That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for June 15, 2023

My original post in 2018:

Stańczyk realized he had no new material for that night’s performance.

Ivan knew that he had to get help when the dolls started talking to him.

/// Stańczyk worked for three Kings of the Poles.

As Court Jester he had dual goals.

One: Spread laughter and joy.

Two: Stay in King’s employ.

No guffaws? He’s raked over the coals!

/// He’d used puppets in Court Jester’s School,

and built these as a laugh-making tool.

Their detail was unmatched

but, with no strings attached,

he got fired. Now he’s nobody’s fool.

(Apologies to Sylvia Fine Kaye.)

Coming up with a new entertainment program for the Tsar (Every. Single. Night) could be murder. Literally.

Why is he like that that.. Oh, he’s Polish-Russian. The self hatred is tearing him apart.

Punch and Judy’s divorce attorneys. doctors, star witnesses and body guards…

His act was going great until he introduced the clown doll version of the Tsar. At least after tomorrow morning, he won’t have to pay taxes.

Leaving toys in the original package may increase the resale value, but totally devalues the purpose of the toy. Having a toy you can’t mess with is like having a piece of delicious pastry you can’t eat. Might as well not have it at all.

Lots of people play with their action figures, Ed was the only one trying hide-and-seek

Rigoletto is plagued by regrets:/

it’s gotten as bad as it gets!/

To his grave consternation/he

he finds no consolation/

when he turns to his marionettes///

Marionettes chorus: “it wasn’t too long ago /

that he was the star of the show/

we offer him solace/

since he’s recently been brought low///

Rigoletto frets, suffers, and sweats/

He is burdened with illness and debts/

But lacking his brain/

WE can never know pain:/

Maybe that is ‘as good as it gets’?”

“Oh Sh”

Funny, I saw this a bit differently. My first thought was Twilight Zone …. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Characters_in_Search_of_an_Exit#:~:text=A%20clown%2C%20a%20tramp%2C%20a,known%20as%E2%80%94The%20Twilight%20Zone.

Pit the poor Fool who, after getting almost all of his voodoo dolls lined up, realizes that he forgot the pins.

Funny

Fernando finally gives up after his 9th try at elf-on-a shelf.

Emile went to his collection of nutcrackers for consolation after Brigitte had cracked his.

Absolutely great caption!

Stańczyk (Puppet Show; Puppets): 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:Stańczyk" site=commons.wikimedia.org 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ecosia, and Yandex search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found, and once there find the text string 1898, and click its link for info and links that point to more info about this painting.

Again, a larger strip image is shown by merely clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s THROWBACK THURSDAY: MASTERPIECE #1991 (7/9/18) (June 14, 2023) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment. I have added a comment there pointing to info about this artist I used to point to here. So far, 2 works by this artist have been used here (3 times total, including this Throwback Thursday), the July 9, 2018, strip being its first use. The September 11, 2020, strip has the prior by him.

My thought when I saw the small “people” on the shelf was that of Dr. Who’s nemesis the Master who liked to use a tissue compressor. (Tegan Jovanka’s Aunt Vanessa, volcano experts, etc.)

he ate the cookie marked “super-size” and now he can’t play with his friends.

Thank you, Steve, for your efforts to get our two super commenters out of “jail”!

The psychic said it would be my choice … a jester or a prostitute.

Why do I keep making the wrong decision?

The best comment I liked from 7/9/18 from egrayjames …

Percival had finally come to the realization his mother had been right all along. He was never going to amount to anything by playing with his dolls and spending his nights playing Dungeons and Dragons with other fools.