Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 11, 2011
Transcript:
Dad: "Brad and I are going to go enjoy our annual holiday tradition: putting up Christmas lights together!" Dad and Brad: "Weird - this box says 'south lites' but it has old dishes in it. Where'd all the extension cords go? Uh-oh. We're out of spare bulbs. I can't find the ladder. Why won't this $#@* string light!? OW! STUPID HAMMER!!" Luann: "Did dad say "tradition" or "attrition"?"
Catfeet Premium Member over 12 years ago
No sign of contrition from those two.
Comicman424 over 12 years ago
ah, another annual Christmas gag in the Luanniverse; fiddling with the christmas lights.
Rista over 12 years ago
Huh, today’s strip actually makes me a bit sad and yet laugh at the same time. My late father really was that bumbling and incompetent at anything resembling home repairs. He was a great dad and I loved him dearly with all my heart but the whole family all took great care to hide the tools from him :)
chris_weaver over 12 years ago
Let the fun begin!
DockoftheBay over 12 years ago
Just a suggestion for future reference use the new LED lights. They never burn out and use very low wattage.
LeoAutodidact over 12 years ago
Not ALL males, just these two.
And Mom & Luann know it, having seen it time and time again.
Just watch their eyes.
unique_ness26 over 12 years ago
Now let us find out what is going on in LA with Quill and Tiffany…….
Sisyphos over 12 years ago
Where would we be without annual holiday traditions to bring down our Christmas spirit?
vwdualnomand over 12 years ago
christmas lights are big waste of time, energy, effort.
palepink Premium Member over 12 years ago
Thing is, there isn’t a female character except, possibly, Delta who isn’t similarly flawed. Seems like you’d have to really want to see bias to read this crew as unbalanced.
nufalready over 12 years ago
Is that an air-freshener Luann is wearing?
lance96816 over 12 years ago
Bah humbug. That’s why I leave mine up all year long.
Mighty_Mouse over 12 years ago
Why has Luann got a car deodorant hanging around her neck?
Phosphoros over 12 years ago
My dad is like that: Says with great cheer that every day is great & he enjoys everything he does, then gets into a project like that and gets aggravated, frustrated to where I get embarrassed.
rshive over 12 years ago
That’s how this tradition usually plays out.
w2lj over 12 years ago
You think it’s making fun of guys, but it’s not. It’s actually parodying the truth about hanging Christmas lights. How many of you have NEVER had a similar experience? If you haven’t – you’re lucky.
sacqueboutier over 12 years ago
Wow. Luann is stacked
ArtCreator over 12 years ago
Lucky me. We already got the outdoor lights mayhem out of the way and the Christmas tree lights also.
smsrt over 12 years ago
“done to death”…? Life is rather done till death, with a lot of incompetence in between softer gentler moments. But we get up and do it again. That’s a strange sort of musical cadence we dance to as we go through life. Our artist is simply watching closer than “said” admits to. Go on Greg!
jenbrown1017 over 12 years ago
It is sad…but one year my father cut the christmas lights into teeny tiny strips because he could get them to work!!!! Mind you the man could put wiring throughout the ENTIRE basement and fix a hot tub!!! but when it came to the christmas decor OUTSIDE!!! he was an idiot!!! So it became the tradition for my sister and I to do, ladder and all!!! I would still do it at my mother’s (if I lived it the US) And her husband just leaves the lights up year round!!!!
Mordock999 over 12 years ago
Guys.
Buy lighted candles and put in each window.
Get a large wreath and put on the front door.
If you like, get a small spotlight that illuminates the wreath,
You’re DONE.
Now GO to the football game.
RoseHawke over 12 years ago
I thought it was established that TJ was independently wealthy, or am I mis-remembering?
afiore77 over 12 years ago
I love this strip, it’s the only one I read regularly. I’ve never commented before and normally don’t even read the comments but happened to notice today the comment at the top from the guy with a … as a username and had to respond. If you don’t like the strip don’t read it. Why do you have to be so negative? I find it rude to both the writer and the fans. It’s just a comic strip for crying out loud not an attack on men.
Airman over 12 years ago
I once “blew out” several lines of Christmas lights, short circuited them, or who knows what, so I can relate to the bumbling men. I’ve also destroyed one power mower and one snow blower. Once my wife slid off an icy expressway, down into a shallow gully, and before the tow truck came, I had to go back down to the car to retrieve her Starbucks Latte. Humor is an equal opportunity employer.
flashman.ace over 12 years ago
Ah, who can forget the great knock-down-drag-out that Sunday at cdotc when Nancy wanted Frank to hang that planter for her but was too impatient for him to suit up and collect all his tool armor, so she stood on the arm of a chair and twisted the hook into the ceiling all on her own? Good times, man.
Greg has to depart from the strip to do a gag every Sunday, so I read it as a day off for the characters since he’s not true to them on this day. We’ve seen that Frank is not the handiest man around, but it’s pretty scary to think that Brad, a guy who’s supposed to be using an axe, hauling hoses and working on ladders to put out fires, is so handless he can’t manage to deal with a string of fairy lights!
pnorman1 over 12 years ago
Yep bring in Tim The Toolman and Bob The Builder to hang the lights. Bring in Tom the Tractor to help with the landscaping. And when it’s all done you’ll need Thomas The Train to carry all of the visitors coming to see the fabulous show!
The Life I Draw Upon over 12 years ago
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
You heard I have tools, didn’t you? Nice try – not a chance! ;)
flashman.ace over 12 years ago
Will there be eggnog?
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
@Flashman
If there’s gonna be eggnog I suddenly find that my schedule is free.
The Life I Draw Upon over 12 years ago
Have a safe, happy, healthy, peaceful holiday season whatever your belief. Joy.
Seed_drill over 12 years ago
That’s not guy incompetence, that’s just the way old Christmas lights are. I had to move stuff from the basement to the attic last spring, and there’s still a box of lights MIA.
namelocdet over 12 years ago
And exactly HOW is Luanne is a blonde…
dfowensby over 12 years ago
i gave up several years ago. i leave em up until they fall off the house or are all burned out. then put up new ones whenever xmas rolls around again, if needed.
Spode over 12 years ago
@ nufalread and Mighty Mouse – yes, Luann is wearing a car deodorizer. A week ago we learned that Luann can swivel her head almost 180º so nothing should surprise us anymore.
tigre1 over 12 years ago
The price of being a famous comics strip Star is you step in some of it sometimes…that’s your role. Play out the comic roles. The ‘cast’ plays out the various possible roles that make people laugh…You can turn people into children, or animals, or machines…thru their behavior while remaining in their bodies…this time they’re incompetent, ie, children.
Tiff gets taken down to baby sometimes…maybe once sort of machine-like? Momma gets brought down to incompetent child sometimes…
Spode over 12 years ago
I don’t think there is much subtext here. Sure, there are the “gender-role stereotypes” like how Luann and Nancy are doing the Christmas cards (women’s work), but the point of this strip is the visual gag – the before-and-after of panels 1 & 3.On another note, I think the blame for old dishes being in a box marked “South Lites” lies squarely with Nancy, and she probably gathered up all the extension cords one day and “put them away.”
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
Amen to that! Hey, …, if you haven’t already left for the store, don’t forget the rum!
Doctor11 over 12 years ago
When my dad put up christmas lights outside, we just put them around the front door, on the railing, and on the bushes out front.
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
I think Greg solved the problem by cutting off her left one panel 3!
hippogriff over 12 years ago
Oak Ridge Boy 61: It is Thomas the Tank Engine, not a train. Tank engines are yard switchers and not used to pull trains. The name comes from the lack of a tender, both water and coal are carried alongside the boiler. Since they never leave the yard, these can be replenished easily and so they don’t have to carry enough for distances.
Twmaye over 12 years ago
Why is Brad at home and not the station what if there’s a fire
vldazzle over 12 years ago
My guy was always better than I at all those things; Now I do minimal decorating for Christmas.
vldazzle over 12 years ago
I also see Luann and Mom are addressing cards. Until a few years ago I wrote and addressed them but stamps are a rip-off and even keeping current addresses can be a pain. I may do a card by email and or Facebook, but those who care are already keeping in touch now (things keep changing).
Will-B over 12 years ago
And the SAT word of the day is…
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
Hey, I think that cops should only be paid when they’re either arresting someone or getting shot at, and then only if they fill out the paperwork in triplicate. I’m sick of my tax dollars going to bankroll someone to eat donuts on their break!
mojitobaby over 12 years ago
Well, let it be said that I also don’t think they should be paid when they’re writing me a speeding ticket. You gotta draw the line somewhere, ya know? ;)
Nicolesdiamond over 12 years ago
Well, at least we can see the kids inherited Nancy’s nose… ;P
Nicolesdiamond over 12 years ago
Also, I just noticed that Luann is left handed. Who knew? On a side note, I’ve been reading this strip from the beginning and love reading the forum, too! I don’t often have a lot to say, but I will say that the comments about the perkiness of a cartoon character’s boobs in base, boorish, and tiresome. It also shows me that you have the mentality and maturity of a boy who had just hit puberty….
Nicolesdiamond over 12 years ago
In short, it’s annoying to see everday
Droptma Styx over 12 years ago
Didn’t know Luann was left handed.
afiore77 over 12 years ago
I’m all for criticism as long as it is constructive… and I do know the writer’s name I’ve been reading this strip for years. I was definitely not trying to imply you can only say nice, pandering, supportive things at all, and that isn’t how I worded it either. I only meant that the comment itself and the way it was framed seemed to me to be rude and hurtful rather than constructive. After reading various feedback, I understand that perhaps my comment was the rude one after all. I don’t want to go around as a miss bossy pants telling y’all what to say, but it just seemed insensitive. Perhaps i am just overly sensitive to stuff like that and most people wouldn’t be bothered by it.
steelersneo over 12 years ago
‘FINE, YOU’RE SO SMART…..YOU RIG UP THE LIGHTS!!!!"
Eleanorln over 12 years ago
Lol
donwestonmysteries over 3 years ago
They come down a lot easier. Of course there s no organization or labeling, just a thought we’ll remember where they are next year.