TOM THE DANCING BUG: What Strange and Disorienting Alternative Universe Has Louis Entered?

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• [rastronomicals]

  Wait, there was supposed to be something about Paul Ryan here.

• [thunderhammer]

  what the heck does “Can Cano ever make a productive out?” mean?

  • [Kimmo]

    I put it down to an obscure cutural reference.

  • [Robert Baruch]

    It means that his aloofness is less benign than yours.

  • [noah]

    It’s a baseball thing. Robinson Canò plays second base for the Yankees.  A productive out is when a batter hits a fly or ground ball that results in the batter getting out while allowing a runner to advance.

    • [Andy Simmons]

       Thank you for the explanation, sportsball fan.  I must have read that sentence ten times over before I gave up and moved on, hoping it wasn’t critical to the punchline.

      It was not.

  • [Navin_Johnson]

    It means that Ruben is a baseball fan*, and such little things are a delight to us fellow baseball fans.

    *I only say this now after realizing that this is at least the second subtle baseball reference he’s worked into a TTDB.

  • [franko]

    i’m glad i’m not the only one thrown by that line.

  • [penguinchris]

    Pretty sure part of the joke is that a lot of people will have no idea what the dad is saying! I didn’t but I did surmise it was a baseball reference after reading it a couple times.

    The concept here is that your friend’s house is an alien place (I certainly experienced that every time I went to a friend’s house as a kid) and your friend’s parents talk about weird things you don’t understand.

    Also, see The IT Crowd – “did you see that ludicrous display last night?”

• [Robert Baruch]

  Hello? Yes, this is dog. I’m on the phone.

  • [Conan Librarian]

    http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/194/689/eYK5b.png?1320283380

  • [noah django]

     .

• [Teller]

  Mr Bolling reveals an estimable funny side.

  • [Boundegar]

     This is the first time I’ve seen him without his snark on.  It’s nice.

    • [Carpeteria]

      You should search out more of the “Louis” themed strips. They’re all along this style.

• [joeposts]

  The horror at finding out they eat canned corn as a side dish instead of frozen. Blech!

  • [shutz]

     Why?  Do you eat your canned corn frozen, instead of eating it as a side-dish?  If true, then I think you’re the weird one (and you’re probably from a parallel universe.  GET HIM!)

    • [Avram Grumer]

      If you let it thaw, it loses its crunch! 

• [asterios9]

  Oh my God, the mind-warping power of the big sister cannot be overestimated.  Instant flashback.  

• [absimiliard]

  Wow, I totally don’t get anything in this strip.  Is there anything that’s different from reality?  (I like Hunt’s)

  -abs doesn’t “get” Zippy either FWIW

  • [royaltrux]

    You may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful home
    You may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful mom

    Does that help?

    • [absimiliard]

      It didn’t initially.  (love the song though)  But then I read daneyul’s reply and went “OMG, I GET IT!”

      -abs is feeling more than a little dim at the moment, but he’s still not entirely sure it’s funny (to him, senses of humor are so very personal)

      • [royaltrux]

         Is K.

  • [benher]

    We were always a Heinz family. Torches and pitchforks at dawn?

• [SoItBegins]

  “That air mattress has a slow leak…”

  NOOOOOOOO! ;-P

• [daneyul]

  I hated sleeping over–weird smells, weird foods, strange customs. Sometimes they even went to some place called “church” in the morning!
  (Kids loved my house though–laid back and easy going.  And Heinz!)

  • [absimiliard]

    Oooooh . . .. . wait .. . . .

    It’s about how things at your friend’s house are different (slightly) from things at your house?

    -abs feels like the sun has just risen over Marblehead

  • [royaltrux]

    Sometimes it was fun but, yeah, what you (daneyul) said. This wasn’t an lol strip but it sure took me back.
    Big sister!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Other People’s Houses….where they do bizarre things like say grace at the dinner table. Freaked me the fuck out.

    • [benher]

      You know what freaked me out? Going to someone’s house and they DIDN’T say grace and I thought “Oh no.” But also, “How nice that you don’t have to do that shit!”… and so the seeds of doubt were planted along with the HuntZ ketchup and I found my path to secular humanism.

• [Thorzdad]

  Hunts ketchup on the table is like screaming to the world that you don’t really like ketchup, but have to serve *something* when there are guests.

  • [lazarus845]

    Disagree completely. Hunts is the only ketchup without HFCS.

    • [Jardine]

      Depends on which kind you get and where you are. Heinz in Canada lists liquid sugar rather than glucose-fructose (which is what high fructose corn syrup gets listed as here). Apparently Heinz Organic sold in the US is bottled in the same place and uses the same stuff. Though I’d guess it doesn’t use as much sugar as the stuff sold in Canada because Canadians like sweeter ketchup for some reason.

    • [Thorzdad]

       Simply Heinz is HFCS-free and available in most supermarkets.

• [cycle23]

  365 or TJs would have been too derisive.

• [thermoplasticity]

  Heinz FTW- no comparison. 

  Also, Hellman’s/Best Foods mayo FTW- Miracle Whip can suck it.