Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 26, 2019

That is a harsh pun-ishment.

Gotta ask, do you think of a “pun” and reverse engineer a story leading up to it, or do they just come to all at once?

Personally, I would’ve like this to be published next Sunday — 2 June — which is my birthday.

Well deserved conk on the old hollow noggin.

Haha! Pastis is not hippy moore.

Basically a rip-off of Sandra Boynton’s “Hippo Birdie Two Ewes” birthday card. That one’s been around for decades.

Is Tay new in the suburb? Wonder what would happen if she met the crock?

Manny Moore is a nice addition.

I almost got it before the second to last panel.

That result took one excruciating journey. Pastis’ should be under arrest

Anybody got a spare bat?

That one took too much work.

Saw it coming. But just like when you passing an accident on the highway, I just could not divert my eyes

Mei. Burt. Tay. Lorde. Wes. Tu. Monte. Ai. Gao. As it is noted here, MY birthday party is International; although I admit, I did NOT want to invite Lorde, and I am no fan of Taylor, either Rod or Swift.

Hippie Burt must be Rat in disguise.

Better wear a helmet when embarking on a pun ride, Pastis.

It must really hurt Stephan’s arm to reach that far.

Well everyday is someone’s Birthday ! …….. Croc Power !

Saw where this was going as soon as I hit “Call me Tay”.

Shouldn’t Tay be wearing glasses when she returns? :-)

That took a lot of work. Wonder if he sits up all night long thinking up this stuff?

You always know when he’s winding up for a convoluted wordplay and I love it.

Once I read the first panel, I knew something very punny was coming.

Excellent Pastis! Love it!

Call me ‘Tay’. Thus begins a whale of a pun.

I can’t read these anymore. I’m getting appundicidis.

Yeah, Pastis definitely had it coming

You know what’s up from the first panel. And yet you follow it through to the end. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

I love this strip. Keep up the good work, Pastis, if you survive the beating. ha ha

It’s your car Tay and you’ll pry if you want to…

Reminds me of an old friend who had two strange quirks: a phobia about glass jars, and an annual craving for baked goods topped with pickles. I recall fondly helping her put the canned dills on her cake each year. Thwack! Thud! Ow!

Hahahahahaha ……had to read it twice before it sunk in!

That’s a Mercedes Benz logo on Burt’s T.

swearls < pine

Can’t begin to imagine the convolutions of Mr. Pastis’ thoughts.

When you see THAT MANY WORD BALLOONS in a P.B.S strip, you just KNOW a real groaner is coming! Keep them coming, Toon Boy! And yes, most people secretly LOVE THEM, even though they will NEVER admit it!

I had him at ’Tay".

Reminds me of several years ago. I was sent a birthday card that had a picture of a hippopotamus, a parrot, and two female sheep on the front. Inside it read…

… Hippo Birdie Two Ewes.

I think it was impolite not to introduce the sheep by their names.

Ewes: Liv, Ina Sue.

VOY, eh?

Swift hippie “love-style” justice for Taylor

This has to be the most laborious of all. Happy birthday, Tay.

Six days early for me, but tanks. Otay, Butweat?

Anyone else weirded out by how humans hang around with talking farm animals like it’s the most normal thing in the world? Shouldn’t the PBS world just be anthropomorphic animals, and no humans at all?

Leave the room! You can’t cause a stink like that and stay n here!

Then the two Utes from New Yawk showed up and K.A.O.S. N-sued…

Bad Puns are good for the head.

From the FIRST panel I knew this was going to be EPIC.

Wish I could give this one more than a like… Maybe a bodacious like…

Get some boomerang rabbits so you can have Hoppy Returns too!

Why is Hippie Burt wearing a shirt with a Mercedes logo on it?

Can we borrow that bat? You missed a spot….

I think female sheep used as the word “ewe” is the most common word Pastis uses for his puns. Apparently it’s hard to come up with a semi-reasonable noun that sounds like “you”, but these ewes could almost be promoted to regular characters in his strip.

Oh, lordy. That was a good one.

LOL Love the puns!

Stephen, you nailed it good this time! LOL. Thanks!! {I don’t know how you do it though.}

It’s been done. Cuter.

https://www.sandraboynton.com/sboynton/hippobirdiecards.html

Yay, the Hippie Slugger!

Will Cartoon-Boy never learn that these elaborately constructed puns merit a beat-down?!

You sure that Hippie isn’t Jimmy Buffet ?

Oh man, & he does it again?!?!

Good job Hippie Burt.

Why does Pig beat up Pastis because of something that PIG said himself?

I like it when he does puns like this.

My birthday is the day after this strip came out! So close!

This is probably the best Pearls strip ever.