0:02

VO: Welcome to Unpacking Peanuts, the podcast where three cartoonists take an in-depth look at the greatest comic strip of all time, Peanuts by Charles M.

0:15

VO: Schulz. Jimmy: We are discussing 1983 here, so get your new wave shades on, and let's go back to the 80s.

0:30

Jimmy: I'll be your host for the proceedings. Jimmy: My name is Jimmy Gownley.

0:33

Jimmy: I'm also a cartoonist. Jimmy: I did the Amelia Rules series and books like Seven Good Reasons Not to Grow Up and The Dumbest Idea Ever.

0:39

Jimmy: Joining me as always are my pals, co-hosts and fellow cartoonists.

0:43

Jimmy: He's a playwright and a composer, both for the band Complicated People as well as for this very podcast.

0:49

Jimmy: He's the co-creator of the original Comic Book Prize Guide, the original editor of Amelia Rules, and the creator of such great strips as Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells and Tangled River.

0:58

Jimmy: It's Michael Cohen. Jimmy: And he is the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics and the creator of the Instagram sensation, Sweetest Beasts, it's Harold Buchholz.

1:13

Harold: Hello. Jimmy: All right. Jimmy: So guys, we are here in 1983.

1:18

Jimmy: This is like the heart of my childhood. Jimmy: So I'm really enjoying revisiting these strips that I remember seeing the first time around.

1:26

Harold: How old were you in 83? Jimmy: Eleven.

1:29

Harold: Yeah, that's a good time to be falling in love with media.

1:33

Jimmy: Oh, gosh. Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Now, this is like the period of time when pop culture really was made for my generation, right?

1:41

Jimmy: From like, say, the mid-80s to the mid-90s.

1:45

Michael: For me, anything after like 1970 is like a blur.

1:52

Michael: You kind of remember because you made some reference to sunglasses.

1:56

Michael: You still have some references, 1980 references that mean something to you.

2:00

Jimmy: Yes, totally do. Jimmy: Yeah, many of them.

2:04

Harold: Yeah. Harold: They say that whatever you fall in love with at the age of 10, you probably will love the rest of your life.

2:11

Jimmy: I absolutely believe that.

2:13

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Well, Michael and I have talked about this, like, the comic books you read when you were a kid, like nine or 10 years old, no matter how dumb or stupid they might be, when you see them as an adult, they glow.

2:26

Jimmy: Like, they're mystical. Jimmy: They're so wonderful.

2:29

Michael: No, it's amazing. Jimmy: But then you'll read the one right after it, like, if you didn't happen to have that issue, and it's like, oh, this is terrible.

2:36

Jimmy: It really fell apart at my...

2:39

Jimmy: Wow. Michael: Generally, they're all terrible, but something about those covers seems especially magical.

2:45

Michael: But this year might be the, let's see, 83s, probably the year I got back into reading comics after like 10 years.

2:55

Jimmy: Oh, wow. Michael: Especially and it was all like Cerebus, Love and Rockets, Black and White Indies.

3:02

Jimmy: I would love to do podcasts. Jimmy: I know we're not going to, but this era of comics in general, I think is a real golden age.

3:10

Jimmy: And I know obviously it's because I was a kid, but also like the Black and White boom happens in like 84 in comic books.

3:17

Jimmy: And comic books are just flooded with ridiculous, stupid comics.

3:22

Jimmy: A lot of them only had one issue and I loved them.

3:25

Jimmy: They're so fun. Harold: Adventures of Jell-O-Man. Jimmy: Sure, oh yeah.

3:28

Harold: Unauthorized. Jimmy: The Gumby Summer Fun Special, all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rip-offs.

3:37

Harold: Yeah, yeah, I was definitely part of that myself.

3:39

Harold: I had a comic came out on the right on the tail end of that.

3:42

Harold: It lasted just over a decade, but boy, it was special.

3:46

Harold: And it really hasn't been documented much. Harold: It's one of those things that I'm expecting in time someone is gonna step in and start to try to recreate what that world was like, why there was this little black and white golden age.

4:00

Jimmy: Absolutely, that would be fun. Jimmy: Just to get an app that has all of those things that you could download, that would be very, very cool.

4:06

Jimmy: But the one thing I wanna talk about with the 80s, it made me think of, I think one of the recent episodes, Michael said, we were saying Schulz was the funniest guy in the 1960s and who would that be in the 70s and who would that be in the 80s?

4:21

Jimmy: This is something that struck me while reading this.

4:24

Jimmy: I think if you gave a poll in 1983 and said, who's the funniest person in America?

4:29

Jimmy: I think probably the answer would be Eddie Murphy, right?

4:33

Jimmy: This is the year of like Beverly Hills Cop and his album, which was Comedian or whatever I think it was called or Delirious.

4:40

Jimmy: The TV show was like Delirious and this album was called Comedian, I think.

4:44

Jimmy: Anyway, my point is, I've raised a couple of Gen Zers and they know Eddie Murphy and they've seen Eddie Murphy movies, but like later Eddie Murphy moves and stuff, right?

4:53

Jimmy: And if I said, here you go, I want you to read a month's worth of peanut strips and I want you to listen to this Honeymooner skit on Eddie Murphy, Comedian, which one is better?

5:03

Jimmy: They would be repulsed by the Eddie Murphy thing.

5:07

Jimmy: Like, and that was something that was just super popular.

5:10

Jimmy: I mean, super popular. Harold: What about it would they be repulsed by?

5:15

Jimmy: The language, the homophobia, the casual sort of misogyny, the callousness about AIDS and stuff like that.

5:25

Jimmy: The role of a provocateur is utterly gone now.

5:30

Jimmy: And I'm not even saying he was necessarily being a provocateur.

5:32

Jimmy: Maybe he wasn't a great comedian. Jimmy: He eventually apologized for that stuff.

5:37

Jimmy: But my point is not to slam Eddie Murphy, but my point is to say, you never know what's gonna have legs afterwards.

5:46

Jimmy: And I wonder- Harold: That's true. Jimmy: I wonder what the...

5:51

Jimmy: I mean, I guess I know partly from my own experience and from our own experience, but there is a, you have to sort of be aware of the times, but also sort of be apart from them and not be concerned.

6:06

Jimmy: Because like, I don't think anyone in 1983 would have said what I just said about Peanuts versus Eddie Murphy.

6:13

Jimmy: But I do think it's true. Michael: Yeah.

6:15

Michael: Yeah, well, Shultz definitely was reaching for all of America.

6:20

Jimmy: Right. Michael: And so he knew everybody was listening, so he was not gonna offend anybody.

6:25

Michael: His career depended on it. Harold: Yeah, and it seems like the people who part of who they are is that they won't offend anybody.

6:32

Harold: It seems like it's like at the end of their career often, that's when they're the most revered, which is not necessarily true of other people who are maybe trying to be in the midst of the culture and right on the cutting edge.

6:47

Harold: And I think of Mr. Harold: Rogers out for years and years and years.

6:50

Harold: He was just chugging along, was somewhat watched show on PBS for years and years and years and years.

6:58

Harold: And then when we lose him, everyone's like, oh, wait a second, who was this guy?

7:02

Harold: Or I think of, who's another example of that?

7:04

Harold: Bob Ross, the painter, also a PBS thing, painting happy little trees.

7:09

Harold: And it was just a kind of this low hum in the background of popular culture.

7:14

Harold: And all of a sudden, when he's gone and he's making nothing anymore, people are like, wait, who was this guy?

7:20

Harold: What was this? Harold: It's so strange.

7:22

Michael: Who will be remembered longer, Mr.

7:25

Michael: Rogers or Lenny Bruce? Harold: Probably Mr.

7:29

Harold: Rogers. Michael: Because Lenny Bruce invented the provocateur.

7:32

Michael: Being as outrageous as possible. Harold: Yeah, and I guess if you're cutting, you can't be cutting edge in the future because you cut the edge.

7:39

Harold: Whoa. Harold: And now there's another edge somewhere else that someone's cutting.

7:43

Harold: And so you're just a part of the landscape.

7:45

Harold: So I guess maybe that's part of the reason why some of that stuff just doesn't.

7:48

Jimmy: Another thing that's interesting, this is maybe possibly tangential, but people who are cutting edge but nobody follows them at the time, they go like Big Star, the pop band that, maybe they were a Beatles-esque pop band in the 70s at the time when nobody was just into it.

8:03

Harold: Yeah, and then those people can be revered, but maybe they're bi-academics or students of a field of something.

8:10

Jimmy: Right, right. Michael: Yeah, but it's usually not somebody who's been established for 50 years like Schulz was.

8:19

Michael: Right. Michael: Because where do you go back to?

8:22

Michael: You go back to the beginning or you don't go back to the middle and just go like, this was the greatest stuff.

8:28

Michael: I don't know if that's true of anybody. Michael: Where it's like, oh yeah, mid-career, this is his best stuff.

8:34

Michael: Most people flame out at some point.

8:37

Jimmy: Well, you have people like, with the two half careers, like someone like Will Eisner, who just like, if you can reinvent yourself totally, that's a thing too.

8:46

Michael: Yeah. Harold: Yeah, and it's rare, but it does happen.

8:49

Michael: But Eisner was, at least his work was better known when he was starting out, because so at least it was in newspapers.

8:58

Michael: Later on, yeah, I mean, every comic book guy worships Eisner, but the circulation on those reprints was probably not very huge.

9:08

Jimmy: No, I can't imagine, no.

9:10

Jimmy: Yeah, it's interesting. Jimmy: I mean, you can't really be writing for posterity, I guess, because you cannot predict the future.

9:16

Jimmy: No one can. Harold: Well, you can't go to something that's universal, right, that you know, like, Schulz is kind of staying in the center of something, like we were saying, he's not on the edges usually.

9:27

Harold: And I don't know if that does give you a better chance for being remembered as a posterity.

9:34

Jimmy: Well, it is funny, because in preparation for this, I pulled up some, because I wasn't sure I had the years right, so before I started talking about this, I wanted to check.

9:43

Jimmy: And I was listening to the Eddie Murphy Ice Cream Man story from that album.

9:48

Jimmy: And it is brilliant and funny and would still be loved and listened to by anyone today.

9:54

Jimmy: And because it is about a more universal thing and it's still his voice, there's no question, it's still edgy, it's still all of that stuff, but it's not a viewpoint that excludes people.

10:06

Jimmy: It's not, I guess it's, you know, it's really not, it's difficult to not exclude people is what I'm saying, especially when you're doing humor, because you think someone always has to be the butt of the joke, but that's not necessarily true.

10:18

Jimmy: And sometimes the butt of the joke, I guess, could be you. Michael: Well, I'm guessing that just from the title, that's about childhood.

10:25

Michael: Or generally, you know, I'm sure even Lenny Bruce talked about his childhood would not be X-rated.

10:34

Jimmy: Right. Michael: Because that's more of a universal experience.

10:39

Jimmy: Yes, right. Michael: Well, let's get to these strips, because I actually do have something to say about pieces of them, little chunks happening.

10:51

Jimmy: Well, that's great, because as luck would have it, we're doing a podcast about it right now.

10:56

Michael: No kidding. Jimmy: So, yeah, so if you characters out there want to follow along, you could do a couple things.

11:02

Jimmy: The first thing you got to do is you got to go there to unpackingpeanuts.com and sign up for our newsletter, The Great Peanuts Reread.

11:09

Jimmy: Then once a month, you will get an email from us, just once, we're not going to spam you, but it will tell you what we are going to be covering, to the best of our ability anyway.

11:19

Jimmy: Then you can go over to gocomics.com and get this, for free, you can read any of the peanut strips you want from the beginning right through to the end.

11:29

Jimmy: So you can just type in the dates that we're going to discuss, read along with us, and away you go.

11:35

Jimmy: So with that in mind, away we go.

11:37

Jimmy: January 3rd, Peppermint Patty is sitting in class and she's wearing a ski cap on top of her head and she addresses the teacher, this, this is a ski cap, ma'am.

11:48

Jimmy: Then with a smile on her face, she says, my dad took me skiing yesterday.

11:52

Jimmy: We had a great time. Jimmy: In panel three, she says, yes, I suppose I should take it off during class.

11:57

Jimmy: And then panel four, she says, these two.

12:01

Jimmy: And we see that she is also wearing her skis, which look ridiculous sitting in the little desk.

12:09

Jimmy: So the reason I picked this, I really like Peppermint Patty's love of her dad.

12:16

Jimmy: Like this feels to me like she is doing this because she wants everyone in school to know that her dad took her skiing and they had a lot of fun.

12:25

Jimmy: It's not just that the hangover, she wants the fun to continue.

12:29

Jimmy: I feel like it was important to her that she wanted to tell everybody about this.

12:34

Michael: It's a good theory.

12:37

Harold: That's great. Jimmy: I remember when I was a kid in sixth grade, my dad took me and my friend to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

12:47

Jimmy: It was kind of far to go. Jimmy: It wasn't right in our area.

12:50

Jimmy: It was a big deal that we got to go. Jimmy: Me and him brought the little flyers that we got and the signatures and all that stuff on it.

12:59

Jimmy: It was just such an exciting little celebrity moment.

13:01

Jimmy: My dad did this for me. Jimmy: I feel like that's what's going on here with Peppermint Patty.

13:06

Michael: You may be right. Harold: That makes total sense.

13:08

Michael: Even though it's the only basketball game I've ever seen in my life, my dad took me to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

13:16

Harold: Yeah. Michael: Probably because he knew that it was going to be funny.

13:20

Michael: So even if I didn't know what was going on, I'd at least laugh.

13:23

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Did you?

13:26

Michael: Yeah, I remember it being funny. Michael: I don't remember anything else about it though.

13:31

Jimmy: Yeah, they definitely put on a good show. Jimmy: Especially back in the 60s through the 80s, I guess I would say.

13:37

Jimmy: They were huge. Jimmy: The Harlem Cloakriders?

13:39

Jimmy: Oh, that was fun. Harold: They're still around though.

13:42

Harold: Speaking of theories and good theories, here's a bad theory I brought up earlier.

13:46

Harold: I thought that the dating of putting the year after the handwritten month and day on Schulz's strips at the beginning of the year might have had to do with him being in the hospital and that there might be some mix up because he was working so far ahead.

14:01

Harold: I see in 1983, he's doing it again for the first seven days and he does it again in 1984.

14:05

Harold: I don't know how far out he does it. Harold: Maybe somebody was requesting that at the syndicate or something.

14:10

Michael: It's not every day. Harold: Probably wasn't related to his illness.

14:13

Harold: Just the first seven days of the year. Michael: Did not notice that at all.

14:16

Jimmy: So weird. Harold: Yeah, something was going on.

14:19

Michael: Well, maybe he knew that there was going to be a podcast someday and people were going to have their way.

14:23

Jimmy: Just make it easier for it. Harold: He just wanted to trip me up so I'd say something stupid.

14:29

Harold: He was very successful in that. Harold: I think he's very successful about that a lot.

14:35

Harold: He's a genius. Jimmy: He's a genius. Jimmy: January 4th, Schroeder and Lucy are hanging out at Schroeder's piano in their classic position and Schroeder says, Thomas Hardy saw a girl on a bus one day.

14:48

Jimmy: He said she had, and then he quotes, one of those faces of marvelous beauty which are seen casually in the streets, but never among one's friends.

14:57

Jimmy: And Schroeder continues the quote, where do they come from?

15:00

Jimmy: Who marries them? Jimmy: Who knows them? Jimmy: He wondered.

15:04

Jimmy: To this, Lucy says, who cares? Jimmy: And who was Thomas Hardy?

15:07

Jimmy: And then in panel four, Schroeder just pulls the piano out from under Lucy, sending her back on her noggin.

15:13

Jimmy: Bonk. Jimmy: Which is something he has been doing as a new bit in 1983.

15:20

Michael: Good bit. Harold: A little more surprised with how that last panel's gonna fall.

15:23

Michael: Yeah, a little slapstick for people who don't care about Thomas Hardy.

15:29

Michael: And I'm one of them. Harold: That's right. Michael: Boy, I was actually quite literate, even though, you know, I was, what, 40?

15:35

Michael: I was 30 at the time.

15:38

Michael: No, but as a kid, I read a lot of, you know, serious authors.

15:43

Michael: And I've never read a Tom Hardy book. Michael: I have no understanding of why he would bring him up.

15:50

Harold: I've seen a Thomas Hardy movie. Harold: I mean, I've seen Tests of the D'Urbervilles, but I have not read any of his, because he was both a poet and a novelist.

15:57

Harold: So I guess this may count as an obscurity for many.

16:00

Harold: Which of the Hardy boys was he?

16:04

Harold: I think he was, well, there's no, Chet was the other kid, right?

16:10

Harold: Which, oh yeah. Harold: And those books talk about public domain.

16:15

Harold: I'm waiting for that Hardy Boys movie to come out because it's, you know, those characters, first book or two.

16:19

Michael: Now we're getting way off topic.

16:23

Michael: Another thing about this strip, you know, when I'm reading it, I assume he was going to use this quote as somehow to be taken as some sort of insult about Lucy.

16:36

Michael: Because he's talking about faces.

16:38

Michael: She's always talking about, you know, she has a cute face, she has a pretty face.

16:42

Michael: And he's talking about marvelous faces, marvelous beauty, and then, but that doesn't, that's not the butt of the joke.

16:50

Harold: Maybe he started that way and then this is where he wound up.

16:53

Harold: He just kind of surprised himself with a... Jimmy: Yeah, maybe.

16:56

Jimmy: You know, the other thing, if we talk about crazy theories, we had this strip a year or so ago, or I have no idea anymore when it was, but where Schroeder had Valentine ready for Lucy, but then she like opens up her mouth and says a bunch of stuff and he gives it to her as almost an insult, but he did have it previously.

17:17

Jimmy: If Lucy didn't have a terrible attitude, that could have been the setup for a compliment.

17:24

Harold: Right. Jimmy: You know? Jimmy: But she blew it again.

17:29

Harold: Yeah, and if we were going to play with that theory, just three days prior, we had a fourth panel, Schroeder, Lucy, where he's pulling the panel away.

17:36

Harold: So maybe, who knows?

17:39

Harold: Maybe he was going for something else and then he was like, wait, I can just do that same joke again.

17:43

Harold: And we'd be surprised. Jimmy: January 8th.

17:47

Jimmy: Schroeder and Lucy again hanging out at the old piano.

17:50

Jimmy: And Lucy says, I know you love your piano more than you love me.

17:54

Jimmy: I can live with that. Jimmy: Then in panel three, she says, who knows?

17:58

Jimmy: Maybe someday things will change. Jimmy: Then in panel four, with a slight smile, she says to herself, I'm happy just being in the on deck circle.

18:08

Michael: I wonder what would happen.

18:10

Michael: Because I know Peanuts was published not in newspapers here in Italy, but in a magazine called Linus or Linus.

18:21

Michael: I would say roughly one quarter of the strips are baseball oriented.

18:29

Michael: And virtually no one in this country understands baseball.

18:34

Michael: So I wonder if they would skip strips like this, which would mean absolutely nothing.

18:41

Michael: You couldn't even translate this. Jimmy: Well, would you translate?

18:45

Jimmy: I don't know. Jimmy: Maybe is anyone out there a translator?

18:47

Jimmy: Who knows? Jimmy: But would you translate it to an idiom that makes more sense locally?

18:54

Michael: What sport? Michael: I mean, soccer doesn't have an on-deck circle.

19:00

Michael: I don't imagine. Michael: With the next person waiting.

19:03

Michael: Anyway, I wonder if they just cut all the baseball strips.

19:08

Michael: You can't explain baseball. Michael: It's impossible.

19:10

Michael: No. Michael: Right. Harold: And I didn't know what the on-deck circle was.

19:13

Harold: I had to look it up. Michael: Really? Harold: But it didn't take away the circle.

19:18

Harold: What the heck is a circle? Jimmy: Oh, you got to stand in there so you don't get beaned.

19:21

Harold: On-deck circle. Harold: I was like, what is this? Harold: A cruise reference?

19:26

Harold: I didn't know. Harold: So, yeah, I didn't know it, but I still didn't mind the strip.

19:31

Harold: So, I don't know. Harold: Maybe they just keep it in there and take it as ever you take it.

19:36

Jimmy: You know, I'm happy just flying standby.

19:39

Jimmy: It's just something that means this new thing that you're up next.

19:43

Michael: No, but I think it's actually a very good joke.

19:46

Michael: And that's why I picked it. Michael: I think it's actually a good punch line.

19:50

Michael: Except, you know, 90% of the world would not understand it.

19:55

Jimmy: Right. Harold: But you do get the gist of it.

19:57

Harold: Speaking as somebody who didn't know for sure what it was.

20:00

Harold: You do understand that you're part of a group that it's in the back waiting, hoping for their chance and their time.

20:07

Michael: Yeah. Michael: Oh, maybe it's like an opera.

20:11

Michael: You have the, what do they call it?

20:13

Jimmy: The wings. Jimmy: The understudy. Michael: Yeah, understudy.

20:16

Michael: Waiting for the lead to get sick or something.

20:20

Michael: Yeah. Harold: Oh, okay, I've got a new stupid theory regarding the dates.

20:25

Harold: I noticed in the Go Comics version, where they haven't taken out the copyright slug line for United Featured Syndicate, which they have in the Fanta graphics books.

20:35

Harold: It says, copyright 1982 up until January 8th, and he switches over to 83, and then he no longer puts that date in there.

20:44

Harold: So maybe, I don't know, maybe he pastes a bunch of them down, and he has some leftovers, and if there's a difference in the date of what the copyright says and what he put on the paper, maybe he adds 83 instead of having to scrape up the other piece.

21:03

Michael: So your theory includes the fact that Schulz himself placed the copyright notice?

21:10

Jimmy: Oh, I believe he did, yeah. Harold: I think he did because that was part of his aesthetic choice.

21:15

Harold: So, yeah, I don't think he wanted that to go to somebody else.

21:18

Harold: So anyway, yeah. Michael: So you didn't want to waste extras.

21:21

Jimmy: Yeah, right. Michael: Because like the nickel, Tim again, new ones.

21:26

Jimmy: That's right. Harold: Yep.

21:29

Jimmy: January 9th. Jimmy: It's a Sunday and Woodstock is out in the snow and he looks like he's rolling up a big snowball and he does that for a few panels.

21:38

Jimmy: And then we see what he's been doing. Jimmy: He has been decorating a scraggly little tree with five miniature Woodstock size snowmen, which are just the cutest thing in the world.

21:48

Jimmy: All have different little hats on, which is very important.

21:51

Jimmy: So then Woodstock goes to Snoopy and we can grok that he's telling him, come see my cool little snowman thing.

21:57

Jimmy: Unfortunately, by the time they get there, the sun has beat down and melted all the tiny little snowmen, which really upsets Woodstock.

22:09

Jimmy: Sorry, just that look on his face. Jimmy: So then in the penultimate panel, we see Woodstock walking away very upset and he picks up the five hats that were on the snowmen and puts them all on top of his own head.

22:22

Jimmy: Marcie, looking outside the window, says to Peppermint Patty, who is watching television in the background, you know what I just saw?

22:30

Jimmy: A tiny bird just walked by with five hats on his head and I think he was crying.

22:36

Jimmy: To which Peppermint Patty says, you're weird, Marcie.

22:39

Michael: That's pretty funny.

22:43

Harold: Yeah, Marcie is very perceptive.

22:48

Harold: That's a good prescription in her glasses. Jimmy: I love that Peppermint Patty doesn't even give a look.

22:53

Jimmy: Like, not even worth a look over the shoulder?

22:56

Jimmy: Just like, forget it. Harold: Yeah.

22:58

Harold: There's so many great little visuals here, like you said, the pictures of Woodstock looking up at the five snowmen happily who are all smiling in his tree.

23:07

Harold: And then his happy pronouncement to Snoopy that what he's just done is adorable as well.

23:15

Harold: Yeah. Harold: And then all those sad little hats lying on the ground up beneath the scraggly tree.

23:22

Jimmy: I love the sun, how he draws the heat of the sun.

23:27

Jimmy: That's not something I've seen him do before, and it looks real good.

23:30

Harold: Yeah. Harold: It works really well. Harold: Like, the wobbly lines that kind of suggest the heat is floating in the air.

23:37

Jimmy: Really cool. Jimmy: And the third, or the second from last panel, with Woodstock, just with a little smoke over his head and that look of despair, that's just fantastic.

23:50

Harold: And I love it when Schulz takes us to some surreal, he builds a surreality on a surreality on a surreality, and then he wind up with that second to last panel, and then he points it out to you how far he's taken you by some character noticing it and talking about it.

24:06

Michael: There's a couple of sequences this year that he really starts piling up the absurdities to an absurd point, way beyond what I can accept.

24:18

Michael: For some reason, this one didn't bother me.

24:23

Harold: So you're worth mercy on this, this is not... Jimmy: January 16th.

24:30

Jimmy: Lucy is saying to someone, and I don't think you'll ever change.

24:34

Jimmy: And then we see in the next panel, it is Linus.

24:36

Jimmy: And she says, so there and sticks her tongue out at him.

24:39

Jimmy: Charlie Brown is watching the whole scene. Jimmy: Linus though fights back and says, Oh yeah, you should talk.

24:45

Jimmy: You're the crabbiest person in the world.

24:47

Jimmy: Linus continues as Lucy rolls her eyes at him.

24:51

Jimmy: And you always have to have your own way and talk about loud.

24:55

Jimmy: You're always yelling. Jimmy: And are you ever willing to share?

24:58

Jimmy: No, not you. Jimmy: And you always think you're right.

25:01

Jimmy: You never admit you're wrong about anything.

25:04

Jimmy: Lucy whirls around and says, well, at least I don't go around dragging a stupid blanket.

25:09

Jimmy: She walks off a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

25:12

Jimmy: Then in the last panel, Charlie Brown says to Linus, beat you again, huh?

25:16

Jimmy: And then Linus says, not really. Jimmy: I had more shots on goal.

25:20

Michael: Funny you should... Harold: Another sports reference? Michael: Yeah, which I didn't understand.

25:24

Michael: I've never heard this. Harold: That's interesting. Jimmy: Well, I understand it, but you can have a million shots on goal.

25:30

Jimmy: If you don't score, you still lose.

25:36

Michael: I grasped it was hockey, but it didn't mean anything to me.

25:40

Jimmy: Well, you know, a shot on goal means you took a shot, but it doesn't mean you can miss them all.

25:45

Jimmy: They could all be deflected by the goalie.

25:48

Michael: Oh, it sounded like a free shot or something.

25:50

Jimmy: No, no, no. Jimmy: Yeah, no, no.

25:53

Jimmy: It just means within the course of the game, how many times did you shoot?

25:56

Michael: Oh, yeah. Michael: Yeah. Jimmy: So that doesn't matter.

25:59

Michael: Yeah, that's true. Harold: So Linus is wrong here, right, Jimmy?

26:02

Jimmy: That's what I'm saying. Harold: Lucy's 1-0 in the game.

26:05

Jimmy: Yeah, Lucy has 1-1-0. Jimmy: You might think you had a moral victory, but it doesn't reflect in the standings.

26:11

Michael: Yeah. Michael: What's interesting to me about this trip is he brings back the blanket as a gag.

26:19

Michael: Now, he'd pretty much kicked the habit by this point.

26:24

Michael: And in the last bunch of years, like the whole 70s, occasionally they'd show him carrying it, but nobody ever referred to it.

26:32

Michael: And so we're kind of back on blanket topic again this year.

26:36

Michael: Which I found unusual because Linus, I feel, has been underused.

26:43

Michael: And it looks like Schulz might agree and kind of went back to one of the things that made Linus really special was the security blanket.

26:54

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Which he's now using again as a gag, as a setup.

26:59

Jimmy: Yeah, I feel like there's an aspect of Schulz now that's realizing the scope of what Peanuts is and was and what it all contains and how much of that matters to people.

27:13

Jimmy: And there's a feeling almost like, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but almost like he's viewing this now as a legacy strip.

27:22

Jimmy: And that's the tone of the 80s where it's a lot, it's a lot less of moving in strange, deeper, personal new directions and a lot more of, you know, reframing and replaying some of the things that people really loved about the strip.

27:43

Jimmy: I think that's where he's getting this creativity from, rather than exploring new directions.

27:48

Jimmy: Does that make sense? Michael: Yeah, that makes total sense.

27:50

Michael: It reminds me a little bit of McCartney, who was stabbing ahead on trying to break some new musical ground, but every now and then he'd do an album that was definitely thinking back to Beatle-y music.

28:03

Jimmy: Right, right. Michael: Yeah, so, yeah, Schulz is doing especially, I think, with Linus this year, and he's hesitantly using some of the newer characters a little bit more, like rerun comes in again later in the year.

28:24

Michael: So I don't know whether it's just a wellspring for gags that maybe, you know, after so many strips, it's harder to come up with something new, and so, oh, that always worked.

28:38

Michael: Let's try that again. Harold: Yeah, and we've been saying for quite some time that Schulz's life, a lot of it is running licensing, helping with animated specials and all of that, but force him to kind of look at what he's done in the past versus just today.

28:54

Harold: So that's probably been a big part of his life for a while, and maybe that helps him remember and go back to the things he's done where he wouldn't necessarily revisit it himself if it wasn't being brought back before him all the time through licensees or all that.

29:10

Jimmy: Well, yes, and I will say, I want to discuss a little bit more of that when we get to some of those rerun strips because I do think it ties in a little bit with the animation that's going to be happening in 83.

29:21

Michael: Another thing I want to bring up just might end up being a big topic is streakiness in creativity.

29:32

Michael: Everybody who's been doing creative activity for a long time knows that sometime inspiration, sometimes it flows, sometimes it doesn't.

29:43

Michael: And I know we're often trying to tie it in with biography, like, well, okay, he was sick, okay, one of his kids, his kids were around.

29:53

Michael: But generally, I think it doesn't have to do with anything.

29:57

Michael: It's very mysterious. Michael: It's like magic.

30:01

Michael: But sometimes it's easy. Michael: Sometimes it's impossible to come up with ideas.

30:07

Michael: And I found like the beginning of this year seemed extremely strong.

30:14

Michael: Considering the last half of 82, I didn't find much inspiring.

30:21

Michael: And then all of a sudden at the beginning of the year, here I'm picking like four strips out of the first two weeks.

30:29

Michael: And it's like, whoa. Michael: So all of a sudden it's like flowing again.

30:33

Michael: And he's coming up with good stuff.

30:37

Michael: And then again, it slipped back into the fact that, as I got further into the year, there were fewer and fewer.

30:47

Michael: And there were some that I considered, well, he's just milking a bad idea for a long time.

30:54

Jimmy: Well, you know, I wonder if that's for a daily cartoonist, if the cycle of the year does affect your creativity.

31:02

Jimmy: And like, all right, new year, starting from, because you never get a real ending.

31:07

Jimmy: So maybe the new year is like the time where, oh, this is like a new project.

31:13

Jimmy: Because I love the beginning of a project when you're just fresh and it's all starting.

31:17

Jimmy: It feels like you've leveled up somehow. Jimmy: And then as the project wears on, you know, you lose steam a little bit.

31:24

Jimmy: Maybe that's just how it is with the year for a cartoonist.

31:28

Jimmy: Yeah. Harold: And it's also our streakiness, I think, as readers.

31:30

Harold: I picked like one strip in the first 75 days.

31:35

Harold: So, you know, maybe that's where I was as a reader.

31:38

Harold: I wasn't as receptive or I wasn't as in tune with Schulz at the moment, you know.

31:43

Harold: Maybe that's because I had a bad lunch or, you know, who knows?

31:47

Jimmy: Well, yeah, and those are factors that you cannot control.

31:50

Michael: Yeah, and plus the fact that we are reading, at least for me, I essentially read an entire year in three days.

31:59

Jimmy: Right. Michael: And so, yeah, as we get near the end of the year, it's, of course, it's fatigue.

32:05

Michael: And so I'm coming into 1983 after a five-day break.

32:09

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Yeah, so, yeah, it's a combination of things.

32:13

Michael: But definitely there's periods where he's on more than other periods.

32:20

Jimmy: Absolutely, absolutely. Jimmy: January 28th, Peppermint Patty is in school again and wearing a stocking cap again.

32:27

Jimmy: But this time she's really got it pulled down tight.

32:30

Jimmy: She says, yes, ma'am, it was very cold walking to school this morning.

32:35

Jimmy: My cap? Jimmy: You want me to take off my cap? Jimmy: Right.

32:37

Jimmy: Anything you say. Jimmy: So she does. Jimmy: And in panel three, we see her hair with static electricity is, let's call it a skew.

32:46

Jimmy: And then in panel four, she says, put it back on.

32:48

Jimmy: Yes, ma'am. Jimmy: And she does. Jimmy: I just love the drawing in this.

32:52

Jimmy: I love all the drawings. Jimmy: I love Peppermint Patty in the ski cap when it's pulled all the way down like that.

32:56

Jimmy: That's just great. Jimmy: And of course, I love panel three.

33:00

Michael: Yeah. Harold: She says her hair is like straw and he really makes it look like straw in that third panel.

33:04

Michael: Yeah. Jimmy: March 7th.

33:07

Jimmy: This is in the midst of a long sequence here where Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts in their Foreign Legion attire are attempting to help Spike, who is being attacked by coyotes.

33:23

Michael: You know, as that old as happens.

33:26

Jimmy: Sure. Jimmy: Super relatable.

33:29

Jimmy: So anyway, one of the little Beagle Scouts runs up to Snoopy and Snoopy says, what's this?

33:35

Jimmy: You've intercepted one of the enemy's secret messages.

33:37

Jimmy: This really made me laugh.

33:43

Jimmy: Snoopy looks at it. Jimmy: But it is, of course, upside down.

33:48

Jimmy: But we can tell because we know that it says we attack at midnight.

33:52

Jimmy: Snoopy, however, is baffled. Jimmy: However, the Beagle Scout points to the paper, chirps something, and Snoopy turns it right side up and says, oh, really?

34:01

Jimmy: By golly, you're right. Jimmy: In panel four, we've broken their code.

34:05

Michael: I broke it in panel two.

34:08

Jimmy: Yeah, the little bird scout rolls his eyes at Snoopy.

34:13

Jimmy: Oh, man, it's so dumb. Jimmy: I love that.

34:16

Jimmy: That just made me laugh. Michael: Well, you did pick one from the sequence I was talking about earlier.

34:23

Michael: The absolute insanity of this whole sequence.

34:29

Michael: Yeah, I mean, Spike, they can accept Spike when he comes to visit Snoopy.

34:35

Michael: But when these birds essentially walk from like Northern California to the desert, you know, these birds with like one inch foot span, whatever you call it.

34:48

Michael: What do you call it? Michael: No, when they walk, they're walking, they're pacing off inches.

34:53

Michael: Okay, dressed as Foreign Legion, kind of crazy.

34:58

Michael: Spike, somehow circled by coyotes who are like shooting rubber bands.

35:09

Michael: And then the rescue comes in the form of Snoopy doing his helicopter thing.

35:14

Michael: I mean, it's just like, you can't accept the initial premise and then.

35:29

Harold: But I think he calls Snoopy on the phone from this hole in the desert.

35:32

Michael: He mails it. Michael: He mails it, which is going to take like a week.

35:38

Harold: How did he get to the post office if he's hiding behind a...

35:42

Harold: He must have had some bunny friends or little creatures skidding around there.

35:46

Jimmy: It makes total sense to me. Jimmy: This exact thing happened to me last week.

35:50

Jimmy: I swear. Harold: Really? Jimmy: Totally relatable.

35:53

Harold: Boy, and that the reason the Coyote's are mad is because of his false advertising from his real estate company about giving him an ocean view.

36:06

Michael: This could have been an animated special, this whole story.

36:09

Jimmy: Maybe it is. Harold: That's about as many levels of surreality as I think so far in this trip.

36:14

Harold: Yeah, Michael, this is pretty, pretty far.

36:17

Jimmy: Yeah, although not enough unnecessary quotation marks.

36:24

Jimmy: March 20th. Jimmy: We start off with a wide panel.

36:27

Jimmy: It's a Sunday here of Charlie Brown and Linus kind of walking out in a landscape we really haven't seen.

36:35

Jimmy: They're like climbing a hill with a big tree atop. Jimmy: Perhaps it's the party tree in Hobbiton.

36:40

Jimmy: I don't know. Harold: The shoe tree from Jeff McKinley.

36:44

Jimmy: Another, yes, another editorial cartoon looking tree for sure.

36:48

Jimmy: And Linus says to Charlie Brown, what are you thinking about Charlie Brown?

36:51

Jimmy: Charlie Brown answers, am I wrong or did there used to be more trees than there are now?

36:56

Jimmy: And as they're walking, we see Snoopy and Woodstock sitting in Woodstock's little nest.

37:02

Jimmy: And it's as cute as could be. Jimmy: And Linus answers Charlie Brown.

37:05

Jimmy: They say that when the colonists first came to this country, a squirrel could travel tree top to tree top from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River without ever touching the ground.

37:14

Jimmy: Snoopy and Woodstock look at each other as if, well, this should be a challenge.

37:18

Jimmy: They make it one panel, two panels.

37:21

Jimmy: And then in the third panel of hopping from tree top to tree top, they splat, land right on their heads, bonk bonk.

37:29

Jimmy: And in the last panel, Snoopy says to Woodstock, either that was a long time ago or that was some squirrel.

37:34

Jimmy: That's a weird first panel.

37:38

Harold: I love Woodstock's commitment to acting like a squirrel so that he has to fall on his head even though he can fly.

37:43

Jimmy: Yeah, he could fly. Jimmy: And I guess technically so could Snoopy.

37:51

Michael: That's true. Harold: He could helicopter his way down.

37:54

Jimmy: That's a very different tree in panel one.

37:58

Michael: It's a good old tree. Jimmy: Like a good tree drawing for sure.

38:02

Jimmy: And he is really treeing it up. Jimmy: Yeah, his tree tops too are surprisingly like, I don't want to say realistic, but like he's really drawing the leaves and stuff on there as opposed to just a normal peanuts tree would just be like a squiggly line indicating a leaf, you know, and these are all really, really detailed.

38:24

Harold: Reminds you how good a draftsman he is and how detailed he can go.

38:27

Harold: He's just so used to boiling things down. Jimmy: Yeah, and his scraggly trees are always the best.

38:32

Jimmy: I love him. Jimmy: All right, so how about we take a break there and we'll come back and do the other strips on the other side.

38:40

Jimmy: While we're taking a break, you know what you characters could do?

38:42

Jimmy: It'd be great if you go over to the website, sign up for the great peanuts reread, and while you're there, visit the store.

38:48

Jimmy: Maybe you could check out some of our work or a t-shirt or something like that.

38:52

Jimmy: That would be really helpful to keep the podcast going.

38:55

Jimmy: So we'll see you on the other side of the break. Liz: Hi, everyone.

38:58

Liz: We all love listening to Jimmy describe what's going on in a peanut strip.

39:03

Liz: But did you know that comics are actually a visual medium?

39:07

Liz: That's right. Liz: You can see them anytime you want at gocomics.com or in your very own copy of the complete Peanuts available from Fantagraphics.

39:18

Liz: Plus, if you sign up for our monthly newsletter, you'll know in advance which strips we're talking about each week.

39:24

Liz: Learn more about the great Peanuts re-read at unpackingpeanuts.com.

39:31

Jimmy: And we're back. Jimmy: Hey, Liz, I'm hanging out here in the mailbox.

39:34

Jimmy: Do we got anything? Liz: We do. Liz: We have a couple of new listeners, I think.

39:38

Liz: Autumn Faulkner writes, Hello.

39:40

Liz: I love your podcast. Liz: Peanuts has been something I cherished since I first really took notice of it when I got to play Schroeder in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.

39:49

Liz: My director was cast as Charlie Brown in one of his school shows, so I guess he wanted to share the magic of Peanuts with us.

39:56

Liz: My favorite thing about this whole strip is how Charles Schulz pursued his dream.

40:00

Liz: He didn't even like the name Peanuts, but he went through with it.

40:04

Jimmy: Well, thank you, Autumn. Jimmy: We really appreciate listening.

40:06

Liz: Thank you, Autumn. Liz: And Shauna Hickey writes, I found your podcast a little late in the game, and so far I've only made it through 1963.

40:16

Liz: However, it's been a pure joy this whole time.

40:18

Liz: Thank you so much for doing this podcast. Liz: I love going through all the strips with you.

40:23

Liz: I've been a huge Peanuts fan my entire life, and it's wonderful to hear other fans who love it as much as I do.

40:30

Harold: Oh, thank you. Jimmy: Thank you so much. Harold: I'm glad you're along the journey with us here, catching up.

40:36

Harold: That's a lot of stuff to catch up on, right? Jimmy: I can't believe how fast we've gone through these years.

40:43

Jimmy: You know, I would have gone slower had I realized that we'd actually achieved this.

40:51

Jimmy: Alright, so if you want to get in touch with us, you can write us through our website, unpackingpeanuts.gmail.com and send off your comments or your questions, anything you want to talk about.

41:04

Jimmy: You can also call the Peanuts hotline, and people haven't been calling.

41:08

Jimmy: People have only been texting. Jimmy: But I would love for you guys to give it a ringy-dingy so you could actually get your voice on our podcast.

41:16

Jimmy: You can call that number at... Liz: Any time of the day or night.

41:19

Liz: 717-219-4162 Any time of the day or night, we would love to hear from you.

41:28

Jimmy: Because remember, when I don't hear, I worry. Jimmy: Alright, what do you guys say we get back to the strips?

41:33

Liz: Sure. Jimmy: March 26th.

41:36

Jimmy: This is the middle of a sequence where Peppermint Patty has convinced Charlie Brown to become her baseball team's mascot, which is a Pelican, which is a great Pelican costume that Charlie Brown is in.

41:49

Jimmy: And in this particular strip, Marcie has come to talk to Chuck because she thinks he's being taken advantage of.

41:57

Jimmy: So Charlie Brown, dressed in his Pelican outfit, with a propeller beanie on top of the Pelican's head, by the way, says, Marcie, what are you doing here?

42:07

Jimmy: And Marcie says to Charlie Brown, I want you to take off that stupid costume, Charles, and stop letting yourself be humiliated.

42:14

Jimmy: If you won't do it for yourself, do it for someone who likes you.

42:19

Jimmy: She says to Charlie Brown, who is still wearing the Pelican head.

42:23

Jimmy: And then from inside the TV room, Sally yells out, kiss her, you blockhead.

42:29

Michael: Now, we had a similar setup way back, a couple years ago.

42:34

Michael: Was that Sally? Michael: And what did she say then?

42:36

Michael: I don't remember. Liz: It was last episode.

42:39

Michael: Was it last episode? Michael: Way back.

42:41

Michael: Last episode. Jimmy: Way back last episode.

42:44

Michael: Was it Sally saying the same thing?

42:48

Michael: Okay. Jimmy: I believe so. Jimmy: Yes. Jimmy: Because I know I had the book, kiss her, you blockhead.

42:52

Jimmy: And I think it was selections from both of those.

42:56

Jimmy: So I'm not sure which one. Harold: I do like the costume.

43:02

Jimmy: Oh, it's great. Harold: It's so funny.

43:04

Harold: The little propeller beanie. Harold: And the funniest thing is, you know, Charlie Brown doesn't really have any noticeable hair to speak of on his head.

43:12

Harold: And he's putting on this pelican costume that gives him this big patch of black curly hair in the back.

43:22

Jimmy: Yeah, is it a pelican with male pattern baldness?

43:26

Harold: That's what it kind of looks like. Jimmy: That's really weird.

43:30

Jimmy: Well, I guess this was the cheapest costume, the one that was left.

43:34

Harold: Yeah, Schulz knows how to spot blacks here, that's for sure.

43:38

Jimmy: Yeah, great, great, great-looking costume.

43:41

Jimmy: It really cracks me up. Jimmy: And that wraps up Charlie Brown gets out of it by sending Snoopy in his stead.

43:47

Jimmy: So that storyline wraps up.

43:50

Harold: Yeah, it's interesting. Harold: You see, he's really trying to get that pelican costume right, it seems like, because of the tremor, the hand tremor.

43:59

Harold: The characters, he knows how to draw really well.

44:02

Harold: You don't see it as much because he's just zipping through the line on Marcie's mouth and all that, because that's something he's comfortable with.

44:09

Harold: But something new, like the pelican, you see the hand moving more slowly.

44:13

Harold: And since it's a rhythmic tremor, you kind of see how fast.

44:16

Harold: It's like this record of how fast he was drawing each line.

44:20

Jimmy: Yeah, you can really see it on the underside of that, well, the whole pelican costume, as you say.

44:25

Jimmy: Very interesting. Jimmy: March 27th, another Sunday, starts off with a great symbolic panel of Peppermint Patty in boxing gloves, boxing a three ring binder, it turns out to be.

44:39

Jimmy: So in panel two, she is asleep at her desk with the binder open on her desk, which is a bad move.

44:46

Jimmy: And then she slowly slumps forward as she sleeps.

44:49

Jimmy: And then in the third panel, well, the fourth panel rather, snap, her nose gets stuck in the binder and she yells, Yipe.

44:59

Jimmy: So now we see the binder is in fact stuck to her nose.

45:02

Jimmy: And she says, Sorry, ma'am, my nose is caught in my binder.

45:05

Jimmy: I'm trying not to scream. Jimmy: It's very painful.

45:08

Jimmy: She gets up and she says, May I have permission to see the school nurse or maybe the custodian?

45:13

Jimmy: We may need a pair of pliers. Jimmy: Then bonk, she walks into the door.

45:17

Jimmy: She tries to leave the classroom. Jimmy: Now she's seeing stars again and says, Sorry, ma'am, I'm having trouble seeing where I'm going.

45:25

Jimmy: Then she walks with the binder still stuck to her face.

45:29

Jimmy: Her hands out in front of her, she feels her way. Jimmy: And then in the last panel, we see she has returned to her desk, her nose completely bandaged.

45:36

Jimmy: And she says, Fortunately, the senior prom isn't for another 10 years.

45:42

Jimmy: Oh. Michael: I don't get the mechanics of this.

45:45

Jimmy: The binder? Jimmy: Oh, yeah, because you're not the Trapper Keeper generation.

45:50

Michael: Okay, I would assume that the thing that closes the rings is on the ends.

45:55

Jimmy: No, if you just pressed, it would snap shut just like it does here.

46:00

Jimmy: And your fingers would get caught regularly in those stupid things.

46:03

Michael: Really? Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: But we love them.

46:07

Michael: They outlawed them, I assume. Harold: I think it was part of the same bill that outlawed lawn darts.

46:16

Harold: Right. Jimmy: What were we thinking, Bill?

46:21

Harold: Yeah, those things can be pretty nasty. Harold: I've had some run-ins for sure.

46:27

Harold: Now, there's something unique about this strip among all of the strips that we have seen up to date on these 30-some years that I haven't noticed before that is unique about this strip.

46:38

Harold: Any guesses as to what that might be? Michael: Uh, no blacks?

46:45

Michael: No. Jimmy: No idea.

46:49

Harold: He didn't sign it. Harold: Whoa!

46:53

Jimmy: That's weird. Harold: Isn't that odd?

46:56

Harold: Yeah, he maybe just forgot. Harold: I guess he just forgot.

46:58

Harold: I'm sure he was proud of the strip. Harold: He had a space to do it.

47:02

Jimmy: Yeah, I guess he just forgot. Jimmy: That's really strange.

47:07

Jimmy: That is the kind of white-hot excitement you're going to get on this podcast if you continue to stick with this.

47:14

Jimmy: You will find out things that you didn't know you cared about.

47:17

Michael: My mind is blown. Jimmy: March 28th, we're back to the Pelican storyline.

47:28

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty is getting ready to take the field.

47:32

Jimmy: Franklin and Marcie are there. Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, where's our Pelican?

47:36

Jimmy: The game is ready to start. Jimmy: Where's Chuck and the Pelican costume?

47:39

Jimmy: Marcie says, I told him he shouldn't come. Jimmy: I told him it was degrading.

47:44

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, Marcie! Jimmy: Marcie says, that's my name.

47:47

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty now screams to the heavens, Marcie!

47:51

Jimmy: You got it right again. Michael: Yeah, Marcie, she's moving up in my list of favorite characters.

47:59

Jimmy: Oh, that's awesome. Jimmy: I love Marcie.

48:03

Jimmy: This reading has really leapt out to me as a character I like and someone that's really unique to the Schulz world.

48:10

Jimmy: You don't see a character like this in other strips because she's so subtle.

48:14

Michael: Yeah, and she can deliver these kind of punch lines, which are just a total flat delivery against somebody who's screaming.

48:23

Michael: You know she's just saying it like, that's my name.

48:27

Jimmy: Exactly, exactly. Jimmy: And the joy with which she's doing it, even though it's so subtle, you know that her calmness, she knows, is riling Peppermint Patty up even further, which I like, it's really good.

48:40

Michael: Another reason I like it is I don't like this thing where you have these subservient characters where somehow, you know, definitely Peppermint Patty is the boss.

48:55

Michael: But at some point, this is her rebellion.

48:59

Jimmy: Right. Michael: She's, this is, I mean, in her way of saying get lost, just quietly saying, yeah, you know, you can't tell me what to do.

49:11

Jimmy: Right. Jimmy: Right, no, and she very much has that centeredness about her, that you can't tell her what to do.

49:18

Jimmy: And she always has Peppermint Patty's back, as long as she believes what Peppermint Patty is doing.

49:23

Jimmy: But if she doesn't, she'll tell her, which is great.

49:27

Jimmy: And tell her in such a marty way, as you're saying, which is also great.

49:31

Jimmy: And just a great aspect of Schulz as a cartoonist, that he could pull that off.

49:35

Harold: Yeah, just to play so well into her matter of factness that she can have, although she often can speak, at least is oblique to Peppermint Patty.

49:43

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: April 15th.

49:47

Jimmy: Oh, okay, so now this is a sequence wherein Linus has given up his blanket and is going to try to essentially open up a school to teach other kids how to give up their blankets.

50:03

Jimmy: And now he's going door to door. Jimmy: Because this is Linus back in fanatic mode.

50:07

Jimmy: And he knocks on someone's door and he says, Good morning, little girl.

50:11

Jimmy: You sure are a cute little thing. Jimmy: I see you have a security blanket.

50:15

Jimmy: And she does. Jimmy: It's a character we've never seen.

50:17

Jimmy: She's got a little bob haircut, a bow in her hair.

50:20

Jimmy: And she is in classic thumb and blanket position herself.

50:23

Jimmy: And in panel two, Linus, very self-satisfied.

50:28

Jimmy: He says, Would you like to have me tell you how I broke myself of that habit?

50:33

Jimmy: The little girl, snap, whips him with the blanket, sending him flying.

50:38

Jimmy: And Linus, she goes back inside and Linus yells after her.

50:41

Jimmy: Stupid kid! Michael: Is this his commentary on AA?

50:48

Michael: No, seriously. Michael: I mean, because we've seen him go through withdrawals from the blanket way back in the day.

50:55

Michael: And now he's done it. Michael: And he's preaching.

50:59

Michael: He's telling people how to do it.

51:02

Jimmy: Well, quickly, speaking of AA, how are you on Infinite Jest?

51:06

Michael: Where are we at? Michael: Episode 98.

51:08

Jimmy: Oh my gosh, you're getting there. Michael: A while ago, you said there's a moment where it all comes together.

51:17

Michael: Have I passed that? Jimmy: No, no, I said don't expect there to be a moment where it all comes together.

51:23

Michael: I thought there was a moment where suddenly it all makes sense and you realize.

51:27

Jimmy: Oh, yeah, no, no, I think that's maybe after this time on Earth.

51:31

Jimmy: Maybe that will be one of the things revealed to us. Jimmy: No, there's no plate where it all comes together.

51:36

Jimmy: Sorry if I misled you. Michael: All right. Michael: Well, I heard you wrong.

51:42

Harold: One thing that's interesting to me with this little girl that we've never seen before, that he chooses to dress her in really classic little girl peanuts dress rather than something more modern.

51:56

Harold: Why do you think he did that? Jimmy: That's a good question.

51:59

Jimmy: I'm not sure. Harold: He's got the bow in the hair.

52:02

Harold: She's got the dress with the... Jimmy: The dress with the pattern that was very 50s, very Patty.

52:09

Jimmy: I think Patty used to wear coats like that. Jimmy: I don't know.

52:11

Harold: What kind of shoes do you call those with the white and the...

52:14

Harold: It's like saddle shoes or I'm not sure what they'd be considered.

52:17

Harold: They're very... Jimmy: Yeah, with one difference from the early stuff is the eyes, of course.

52:23

Jimmy: She has the circle around the eye. Harold: Like Lucy had originally, yeah.

52:28

Harold: So it's like they've taken you far back to the older...

52:30

Harold: Maybe that's to him that represents an older, more innocent time to make the joke in his mind funnier, the fact that she's gonna snap him with her blanket.

52:39

Jimmy: Yeah, maybe. Jimmy: This continues.

52:42

Jimmy: And we actually have a child arrives at Linus' house for a meeting one night.

52:47

Jimmy: Yeah, now that I'm saying it that way, Michael, I do hear what you're saying.

52:53

Jimmy: Yeah, exactly. Jimmy: So a child, but their identity is hidden because the kid has a blanket put over their head.

53:00

Jimmy: So Linus is saying to the child, I think the first thing we should consider about clinging to a security blanket is guilt.

53:07

Jimmy: But the kid under the blanket says, I don't feel guilty.

53:11

Jimmy: Linus is good. Jimmy: Now there's also embarrassment.

53:13

Jimmy: The kid says, that's no problem either. Jimmy: Then Lucy leans in from off panel and says, now mention stupidity.

53:22

Jimmy: Very funny. Michael: This was a little mystery here.

53:26

Michael: You kind of assumed it was the same kid with the blanket.

53:31

Michael: That's what you're supposed to think. Michael: I mean, when you encounter this mysterious person.

53:37

Jimmy: Oh, yeah. Jimmy: Who is it? Jimmy: Oh, was it the other kid?

53:40

Jimmy: Doesn't the kid say it's Randolph? Jimmy: Like the kid says his name is Randolph or something like that.

53:46

Jimmy: I don't know. Jimmy: But yeah, we have no idea who it is. Jimmy: But here on April 22nd, Linus says to the kid under the blanket, before we continue with your treatment, we need to do something.

53:55

Jimmy: I'm going to ask you to take the blanket off your head.

53:58

Jimmy: And the kid says, anything you say.

54:00

Jimmy: And then she reveals it is in fact Sally who says, it's me, sweet baboo.

54:06

Jimmy: To which Linus replies, oh, and his hair is stick straight.

54:13

Jimmy: And now this we talked with Mrs. Jimmy: Jeannie Schulz about.

54:16

Jimmy: So, hey, Liz, could we go back in the time machine and revisit what Mrs.

54:20

Jimmy: Schulz had to say? Jimmy: Well, where did you come up with it from?

54:29

Jimmy: Did it just something that popped in your head? SPEAKER_1: It just popped in my head, yeah.

54:32

Jimmy: Is it weird that your phrase for a year, your love is now a catchphrase for the entire planet?

54:41

SPEAKER_1: Well, and I don't know how it came out of my mouth.

54:47

Jimmy: That's so strange. Harold: Right, right. Harold: We don't know these things, but it's such a great phrase, sweet baboo.

54:53

SPEAKER_1: Well, and then, of course, the thing is, she torments him with it.

55:01

SPEAKER_1: He's off scene sometimes with a little arrow saying, I'm not sweet baboo.

55:10

Harold: Don't call me that. SPEAKER_1: So she loves him.

55:14

Harold: But I'm assuming he didn't say sweet baboo.

55:19

Harold: I'm assuming that he enjoyed that very much.

55:21

SPEAKER_1: I wonder when we're talking about it, when I actually did say and whether he reacted.

55:30

SPEAKER_1: I mean, I have no recollection.

55:33

Jimmy: Well, yeah, because you were just saying a thing.

55:35

Jimmy: You were just living your life, having a normal day.

55:37

Jimmy: You didn't realize you were going to be immortalized yet again.

55:43

Jimmy: How great was it having Mrs. Jimmy: Schulz on the show?

55:46

Jimmy: Right. Jimmy: I mean, that was just fantastic. Jimmy: I'm still so grateful.

55:50

Jimmy: So what do you guys think about this? Michael: It was a real surprise, even though I glanced at it before I read the strip.

55:57

Jimmy: Yes. Michael: Now, if this was in the animated special, if they used this, would she have been disguising her voice?

56:07

Jimmy: Oh, that, you know what? Jimmy: I don't think they ever did animate it, but boy, that would have actually been really funny to have the kid go, the kid try to disguise her voice.

56:17

Jimmy: That could have been really funny, but I don't think they ever did.

56:21

Harold: One thing I wish he had done, whenever there's two realities going side by side, one thing you think is happening, what's really happening, I always love it if whoever's creating that can make both realities work at the same time without somebody having to lie.

56:37

Harold: That to me is cool. Harold: Here, if she's saying that she's somebody she's not, that would to me be unnecessary.

56:44

Harold: I would wish that the flow of whatever happened, she didn't have to lie to then reveal herself because then she revealed herself in truth and wasn't just deceived.

56:54

Jimmy: Although she would have been lying. Jimmy: Well, yes, but she's lying that she's addicted to a blanket.

56:58

Harold: Well, she didn't have to do that either. Harold: It could have been Linus going, oh, here's another person who's addicted to a blanket.

57:05

Harold: It could have been that Sally never contradicted what the payoff is at the end.

57:12

Harold: It's Sally all along. Harold: She just wanted to find a way to get in and mess with him or whatever.

57:17

Michael: Somebody's got to psychoanalyze the Van Pilt parents.

57:21

Jimmy: I'm telling you. Michael: Lucy with the psychiatrist booth, Linus with his therapy, blanket therapy here.

57:28

Michael: What's with these kids? Jimmy: I'm telling you, they're very Salinger-esque.

57:34

Jimmy: Something is definitely going on.

57:36

Harold: Isn't that another Peanuts Worldwide thing? Harold: The Van Pelt.

57:39

Jimmy: The Van Pelt. Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: You would have to do it like a parody of a Wes Anderson movie, like the Royal Tenant Bombs, but it's just the Van Pelt.

57:46

Harold: Upstairs, downstairs, parents, children.

57:51

Michael: And having a third kid who nobody even notices is not there.

58:01

Harold: Are we ever told what the parents do?

58:04

Harold: What do you guys think? Harold: Who do you think Linus' father is?

58:06

Michael: He's a psychologist, I'm sure.

58:09

Jimmy: Yeah, I always feel something like that too.

58:12

Harold: I'm thinking the mom is maybe a psychiatrist and the dad is a college professor.

58:16

Jimmy: Yeah, no, that would work.

58:19

Jimmy: Yeah, those clock to me. Jimmy: So anyway, this trauma sends Linus back to the blanket, which is how Schulz wraps that one up.

58:33

Jimmy: April 26th, Linus is again in thumb and blanket position, a classic, and he's sitting on the bench next to Charlie Brown in a baseball game.

58:43

Jimmy: He walks up to bat, he strikes out, then he sits back down and puts the blanket over his head, learning something from Sally, I guess.

58:50

Michael: This is a total throwback from like 15 years.

58:56

Michael: This could have been a 1965 strip.

58:59

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: This is what I mean by that, that him feeling like, like we talked at the beginning, that legacy idea of the strip where he is going back and playing the hits like we've talked about it before.

59:11

Jimmy: I like it. Harold: How's this for mind-blowing theory?

59:15

Harold: In the fourth panel, that isn't Linus under there, it's Randolph.

59:25

Jimmy: April 29th. Jimmy: Game is over.

59:28

Jimmy: Charlie Brown and Linus are walking home. Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, 207 to nothing.

59:33

Jimmy: We have the worst team in the history of baseball.

59:37

Jimmy: I wish I could talk with the man who invented baseball, says Charlie Brown as he and Linus rest their heads at the thinking wall.

59:43

Jimmy: In panel three, Linus says, to get his advice, Charlie Brown answers, no, to apologize.

59:51

Jimmy: That's a great punchline. Michael: I'm so glad we didn't have to do an obscurity on Ebner Doubleday.

59:56

Michael: Because I could get pretty heated.

59:59

Michael: I mean, that's a controversial figure.

1:00:02

Jimmy: Oh, yeah. Jimmy: Well, I had, there's one of my favorite things I ever did, and I only had to fight with Scholastic for four months to get it in there.

1:00:10

Jimmy: But it was in the book seven, Good Reasons Not to Grow Up.

1:00:13

Jimmy: It's a list of things people have told you that are true, that aren't true.

1:00:16

Jimmy: And one of them is that Abner Doubleday invented baseball.

1:00:20

Jimmy: Oh. Jimmy: And it is, it is contested, people.

1:00:24

Michael: Well, it's flat out not true.

1:00:26

Jimmy: It was flat out not true, right? Michael: No, I mean, here I am.

1:00:29

Jimmy: I was being diplomatic, but yeah. Michael: No, it's flat out not true.

1:00:33

Michael: I mean, here I am in Italy, but we have some English friends.

1:00:37

Michael: And they go like, we don't understand baseball.

1:00:40

Michael: What is baseball? Michael: So I described baseball and they go, oh, rounders.

1:00:47

Michael: So it's a game. Michael: And they, I go, rounders?

1:00:49

Michael: Yeah, yeah. Michael: You have a pitcher and you have a batter and they hit the ball and they run around the bases.

1:00:55

Michael: Well, so much for Abner. Harold: Do you remember, those of you who lived in the 70s, there was an Abner double day commercial where his wife is saying, Abner, don't take the world serious.

1:01:11

Harold: And then he's like, that's it. Harold: The World Series. Harold: Does that ring a bell?

1:01:14

Harold: It was like for carefree sugarless gum or something. Jimmy: I sort of remember that, yes.

1:01:19

Harold: Very strange. Jimmy: Oh, man.

1:01:23

Jimmy: May 6th, Lucy is in her now semi-standard position of hanging out in her beanbag chair.

1:01:30

Jimmy: And she says, all right, if everyone in this house hates me so much, I'll just leave.

1:01:36

Jimmy: That'll make you all happy, she says.

1:01:38

Jimmy: Won't it? Jimmy: As she storms around, then she stomps back to the beanbag, gets right back into it and says, why should I make them all happy?

1:01:50

Michael: Actually, I think the beanbag chair is the great innovation of peanuts in this period.

1:01:57

Jimmy: It's pretty good. Harold: It's weird watching her head just pop up out of the middle of it.

1:02:03

Michael: It saves a lot of drawing too. Jimmy: It really does save a lot of drawing.

1:02:07

Harold: Yeah, that's such a funny image.

1:02:11

Jimmy: It really is. Harold: But by now, we all know what it is.

1:02:14

Harold: Can you imagine just taking that and taking away everything and just putting that image out there in the world and people are like, what the heck is going on?

1:02:22

Jimmy: What is it? Jimmy: Are beanbag chairs still popular?

1:02:29

Michael: I wish I had one. Harold: No, I think the National Bean Council lost their lobby.

1:02:34

Jimmy: Did they? Jimmy: Well, that will get you every time.

1:02:37

Harold: The jumping beanbag chair. Jimmy: That would defeat the purpose.

1:02:42

Harold: It's the air stuff now. Harold: It's like the blow up chairs, right?

1:02:44

Harold: That kind of replaced the most of the beanbag chairs.

1:02:47

Jimmy: Yeah, but that's not as fun. Jimmy: Because you can really wiggle the beanbag chair around to get the maximum amount of beans in the right place for you.

1:02:56

Harold: Yeah, you think it's ripe for a comeback with some sort of new memory foam component or something?

1:03:02

Jimmy: That would be nice. Jimmy: That's a good idea. Jimmy: That's a good idea.

1:03:05

Jimmy: We should bring them back. Jimmy: Beanbag chairs, Bud Blake.

1:03:09

Jimmy: Oh, this is I ventured outside the Amelia verse recently, which is always a mistake.

1:03:15

Jimmy: And we've said there's a couple things you should never talk about in public.

1:03:20

Jimmy: One is your dreams. Jimmy: The other is your Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

1:03:25

Jimmy: I'm adding one. Jimmy: Your home brewed beer.

1:03:30

Jimmy: I'll just answer for every person, if you're a home brewer out there and you want to know the two questions.

1:03:36

Jimmy: One, do you want to try my home brew?

1:03:39

Jimmy: The answer is no. Jimmy: No matter who you're asking, the answer is no.

1:03:43

Jimmy: And then the second question, did you like it?

1:03:46

Jimmy: The answer is no. Harold: Is this from experience?

1:03:51

Jimmy: I'm just saying, look, I'm just saying it should be up there with Dungeons and Dragons and Dreams in the verboten category.

1:03:59

Jimmy: June 26th, Linus and Lucy are sitting on little stools, little mini bean bags watching TV and Linus is having a drink of something and it causes him to cough.

1:04:10

Jimmy: And he coughs in the next panel and he coughs in the next panel.

1:04:14

Jimmy: And Lucy says, what's the matter? Jimmy: But he's coughing really hard now and gagging.

1:04:18

Jimmy: Cough gag, cough. Jimmy: Lucy says, did you swallow wrong?

1:04:22

Jimmy: You always drink too fast. Jimmy: Never. Jimmy: Always time for a little criticism.

1:04:26

Jimmy: Are you choking? Jimmy: She says, can you breathe?

1:04:28

Jimmy: Are you all right? Jimmy: Answer me. Jimmy: Linus is coughing.

1:04:31

Jimmy: Are you all right? Jimmy: This is Linus is beside himself and he screams, stop asking me questions.

1:04:38

Jimmy: How can I answer when I'm coughing?

1:04:42

Jimmy: Lucy then sneezes. Jimmy: Achoo.

1:04:44

Jimmy: Linus says, bless you. Jimmy: No, he doesn't yell.

1:04:47

Jimmy: Linus says, bless you. Jimmy: And then Lucy screams, I hate people who say, bless you every time you sneeze.

1:04:54

Jimmy: And then it ends with, brothers and sisters should never be in the same family, says Linus as they both go back to watching TV.

1:05:01

Michael: That's funny. Michael: And it's a great punchline, which could have fit like a lot of different situations.

1:05:07

Michael: It could have easily been a four panel. Harold: Yep.

1:05:10

Michael: Strip. Michael: But somehow he thought this was the best set up for brother sister antagonism.

1:05:17

Harold: Yeah. Harold: I think this is one of his classic strips.

1:05:20

Harold: This is up there with a bunch of other ones that with Linus and Lucy.

1:05:26

Harold: I've certainly been in that both sides of this conversation.

1:05:32

Harold: It's very relatable. Harold: Man, one time I ate us.

1:05:37

Harold: I was eating a Snickers bar and it just went down the wrong way.

1:05:41

Harold: It went down into my throat and it was like this coating.

1:05:43

Harold: I was breathing like, it's scary.

1:05:51

Harold: I was in the theater. Harold: Oh my gosh, I was in the theater and this film of something went over my windpipe.

1:05:57

Harold: I hadn't eaten anything. Harold: I was just sitting there in this theater.

1:06:00

Harold: It's one of those little off-Broadway theaters in New York City.

1:06:05

Harold: I'm in the middle near the front row. Harold: It's the worst.

1:06:09

Harold: You just feel it. Harold: It starts to get louder and louder because you realize you start to panic that I'm not getting enough oxygen.

1:06:20

Harold: It's like, do I get up? Harold: Do I leave? Harold: It's one of those things where you have to go all the way out from the middle across all these other people.

1:06:31

Harold: This actor is probably 15 feet from me.

1:06:35

Harold: It was the absolute worst. Jimmy: Oh, that's terrible.

1:06:43

Jimmy: All right. Jimmy: So guys, that brings us to the end of this episode.

1:06:47

Jimmy: We got another half of the year coming up next week, though.

1:06:50

Jimmy: So make sure you come back here for that. Jimmy: If you want to keep the conversation going, you can email us through our website.

1:06:56

Jimmy: We're unpackingpeanuts at gmail.com.

1:07:01

Jimmy: You can go there. Jimmy: You could support the show by joining our Patreon or buying a T-shirt or checking out one of our books.

1:07:09

Jimmy: That would be great. Jimmy: If you want to follow us on social media, we are at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads and at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.

1:07:21

Jimmy: Other than that, we would just love for you to come back next week where we tackle 1983 part two.

1:07:27

Jimmy: So until then, from Michael, Harold and Liz, this is Jimmy saying, be of good cheer.

1:07:33

Liz: Yes, be of good cheer. Liz: Unpacking Peanuts is copyrighted by Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen and Harold Buchholz.

1:07:40

Liz: Produced and edited by Liz Sumner. Liz: Music by Michael Cohen.

1:07:44

Liz: Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.

1:07:47

Liz: For more from the show, follow Unpacked Peanuts on Instagram and threads.

1:07:51

Liz: Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.

1:07:55

Liz: For more about Jimmy, Michael and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com.

1:08:00

Liz: Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.

1:08:03

Michael: My mind is blown.