Title: "A Comedy of Terriers"
Story (out of 24 pages): 7 p.
Writer: Matthew A. Jencks
Penciller: Matt W. Jeschonek
Letterer: Jose A. Wheat
Colorist: Theo A. "Jet" Swann
Summary:
Buddy has just settled down to enjoy the Two-Bit Matinee on TV when someone scratches on the door. It's his neighbor Bebe, who says she needs someone to look after her daughter Blossom, and that Brandy promised to sit for her. As she is unavailable for the moment, Buddy volunteers to help. However, he fails to realize that Bebe has two children. Blossom is sweet and well-behaved, but her twin sister Bambi is mischevious and bossy. The puppies, identical but with vastly different personalities, repeatedly switch places each time Buddy looks away or steps out of the room. Buddy becomes progressively more and more confused, and is about to pop his cork when Brandy arrives just in time to straighten out the misunderstanding.
Notes:
The title refers to William Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors, about two twin brothers, completely ignorant of one other's existance, who manage to confound an entire town in a huge case of mistaken identity.
Though referred to as "terriers" on the title card, Blossom and Bambi are clearly black Labrador puppies.
The "Two-Bit Matinee" refers to a classic Johnny Carson bit from The Tonight Show, the "Tea-Time Movie" sketch. Carson--as sleazy TV pitchman Art Fern--would introduce a fictional movie starring an improbable cast (many of whom had never worked together or even from completely different eras). Usually the last name of one star would be the first name of the one following it, and the last star always being some fictitious performing animal, in the vein of Lassie or Rin-Tin-Tin. The movie always had some outrageous title, and the "film" shown was often an old archive clip lasting about three seconds. It would then return to Fern--often fooling about with his comely assistant--who would begin a schpiel for wahtever outrageous and cheap piece of junk he was trying to palm off on the viewer. Afterwards Fern would introduce another "movie", with an entirely different cast and title. Usually there were about three or four "Tea-Time Movies" introduced and shown in the space of 7-10 minutes.
The "movies" Buddy watches are, in order of appearance:
"Mr. Ed Gets Hoof-and-Mouth Disease" (18).
Stars Mentioned:
*Robin Williams. Actor/comedian whose resume includes both comic and dramatic roles, but who may best be remembered as Mork in Mork and Mindy.
*William Conrad. Heavyset baritone-voiced actor perhaps best known as the titular character in Cannon, the second half of Jake and the Fatman, and the narrator from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.
*Conrad Hilton. Hotel magnate and grandfather of notorious socialite Paris Hilton.
*Hilton Lucas. A fictional character Bill Cosby played in his short-lived late-nineties sitcom Cosby.
*Lucas Grabeel. A young actor who starred in Disney's High School Musical and its two sequels.
*Stinky the Dung Beetle.
"Abbott and Costello Meet King Kong's Third Cousin Twice Removed" (20) (Likely a reference to real films Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer Boris Karloff).
Stars Mentioned:
*Topher Grace. Young actor who may be best known as Eric Foreman on That '70s Show.
*Grace Jones. Jamaican-born model, actress and chanteuse.
*Joe Louis. Famed heavyweight boxer.
* (Jerry) Lewis and (Dean) Martin. Famous mismatched comedy duo of a rubber-faced screechy-voiced Jewish comic and a perpetually-soused Italian lounge singer.
*Martin Lawrence. The raucous large-eared star of the sitcom Martin, whose career hit the skids in the early 2000s between his much-hyped personal problems and a string of bad movies.
*(Sir) Lawrence Olivier. Famed British thespian perhaps best known for his turn in Hamlet.
*Clippy the Wonder Crab.
"The Six-Million Dollar Man Gets Marked Down to A Buck Ninety-Five" (21).
Stars Mentioned:
*Louie Anderson. Portly comic known for his whiny voice, perhaps best known for his semiautobiographical cartoon show Life With Louie and a short stint as host of Family Feud.
*The Son of Sam. An odd casting choice indeed. The real name of notorious killer David Berkowitz, who supposedly was told to murder a number of people by his dog.
*Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. A Latin-flavored band who had a number of minor novelty records in the fifties, one of the best known being perhaps "Woolly Bully".
*Farrah Fawcett. Buxom former Angel and the ex-wife of Lee Majors, who (not coincidentally) played the original Million-Dollar Man mentioned in the film's title.
*Drippy the Wonder Grunion.
page 23. Buddy alludes to persons, locations and weapons in the popular board game Clue.
page 23. The electrical socket gag was lifted straight from a Tom and Jerry short, either
"Quiet Please!" (1945)
or "The Invisible Mouse" (1947).
page 23. Buddy seems to get Bambi confused with Winnie-The-Pooh, both popular Disney characters who made their homes in the woods and had a cadre of forest friends.
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There is one page of filler in this issue:
"If you've ever...." How do you know if you're from the Missouri Bootheel or not? This handy guide can tell you.
This whole section is a parody of Jeff Foxworthy's signature "You Might Be a Redneck..." routine.
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Jigaboo Junction is reeling under a one-man crime wave, and the prime suspect is...Jon?! Has our local hero turned loco weirdo? Or is some sicko out to run The Golden Boy's good name through the mud?
