Fooniverse - Earth Comics: Garfield
"Fooniverse - Earth Comics: Garfield" is a Patreon bonus episode of Hello from the Magic Tavern. It was originally released on June 23, 2022.
Description
Arnie introduces Chunt and Usidore to one of Earth's greatest comic strips, Garfield.
Summary
Patreon Motherfuckers! Arnie is excited to record while Chunt is excited to have a peach cobbler. Usidore urges Chunt to keep the peach cobbler a secret from Arnie, but even the statement changes peaks Arnie’s interest. Chunt attempts to change the subject to talk about some Earth stuff, specifically a dream that Arnie has to share a cheesecake slice with actress Maria Menounos. Arnie tests his memory on this dream then shifts his attention to Usidore. He also tries to deviate the conversation from the peach cobbler to Veronica Mars. Both Usidore and Chunt admit that the Earth Stuff Arnie tells them is a bit overwhelming and hard to keep track of the gibberish versus the information that they know about their home of Foon.
Usidore and Chunt assume that this Patreon episode is all about Usidore teaching magic to the listeners. However, Arnie has a special box with him. As a kid, Arnie loved reading comic strips, namely Garfield. He has a few books and Arnie wants to show them the fifth book of the Garfield Collection: Garfield Takes the Cake. Before going over the contents of the book, the magical beings criticize the art style.
The Format is as follows; they read the comic and describe each panel. They then go over the content and Arnie explains how the comic is funny. The information below will have the comic strip image followed by the reaction.
The guys go over the tips and Usidore evaluates each suggestion. Chunt and Usidore do not understand the humor and Arnie explains the type of people who enjoy these comic strips.
| 1980-11-03 |
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Usidore analyzes the “other cat”. Arnie says that is Odie and after Chunt and Usidore see Odie stomped “to death”. They decided to keep score after Chunt sees the date of the comic and misunderstand its meaning. Usidore also thinks that Odie’s name is Jim Davis, who is really the creator of the comic. Arnie is generally Garfield positive, but admits that this one was bad.
| 1980-11-04 |
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Usidore cannot differentiate the style of the comics, thinking each strip is a continuous story. Chunt thinks the stuff bear, Pookie, gave birth to a smaller Pookie. He also tries to understand how this kind of humor made the comic successful.
| 1980-11-05 |
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Chunt says that Jon Arbuckle looks like Arnie, the worst thing that Chunt has ever said to him. Usidore cannot figure out where these comics are taking place, purely from a house standpoint. The multicolor walls are not consistent. Arnie informs them that the comics were originally for a black and white medium and this book colorized them. Chunt is confused that Garfield is using “thought bubbles” and wonders if anyone can actually hear the cat. As he responds, Arnie teases that they could do the comic strip, Cathy, in the future. Chunt looks up Cathy on Arnie’s phone and is enamored by her.
| 1980-11-06 |
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This seems to be the first funny comic that they have seen so far. Chunt breaks down the scene. Arnie explains the drawing style and how minimal the changes between panels are.
| 1980-11-07 |
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Odie is alive! Chunt is adamant that the comics suck and cannot believe that this comedy is popular on Earth. He begins to have an existential crisis about his own humor. Arnie updates the score between Garfield and Odie.
| 1980-11-08 |
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Chunt just want Garfield to go away
Usidore focuses on the banner that displays the original Garfield style.
| 1980-11-09 |
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The score between Garfield and Odie is updated and Chunt is insistent that Garfield is murdering Odie. He also has a theory that Garfield might be a ghost who can do whatever he wants without any consequence.
| 1980-11-10 |
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Garfield's Grandpa appears on the comic strip and Chunt is at a loss for words.
| 1980-11-11 |
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Chunt cannot justify gumming rats and also going to the fridge. Arnie says that Chunt sincerely has his head in his hands and Chunt thinks he is going crazy. He describes what should be funny and what should be humor. Usidore asks if the artist gave up.
| 1980-11-12 |
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There is no change in the artwork and Chunt thinks all of Garfield’s dialogue can be replaced with “I Am A Ghost”. Chunt tries his theory in this comic strip.
| 1980-11-13 |
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Usidore sighs and Chunt asks for a Garfield without Garfield. Or a Magic Tavern Without Garfield.
| 1980-11-14 |
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Arnie doesn’t fully remember the Grandpa character and Chunt theorizes that they needed a character that Garfield won’t kill.
| 1980-11-15 |
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The group remarks that at this point of the comic, the grandpa character has been there for days. By the end of the panel, both Usidore and Chunt think Grandpa is great.
| 1980-11-16 |
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Arnie slips by saying Garfield is sleeping in his “litterbox”. Chunt wonders where the comic strips where the characters have all the surgeries.
| 1980-11-17 |
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| 1980-11-18 |
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| 1980-11-19 |
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| 1980-11-20 |
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| 1980-11-21 |
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| 1980-11-22 |
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All the same comic. Chunt says goodbye to the “Walled-Eye Cocksucker.”
| 1980-11-23 |
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| 1980-11-24 |
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After a while, Arnie suggests that they keep flipping until they find something interesting, almost skipping over what turns out to be Chunt’s favorite strip. Arnie can already see it and Chunt asks for the last panel to be framed and tattooed onto his body.
| 1980-11-26 |
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| 1980-11-27 |
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| 1980-11-28 |
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| 1980-11-29 |
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| 1980-11-30 |
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They stop to figure out “What’s wrong with Odie” and Arnie explains it is a new character. Unfortunately, Arnie cannot remember the name of the character, despite the name “Frank” being on the panel.
| 1980-12-01 |
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| 1980-12-02 |
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| 1980-12-03 |
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| 1980-12-04 |
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| 1980-12-05 |
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Chunt still maintains that this episode is the worst thing and he wants Garfield to go away forever,
| 1980-12-06 |
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Arnie apologies to everyone while Usidore tries to explain the image to the listener. The “Arrrgh” gets the comic dangerously close to Cathy Territory, which Chunt is ready to defend to the death. Chunt makes it clear that he is ready to fight Garfield. He demands Arnie to tell him where the cat lives so he can confront him directly.
Arnie says they can stop looking through and reveals he has many of the books from the original box that came into the tavern. He hoped that the fifth book in the collection would be a good entry point, but was proven wrong by the episode. Despite the experience, they give an open invitation to the podcast for Jim Davis if he is interested. Usidore then continues with the original pitch for the episode of teaching the listeners magic as Chunt does one of the gags from the comics, shoving Usidore’s face into his peach cobbler. Arnie asks the listeners to comment of they like the episode and want more or a variation of the Earth Comics.
Space Bunker Plot
Craig is excited to introduce the Patreon episode, but Pv3 has never heard of it, so Craig explains it to him.
Post Credit Scene
Arnie shares a story with Matt (and presumably Adal although his voice is not heard) about how he went to Jim Davis’ restaurant in Muncie, Indiana during college. The restaurant, Foxfires, appears to no longer be in operation.
New Characters
No New Characters Mentioned.
Recurring Characters
No Recurring Characters Mentioned.
Earth References
- Maria Menounos
- Empire State Building
- Harley Quinn
- Deadpool
- Rick and Morty, Rick Sanchez
- Breaking the Fourth Wall
- Veronica Mars
- Keith Mars, played by Enrico Colantoni
- Justified
- Fringe
- Angel
- Buffy
- Station 11
- Josh Brolin
- David Spade
- Steve Guttenberg
- Veronica's Closet
- Kirstie Alley
- Dan Cortese
- MTV Sports/MTV Rock N' Jock
- Plato's Closet
- Neiman Marcus
- Star Wars ordering
- Grumpy Cat
- Marmaduke
- Cathy
- Harry Potter, "You're a Wizard Harry"
- Back to the Future
- Odie's Lament
- Garfield Minus Garfield
- The Room, "Oh hai Mark!"
- Family Circus
- Garfield Movie
- Bill Murray
- Lorenzo Music
- Being Mailed to Abu Dhabi
Notes
- All images come from the Garfield Wiki at Garfield.fandom.com, starting specifically from the November 1980 collection.
- In the 1989 arc, Young Arnie (Schmarnie) shows off his Garfield Book to Chunk.
- Arnie says there are about 70 different collections for the Garfield Books. According to Amazon, Garfield Takes the Cake is Book 5 of 73.
- Chunt brings up Cat or Doctor.
- This is the only time this particular Grandfather of Garfield shows up in the entire series.
Behind the Scenes
