If An F-Bomb Drops In The Woods

…and no one is still watching SNL, does anyone give a crap?

After my spinal tap on Thursday, I am on day 4 of “24 hour migraine explosion time.” Looks like I won’t be able to get a blood patch to potentially cure the “spinal headaches,” so I am banking on bed rest, fluids and complaining (the healing triad).

If you are keeping track at home, I spent the first few weeks of September on the couch with horrible back pain due to a bulging disk. Now I get to spend the rest of if on the same couch with nausea, light sensitivity and the feeling that my brain is swelling to the size of… larger than it should be. It’s hard to think of funny analogies when your brain hurts. I’m sharing all this not to garner your pity, but to help you realize under what strain and difficulty this comic was produced. If it isn’t funny or up to snuff, cut me some slack and hope for LOLier pastures later in the week. I’m not even sure what characters I drew. I made this comic while squinting through the visual cacophony of blinding white hate-flashes you people call “light.” It burns us. Burns our eyes and our minds.

With this comic completed I will begin to seal myself up into a darkened cocoon fashioned from mud, twigs and my own secretions. I will either emerge a beautiful healed butterfly, or dead. OK, maybe I am fishing for some pity. It’s been a shitty month.


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48 Comments

  1. I love this comic so hard. There's something about chubby cats poking people in the eyes that makes me lol.

    I hope your month gets better. You're awesome at what you do.

  2. Joel you are my hero for following your dreams and doing a job that brings you joy as well as lighting up the lives of your readers. Best wishes for a speedy recovery dude, I also hope we get the gang back behind the mics before too long.

  3. I lol'd at "I think the TV said fuck", so mission accomplished. Also, you should totally do a comic about sealing yourself in a mud cocoon. I'm not sure if that would result in you emerging a half-Membari hybrid or some sort of wasp-like creature, but there's got to be a LOL in there.

    In all seriousness, you are totally allowed to bitch about that kind of pain and you are awesome hardcore for doing a comic in spite of it. Here's hoping you get better soon!

    • Yeah! Even how you describe what's bothering you is hilarious. What we call "light", you call "visual cacophony of blinding white hate-flashes". Classic.
      Now as for Eli & Denise going sleepy by 10:30, what are they, lightweights? There's plenty of geek-friendly TV on Adult Swim after 12:30 (11:30 central), if you guys don't mind anime.

  6. what the hell? are the general american masses so soft that they cant hear the word Fuck at nearly one in the morning?! And to think Jonathan Ross gets told off for calling someone a cunt at nearly twelve and telling Andrew sachs his granddaughter got fucked..

    • Its less about what the people can handle and more about what the FCC thinks the people should be allowed to handle. The only people that would be "shocked" by this sort of thing are doing it out of some sort of moral outrage obligation.

        • I was working for a college radio station at that time. Let me tell you, there is no one in the world more scared of the FCC than the management of a small liberal arts college radio station with a DJ corps that wants to do late 1960s guerilla radio while worshiping Interpol. At least NBC would only have to pay a fine; we'd have gotten our license yanked faster than you can say… well fuck.

          Feel better soon, Joel. Your comic brings some light and humor to the dreary Northeast Ohio weather.

  8. This is like exactly my situation. I heard the next day that she had said fuck, and I didn't remember seeing it, so I went to look for it. Then I see that I had seen that sketch, but it was so boring that I didn't remember it.

  10. You have lots of sympathy from me. I’ve had bulging discs that weren’t quite herniated but still kind of ruined my life for a while. Well, they say that humor is all based on pain — so you’ll be funny for weeks!

  11. I had heard on the intarwebs about the fuck-bomb (I hate cutesy euphemisms), but since I live on the west coast, I figured we would get the dress-rehearsal version. But no, we got the full fuck experience. Apparently NBC chose to let it ride, which I find refreshing.

    Remember, Joel, pain is just weakness leaving the body. You'll emerge from this experience stronger, fitter, and better prepared for the impending Zombocalypse.

  13. I understand pain better than most people. I had Orchitis for three months. I know what you're going through. Just hang in there you will feel better. Maybe not at as soon as you'd like, but the pain will pass in time. In the mean time take comfort in the fact that your family, friends and Fancy Bastards all care about you and want to see you feel better.

    • Thank you for the support. One thing this last month has taught me is how easy it is to be angry and depressed when you are constantly in pain. it really changes your ability to process positive stimuli. I understand how pain can turn people into assholes now and I admire anyone that copes with pain without becoming one.

  14. I am really sorry you're having to go through this – what a horrible situation!! This was a funny comic, though, despite your pain. Maybe because of it, even…it was nice and simple and to the point. Also, it had the F word, which makes things funnier, exponentially, each time you use it.

    Hang in there. We're thinking good thoughts for your brain to knock this shit off so you can get back to normal. And by "we" I mean me and the head pain gods.

  15. The comic's title says it all. Even if the understated nature of the comic is attributed to you being near-incapacitated, it completely fits the "Who gives a shit?" nature of anything that happens on SNL.

    Best wishes for a speedy recovery man. We are all behind you.

  17. Hahaha love Denise's line. "Did your head make noise?"
    I've gotta find a way to work that into a real life conversation.
    Hope you get better soon, Joel. I'd totally donate if I had the money, but I can barely afford the necessities for myself right now.

  18. It wouldn't surprise me if they put her up to it to garner ratings and attention for a show slipping into obscurity and who's good skits are viewed almost entirely online. That would explain why they're not firing her. NBC pays the fine and SNL gets tons of free press and maybe a little of their edge and younger audience back.

  20. Look, I feel your pain. I know the feeling. And that is why I'm going to wait until you're whole again to abduct your slovenly-but-alert, squinty-eyed, pink-tongued cat. That is how nice a guy I am.

    PS: Look, I don't have forever. Let us know when you're ready for more LifeSmacks.

  21. hehe, silly Americans freaking out over a swear word on tv. not that i watch much tv here in aus, but like every second word here is 'fuck', in any context.

  22. try an ice pack on your head (the chiropractic ones that are full of gel so they are malleable even when utterly frozen are best, but a ziplock full of ice will do in a pinch). also try peppermint oil (or if you can't find that, just suck some peppermints) at your temples. Some people also say lavender oil is good for them, but it murders me. for a fairly brief period of relief, put one hand in water that is as hot as you can stand and the other in water that is as cold as you can stand. It gives about 5 minutes of lessened pain.

    peppermint should be good for the nausea (ginger too) although nothing beats gold old compazine (plus it makes you sleep like the dead through the pain) although docs mostly don't prescribe it unless you are actually vomiting.

  23. My go-to migraine cure is sumatriptan (Imitrex in the states) but it might interfere with whatever you’re taking for your back, and I don’t think USians can get it over the counter yet. Still, it works pretty fast if you use the inhaler kind, might ask your doctor if you can try it.

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