6: Silent-Era Garfield

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Silent-Era Garfield

Made by: David Morgan-Mar

Explanation

This strip, as explained in the author's notes, edits out all the dialogue except for the punchline, while also presenting the strip as if it were an old silent film.

Without superfluous dialogue, the strip flows better - a classic example of "brevity is wit."

The author writes:

This is a classic case of where Garfield violates the fundamental principle of comedy: Brevity is the soul of wit*. The original strip (1988-04-15) has completely superfluous dialogue in the first two panels. You really only need the punchline to make the joke work - and it actually works better that way. So I decided to turn this one completely silent and have the punchline appear as a silent movie era title card.

• Polonius, in Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2.

Transcript

{Garfield lies prone on the floor with a confident grin. The images are sepia-toned and scratchy.}

{Garfield strains mightily to push himself off the floor.}

{Garfield lies flat on the floor with a disgruntled expression.}

Card with Garfield's thoughts written on it, surrounded by a fancy border: 'So much for "push". Tomorrow we work on "up".'