Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 09, 2016

Leslie’s uncle Al is speechless. The boy may have changed after all.

Luann gave a $10, Ox gave a $5, guitar man gave money, and Gunther was getting out paper money. How is that going to add up to no more than $16 even if none of the other 30 acts gave? Notice whose idea the collection was…

Me thinks Uncle In-charge is a little suspicious here, no?

and he will be with good reason…

The worm does not turn overnight.

He’ll “hit up the audience at the show” and only “collect” $16 there too.

Quick in the head calculation. Since we know that group of 4 acts gave over $16, let’s be conservative and just say $15 per each group of four acts, then pretend there were 32 acts instead of 34. Okay, that makes 8 groups of four, so 8×10 = 80 and 8×5 =40. Conservatively, if the acts gave at somewhat similar levels as those four you woukd expect that at least $120 was collected.Ox was early enough in the line to have not noticed this if he left after signing up, but Luann and Bernice could have noticed, and Gunther might have noticed if he overheard Luann.

No new leaf for still-a-thief…

34 acts at 5 minutes each means the show runs nearly 3 hours, plus intermission. That’s way too long. The sign-up list should have been cut off after at most 18 acts, or there should have been an audition process to choose which ones get onstage and which ones don’’t.

“Uncle Al” very well may have run a scam or two himself, in his Vegas days.

Dunno if he ran any scams, but he’d certainly be aware of them and be suspicious of Les..

Mr. Gray will save the day.

Look at Les’s expression in the first frame. Does that look like the face of an innocent guy planning a charitable ‘surprise’? Nope. Looks like a scam artist annoyed that he got busted.

And I’m fairly certain that, while Ox may not suspect that Les was up to no good, that Ox didn’t need anyone else to suggest to him that he ask that question. He was in line when Les was questioning Guitar Man if he was gonna donate…

Wait:Luann gave $10Ox gave $10Gunther gave $5And the Guitar Man was going to give at least $5. That’s at least $30 Les. Don’t steal money from kids.

Ox should know that more than $16 was donated, since he gave $10 himself, and he saw other people in the line giving money. Is Ox really so dumb that he thinks everyone else gave a total of $6? If he doesn’t call Les out in this, then yes, he is.

Based on the conversation in the sign-up line Les collected at least 30 dollars from the people in the line, and there were 31 other sign-ups. If perhaps three-fourths of them contributed an average of $10 a person that means that about 290 dollars was collected. That is a total guesstimate but there is no question based on the average of $10 dollars, Ollie (two fives), Luann (a $10 in her pocket), and the guitar man (probably $10, remember he said “you bet” when Les asked if he would contribute) were contributing, and accounting for some people not contributing, for whatever reason, Les stole most of the money. Mr. Gray has reason to raise that eyebrow. Les is stealing them blind. That is a backstory to the overall success apparently the Fuse is turning out to be, and what might happen to all the other arcs that come together with the characters. And people think TJ is the con man, jeez.

Can’t fool Mr. Gray…

DishonestSad.Not unexpected, but still sad.

Les’s scam is going to come out and when it does it’ll be very interesting.

“Charlatan’s Web”“Diamonds And Busted” (♬)“An Enlightening Discussion”“Caught, In The Act Review”“Colenel Mustard, For The Win”“Blinded By The Light” (♬)“The Best Mislaid Plans….”“California Del Surprise”“Mr. Appropriation”“The Unseemly Power Of A Young Ox”“Taking The Inevitable By The Horns”“Suspicion…Torments His Heart!” (♪)“The Okey-Dokey To My Success”or “All I Have To Do Is Scheme…Scheme, Scheme, Scheme… " (♪)

despite the resemblance, perhaps it wasn’t Ox entering the Follies.

Mr Gray isn’t dumb. I bet he’ll keep watch of his nephew. I bet he makes a call for a representative to come down to collect the money before Les can steal the whole thing.

Just Remember “Uncle Al.” Whatever Happens Next with YOUR Nefarious Nephew, it’s ALL Your FAULT, for putting the DeGroots over a barrel and FORCING Them to Hire HIM.

Ox inadvertently “blurted” out the idea of Les’ collections for the youth program. But now that three others are aware of the donations, they will more interested in how much is collected. If what they see in final tally doesn’t match up with what the audience contributes, then suspicions will escalate.

Ox inadvertently “blurted” out the idea of Les’ collections for the youth program. But now that three others are aware of the donations, they will more interested in how much is collected. If what they see in final tally doesn’t match up with what the audience contributes, then suspicions will escalate.

Ox inadvertently “blurted” out the idea of Les’ collections for the youth program. But now that three others are aware of the donations, they will more interested in how much is collected. If what they see in final tally doesn’t match up with what the audience contributes, then suspicions will escalate.

Ox must know it was more than $16 so why the smile? And why did Gunther put on a presumably painful fake stache just for a sign-up process? And once again, it should be kids’ theatre. Unless they want to build a new theater

So much for Gunther and Bernice finally getting real … sigh………

Nice save Les ;-x

Yes it was obvious.

If Ox hadn’t mentioned the donations the others would have never known.

Mr Gray’s eyebrow knows all and sees all.

Yo, the guy’s entitled to a cut. Am I right or am I right?

Rainbows, unicorns and a reformed Les…

“Stink eye” from Uncle Al. Ain’t buying it.

Then after adding the intermission, the show becomes 3 and a half hours long. (Or even longer, if it takes Gunther more than 5 minutes to saw Tiffany in half.) This evening at the Fuse isn’t Parsival. Who would want to spend 3.5 hours attending an amateur talent show?

Ox, ask Les how come he raised only $16, when you gave $10 of it yourself. Are you really so dense that you think that’s possible? Les obviously believes you are.

Leslie is the only surprised person here. I hope Hitch keeps an eye on “Slick Rick” because he recovered nicely from Ox’s comment. I also doubt he only collected $16.00

False donation collection splash-back on the Fuse – if this were the real world – could be very bad.

My post from two days ago:.“I’d bet you $100 that Les is skimming money. Folks usually do not like to bet with me because they know I never bet unless it is a sure thing…”…“Good thing no one took me up on it…”.Yeah, ‘cause then you’d have to donate to the imaginary kids’ program.

Wounded Warrior, Les branch

Good Stuff Ox!!!!!!

Consider:Luann wondered what the collection was for. Pru will know that the program would be a fit for Luann, given her interests and beginner’s background in education, theater, singing, and art.It is natural that they would speak about it. The collection amount would be a normal part of that discussion, IF it happens to come up.Luann saw and heard that over $16 collected. 1. The first man said he was donating. 2. The Laurel and Hardy duo was doing the “two fives” bit. The first five is a five dollar bill. The second “five” is the five fingers to be used in a slap (though i recall the bit one time involving the folding in of fingers one by one into a fist that was shaken so maybe thinking the bit involved a slap ever could be wrong). (My sister was a big fan of them at one point in childhood so we all saw quite a bit of them.)3. Gunther was getting out paper money4. Luann was getting out a ten5. There were thirty other acts.

I think his uncle knows Les well enough to know that the kids theater was just an excuse and that the donations exceeded $16.00.

Apropo of nothing: Aaron Hill is now playing for the Red Sox.

The goduncle’s instincts will out Leslie’s scam, and with Oxford by his side to act as enforcer, Mr. Gray will see to it that Hard Knox either un-does his larceny by refunding all he raked in, or that he really does help Pru set up a kids’ theatre….

You wrote:JPuzzleWhiz said, 36 minutes ago@CaldoniaAnd once again, it should be kids’ theatre. Unless they want to build a new theater

This isn’t England, it’s the United States.-It’s okay, Puzz. He (Cal) missed that the second five was Ollie’s five fingers, which is from an old Laurel and Hardy bit. So, everyone is even, anyway.What makes their use of the bit funnier is Ox’s use of intimidation rather than violence, but it seems like that joke was missed by some.

Is Mr. Gray starting to have doubts about Les?

Too bad you were not in the Luanniverse, Brd. You coukd have bet againt Les, whose profit is likely in the 100 to 120 dollar range. Then you coukd have turned that hundred over to Pru.

A clear view of the sign is available onhttp://www.gocomics.com/luann/2016/06/27with no mention of how many days would be involved or when except sometime in July, so they might have figured on adjusting the amount of days or shows to suit the number of acts.

I don’t have time to read every word of every comment before mine, but I’m still going to comment.

Why did everyone have to get dressed up just to register for the show? I thought they were going to have the show right then. And there must be some type of prize because they would not get 34 acts to sign up to donate their time for nothing.

I thought the show was yesterday, and the characters were signing up to go onstage. If they were just signing up to perform at a later date, then why were they wearing their costumes?

BTW, there often was a backlog of people who wanted to perform at the open stage nights.There are also venues where people PAY to perform.So, no, there does not need to be payment to get performers.

Hmmmmm, but in that case Ollie was not Ox, or Ox is quick with changes… So, i guess i still have no idea if the performers are in the green room, or if the costumes were just added fun.

perhaps there was some type of cursory review of the proposed “acts” to make sure they were legit. Or maybe a bunch of people expected to audition tho it wasn’t required. Whatever.

I still say it wasn’t Ox, but an OX “archetype”.

I’m skeptical that’s why Les is collecting “donations”.

heh.. probably he already spent it which is why he needs to hit the audience up. At least Mr. Grey is suspicious

With some of the stated cartooning style preferences previously mentioned here, there is a Peter Ankle New Yorker illustration some of you might like, and Pipe may enjoy the article (though i have to confess that life has been too demanding for me to read it yet, only hear about it:http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/a-better-kind-of-happiness

Mr. Gray might question all 32 acts how much they donated, but that might be rather involved.

Not that I have any idea how this will play out, but it occurs to me that Uncle Al could question the acts on the premise of issuing them a receipt for their donations. Tax accounting, you know …

The fact that Les is drawn to look sly and angry (Panel 1) should be evidence that he has not changed. If Greg wanted him to be a new person, I believe there would be some indication in the drawing of his facial features. Les has that same mean and sneaky look indicating that he is not to be trusted.

BTW, anyone who knows that Caldonia also is used for Scotland would not automatically see it as a female name, and the avatar choice is one that could also be used by some of any gender who appreciates the female form.

Hitting up the audience at the show is a terrible idea. That will drive people away from the Fuse. I avoid shopping at places where I have to encounter people begging for money, like inside or outside the grocery store. I’m already spending a lot on groceries, I don’t want to have to put up with panhandlers.

LOL! After reading “washtub” I was expecting a big bar of yellow laundry soap to wash out his mouth, so you surprised me w cement!

Not only that, but these folk might all just be sincery interested in the chance to show off their talents, in a ‘smallish’ community setting. -We do now live in a day of “what else is in it, for me?”, though (thank you, ‘reality’/‘be a star’ shows!), so perhaps we as people in general have forgotten those other times, when people were more ‘sporting’ about these things….

> To show what kind of act they were planning to do.Les: “Name?”Gunther: “Gunther Berger and Tiffany Farrell.”Les: “What’s your act?”Gunther: “I’m a magician, and she’s my assistant.”Les: “Got it. Do you want to make a donation to help the kids?”And that’s that. No costumes (or stupid stick-on mustache) required at all.

Les the snake signed up 34 acts and if they only paid $1 each that would be $34. I am sure his uncle knows he took in more than $15 because he know the type of person Les is.

-SPOILER 2.5

Or maybe Chuggy, if you’re talking to Frank…

Quick save, Les! You ARE learning.

Go Sox! The only context that I like Aaron Hill.