding back. Someone responded in the comments "We don't rely on money to teach kids." He then says a couple more things then goes "Pay teachers fair wages...". Ignoring the idiocy of saying we don't need money and then saying give teachers money, this person clearly doesn't understand how much money goes into schools.

It was left over money from Covid so I don't know what it would actually be going toward but Covid money was given to schools for health-related stuff (more nurses, supplies, upgrades to things), extra paraeducators, extra social workers, and to help pay for "learning loss" things like after school and summer school programs. He actually says later in a response that "the money isn't going to teachers", but it probably is because summer school and after school programs are not part of a teacher's salary. They get extra pay for that because that stuff tends to fall outside of their duty schedule.

Don't get me wrong, pay teachers, get rid of the bad ones (whatever that means) and just let teachers teach. But we all know that isn't going to happen.

Pay the teachers with what, Ryan?

PAY THEM WITH WHAT?!

May 14, 1966

I've mentioned before how I don't understand how everyone on an island doesn't just get swept into the ocean by a large wave and this island doesn't ease those concerns.

Did the hammock wash up on shore? Physics aside, what happens if he actually falls asleep?

But, seriously, though. Isn't this what restaurants do? They make up the specials from what's expiring or what they bought cheap recently? I mean, sometimes it's what they have too much of, but it can also be those other two things, right?

Does Every Bowl of Stew Get a Hockey Puck?

April 5, 1966

Say what?
Fuck?

Shit?

Goddamn?

Kerfelfluffer?

Ziggity-wing-wang?

Come on, give me a clue. There are a few other words he might say but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to type them out.

My favorite thing when one of the characters in this strip are mad, it looks like they are three seconds away from having a full-blown tantrum. Brutus is going to throw that stew on the floor--hockey puck and all--and begin pounding on the counter.

Lucky? Really? $5 Salisbury Steak?

March 15, 1966

We're all familiar with Clifford, the Big Red Dog, who debuted just three years before this strip. Inspired by that friendly, lovable dog, Art introduced Hogarth, the Vicious Giant Dog. I mean, I'd buy those books.

Seems to me that Brutus still gets the salisbury steak, unless you want to, I don't know, I'm just spitballing here, fight to the death. Survivor gets the salisbury steak.

Another Late Post

February 17, 1966

Is it even raining, or are they just all standing around with their umbrellas open?

I love how Art includes at least one woman in the bus stop crowd. It's 1966 after all. Women's equality and being in the workplace and all that claptrap.

Brutus hasn't been at the diner since early December. Brutus has a chance to dramatically change his life and he botches it. Maybe in 2025, he can at least stay away from ordering fish from this place.

Mother Fruitcake

August 17, 1986

Is it me or does this not flow like it should? We don't see the man take Brutus' burger so it's like he's still just eating his own. I don't know. It just seems clunky.

Brutus was going to take the fruitcake to the county line and bury it in a shallow grave a few feet off a lonely and isolated road. Thanks, Uncle Ted, you just saved Brutus some gas!

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More Diner Seafood

January 8, 1966

Why wasn't "mummy" at the wedding? Is mummy to be taken literally here? Does he have the ceremonially preserved remains of a person or animal in his house? How did she not already know that? Maybe he was supposed to get rid of it before they got married. "Yes, Gladys, it will not be here when we become man and wife."

What kind of name is Noonan?

I was going to comment on black-haired diner counter waitress letting her hair go to gray, but we've seen this gray-haired waitress before. Back in June when this comic was (kind of) made before.

Uncle Ted's Balls

June 29, 1986

I was going to comment that 70¢ seems like a lot, but it's only 23¢ per minute which seems like a steal. Pay phones rose to a quarter starting in 1984 so 23¢ is a discount. Or this payphone in 1986 was still a dime and Brutus just got royally screwed. Well, joke's on the payphone. The Born Loser is still around while payphone after payphone are removed and tossed in the garbage.

How does this cut costs? It should be "the one who loses the least buys the root beer" because the one that loses the least number of golf balls has lost the least amount of money. The way Uncle Ted phrases it, the person who loses the most balls has to pay to replace his balls (heh-heh-heh!) and pay for the root beer.

They should just steal golf balls from Mr. Anderson.

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Shut Your Hole, Woman

December 17, 1965

Good! That carpet was due for a good painting.

What's wrong with Brucie's face? Is that a young Elon Musk? Clearly this tiny man has kidnapped and killed Brucie and has taken over his life.

July 26, 2024

The number of alarms refers to the number of peppers in the chili, which I didn't know. I knew it was in relation to how spicy the chili but I didn't know how they came up with the number.

The chili I make would definitely be considered a no-alarm chili because I don't put peppers in mine. You'd hate my chili and I can feel your judging eyes on me.

Cool. I get to talk about work and school during my last week of summer vacation. I would rather be bored than go back to work. Although I do like the money. You can give me some by going into the About section and sending me a tip.

It's also kind of hot and possibly storming in and around Cleveland today so that may be part of his boredom.

Yum. Diner Seafood

November 15, 1965

Albert's just doing what kids do: Eating cake that has been left out on the table hours before it is actually needed. I feel we can assign blame equally in this comic.

If only he had cut the cake out of the middle...

I have a coworker who goes out to eat every day for lunch. Every. Day. He goes to McDonald's. Every. Day. I wish I could do that, but doesn't that get expensive? I also don't think he really cooks dinner. I think he eats out for every meal. Whatever. Not my place to judge.

I bring this up because Brutus eats at this diner (nearly?) every day and each visit is a new worse experience. Is there no where else to eat nearby? What does Brutus get out of this?

Dine-flation

October 23, 1965

I thought it was pretty common knowledge that dog whistles are silent except to dogs. I think I learned that while watching Tom and Jerry or something. Maybe these boys are just idiots. I don't know.

So after just three cups, you might as well just go to Starbucks.

Brutus' smile got really big in the second panel. Is $2.29 a good price for an initial cup of coffee? I don't know. I typically get chocolate milk when I splurge and go to diners to eat. And you certainly aren't getting free refills on that.

Friday Quickies

September 27, 1965

Who is this guy? Some pervert? If so, Sidney is right to pistol whip him with his slingshot.

Are hamburgers classified as sandwiches at this fine dining establishment?

I Hear Kum & Go Will Be Available Soon

October 1, 1989

Brutus didn't have to say anything. Gladys was clearly asleep, just get up and brush your teeth. Or wait until morning. One thing I try not to do when having to get up in the middle of the night is wake the other people in the house up.

Cool. This place just went down a notch from "diner food" to "gas station food". We have a gas station that serves some food. Apparently they have really good biscuits and gravy. So people are just going to leave their cars at the pumps while they eat? That seems inconvenient.

As for a catchy slogan, I think people will notice the changes based on the newly installed gas pumps.

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Shakespeare Didn't Say That

August 20, 1965

This would be my luck. I'd be sent to prison and when I finally orchestrate my escape that's when I'd be pardoned or my conviction vacated or something.

Of course, I would never wind up in prison so if I ever am in prison, it's because I was framed and serving time for a crime I didn't commit so me orchestrating an escape would make sense because of our deeply flawed criminal justice system.

I wonder what Smirdly did and how he got ahold of a hacksaw.

"Har, har! That's hilarious. Just put in the order and get my food."

Vegetable Stew in Beef Broth

June 16, 1965

Another one where I can't really tell what's going on. Clearly she doesn't have a pearl in her but something else? A diamond? Three oysters don't have anything. Are those pearls? These oysters have human names? What is going on here?

By three it will just be vegetable stew.

Oh, hey. They moved the gumball/antacid machine.

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Gumball Dumball

June 12, 1965

Seymour. Seymour the Native American. I mean, I guess it's possible. Seymour actually doesn't look that thrilled at possibly being married to the chief's daughter.

I just noticed that Seymour isn't going to chop the white man's head off. He's holding a club. He's going to bludgeon the white man.

He hasn't seen a gumball machine in years? Does Brutus never go anywhere? I think I can list off three places in my town that have gumball machines (candy store, barber shop, possibly the comic book store). There's got to be at least one in the mall. I think there's even one in one of our Walmarts. Does Brutus not go to Walmart?

Un-Usual

May 15, 1965

Fashion, like art, is subjective. One person's yum is another person's yuck. Just because all these French fashion designers like something doesn't mean Johnny-On-the-Street will. We're just conditioned to think that because they "know" fashion, whatever is fashionable is good. And I'm assuming they're talking about the dress on the rack and not what she is wearing, right?

What about that wall of hair on the saleslady? It's beautiful. Much better than the dress.

I apologize for Brutus, you just look like every other woman who has worked at this diner and Brutus gets easily confused.

(Brutus really shouldn't be bragging about being a regular at this place.)