OP (FoehammerEcho419) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here:
These are usually pretty dry but understandable. Does it have to do with what's in the box, or maybe we should be expecting Dennis to open it as soon as he's out of eyesight? Any ideas? Am I missing something?
The box is huge compared to him. Does he really need to be reminded to give this huge present to his teacher? Like he's really just gonna walk around all day holding it and forget all about it?
We have a Beagle who loves casting in the back yard (we have deer and bunnies galore), and watching her with that nose to the ground I always imagine that dotted-line trail laid out for her to follow.
I grew up out in the sticks. My bulldog was my best friend. We would play "hide the boy". My sister would hold his collar in a room on the second floor of the house. He would watch me climb out the window onto the roof and then jump down to the ground. I would run off and hide in the woods. When my sister let him go, he would run downstairs, out the door and put his nose to the ground. He would find me almost instantly every time.
My mom talked about playing this game with her childhood beagle. They'd trip him up by backtracking and jumping sideways! He still found them in the end, though.
I went so far as to dig a hole in the side of a ridge. I would run down the ridge, jump off the side and hide in the hole. He still found me like it was nothing. When he lost the scent he would stop smelling the ground and smell the air. Led him right to me.
I play a similar game with my border collie mix where I hide treats in the house for him to find. And I know there is no hound in him because I have to show him where a good half of the treats are.
I think that is the punchline but like… having dealt with kids, I could see “oh oops I stuck it in my cubby/locker when I got to school and completely forgot about it.”
One of the very first interactive sites on the entire eeb was called Dysfunctional Family Circus and allowed you to post new captions for Family Circus cartoons.
When I was a kid, no matter how obvious the thing was that I needed to bring to my teacher, it got lost. My mom took to pinning things to my clothes. My teachers scolded her for it, but she and I stood firm that it was a completely necessary measure.
I know grown adults who can be that forgetful. I'm sometimes one of them. Once you get used to the awkward carrying and weight, you forget you've even got it.
As a regular reader of the Comics Curmudgeon, I feel the need to add the context that the blonde son, Billy, is based on a real person, Bill Keane Jr., and that the strip is written by his younger brother, Jeff Keane. The majority of the strips featuring Billy center around what a dumbfuck he is.
Or to put it in other terms, they’re ’slice of life’ comics meant to evoke a certain feeling and maybe a chuckle of recognition rather than deliver a punchline. But yeah, they were pretty much horseshit.
The paper I used to read every day had Family Circus and Marmaduke right next to each other and I made it a daily contest to see which panel was less funny. It was always a tie.
My favorite scene from the show Daria - they're sitting around the table at breakfast, and the dad's reading the paper, looking as if he's deeply frustrated by something in the news. Then he just practically screams, "I don't get it! Why don't they just put Marmaduke down?!" I have never felt so seen, lol
I felt that way when The Simpsons poked fun at Garrison Keillor, and how his audiences always laughed uproariously at every single line he read: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2lAEWP2KuT8
That’s overstating it a bit. And that is going with the presumption that all of the accusations are accurate. From my recollection was some eye roll inducing kind of behavior but not exactly P Diddy level.
I used to be a completionist when it came to newspaper comics. I always hated Marmaduke. Not only was it painfully unfunny most of the time, but the font it was printed in made it extremely difficult to read. (I bet it was comic sans.)
I does make me think about what life was like in 1954 for the suburban white. Like, imagine waking up, slapping your wife until she makes you some coffee, then cracking open the paper, seeing that, and thinking, "He did it again. This is some sick shit."
In the early days they had a little more bite to them. There was one where the mom was helping a plumber hang up a shower curtain rod in the bathroom and through the open door Billy is on the phone and the caption is “She can’t come to the phone right now because she’s in the bathtub with the plumber.”
Our standard of humour were generally less in those days, imho. Or maybe it's just me, but a LOT of things I grew up with really did not hold up. Things like The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes did, but so many TV shows I spent so much time glued to the screen for and I can't even stand a single episode because they're just so terrible. lol
A much better "slice of life" comic was For Better or Worse, a Canadian comic from i think the 80s, it would have your typical silly one liner jokes that were barely funny but passable garfield/peanuts level comforting or dumb, and then OOP DEATH, oh look a pun, GAY SUBPLOT
Success does not necessarily equal excellence. I don’t really have an active, strong opinion on the comic either way… which is kind of the point. If you put out something bland enough that people don’t really care enough to reject it and make it ubiquitously available you might strike gold. Basically, it’s the Bud Light of comics.
But Bud Light IS excellent, like it or not. They excelled at creating a beer that can be mass brewed, travel long distances, and have a long enough shelf life while still meeting a basic standard of drinkability. Just like this comic, excelling at being so bland that it doesn’t offend anyone but interesting enough not to be completely ignored. It’s kind of a craft in itself. But yes it actually does suck just like Bud Light
A comic able to capture the attention of several generations without offending anyone or being so boring that it's killed off seems like it's own excellence.
I mean, I don't care for the comic, but that doesn't change it's success or merit.
Fair enough… in this context I would say ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is excellence. Both comics were popular, highly syndicated, were not edgy or political, and share a premise of family life with youngsters. However… ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ made people care. It was consistently funny, relatable and imaginative. There was work put in there.
Maybe not overtly so, but Watterson had definite stances on art, consumerism, the American Education system, philosophy, environmentalism, and a host of other topics. C&H is Doonesbury for kids.
Amazingly, it turns out when you have nothing to say, you never say anything objectionable, and that makes you very appealing to corporate drones who care more about profit than artistic merit. They'd rather be cancel-proof than good.
Look, not everything needs to be hard-hitting, impactful, and saying something objectionable. It’s okay for some things to just be neutral, relatable, & milquetoast. It’s okay for the average person to enjoy these things too. Trying to pack significant meaning into everything (and having it inevitably fall short) is how you become anxious, depressed, and burnt out
All true, but when you (or the guy i responded to) wanna remark on the longevity of a comic pretty much everyone agrees is bland and unfunny, it's important to note that neutrality in the context of its primary appeal: Being incredibly inoffensive. I'm not mad at or judging the comic or its writers. And even many of those same "corporate drones" syndicated strips like Pearls Before Swine, Doonesbury, and Get Fuzzy, which were often loaded with political or crass humor.
So ironically I wasn't trying to say anything profound with my previous comment about having nothing to say. Just adding context.
Idk if I disagree with someone’s outlook or view, I don’t think it’s a big deal to put a comment out there. It’s not really “going to bat” for me, as that kinda dramatizes something that’s really just a nothingburger lol
Reminds me of a Conan O’Brian monologue years back when he said “Bil Keane, the creator of The Family Circus comic turns 88 years old today which is amazing because, judging by his comic, I would have figured he was much older.”
The least funny comic ever. It‘s a slice of life comic featuring a white, Christian, middle class family with 28 kids under the age of 4 and a granny who is an angel in heaven. It’s the comic version of a sandwich made from 2 slices of Wonder Bread, a swipe of Miracle Whip, and a single piece of American cheese.
To my understanding the punchline is that the gift is not for him it is for his teacher. She's reminding him to not open it and keep it for himself. Very bland
It's just that he's got a big heavy box that would be quite difficult to forget about, but the mom reminds him about it as he leaves as if it was a small envelope that had been put into the backpack and could be easily forgotten about.
Basically the joke is Moms will nag you unnecessarily.
They should’ve made the box 10x bigger and have him visibly struggling with a big tag MISS MCELFRESH, Miss Mcelfresh is across the street waving and then it would be funny
It's been a while so I can't remember specific characters, but I'm assuming that he's a troublemaker so the mom wants to give the teacher a large present.
The oldest child's name in Family Circus is Billy, who is just another little boy, not a trouble maker (on purpose). Mom expects the kid to shove it in his locker and forget about it, probably dump his coat on top of it.
In the family circus comics billy, the kid would be given a simple task and the next few frames of the comic are him taking the longest possible way to complete said task often forgetting what he was supposed to do.
Lots of religious overtones, very very vanilla.. If you don't go to church and have 9 kids this comic was always hard to really get into. Corny, predictable and safe.
I think the size of the gift indicates that the kid is a big trouble maker. The big gift is to get on the teachers good side or make up for his behaviour.
I loved Family Circus when I was a kid. In retrospect I do t know why, it’s aimed at parents.
I remember one that became a running family joke. One of the kids wakes mom up in the middle of the night because he just remembered he needs an asparagus costume for school that morning.
I thought the joke was that she was reminding him not to forget to give this HUGE present to someone, as though he'll simply carry it around all day, forgetting to give the gift. Which is possible, because kids do forget really obvious things sometimes.
Family Circus is braindead. I have no idea why it was ever in what were called comics. I suspect the artist is schizophrenic and is being humored out of pity.
I was thrown by thinking that the mum was reminding her kid who the present was for. Also, I had no idea that person was meant to be his teacher. The "Don't forget to hand over that present" meaning makes sense to me now. A very soft joke.
Everybody talking about s lot of different punchlines, but none's talking about the most obvious one, that the gift is clearly too much, it's huge, and for his teacher. It implies it is somehow a bribe. I'm not familiar with the strip but I'm gonna go out on a limp and suppose that the kid is characterized by being somehow difficult, either by being not that smart or being a bit of menace. Either way, the gift must be a way to try and smooth things over with the teacher.
We’re all ignoring the vibrating box, clearly the teacher is one that might desperately need the contents. Sending the child into school with it is definitely a decision though.
I havent thought of this "comic" in forever. more of a far side person myself. this was a sad attempt at alluding to the kid opening it himself rather than passing it onto the destined recipient. no deep joke a part from laughing at a child's entitlement.
not related to the meaning of the joke but isnt it interesting that there is no snow in the image. this is the first time I've seen a depiction of christmas season which doesn't use snow due to the cultural association and it's also dated to current year which means it's probably very much because we don't really get consistent snow anymore due to climate change... idk what's more unsettling, people acknowledging it or not acknowledging it and pretending we're still having winters...
The humor comes from the absurdity of needing a reminder about such an obviously large gift; it's poking fun at the idea that the kid could forget something so obvious, highlighting the classic trope of overprotective parenting.
Believe refers to the fact that Dennis is a very difficult student and his parents may be thanking/makeup for having to deal with him by offering a generous gift.
The entire modern point is to invoke nostalgia for people who grew up in a certain era.
It's actually a very good at being a window into what day to day life for a nuclear family with young children was like from the 50s to early 80s.
That's really all there is too it, and it's not usually supposed to be funny in the first place. Just relatable to boomers and older Gen X people who were both parents and children in that era.
When it was new in the 60s, it was just intended to trigger recognition of situations for the sort of little moments a 'modern' family had.
After a bit it became all about nostalgia from 10-20 years before the newer comics were published.
These days it's dated because next to no one really has those experiences anymore, and it's become the nostalgia thing pretty much exclusively. It's basically comfort food levels of comic.
The "joke" is just that the mother is saying something unnecessary, and it's not really a gag in the traditional sense.
It's less intended to be funny, and more to invoke the feeling the boy has about being told something like that by a parent when he obviously won't 'forget'.
"I member that" (feeling) is what would be considered the 'punchline'.
Mom is having a torrid affair with Miss McElfresh. The gift is something extremely personal and she wants to make sure Billy gives it to the right teacher.
He's shaking the present as he's leaving the house. He's wondering what's in it. Maybe contemplating opening it to see if it's something he wants. Mom's reminding him it's for the teacher... not him
Is there another part? Usually this is the set up to Billie taking the package with him on his travels before he gets to his destination. We only know this from a dotted line showing where he has been, like playing catch, jumping in the pond, playing marbles. The last panel might have him losing the box or the box is worn and Billie is disheveled. I don't think it's supposed to be necessarily funny we're just supposed to smile and think it's cute.
Thought it was something along the lines of "McElfresh" -> Xmas Elf -> shouldn't she be making presents for herself? :shrug:
or something like, the wrapping and even the bow is green so he should give it to his Irish teacher by default (of course) but he's a kid and they're not reliable?
Fun Fact: Family Circus was created by Bill Keene and carried on by his son Jeff Keene, brother of Disney animation legend, Glen Keene. The Keene artistic legacy is still going strong today with Glen’s daughter Claire.
Without Family Circus, there’d have never been Tarzan, Treasure Planet or Tangled.
OP (FoehammerEcho419) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here:
The box is huge compared to him. Does he really need to be reminded to give this huge present to his teacher? Like he's really just gonna walk around all day holding it and forget all about it?
I mean I get it but kids would absolutely just set it down somewhere and forget about it
Billy leaves a dotted line behind him everywhere he goes, so it will be easy to retrace his steps and find the package whenever he leaves it.
We have a Beagle who loves casting in the back yard (we have deer and bunnies galore), and watching her with that nose to the ground I always imagine that dotted-line trail laid out for her to follow.
I grew up out in the sticks. My bulldog was my best friend. We would play "hide the boy". My sister would hold his collar in a room on the second floor of the house. He would watch me climb out the window onto the roof and then jump down to the ground. I would run off and hide in the woods. When my sister let him go, he would run downstairs, out the door and put his nose to the ground. He would find me almost instantly every time.
My mom talked about playing this game with her childhood beagle. They'd trip him up by backtracking and jumping sideways! He still found them in the end, though.
I went so far as to dig a hole in the side of a ridge. I would run down the ridge, jump off the side and hide in the hole. He still found me like it was nothing. When he lost the scent he would stop smelling the ground and smell the air. Led him right to me.
I play a similar game with my border collie mix where I hide treats in the house for him to find. And I know there is no hound in him because I have to show him where a good half of the treats are.
But he has a damn good time doing it
I play hide and seek with my husky.
As long as he can't see my eyes, he will stare right at me and not know I'm there.
It's cute that he allows you to think that :) The puppers know how to play along.
I do not laugh out loud often, this benign comment got me. Thanks!
My ex and I used to do this with our dober girl. He would distract her with the ball and I'd go hide. We called "where's mom"
How cool
Except that Pac-Man keeps eating the trail
His parents clearly put an AirTag on him.
Inb4 "explain this!!!"
Yes, but reminding him isn't going to help.
You have to pin it to his shirt.
I had so many things pinned to my shirt... I was prolly just misunderstood tho
Said by a parent. "So did you hand it to her?" "What?"
Kids these days are too glued to their iPhones and their avocado toast to respect their teachers with comically oversized gifts.
It’s millennials that were blamed for being poor because of avocado toast, and millennials are all grown up now
It's me. I'm kids.
Pretty sure I have ADHD, but I've been handling it so long, at my age I don't feel that there's a point to getting tested.
I have ADHD Attention Deficit Hey Doughnuts
I think that is the punchline but like… having dealt with kids, I could see “oh oops I stuck it in my cubby/locker when I got to school and completely forgot about it.”
Billy also had adhd.
... and smoked crack.
That's it???
It’s family circus. It doesn’t really have punchlines
More like observations about children that their grandparents will find adorable.
"That's like my grandson Leviathan he has a terrible memory"
It’s almost anti-comedy
Almost?
One of the very first interactive sites on the entire eeb was called Dysfunctional Family Circus and allowed you to post new captions for Family Circus cartoons.
https://preview.redd.it/cytmn3f6yb7g1.png?width=877&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9fb228a2e01e1e9461390ea5fa93843ca44268e
When I was a kid, no matter how obvious the thing was that I needed to bring to my teacher, it got lost. My mom took to pinning things to my clothes. My teachers scolded her for it, but she and I stood firm that it was a completely necessary measure.
(I got better.)
She turned me into a NEWT!!!
I got better!
I know grown adults who can be that forgetful. I'm sometimes one of them. Once you get used to the awkward carrying and weight, you forget you've even got it.
As a regular reader of the Comics Curmudgeon, I feel the need to add the context that the blonde son, Billy, is based on a real person, Bill Keane Jr., and that the strip is written by his younger brother, Jeff Keane. The majority of the strips featuring Billy center around what a dumbfuck he is.
Honestly though I probably would
I think it's because he's shaking it -- he wants to know what the gift is. He may just open it himself instead of giving it to his teacher.
It's Family Circus. 99% of them have/had no punchline. They weren't funny. They are/were what old people thought were "cute."
Or to put it in other terms, they’re ’slice of life’ comics meant to evoke a certain feeling and maybe a chuckle of recognition rather than deliver a punchline. But yeah, they were pretty much horseshit.
The paper I used to read every day had Family Circus and Marmaduke right next to each other and I made it a daily contest to see which panel was less funny. It was always a tie.
My favorite scene from the show Daria - they're sitting around the table at breakfast, and the dad's reading the paper, looking as if he's deeply frustrated by something in the news. Then he just practically screams, "I don't get it! Why don't they just put Marmaduke down?!" I have never felt so seen, lol
I felt that way when The Simpsons poked fun at Garrison Keillor, and how his audiences always laughed uproariously at every single line he read: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2lAEWP2KuT8
he is real?
Haha, yep! They invited him to appear on the show, and he turned them down.
And then he went on to later be outted as a creepy sex pest, unfortunately
I’m not surprised in the slightest; they always tell us to never judge a book by its cover, but damned if he doesn’t straight-up look like one.
… where the radio hosts are sex pests, the women are chesty, and the old boys’ network protects the popular men.
That’s overstating it a bit. And that is going with the presumption that all of the accusations are accurate. From my recollection was some eye roll inducing kind of behavior but not exactly P Diddy level.
I used to be a completionist when it came to newspaper comics. I always hated Marmaduke. Not only was it painfully unfunny most of the time, but the font it was printed in made it extremely difficult to read. (I bet it was comic sans.)
The visual style grossed me out too. There was just nothing at all appealing about it. There isn't a single likeable character, even
https://preview.redd.it/o63fupl63a7g1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aa9322d2bed4969f8ebf1d9fa4c4908c5d48e5b3
At least they're both roundly mockable, lol
https://preview.redd.it/1iso4tj05a7g1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c35cd1cf7a11516978ea3fcff15c7b00e816167
I does make me think about what life was like in 1954 for the suburban white. Like, imagine waking up, slapping your wife until she makes you some coffee, then cracking open the paper, seeing that, and thinking, "He did it again. This is some sick shit."
I recognize that reference
https://preview.redd.it/z6i7vm3bn77g1.jpeg?width=686&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e715984ffaa3aa41ffa8ad8be7507789a3b9b9df
In the early days they had a little more bite to them. There was one where the mom was helping a plumber hang up a shower curtain rod in the bathroom and through the open door Billy is on the phone and the caption is “She can’t come to the phone right now because she’s in the bathtub with the plumber.”
Yeah they’re never gonna give you hearty guffaw like “Doonesbury”
Oh. I always liked them. Then again growing up using the Sunday paper as my primary entertainment for the week probably did funny things to my brain.
Our standard of humour were generally less in those days, imho. Or maybe it's just me, but a LOT of things I grew up with really did not hold up. Things like The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes did, but so many TV shows I spent so much time glued to the screen for and I can't even stand a single episode because they're just so terrible. lol
“In those days”? This comic has a 2025 timestamp on it.
The comic debuted in 1960.
A much better "slice of life" comic was For Better or Worse, a Canadian comic from i think the 80s, it would have your typical silly one liner jokes that were barely funny but passable garfield/peanuts level comforting or dumb, and then OOP DEATH, oh look a pun, GAY SUBPLOT
Pretty sure my friend worked for the dentist husband of that cartoonist. Yeah it got real at times.
So horseshit that they've only been able to run for 65 years, and only manage to be the #1 most syndicated cartoon panel in the world.
Success does not necessarily equal excellence. I don’t really have an active, strong opinion on the comic either way… which is kind of the point. If you put out something bland enough that people don’t really care enough to reject it and make it ubiquitously available you might strike gold. Basically, it’s the Bud Light of comics.
But Bud Light IS excellent, like it or not. They excelled at creating a beer that can be mass brewed, travel long distances, and have a long enough shelf life while still meeting a basic standard of drinkability. Just like this comic, excelling at being so bland that it doesn’t offend anyone but interesting enough not to be completely ignored. It’s kind of a craft in itself. But yes it actually does suck just like Bud Light
Define excellence?
A comic able to capture the attention of several generations without offending anyone or being so boring that it's killed off seems like it's own excellence.
I mean, I don't care for the comic, but that doesn't change it's success or merit.
Fair enough… in this context I would say ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is excellence. Both comics were popular, highly syndicated, were not edgy or political, and share a premise of family life with youngsters. However… ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ made people care. It was consistently funny, relatable and imaginative. There was work put in there.
Calvin & Hobbes was not political? o_O
Maybe not overtly so, but Watterson had definite stances on art, consumerism, the American Education system, philosophy, environmentalism, and a host of other topics. C&H is Doonesbury for kids.
I believe the term is kitsch
“The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
Amazingly, it turns out when you have nothing to say, you never say anything objectionable, and that makes you very appealing to corporate drones who care more about profit than artistic merit. They'd rather be cancel-proof than good.
Look, not everything needs to be hard-hitting, impactful, and saying something objectionable. It’s okay for some things to just be neutral, relatable, & milquetoast. It’s okay for the average person to enjoy these things too. Trying to pack significant meaning into everything (and having it inevitably fall short) is how you become anxious, depressed, and burnt out
All true, but when you (or the guy i responded to) wanna remark on the longevity of a comic pretty much everyone agrees is bland and unfunny, it's important to note that neutrality in the context of its primary appeal: Being incredibly inoffensive. I'm not mad at or judging the comic or its writers. And even many of those same "corporate drones" syndicated strips like Pearls Before Swine, Doonesbury, and Get Fuzzy, which were often loaded with political or crass humor.
So ironically I wasn't trying to say anything profound with my previous comment about having nothing to say. Just adding context.
Fair enough, the comment just kinda came off a bit combative in tone (to me) but then again, that could be a personal bias and not an intended tone
I just think it’s kind of weird that you’re going to bat for Family Circus like you are Bil Keane
Idk if I disagree with someone’s outlook or view, I don’t think it’s a big deal to put a comment out there. It’s not really “going to bat” for me, as that kinda dramatizes something that’s really just a nothingburger lol
Reminds me of a Conan O’Brian monologue years back when he said “Bil Keane, the creator of The Family Circus comic turns 88 years old today which is amazing because, judging by his comic, I would have figured he was much older.”
It's a slice of life.
Vorshtein.
That’s not a word
I like the kitty.
It's how I remember Timothy Olyphant, he has a whole scene about it in the movie "Go"
"...Just waitin' to suck"
❤️ my people ❤️
Thank you! I could hear him and see him and I want to say Katie Holmes. I was blanking on the movie.
so like
gay comics on reddit
get a load of this guy.
Guy 1 : "How can you like me? I'm so ugly"
Guy 2 : "To me, you are the most beautiful of them all"
Guy 1, blushing : "Oh, stop that" *throws a pillow at guy 1 *
Yeah, pretty much
Oh, so it's like the "my wife is blind" comics?
Maya: "I'm so nervous for my new job! The woman who interviewed me was cute but mean.
...and now I have a crush on her??"
Kaylee (with a tough, experienced, but affectionate sigh and roll of the eyes): "Maya, this happens every time!'"
Maya shrugs her shoulders and her huge cute eyes go huge
Maya: "Hey I'm still learning this whole queer thing!"
End.
BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Pics or it didn't happen.
A lot of dad jokes (which some people actually find funny, for some reason) like;
Mom is handwashing a pot
Dumb Family Circus kid says, "Mommy! A washed pot never boils!!"
Hilarious.
That's not even a dad joke. That's a great-grandpa joke.
They were kinda like the Minions Facebook posts before they existed, just with more effort.
I think the kids said this when comic strip first appeared
The least funny comic ever. It‘s a slice of life comic featuring a white, Christian, middle class family with 28 kids under the age of 4 and a granny who is an angel in heaven. It’s the comic version of a sandwich made from 2 slices of Wonder Bread, a swipe of Miracle Whip, and a single piece of American cheese.
I liked Family Circus when I was 5 years old. I dont remember why.
I remember these from the comics when I was a kid. As a kid, I remember thinking I never “got” them.
99% are edited from the original panel with an updated "joke" and artwork.
https://youtu.be/mOV0BV45NqA?si=kMi_Ur-Q9EWyAY2F
This… they’re all “oh no, Kid #4 turned on the faucet and the water was too hot” or whatever
To my understanding the punchline is that the gift is not for him it is for his teacher. She's reminding him to not open it and keep it for himself. Very bland
Yeah. The kids shaking the box like you do too guess what's inside before you open it.
I thought it was a giant vibrator.
Can we get you to do Family Circus instead? I'd read that.
Yes, $1000 a week
Wow, that's weak even by the standards of Family Circus.
It's just that he's got a big heavy box that would be quite difficult to forget about, but the mom reminds him about it as he leaves as if it was a small envelope that had been put into the backpack and could be easily forgotten about.
Basically the joke is Moms will nag you unnecessarily.
It's just not that funny is all.
This is the correct answer, imo
They should’ve made the box 10x bigger and have him visibly struggling with a big tag MISS MCELFRESH, Miss Mcelfresh is across the street waving and then it would be funny
...and then there's Family Circus, just waiting to suck.
Drug Dealer in the movie Go 1999
https://preview.redd.it/sybp6m87827g1.jpeg?width=456&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=701b4d5d329674e9355d40711ef3c88177131aaa
That's Raylan!
It's been a while so I can't remember specific characters, but I'm assuming that he's a troublemaker so the mom wants to give the teacher a large present.
I think you're thinking of Dennis the Menace. This was usually not funny but sometimes cute comic strip
No more than any other little boy. At the most he’s adventurous and when he gets into trouble, it’s about the same degree as any real life kid.
The oldest child's name in Family Circus is Billy, who is just another little boy, not a trouble maker (on purpose). Mom expects the kid to shove it in his locker and forget about it, probably dump his coat on top of it.
This is not Dennis the Menace.
And in fact, Billy and Jeffy are cartoon versions of the original artist’s children, Bill and Jeff, who now draw the strip :-)
Not laughing is the typical response anyone gets from a Family Circus cartoon.
ITT, typical Reddit insufferable “I’m too cool for this” comments.
Did anyone else always find the mom in these comics super cute?
In the family circus comics billy, the kid would be given a simple task and the next few frames of the comic are him taking the longest possible way to complete said task often forgetting what he was supposed to do.
"The broom, it vibrates"
That box appears to be vibrating……
Oh, this one’s easy. Family Circus isn’t funny.
Family Circus just isnt funny
Lots of religious overtones, very very vanilla.. If you don't go to church and have 9 kids this comic was always hard to really get into. Corny, predictable and safe.
I think the size of the gift indicates that the kid is a big trouble maker. The big gift is to get on the teachers good side or make up for his behaviour.
I think it’s more of a nod to parents. My kid would literally still forget.
Did anyone ever like Family Circus? Not sure how it kept on getting published...
I loved Family Circus when I was a kid. In retrospect I do t know why, it’s aimed at parents.
I remember one that became a running family joke. One of the kids wakes mom up in the middle of the night because he just remembered he needs an asparagus costume for school that morning.
I thought the joke was that she was reminding him not to forget to give this HUGE present to someone, as though he'll simply carry it around all day, forgetting to give the gift. Which is possible, because kids do forget really obvious things sometimes.
I think the joke is supposed to be "How would he forget a gift as big as he is?!"
Maybe this joke made more sense the first decade they published it.
Family Circus is braindead. I have no idea why it was ever in what were called comics. I suspect the artist is schizophrenic and is being humored out of pity.
Unrelates but the mom looks like Ghislaine Maxwell
https://preview.redd.it/2pjn1viw587g1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6b829e99f6f05642b20b5b54b5063baf301e373
The box is vibrating, and she did say to give it to "miss teacher". But I dont remember these comics being like that lol
The shaking is to indicate that he's struggling to hold onto it.
It's wobbling because it's so big it's difficult for him to carry
This was my first thought too. But I am a degenerate.
Family Circus is like gossamer and one doesn't dissect gossamer.
The box has “vibrating” lines. It’s a huge vibrating dildo for Ms McElfrish. Bobby is gonna give it to her.
Giggity.
Oops wrong explain sub.
I was thrown by thinking that the mum was reminding her kid who the present was for. Also, I had no idea that person was meant to be his teacher. The "Don't forget to hand over that present" meaning makes sense to me now. A very soft joke.
Maybe she’s just worried his goldfish brain will forget and kid brain will just see a giant present and tear into it lol
The box is fkin huge, how’s he gonna ‘forget’ to give it to his teacher?!?! That’s the joke. Not funny, but there it is.
Everybody talking about s lot of different punchlines, but none's talking about the most obvious one, that the gift is clearly too much, it's huge, and for his teacher. It implies it is somehow a bribe. I'm not familiar with the strip but I'm gonna go out on a limp and suppose that the kid is characterized by being somehow difficult, either by being not that smart or being a bit of menace. Either way, the gift must be a way to try and smooth things over with the teacher.
I thought it had to do with the teacher having elf in the name so he's trying to score brownie points with Santa.
We’re all ignoring the vibrating box, clearly the teacher is one that might desperately need the contents. Sending the child into school with it is definitely a decision though.
Considering that my son often forget things to give or get from school, I can relate to the mom and got a chuckle out of it.
I havent thought of this "comic" in forever. more of a far side person myself. this was a sad attempt at alluding to the kid opening it himself rather than passing it onto the destined recipient. no deep joke a part from laughing at a child's entitlement.
Maybe the joke is that it's for miss mc ELFresh, and it has leafes on it?
Y'know, leafes, and elfs liking trees and stuff.
That is my only idea.
not related to the meaning of the joke but isnt it interesting that there is no snow in the image. this is the first time I've seen a depiction of christmas season which doesn't use snow due to the cultural association and it's also dated to current year which means it's probably very much because we don't really get consistent snow anymore due to climate change... idk what's more unsettling, people acknowledging it or not acknowledging it and pretending we're still having winters...
The size of the present for the teacher, compensating for the behavior of the kid.
The humor comes from the absurdity of needing a reminder about such an obviously large gift; it's poking fun at the idea that the kid could forget something so obvious, highlighting the classic trope of overprotective parenting.
He has his scarf wrapped around the gift, probably done by his mom so the little shit doesn't forget
This is Family Circus, it’s just like this. There’s no joke, it’s just a cute little moment.
The point is.. family circus lost its point ages ago
The box is vibrating and it’s for MISS McElfresh, a single woman. Mother clearly sell MLM sex toys from home. What’s not to get? 😉
https://preview.redd.it/bi4qu30lmb7g1.jpeg?width=686&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1cb22371b236692a3b3f4bef6732f76f2914cf91
Now THAT was funny
Believe refers to the fact that Dennis is a very difficult student and his parents may be thanking/makeup for having to deal with him by offering a generous gift.
This is family circus. They are never funny.
Relevant: https://www.nietzschefamilycircus.com/
It's literally "memberberries" the comic.
The entire modern point is to invoke nostalgia for people who grew up in a certain era.
It's actually a very good at being a window into what day to day life for a nuclear family with young children was like from the 50s to early 80s.
That's really all there is too it, and it's not usually supposed to be funny in the first place. Just relatable to boomers and older Gen X people who were both parents and children in that era.
When it was new in the 60s, it was just intended to trigger recognition of situations for the sort of little moments a 'modern' family had.
After a bit it became all about nostalgia from 10-20 years before the newer comics were published.
These days it's dated because next to no one really has those experiences anymore, and it's become the nostalgia thing pretty much exclusively. It's basically comfort food levels of comic.
The "joke" is just that the mother is saying something unnecessary, and it's not really a gag in the traditional sense.
It's less intended to be funny, and more to invoke the feeling the boy has about being told something like that by a parent when he obviously won't 'forget'.
"I member that" (feeling) is what would be considered the 'punchline'.
Mom is having a torrid affair with Miss McElfresh. The gift is something extremely personal and she wants to make sure Billy gives it to the right teacher.
I believe it's obvious that she's reminded him to make sure the teacher gets it, and the reason it's so big, is because the boy is a problem student.
Size of the gift reflects how much this kid is an issue. IMO.
The comic here is called Family Circus.
The reason you don’t understand it is because it’s incredibly unfunny, as is 100% of every Family Circus comic.
This is definitely reused.
It’s a massive vibrating dildo
I read the funnies recently and I didn’t find any of it funny
Bribe for the teacher.
I feel like he is shaking it wondering whats inside. I wonder if she is worried he may just decide its his now
Great name OP
Well Family Circus is a terribly unfunny comic so I don't blame you.
one of his siblings is in the box.
He's shaking the box wondering what's inside. So I'm guessing she's making sure he remembers it's for his teacher and not him and not to open it.
Mom's fine af!
It’s a cartoon. It’s not supposed to over analyzed. Do you guys go ape-shit when the animals in “Pearls” talk?
[waves] teacher & coach here
Kids lose and forget shit. Even things that you wouldn’t possibly expect them to lose or forget.
He's shaking the present as he's leaving the house. He's wondering what's in it. Maybe contemplating opening it to see if it's something he wants. Mom's reminding him it's for the teacher... not him
Maybe....
I was trying to figure out the Christmas pun in the name McElfresh.
Maybe it's his homework?
It's so unusual to see my mom's maiden name in the wild!
I wonder if this is one of the comics that they redraw over a older one
The problem with these will always be that Family Circus is just not that funny.
The mom is having an affair with Miss McElfresh.
Vorshtein?
No one with a sense of humor does
Obviously a Hitachi Magic Wand in that box that accidentally switched on as witnessed by the movement marks around the box
Is there another part? Usually this is the set up to Billie taking the package with him on his travels before he gets to his destination. We only know this from a dotted line showing where he has been, like playing catch, jumping in the pond, playing marbles. The last panel might have him losing the box or the box is worn and Billie is disheveled. I don't think it's supposed to be necessarily funny we're just supposed to smile and think it's cute.
Thought it was something along the lines of "McElfresh" -> Xmas Elf -> shouldn't she be making presents for herself? :shrug:
or something like, the wrapping and even the bow is green so he should give it to his Irish teacher by default (of course) but he's a kid and they're not reliable?
I think it’s because kids often struggle passing notes and things along to their teachers or parents
Family Circus was never really funny, but it was always a favorite of mine as a kid. I found it comforting for some reason.
See how it's shaking? It's a monster vibrator.
https://preview.redd.it/4qfef95r537g1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=57c5b88d637dc1f4d96078f5b7095f6111c5eb5d
Ahhhh.. The Family Circle. Behold another example of “we’re just going to create as long as it keeps spitting out money.”
Will we recycle images with different dialogue? Yes!
Will we repeat it over and over? Also yes.
I thought the box was vibrating becauae it had a dildo in it.
Someone has already answered the question so…
Fun Fact: Family Circus was created by Bill Keene and carried on by his son Jeff Keene, brother of Disney animation legend, Glen Keene. The Keene artistic legacy is still going strong today with Glen’s daughter Claire.
Without Family Circus, there’d have never been Tarzan, Treasure Planet or Tangled.