Ziggy, Garfield, Cathy, Mary Worth: It's the first episode of the Metafilter Comics Digest Podcast!

Good news! It's the inaugural episode of the Metafilter Comics Digest podcast! In this episode we cover Ziggy, Garfield, Cathy (RIP!), and a hitting-close-to-home Mary Worth story about internet addiction. The podcast runs just under one hour in length.

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Helpful Links

Podcast Feed
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Direct mp3 download

Each segment is about 10-15 minutes, with me, Jessamyn, Matt and Paul in sequence taking some time to read through a couple weeks of one of our favorite comic strips.

Comics links, if you'd like to follow along as you listen:

- Ziggy
- Cathy
- Mary Worth
- Garfield strips from Jessamyn's birthday: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

If you're unfamiliar with newspaper comics, more information is available at Josh Fruhlinger's excellent comics history archive, The Comics Curmudgeon.

posted by cortex to MeFi Podcast at 11:30 AM (128 comments total)

Oh, God bless and keep you.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 11:34 AM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Finally! I know you're sick of me asking by now, but next week, I'd really like to hear some coverage of my three favorite indie comics: Marmaduke, Beetle Bailey, and the Wizard of Id.
posted by waxpancake at 11:34 AM on April 1, 2011

I love this.
posted by kenko at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2011

I'd like an update on this Luann thread, plz.
posted by hermitosis at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

I look forward to the BC readings, as well as the following discussion about what it says about spirituality and what we're missing in modern life!
posted by ignignokt at 11:36 AM on April 1, 2011

I, for one, am sick of the rampant Cathyism on this bulletin board system. When are you going to stop oppressing counter-Cathy points of view?
posted by ardgedee at 11:37 AM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

It really upsets me that you're continuing to ignore the story of the year -- Lyman from Garfield, and what he's been up to that the MSM doesn't want you to know.
posted by Greg Nog at 11:37 AM on April 1, 2011

Cortex, this is crazy insightful analysis. So that's what "booting it out" meant! Book club is going to have to revisit this.
posted by ignignokt at 11:38 AM on April 1, 2011

I only wish cortex was selling us on Ziggy more, instead of sounding so hesitant and uncertain. Let's see some conviction! Ziggy is great and you're going to tell us why!
posted by kenko at 11:39 AM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Man alive.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:40 AM on April 1, 2011

I am going to listen to this whole thing and I am going to hate you for it.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:42 AM on April 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Best podcast evar.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:47 AM on April 1, 2011

Oh boy oh boy oh BOY!
posted by Elsa at 11:47 AM on April 1, 2011

COLUD YOU PLEASE TSLK ABOUT CALVIN PISSING OB THINGS THANK YOU.
posted by ColdChef at 11:48 AM on April 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

I love you all.
posted by msali at 11:49 AM on April 1, 2011

I look forward to the BC readings

MODS GOT KNEES!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:49 AM on April 1, 2011 [6 favorites]

If you're unfamiliar with newspaper comics, more information is available at Josh Fruhlinger's excellent comics history archive, The Comics Curmudgeon. good for you. You didn't miss much.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:49 AM on April 1, 2011

"Cathy" was one of my favs. I lived in Midland and had one of her teachers at Midland High.
posted by clavdivs at 11:50 AM on April 1, 2011

I guess pants biting is not what he's been trained to do.

Indeed, sir. Indeed.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:50 AM on April 1, 2011

No Family Circus?

Fail.
posted by bondcliff at 11:51 AM on April 1, 2011

I only wish cortex was selling us on Ziggy more, instead of sounding so hesitant and uncertain. Let's see some conviction!

This is the perfect amount of enthusiasm for Ziggy. You are perhaps discounting the metatextual commentary here: Ziggy himself typically exhibits hesitance, uncertainty, and a lack of marked enthusiasm for his own persistent existence.
posted by Elsa at 11:53 AM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Not Me
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:53 AM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIP

MODS GOT VELCRO!
posted by rmd1023 at 11:54 AM on April 1, 2011

I would like an indepth StoryCore-style series capturing different MeFites' tearful reactions to Farley's heroic death in For Better, For Worse.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:54 AM on April 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

OMG SPOILER ALERT MUCH KAFKAESQUE?
posted by Elsa at 11:54 AM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

this isn't an April Fool's joke is it? IS IT?!
posted by The Whelk at 11:55 AM on April 1, 2011

KAFKAESQUE SPOILER ALERT:

BEETLE BAILEY IS ACTUALLY A BEETLE!!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:56 AM on April 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'd always pegged cortex as more of a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers type of guy!
posted by vacapinta at 11:57 AM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

*swims counter-clockwise for awhile*
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:58 AM on April 1, 2011

You don't say the frequency of this, but I hope it's at least weekly. Even better would be daily. I am serious.
posted by skynxnex at 11:58 AM on April 1, 2011

Note at self: to appear clever, change the preposition.
posted by maudlin at 12:00 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR.
posted by deezil at 12:07 PM on April 1, 2011

The birdhouse Ziggy comic is totally a subtle commentary on satellite television and couch-potatoes, how could you get that so wrong cortex?
posted by carsonb at 12:09 PM on April 1, 2011

ACK!!!!
posted by rocket88 at 12:12 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Inspired song choices, especially the Billy Joel.
posted by waxpancake at 12:14 PM on April 1, 2011

I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO TURN OFF SCIENCE FRIDAY SO ICAN LISTEN TO THIS THAT ALMOST NEVER EVER EVER HAPPENS ALMOST
posted by slogger at 12:17 PM on April 1, 2011

Oh, Cathy!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:17 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Cortex really knows how to beanplate the Ziggy.

I have it on good knowledge Ziggy is indeed a certified pilot.
posted by Skygazer at 12:18 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

I too would wear a skirt to a veterinary lecture featuring a llama x-ray.
posted by carsonb at 12:19 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

"MEH-FIE MAILS"?!?!?HOW DARE YOU YOU BASTERD
posted by slogger at 12:20 PM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

The birdhouse Ziggy comic is totally a subtle commentary on satellite television and couch-potatoes, how could you get that so wrong cortex?

Look, I respect your analysis even if I can't fully support it, but we're talking about Ziggy here. It's not Marvin, it's not just poop joke after poop joke. It's a tapestry, there are layers, the text and subtext can support a number of interpretations. It's that semiotic richness that has kept the strip alive all these years.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:20 PM on April 1, 2011 [7 favorites]

Oh, Cathy! Her insights are for the ages.

QFT, Matt, QF MFing T.
posted by donnagirl at 12:21 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Fucking echo chamber. When are you guys going to cover Mallard Fillmore? Oh, wait, right, that will never happen on this site.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 12:24 PM on April 1, 2011 [19 favorites]

Garfields on my birth consist of cakes filled with a huge number of candles, threatening to burn the comic strip down. Garfield complaining about being old with sagging skin. But in the end, he's always happy to be around his friends and families, even Odie and thus we see that he's a real cat in the end and has a heart for even his most hated enemies.

Yes, that's right, you guessed it. I share my birthday with Lou Gehrig.
posted by skynxnex at 12:24 PM on April 1, 2011

The best part about this is now my coworkers think I'm the sort of person who reads Ziggy comics on her lunch break. Great.
posted by Secretariat at 12:33 PM on April 1, 2011

HA! He changed the preposition!
posted by Mister_A at 12:34 PM on April 1, 2011

Did you know that Tom Wilson, creator of Ziggy, was once R. Crumb's boss? It's true!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 12:50 PM on April 1, 2011

Next year could you read from my word-a-day calendar?
posted by Karmakaze at 12:55 PM on April 1, 2011

There is a distinct lack of Nancy here.

That Sluggo. He's the WORST.
posted by Madamina at 12:58 PM on April 1, 2011

ColdChef: "COLUD YOU PLEASE TSLK ABOUT CALVIN PISSING OB THINGS THANK YOU"

I made this pissing Calvin.
posted by idiopath at 1:01 PM on April 1, 2011 [6 favorites]

Can we talk more about Peanuts without the punchline?
posted by nile_red at 1:01 PM on April 1, 2011

No Heathcliff?
posted by janepanic at 1:03 PM on April 1, 2011

Heathcliff : Garfield :: Gobots : Transformers :: Snorks : Smurfs :: Cracked : Mad :: margerine : butter
posted by idiopath at 1:05 PM on April 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

That is quite a Nilssonesque theme song!
posted by Miko at 1:06 PM on April 1, 2011

I had no idea Mary Worth was so awful.
posted by kenko at 1:07 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

"He eats toast? Who eats toast anymore!"
posted by idiopath at 1:10 PM on April 1, 2011

I made this pissing Calvin.
posted by idiopath

Magnificent!
posted by ColdChef at 1:14 PM on April 1, 2011

This may be my most favorite thing ever.
posted by slogger at 1:16 PM on April 1, 2011

Thanks ColdChef, it is just my special way of vulgarly showing disrespect to those who use Calvin to vulgarly display their disrespect.
posted by idiopath at 1:19 PM on April 1, 2011

idiopath, shouldn't he be pissing on BoingBoing or something?
posted by Mister_A at 1:34 PM on April 1, 2011

Can a mod move this to the blue. It seems to have been posted to metatalk by mistake.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:35 PM on April 1, 2011

ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR.

NUH UH ZIGGY PLAYED FOR TIME.
posted by owtytrof at 1:36 PM on April 1, 2011

"That is quite a Nilssonesque theme song!"

Nilsson sinks a half court shot with Ringo cheering him on
posted by puny human at 1:43 PM on April 1, 2011

lol.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 1:59 PM on April 1, 2011

Nilsson Schmilsson
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:06 PM on April 1, 2011

I suppose I could have noted this, but the opening song is "Ain't It Funny" by the Tall Dwarfs; the closer is "Same Blue Devils" by Grant-Lee Phillips. I think everything in the middle was probably pretty recognizable.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:17 PM on April 1, 2011

Metafilter: pissing on BoingBoing or something?

I'm sorry
posted by never used baby shoes at 2:20 PM on April 1, 2011

I thought it was harelip! harelip!
posted by cjorgensen at 2:24 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Henry could be a young stoic Homer.
posted by clavdivs at 2:32 PM on April 1, 2011

even though I knew that Ziggy Stardust opening riff was coming, I still loved it more than I can say.
posted by scody at 2:39 PM on April 1, 2011

Heathcliff : Garfield :: Gobots : Transformers :: Snorks : Smurfs :: Cracked : Mad :: margerine : butter

I think you meant to type "Garfield : Heathcliff :: ..."

Heathcliff came half a decade earlier and is better by a wide margin.

(Of course, Heathcliff is a blatant ripoff of the vastly superior Top-Cat, so, hey.)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:58 PM on April 1, 2011

I was slightly disappointed that this wasn't a music podcast but Jessamyn reading Garfield comics was enough to get over it.
posted by Memo at 3:07 PM on April 1, 2011

That Liz character in the Garfield strips has the scariest lips I've ever seen.
posted by marsha56 at 3:25 PM on April 1, 2011

Talk about commitment to the gag. This is the best of the many great MeFi 4/1 events.
posted by eyeballkid at 3:42 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

God damn it Cortex. The music before the second Sunday strip you read made me think Ziggy was over and I clicked away and totally lost my fucking place in the strip.

Oh look there's a little calendar thingy to help me find the second Sunday of 1998...
posted by marxchivist at 4:15 PM on April 1, 2011

In a drinking game known to and played only by myself, whenever I read the words "Nilsson Schmilsson" anywhere on the internets, I have to stop whatever I'm doing and spend the rest of the night drinking Brandy Alexanders. So thanks It's Raining Florence Henderson, thanks a lot.
posted by puny human at 4:34 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Happy to oblige.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:39 PM on April 1, 2011

I was not previously familiar with this "Mary Worth" comic. Now I'm not sure if I should thank you, or be upset with you. I can only sum up my reaction to it as "..." because there are no adequate words.
posted by FishBike at 4:53 PM on April 1, 2011

Oh my lord, FishBike, Mary Worth really is just about the best thing ever. Reading Comics Curmudgeon over the last few years has given me a real appreciation for the quirky terrible awesomeness of all the soap comics, but Mary Worth stands rightly atop that heap with its protracted morality plays, its weirdly stilted dialogue, and Mary's wonderfully unending meddling.

I'm actually kind of sad there wasn't more Mary in the recent storyline, but Wilber and Dawn aren't a bad B-team.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:14 PM on April 1, 2011 [6 favorites]

I fell asleep listening to the podcast at the first panel of Mary Worth, and woke up as soon as it was over. Couldn't bring myself to start over.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:17 PM on April 1, 2011

The thing that gets me about it is that pb read through more than three weeks of it in fifteen minutes, and the pace of the story still seemed... glacial. How on earth does it hold any reader interest from one day to the next? Is it written for an audience that is literally comatose? Dear god, that was quite unintentionally hilarious.
posted by FishBike at 5:25 PM on April 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm glad I don't have any friends because if one of them had called and asked what I was doing when I was listening to this it would have been really hard to explain this thing.
posted by marxchivist at 5:34 PM on April 1, 2011

NEEDS MOAR FUNKY WINKERBEAN.
posted by tzikeh at 5:44 PM on April 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

I was working from home today. I've been fighting some unpleasant side effects to new medication, including extreme drowsiness around midday. I listened to both podcasts to keep myself awake, and it was kind of like having friends hanging out with me while I worked. Except that I didn't have to hide the tears in my eyes listening to the MeFite stories from Japan on the "real" podcast, and I didn't have to explain the tears running down my cheeks listening to today's podcast. It was a real treat.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:48 PM on April 1, 2011 [6 favorites]

Even when you explain Ziggy it still sucks. Next time you should try Family Circus. An interesting note about this, and maybe this is where you got the inspiration. Back in the 40s, they used to do this over the radio on Sunday Morings for the kids, probably without the meta commentary
posted by wheelieman at 6:10 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Why isn't this on NPR?
posted by TwelveTwo at 6:12 PM on April 1, 2011

Back in the 40s, they used to do this over the radio on Sunday Morings for the kids, probably without the meta commentary

wheelieman, one thing you might be thinking of is how New York City's Mayor LaGuardia read the comics on the air during a newspaper strike in 1945. My grandmother, for some reason, always remembered this. She had a lot of comics memories, including a family story about being asleep in the back room of her Bronx apartment as a kid, and being awoken by her mother suddenly gasping and crying loudly, "He's got a gat!" She was reading Dick Tracy.
posted by Miko at 6:19 PM on April 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Like all podcasts I spent this one drawing (because I pay better attention to what I'm hearing and can concentrate on drawing) and I was like "damn, must suck being the artist for Ziggy and having to keep doing that all your life, unable to quit, because it's the only steady income you can get from a comic...and now you're all washed up and made fun of on the internet but are such an institution that you'll be around as long as they print comics...but that's going to the wayside and when newspapers finally die off...so it's a question of if they can change artisically or not.. and...and.."

I drew Pikachu eating an eggroll (self link!)
posted by hellojed at 6:25 PM on April 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

I just reached the end of the "newspaper strike" movie and there's a decently long reel of LaGuardia reading the comics, and he's darn good at it.
posted by Miko at 6:33 PM on April 1, 2011

Continuing the history geekout, here is a treat for all fellow Minneapolis Mefites, then Mayor of Minneapolis Hubert Humphrey reading the comics during the Polio outbreak of 1946 (mp3)
posted by wheelieman at 6:36 PM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

the "newspaper strike" movie

It's not Newsies is it?! Oh the horror....
posted by hellojed at 6:38 PM on April 1, 2011

Beatlie Gay-lie
posted by The Whelk at 6:44 PM on April 1, 2011

Shit, leechblocker is going to lock me out of this in 8 minutes. Is there some other place I can listen to this awesomeness!??
posted by serazin at 8:22 PM on April 1, 2011

For your next edition (which will obviously be a year from today), I hope you will get into the post-Johnny-Hart B.C. (his grandkids have replaced the religious obnoxiousness with almost-pure randomness), Family Circus (as reported by MeFi's Own NotMe), Funky Winkerbean (with warnings for those subject to depression and suicidal thoughts) and Dilbert (cross-referencing Scott Adams' blogging, I DARE YOU).
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:42 PM on April 1, 2011

If you want more where that came from, try Radio for the Blind and Print Impaired every Sunday evening.
posted by liketitanic at 9:33 PM on April 1, 2011

Inspired song choices, especially the Billy Joel.

Agreed, but I'd have been totally geeked if cortex had gone with the Urinals and the Free Design.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:49 PM on April 1, 2011

MATHOWIE IS A FINK!

galoop, galoop, galoop
posted by zamboni at 9:49 PM on April 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Yay!

Also. Could we get a listing of all songs used, if it's not too much trouble?
posted by severiina at 10:21 PM on April 1, 2011

Man, what a spectacular April Fools.
posted by Kattullus at 12:14 AM on April 2, 2011

Needs more Andy Capp
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:27 AM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I couldn't actually get all the way through this podcast, but I loved it anyway. It felt like an anti-prank, with no one as the butt of the joke. (I mean, I guess the authors of the comics, but not really: they know they're corny.) It was refreshing. Thanks.
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:21 AM on April 2, 2011

Full song listing:

Tall Dwarfs, Ain't It Funny
David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust
The Smiths, You're The One For Me, Fatty
Weird Al Yankovich, Lasagna
Tori Amos, I Don't Like Mondays
The Mamas & The Papas, Monday Monday
Billy Joel, Moving Out
The Beatles, Taxman
Pink Floyd, Money
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Proud Mary
Crash Test Dummies, I Never Fall Asleep At Night
Grant-Lee Phillips, Same Blue Devils
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:24 AM on April 2, 2011

Cortex - You missed the really notable thing in that Sunday "Ziggy gets a physical" strip -- he's wearing pants or some kind of thing that covers his bathing suit areas.

Since he ordinarily doesn't wear pants, does this mean he puts pants *on* for his physical? How does this work? Has he been wearing these man-pants under his dress the whole time? Is it a dress? A caftan? A long tunic of some sort? I think there's some real question here regarding Ziggy's gender presentation. Clearly he's not particularly femme, and yet he's in a dress. Is this a rejection of the binary paradigm of gender presentation?

WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE SEE THE DEPTH, HERE? There's such a lack of analysis or even overthinking, here. Screw you guys, I'm going to /b/ so I can find people who can actually examine things and provide real discussion of topics.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:41 AM on April 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

no one as the butt of the joke.

That was sort of the goal. I came in late to the idea but once I heard it I loved it. It was going to sort of be slipped in in place of the regular podcast but once we'd solicited contributions from people in Japan it seemed like it might not quite "work" to replace that podcast with a jokey/non-sequitor one without explanation and explanation would have killed it. So we opted for this slightly clunky sequence, but it made sure that people who are podcast fans would hear the other one first [and thank you thank you to everyone who called in or sent audio from Japan] and then this one went up on actual April Fools and a lot of people would miss it but the people who didn't would likely enjoy it. I have to admit I haven't gotten all the way through pb's Mary Worth yet.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:19 AM on April 2, 2011

No Mallard Fillmore!? MetaFilter is a bastion of censorship!!
posted by not_on_display at 10:23 AM on April 2, 2011

I want to go see a veterinary lecture on how to unroll a hedgehog!
posted by jammy at 11:30 AM on April 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Seems like our very own jessamyn could be qualified to deliver that lecture (or at least provide the slides).
posted by Kattullus at 1:35 PM on April 2, 2011

Oh my, Mary Worth is creepy as fuck. I kept thinking that everything had to be a euphemism for something else. They flew kites, really? This was about the Internet? And by 'dad' she meant what exactly? I'm confused and I don't even know why, as if I just witnessed an optical illusion and I'm still trying to sort the vases and the faces. With my ears.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:49 PM on April 2, 2011

Heck, that's nothing. There was one time when a chubby stalker fell pretty hard for Mary but she wanted nothing to do with his flowers and friendly creeperness, and so she suckered him into coming over to her place where the whole Charterstone gang was waiting to stage a "you're a creepy stalker, Aldo" intervention, after which Aldo was so devastated that he got drunk and drove off a cliff and DIED.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:24 PM on April 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

ALDO LIVES
posted by The Whelk at 5:43 PM on April 2, 2011

"Tori Amos, I Don't Like Mondays"

I'm not a fan of her music and I've always found her videos slightly annoying, but 10 or so years ago I found myself directly behind Ms. Amos in line at the Starbucks at the Charlotte airport, and I can tell you that in person, close up, she is one of the prettiest persons I have ever seen. Like please stop staring at her because you're coming off like a stalker pretty. Like 1000 times prettier than any of her photos would lead you to believe pretty. And so petit, and tiny, like a fairy princess.

Did I mention she was pretty?
posted by puny human at 9:00 PM on April 2, 2011

rmd1023: Panel 1: ["WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE SEE THE DEPTH, HERE? There's such a lack of analysis or even overthinking, here. Screw you guys, I'm going to /b/ so I can find people who can actually examine things and provide real discussion of topics."]

panel 2: ["Good grief, Charlie Brown!"]

Panel 3: [Charlie Brown looks up in despair]

Panel 4: [Charlie Brown walks to Snoopy's doghouse]

Panel 5: [Snoopy is laying on top of his doghouse wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.]
posted by Skygazer at 9:24 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Good ol' Gregor Brown
posted by puny human at 9:30 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Garfield's scary-huge feet came about because he started walking on his rears in a lot of strips. Jim thought it looked silly and unbalanced that he was trotting around on his tiny (but accurate) kitty toes. So, the huge duck-like flippers were born in an attempt to better balance his bulk. The feet have evolved back-and-forth in size over the years.

The BIG question is why did Garfield's nose evolve from a realistic kitty nose to a big pink jellybean.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:12 AM on April 3, 2011

The scuttlebutt around the studio is that Charles Schulz himself suggested the big feet. Compare Garfield's feet to Snoopy's.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:13 AM on April 3, 2011

Guess this is a public service. I had no idea so many Mefites could not read.
posted by Cranberry at 2:12 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

ahhhh!!!! i love this!!!!1!1!111!!

i, too, would wear a dress to see a lecture on how to unroll a hedgehog.
posted by enzymatic at 4:48 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh man. I'm finally listening to this and it is officially the. best. thing. ever. I really hope you do more!

The Smiths Morrissey, You're The One For Me, Fatty
posted by grapesaresour at 7:23 PM on April 3, 2011

The real April Fools' Joke is, of course, that the administration of MetaFilter will be hounded and begged for more of this wonderful inanity.
posted by carsonb at 9:16 PM on April 3, 2011

As parts of my job go, that one is not so bad.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:33 PM on April 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

I saw this on April 1 and it took me till right now to realize it was a joke. yikes.
posted by pwally at 6:14 AM on April 4, 2011

Yeah, I just figured it out too...hilarious.
posted by schyler523 at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2011

this was so, so good.
posted by milestogo at 10:57 AM on April 6, 2011

MetaFilter: There's sort of a narrative arc here.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:30 AM on April 11, 2011

I finally caught up on my podcasts, and this came on. I thought Cortex was joking in the intro. Then I slowly realized with equal parts horror and delight that it was all true. And it happens to be the funniest podcast I've heard since early YLNT.

My 13 year old step-daughter truly loved it (her words "best thing ever"), and was crestfallen to find out it was a joke. She couldn't wait to get home and subscribe.
posted by gofargogo at 1:14 PM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Actually, the fact that this is a joke makes it a pretty mean joke.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:06 PM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

I honestly did not expect anyone to not think it was a joke. I am glad some folks really enjoyed it, and it's not impossible something like this could happen again, but, I mean, no one has ever, ever asked us to do a podcast in which we do deadpan readings of newspaper comics so it felt pretty QED on that front.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:15 PM on April 17, 2011

I should've added some emoticon, as I was only teasing...mostly. The problem is that the podcast was just so fucking great and now we want more. Not that we're going to start bugging you to borrow the car or buy us an Xbox, but there was something utterly comforting about being read to by some of our favorite 'people in charge'. And comics no less. It really was quite special and delightful.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:28 PM on April 17, 2011