Driven Drunk
I’m Dan Piraro, the creator of the Bizarro newspaper comic, and this is my weekly blog post. The large Sunday comic above is mine, as are all of the below-cartoon comments to follow.
Since January 2018, the Monday-Saturday Bizarro comics have been written and drawn by my comics partner, Wayno. For more fun, check out Wayno’s weekly blog post.
And here’s this week’s ANSWER KEY to my Sunday comic’s Secret Symbols.
Hey, there Jazz Pickle. Welcome to my weekly word vomit.
Today’s cartoon above is a classic bait-and-switch formula. Your first glance tells you a hunter has killed a deer and strapped it to his car—something hunters do, though probably not in front of their sight line. Upon reading the dialogue, you find out he’s actually a friendly Samaritan who has acted as the designated driver for a ruminant who’s had a few too many.
That seems unlikely until you realize it’s happening in a world where an eight-point buck is a regular customer at Marty’s Roadhouse, and the local yokal knows the buck’s wife’s name.
That’s comedy for you.
In last week’s blog post, I mentioned some TV shows and movies Olive Oyl and I have enjoyed, and some readers appreciated it, so here’s another, along with a cherished personal story.
I first saw Zach Galifianakis at a theater in NYC around ‘03 or ’04, when he was an up-and-coming stand-up comic opening for a well-known comedian. I loved his set and thought he stole the show. I’ve been a big fan ever since. His faux-interview segments from a few years back, Between Two Ferns, are hilarious.
His latest thing is a wonderful series of short episodes on Netflix called This is a Gardening Show. It comedically mixes facts about growing food with interviews with kids and experts. It’s wonderful!
My cherished story about Zach: Around 2007, I attended the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Galifianakis was one of the many performers in the two-day festival, and I went to see one of his shows.
It took place in a small theater with a proscenium stage, cafe tables on the floor, and a small balcony with theater seats. During his show, he left the stage and wandered through the floor tables, improvising with random audience members.
After a couple of stops, he happened by my table, stuck the mic in my face, and asked, “What’s your name?” I said, “Dan.”
He said, “And what do you do?”
“I’m a cartoonist,” I replied.
“Oh really? What do you do? Have I seen your work?”
I said, “I do a newspaper comic called Bizarro.”
To my self-shitting surprise, the audience erupted in cheers and applause. That alone would’ve been enough, but it got better.
Zach said, “Oh my god. I love your work! I’ve read Bizarro for years.”
Holy crap, are you kidding me?! I melted like a schoolgirl meeting Paul McCartney in the ‘60s. I went backstage after the show and gushed over him, and he probably thought I was a dork. That’s the last time we spoke, and he doubtless has no memory of it ever happening.
That kind of public recognition almost never happens to a cartoonist, certainly not mid-level ink jockeys like me. It’s still my favorite moment of my whole career. I don’t know what my second-favorite moment would be, but it’s probably too boring to even write about.
Anyway, his This is a Gardening Show is charming and funny, and you’ll love it. If you don’t, don’t tell me.
You’ll also likely love Wayno’s Bizarro cartoons from this week. I’m sure Zach would, too, if he weren’t too busy gardening.
My friends in the make-believe cartoon mob loved this one.
On the off chance that you don’t already know, there are spas where you can do this with your feet.
The thing I like most about pretzels is their logic.
Some readers had trouble with this one. They say you’re not supposed to explain jokes, but I’ve made a point of not doing what they say. This is a pizza lying upside down on the ground, with the picture flipped so that the entire world is on the pizza. It’s a similar trick to the one I used in this comic.
Here in Mexico, they call those an “IRM” and “Señor T”.
This guy may have gone to the same school of childish political retribution as a certain orange man-baby.
That concludes this thing I do here each week. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please consider helping us keep it free of ads and a paywall. Now that newspapers no longer pay us a living wage, we rely on donations from readers like you. (And some who are not like you at all.)
Whatever you’re like, we cherish your readership and appreciate your generosity.
The Naked Cartoonist…My every-other-week creative-writing subscription service.
Limited edition, signed & numbered prints of BIZARRO CARTOONS, and some ORIGINALS!
Bizarro TIP JAR …One-time or repeating. Your choice!
WAYNO’S TIP JAR …One-time or repeating. Your choice!
My (free) graphic novel in progress, PEYOTE COWBOY.
Watch my PITCH VIDEO and become a supporter of Peyote Cowboy here.
Super fun BIZARRO SWAG from ComicsKingdom, including our 2026 Bizarro wall calendar. (ALL the comics are still funny, no matter what month it is now!)