Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 14, 2023

That was a Dad joke, Charlie Brown.

You might as well, Charlie Brown. You’re already talking to the tree.

The falling leaves drift by the window. The autumn leaves of red and gold (Nat King Cole)

make like a tree and leave CB!

Come by my place, Charlie Brown! I could use a good leaf raker!

Is this the first recorded Dad Joke in comics history???

Who will speak for the leaves?

Everyone’s a comedian

That kind of dad would tell him “Sure” and when CB had worked all morning would tell him, “But I never said I was going to pay you! You asked did I want you to do it!”

Be careful. That might be a kite-eating tree.

“Just for that, I’ll eat your kite.”

He’d be better off dragging his lawn mower around. He could cut back the last of the grass and the leaves at the same time. And the mulch, by cutting in a clockwise pattern, would benefit the grass and tree.

“These aren’t my leaves, and I don’t need pet peeves!”

So fall would be the trees letting go of their possession?

First the tree(s) eat his kites, and now he cleans up after them. Trees are more like pets to CB than Snoopy is. He needs to remember who’s at the top of the food chain, here. Oops, sorry, this is CB we’re talking about.

Trees don’t pay very well, CB.

Who knew Franklin was such a jokester?

I love the rake!

That’s a fun way to say “no”.

The tree insists he get a better rake. It has high standards

Yeah? Well tell your Dad the tree got rid of them, and now they’re in his yard… smart-aleck! Does he want ’em raked or not?

I mean you already talked to the tree so why not anyways?

that is one miserable looking rake

You two made peace after the kite incidents?

The tough thing about having a character in a comic strip tell a joke is that you’ve still got one more panel where you need to show the reaction to the joke. So you’ve got to have two punchlines piled up one against the other, and they need to complement each other without either being upstaged. This is a pretty competent execution of that, but I can’t help thinking that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

Kind of like my Uncle’s view on the leaves, “God put them there, he must want them there. Who am I to go against the Almighty?”

Not after they shed them.

Since the tree can’t pay, that’s probably a pretty good idea.

Possession is 9/10ths of the law.. If it’s on the ground it’s free.

But the tree won’t pay for the job.

0 for 2, Charlie.