Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for December 04, 2022

Lupin neither needs nor wants competition!

Real hippos are seriously bad news to be close to! They are huge, powerful and extremely territorial!

This was my sister’s and my favorite Christmas song. We would sing it loud and long and sing it again and again and again. My poor parents probably wanted to break the radio.

Sunday Funday

Georgia is surely too young to know that song!

My theory is that someone, somewhere, had a surfeit of stuffed hippopotamus toys and thought “How can I make every parent in earshot of a radio buy one of these?” And a plan was born.

Pucky Prince of Bacon Missing content?

I always assumed that the BCN books would contain all the comics, but as I was reading my Pucky Prince of Bacon book, I discovered that some of my favorites are missing. The whole section—starting on June 17 with the Sunday strip where Lupin realizes he might be a toddler up to June 26 when they bring the new baby home—is missing. There are no missing page numbers, just missing content. I don’t know if it was left out for a reason or if I got a misprint.

This Sunday strip with the famous “toddler” quote

https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2018/06/17

was replaced by the “why do open books make good cat beds” Sunday strip. None of the dailies relating to the people being missing, the intruder filling their food bowls while Lupin flirts with her, and Elvis swatting the intruder’s ankles are in the book. Why not?

Shhhh…Goldie…we think the children might understand what you kitties are saying. Don’t spoil this for her.

The original 1953 song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNDri18-eQ0

Disaster averted!

I want a television Christmas! (Bought this in a thrift shop almost 40 years ago!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=781I6b0WlZQ

Well that is just too adorable.

My hometown zoo had a tradition of feeding the hippos whole pumpkins in the autumn. They would swim up to the handlers with wide open mouths, catch one, and smash them to pieces with one mighty bite. I remember one pumpkin missed the mouth, and it bounced off the hippo’s nose. It was a BIG pumpkin — had to be almost 10 lbs — but it didn’t phase the hippo at all. He just waggled his ears happily and swam after the pumpkin, which was floating in the pool. Bobbing for pumpkins.

That song and grandma got run over are two of my least favorites. I can always go for the Shoutmonks! And with that, I always think about Bill Jackson. Still miss him.

Today’s strip had me laughing right from the start, love it!

When I was in high school, one of the biology teachers had some huge scars on his forearm from being bit by a hippo while working at the zoo. That teacher later ran off with a student, but I don’t think we can blame the hippo for that.

Investigative reporter Goldie saves the day! All worries are over!

In hindsight, that was one of the weirdest Christmas songs I ever heard as a kid. Puck is absolutely correct on both counts.

I do appreciate the Elvis tail poof, though!

I don’t know this song to be honest, but I hope it’s no hip(po)-hop or some wild beat to swing the booty, till you need a hip(po) surgery by a guy that forgot his HIPPOcratic oath twenty years ago…whatever I propose a toast and a loud hipp, hippo, hoorray for today’s masterpiece!

The woman is almost as smart as Bert!

What do you calls a hippopotamus from the late 60s/early 70s?

A hippie potamus.

As usual, Burt has done a wonderful job with the chyrons today.

Maybe the hippo could live out in the barn?

Gayla Peevey was a child star who originally recorded and released the song in 1953. It caught on and has be re-released many times over the years by a lot of different artists and children. @pschearer posted the link to the original on youtube further up. :)

Going to D&Dize Ora: Kitten so only1st or 2nd level. Chaotic Good Berserker Barbarian

Hippos kill more people than Lions. It’s true.

My favorite Christmas song is Stan Freberg’s “Green Chri$tma$” https://youtu.be/I5IXlfJSEi4 (Not to be confused with the song from the Jim Carrey Grinch movie)

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

At the Water Cat Brother’s Boat

Freshwater Cat: Iggy, glad you could go with us on this fishing run.

Iggy: I’ve always loved the sea. I’m glad to go out on the Nile.

Saltwater Cat: Thomios said he wanted to have a fish course tonight.

On the Banks of the Nile

Hippo: What, can’t a guy get a tan?

Salty: Sorry, Hank. We’re just catching fish for Thomios’s dinner tonight.

Hank: Oh, is he having a salad course?

Fresh: I’m sure he would if we asked.

Later, at Dinnertime

Serfig-Aro: Dinner is served. Let us welcome our special guests Hank Hippo and his lovely wife Hetty.

Thomios: It’s a good thing we had extra greens in the pantry.

Puckmosis: I wonder where they came from.

In the Background: We’ll never tell!

Two panels of Pucky with a Pointer + art work!

Clearly the answer is a house hippo. Much smaller than the wild outdoor version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TijcoS8qHIE

It figures that Lupin doesn’t want anyone out-destroying him.

Have a holly jolly hippo

She’s the best gift of the year

Now I don’t know if she will grow

But that’s one thing you’ll fear

Have a holly jolly hippo

And when you try to sleep

Say hello to loud snores, you know

And shove earplugs in deep

Ho ho, your big hippo

She’s hungry as can be

Don’t make her wait too long

Or else she’ll eat the tree

Have a holly jolly hippo

And in case you didn’t hear

Oh by golly have a holly jolly hippo

This year

- Johnny Marks – Holly Jolly Christmas

Hahaha!

I remember that song from my youth; yes, that long ago.

Yay Mom!

Yay! A christmas comic! I love these!

Now cats, hippopotamuses is always hungry hungry hungry and they will eats all your foods. So better leaves em hungry hungry hippos in the wild itself.

Aaarrrggg – ear worm! Can’t stop the song now?

It would be fun if it was Pat, and of course she would have to bring Stan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eod34J2pL4

While a hippo-based nap pile may be glorious, it would be hazardous… The result of the hippo rolling over in its sleep could end up with the hippo on top of the pile!

I played Santa one year and I had a little girl who; when I asked what she wanted for Christmas, just said “an animal.” So I decided to play along and asked what kind of animal, “a dog or cat or maybe you want a frog?”As soon as I said frog her face lit up.“Yeah! I want a frog.”I was working hard to keep a straight face and kept on. “Oh a frog you say. What kind an African frog or a bull frog.”“A bull frog! A big Bull frog.”I looked over at her dad who was having a harder time holding in his laughter than I was.I said “well you try your best to be a good girl than we’ll see what you get on Christmas.”We got our pictures took. Handed her back to her father; and if he was any kind of a dad, he would have gone straight home, handed her off to Mom and then hit Toys Are Us for the biggest frog they got.

Yes, only an animal many times larger and more aggressive could possibly be more destructive than Lupin. This reminds me of the time a professor of mine jokingly asked for a car as an honorarium for speaking to my organization. He got a Hot Wheel.

I don’t remember that song from my childhood, but I taught it to my daughter and she taught it to my grandson. My daughter also taught it to my oldest great-granddaughter, along with Grandma got run over by a reindeer. I get serenaded badly every Christmas. None of us can carry a tune, even with buckets to put them in!

https://patch.com/ohio/cincinnati/fritz-newest-cincinnati-zoo-hippo-star-flashes-toothy-grin-photos . AWWWWWWW

If you’ve never smelled a hippo, you’re lucky. They are stink-eee.

We drove to a hippo pool in Africa. The stench was overwhelming. Right next to it was a designated picnic area, with tables and sun umbrellas. Oddly, no one chose to eat lunch there.

“Mud, mud, glorious mud.”

I thought it was about organ donation. I want a hippocampus for Christmas. Only a hippocampus will do. . . Wait. What was I saying?

Google “Bert the Farting Hippo” for the story and the plushie that was a famous prop on NCIS. But buy American!

I believe the plural of hippopotamus is hippopotami…..

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, too.

Actually, I’ve always wanted an anteater. Anybody out there have an anteater going spare?

It’s true that hippos are very dangerous. In Africa, they kill more people than crocodiles or lions do.

Yikes! That other picture is the stuff of nightmares.

Makes you wonder if ex-Presidents come in cuddly, plush form. :)

I wonder if the appropriate song for the child of a math/geometry teacher might be “I Want a Hypotenuse For Christmas”…..

I loved this song too, and had the little 45 rpm record.

Jessica the hippo is a rescue who bonded with her humans:

https://www.jessicahippo.com/

This is now easily one of my faviorite strips in BCN history. It usually dosen’t happen this easy even just having gotten into it this year.. but it’s just so inherently hilarious. It feels like Georgia had this one in the pocket for years and simply waited to unwrap it.

It’s the only 20th century Christmas song that is worth listening to. I did enough choral singing to know a little bit about it. The best stuff all was written before 1900.

Nap-pile-potamus!

Introduce them to The Chipmunks. Then they’ll want a hula-hoop.

Amd now I need to break out my MP3 player for one of my Christmas playlists. Think it’s just over five hours worth of music, certainly over four and a half.

A wonderful compromise!

Anyone else here remember the episode of The Beverly hillbillies where Granny thought the hippo was the biggest hog she had ever seen and had it marked up for butchering?

The reference up thread to Tom Lehrer sent me to his website https://tomlehrersongs.com/ You can find all his wonderful parodies there. There’s an important message on his website as of Nov 1, 2022, he’s releasing all of his songs from copyright. He also warns his website may come down soon so if you want to check it out, you should hurry.

That was my sister’s favorite song in the 60’s so my mom got a plush Hippopotamus for my sister for Christmas.

Afficionado, who posts on Andy Capp, buried Bella.

Impractical? Certainly. But a wonderfully cute Christmas song!

Cute!

Love this! I once got a stuffed hippo for Christmas:) I still have her :)

My mother made me two stuffed hippos. They were huge, each over five feet long.

The I want a hippopotamus for Christmas is a song, right?