It’s not that the cat isn’t trying, it’s just that the joke isn’t funny. It’s corny and silly and rather stupid. The joke made by John without Garfield works better this way, though it still isn’t the funniest.
Your issue, Charlie, is that while you understand that idea that GMG is supposed to make the comic strip Garfield better, you also hold on to the belief that it shall remain the same kind of comic doing so. This is not true. In reality the humor of GMG is very different. It turns John, the owner of a cynical cat, into John, a schizophrenic, obsessive, and utterly ALONE man who talks to himself. In other words, the humor comes from the fact that JOHN IS FREAKING CRAZY. lol
It’s not that the cat isn’t trying, it’s just that the joke isn’t funny. It’s corny and silly and rather stupid. The joke made by John without Garfield works better this way, though it still isn’t the funniest.