203

Menace
Posted on July 31, 2022 by David M Willis

203 thoughts on “Menace”

  1. The Wellerman

    Hey Willis! I saw that whole Poison Ivy Pollution thing on Twitter.

    Must I say, tonight’s strip is just PERFECT timing!!!! ???

    1. Stephen Bierce

      You Can Look But You’d Better Not Touch…

  2. Ana Chronistic

    Not with THAT attitude!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Don’t let your dreams be dreams.

      1. Leorale

        If you will it, it is no peen.

    2. Lumino

      Is it just me, or is Mary more unhinged than usual?

      1. darkoneko

        She waited a whole semester for this

        1. Rognik

          A whole half-semester. This is October of year one, remember.

        2. Clif

          She waited a whole 18 years or so for this.

          This is peak Mary. She will never be more Mary than she is right now,

      2. Reltzik

        Given that our baseline for Mary is directly attacking peoples’ moral character and keeping Ruth suicidal for blackmail purposes? No. No she does not.

    3. Rose by Any Other Name

      I mean, yeah, it’s not that hard.
      Becky just needs to drive to a adult toy store, buy a dildo, and then show it to people. Easy.

      1. Plaaaa

        Or just flash her lady bits. Honestly wouldn’t be out of character.

        1. Librain

          I feel like she would manage to make it more confusing than offensive for anyone looking on though.

  3. Stephen Bierce

    There are half a dozen Bob Dylan songs that want to be here.

  4. PB

    OK I’m starting to think that that one commenter on the last strip was right, and this is a weird kink thing for Mary.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Yay, validation!

    2. Archieve

      Sorry accidentally flagged but yes this is definitely Mary’s repressed horniness we are seeing…of all the scenarios she picks the one were she gets to talk about her boyfriends privates.

    3. Alanari

      Or Peter has the kink and she doesn’t really know how to identify a kink and plays along. She is a fundamentalist, so there’s a probability she had little exposure to sex stuff.

    4. Laura

      Well, it certainly appears to be an exhibitionistic thrill for Peter.

      …Wonder how/why Mary picked him as the only righteous person in the world, when he apparently has a thing for showing his penis to people in public? I mean, was it a *religious* stand-up comedy routine that involved showing his penis to people? How would that work, exactly? Was he demonstrating the “sin of Onan”, with visual aids? Explaining all those “begat”s?
      I’m legit confused as to how this all would work in a “righteous” comedy…

      1. BarerMender

        I get the impression Peter is doing this under pressure and doesn’t like it, but Mary has made certain promises. Or threats. “You don’t wanna? Then I won’t wanna either.”

        1. Laura

          Hm. Maybe so. Maybe he wasn’t really a stand-up comic but is just playing a role here.

        2. StClair

          I bet he wasn’t really Adam, either.

        3. Laura

          NO! You’ve shattered my dreams! ;-D

        4. Clif

          He could be the reincarnation of Adam.

        5. Geneseepaws

          Well that comment wasted a Lot of coffee, that was a very fine comment. And gotta admit, I laughed really hard, but wasted a lot of coffee spilling.

        6. Stifyn Baker

          Just went back to look at the previous strip, and no, Peter doesn’t look comfortable being naked. I also noticed that his ‘Eve’ is a cardboard standee… so given today’s strip, it seems likely that Mary and Peter are the only ones performing.

          Ah, the irony of a comic strip, in which the comic starts stripped, then gets dressed…

        7. JBento

          A comic unstrip, if you will.

      2. S.R.

        I don’t think she’s saying he ACTUALLY got cancelled for exposing himself to someone. I think she’s saying the character he’s playing did that.

  5. darkoneko

    Seriously, Peter, what the hell did you get yourself into

    1. Yumi

      Got himself into Mary, I’m guessing.

    2. Thag Simmons

      I suspect this relationship will not survive the night either

      1. Diane

        Same, Halloween is the time for breakups. I think Becky and Dina going to this is the only reason they survived Halloween.

  6. Suet

    Peter, Peter, The Repeater

    Hope Dina’s face won’t hurt furling like that all day

    1. Deanatay

      Still pretty sure those eyes are actually Dina’s usual hat. It is firmly in control of this beast.

  7. Nathan

    How……big is this common room? My common room in freshman year of undergrad was NOT large enough for an entire tour of Deadly Sins. You could maybe fit one or two in, but that’s it.

    1. Jamie

      I’m not sure which common room this is. It might be the one they use for floor meetings, or it might be downstairs. Either would probably be big enough.

      I am also curious which list of deadly sins you think Mary is running off.

      1. Clif

        So far, we’ve got Cancel Culture, and the Original Sin of vegetarianism,

    2. Ray Radlein

      Back in my day we used to see how many Deadly Sins we could cram into a phone booth

      1. Clif

        Eventually it got out of hand, and now there are no more phone booths.

    3. Deanatay

      Not THAT big. Mary is making effective use of the spotlight to focus attention on a particular portion of the room – it’s probably less than five feet from where Peter was before.

    4. James

      If this were about the seven deadly sins, Mary might have had to come close to thinking about whether or not a poor standup comedian showing his ween to someone would count as Lust.

      This is entirely about those Stupid Woke Libs she has to deal with, which can be as many or as few scenes as necessary.

    5. dinajoyce

      the 7 deadly sins are a Catholic thing. Mary is free to make up her own… errr i mean “discern from scripture” her own understanding of how to portray sin and its consequences.

  8. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Yeah Becky doesn’t have a Penis to just whip out in public…Also what’s the lesson here we should all be allowed to streak naked and show our junk to people without fear of being canceled?

    1. Laura

      Well, she could get one, I mean, there’s plenty of prostheses readily available.

    2. Amelie Wikström

      I think the lesson is “if, God willing, one day you should be one of Us, the Righteous, and have a deserving public platform on which to tell Them how Wrong they are, then they might not appreciate it.”

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        So if I’m a god-fearing religious man with a fan following and I flash my dick at people in public I shouldn’t be punished or shamed for it because everyone else is in the wrong, not me?

        1. Amelie Wikström

          As long as Mary thinks you’re one of the good guys, yeah.

  9. TrueVCU

    Dina: “your grasp of biology troubles me”

    1. Deanatay

      Mary: I’m not grasping anybody’s biology! Except for <3 Jesus' <3 !!

  10. CrazyJ

    Alternatively you could end up marrying Lauren Boebert.

    1. JBento

      Only if the people who you’re showing your dick to are underaged.

      1. Clif

        I’m reasonably sure that Lauren Boebert wasn’t underaged.

        She just had a really sharp cell phone.

        1. JBento

          The girl who Boebert’s husband showed his dick to was not, in fact, Boebert. I mean, presumably he’s shown her his dick too, that’s just not the instance I (and I believe CrazyJ) was referring to.

        2. Opus the Poet

          It is canon that Boebert’s husband showed her his dick before she was 18 or married to him.

        3. JBento

          Wait, so he’s a repeat off- fuck, why am I asking, of course he is.

        4. thejeff

          You’re thinking Lorena Bobbit. Understandable mistake.

        5. Clif

          I believe you’re right. Thank you.

  11. Beau Kirin Maysey

    Mary I feel like the Bible probably has a thing against exposing your jinglies to a mass amount of people… Right???

    1. Theozilla

      Eh, didn’t King David like flash everyone as part of his celebratory coronation dance parade?

      1. Huttj

        Ok, look, in his defense it was less “woo check out my schlong” and more jumping and celebrating, praising G-d and not caring that his robe/skirt was flying up as he did so.

        1. Beau Kirin Maysey

          these things just kinda happen

    2. someone

      It’s more that being ashamed of our bodies is the punishment for eating the fruit of knowledge, and less that our bodies are inherently shameful. After all, our bodies were created in the image of God, so if you think about it, there really should be no reason to want to hide it. But we decided to get our own ideas about what’s good and what’s evil, and lo, we were cursed with prudishness.

      1. thejeff

        So prudishness is a curse, but it’s also a sin not to be prudish? Weird.

        1. JBento

          They get you coming AND going.

        2. Librain

          Cumming and going*?

        3. JBento

          Cumming and gangbanging?

        4. Victor

          That’s pretty typical of religion. Appropriate Oglaf: https://www.oglaf.com/assorted-fruits/
          (SFW, unlike Oglaf in general.)

    3. C.T. Phipps

      The Bible is only useful as a prop to support white dudes and sometimes white women who are really-really racist.

      Don’t you know that?

  12. jpnr

    so um is Mary going to get kicked out of college for this

    or at least Peter

    1. Alanari

      We saw Mary during that “could be worse, could’ve kissed her” – scene. Can’t remember Peter showing up since the time jump though.

      1. Needfuldoer

        He hasn’t, but that’s not indicative. Maybe they broke up, or he just hasn’t happened to be around when Mary is necessary to the story.

        1. thejeff

          Yeah, it’d been years since he’d appeared even before the timeskip.

    2. nobodybasically

      Honestly they both should have been for this. They had Peter flash people without their consent.

  13. Pocky

    I got a few. . . uh, tools that can make that happen.

    Though I doubt they’d be much help here.

  14. DailyBrad

    I know there was a Louie CK joke in the comments of the last strip. Wonder if it was a Patreon supporter or if they just got lucky.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      I got it from Becky’s joke then saw the pun in the next strip.

      So I got lucky.

  15. Jon

    This is simultaneously the best Mary arc and also the worst one.

    1. Clif

      Quantum Mary.

    2. C.T. Phipps

      Mary is, for once in her lifetime, funny as well as horrendous.

  16. The Wellerman

    Again with Peter’s penis?

    Seriously, I’m starting to REALLY suspect that this whole “Hell House” is just some convoluted scheme for Mary to justify premarital sex with Peter in the eyes of her personal version of Jesus.

    Because all I can think about right now is that theatrical Jesus cult from the Boondocks!!! ???

    1. The Wellerman

      Although if that doesn’t turn out to be the case, it would actually make for a pretty neat Dumbing of Age game premise!

      Mary starts a cult, and you have to fight against them and destroy their growing power!

      It’ll be like Far Cry 5, only simpler, and 2D.

      Yeah… I just might do that one day!!!

  17. lia

    like that john cleese sex ed sketch

    this isnt that good of a reply comment but i had to make it bc when i went to hit reply i accidentally flagged ur comment so i needed a place to say i didnt mean to lol

    1. lia

      what it didnt even reply……. life is suffering

    2. AbacusWizard

      “It’s an ocarina, sir.”

    3. Needfuldoer

      Don’t worry about accidentally flagging comments. Nothing happens until a comment accumulates multiple flags from multiple people, and even then it just disappears into a hidden moderation queue until Willis deals with it.

      (There isn’t a FAQ entry about this, but there should be…)

  18. lily

    I mean, they did technically cancel Jesus

    1. James

      Yeah, but going by the Bible that was also part of Jesus’ big capital-P Plan?

      …so it only counts when they need it to, obviously.

    2. V.gay.person

      ….. God cancelled eve and Adam…. Making this peak comedy

  19. Andy

    I didn’t know what to expect and I’m still disappointed by this effort. Like I thought Mary would be talking about things various denominations actually consider sins, not the stuff that right wing politicians consider bad.

    1. Archieve

      Helps if you picture all of the effort going into Mary coming up with a series of scenes revolving around Peter’s privates while still acting rightoues. I suspect she didn’t want to play the sin of lust angle because it hits too close to home for her.

    2. newlland(Henryvolt)

      Unfortunately to many people can’t separate right wing ideology from their religious identity. Even if the two at times either have nothing to do with each other or when one is opposed to the other.

    3. Jamie

      Keep in mind that Mary is the kind of person who has posters of Paul Ryan in her dorm room. She’s not just a fundie. She is the standard bearer for the up-and-coming generation of the Moral Majority.

    4. C.T. Phipps

      I mean, Mary is absolutely a GOP Christian. Which is to say that it’s only a sin when Democrats and minorities do it.

      Or anything at all, really.

  20. BBCC

    Look Mary, not everyone wants to see your boyfriend’s dick.

  21. Dana

    I love Becky’s expression in the last panel. She didn’t arrive at the idea that she couldn’t whip out her nonexistent dick via logic. She actually pictured having one and didn’t like it.

    1. 3oranges

      It’s a great expression. I read it differently – there’s something about Mary and it is not right.

      1. C.T. Phipps

        Becky expected to get lectured and condemned to hell but this is just flat out bizarre.

        We’re in full Majorie Taylor Green nuttery from her perspective.

      2. Needfuldoer

        Becky thought she knew what she was getting into (from past experience), but Mary is far beyond that.

  22. Rognik

    Poor Peter. Always being forced to show his peter…

    1. Jamie

      At least he doesn’t have to pick a peck of pickled peppers.

      Yet.

      1. Proxiehunter

        When Ruth and Billy come through Ruth might pickle his pecker. After ripping it off.

  23. Laura

    Sadly, the same ones who holler about their “free speech” are the same ones who get up in arms when someone wishes to identify their pronouns, or introduce themselves with a visual descriptor for folks with vision disabilities, or (heaven forfend!) say the word “abortion” or “gay” in a public place.

    1. Needfuldoer

      To them, “freedom” means “everyone lives and does as I say”.

      https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/fixd

  24. Dr. Gonzo

    Now this is where really cannot suspend my disbelief; Mary the hardcore fundamentalist Christian defending indecent exposure.

    1. The Wellerman

      My hypothesis is that this whole “hell house” is just some elaborate scheme for Mary to justify premarital sex with Peter in the eyes of her personal Jesus.

      Significant chance of slipshine detected!!!!

      1. Dr. Gonzo

        Well my hypothesis is that Mary’s character consistency (if there ever was any) was once again sacrificed for the sake of a topical gag.

        1. Harry Johnston

          Topical? Am I missing an allusion here?

    2. Buli-buli

      White Christian Nationalists are the final, arguablly most evil, form of Predestination.
      If G-d has already decided who is going to Heaven and Hell, and individuals cannot change their fate, then character is no longer a reliable measure of who has favor with Heaven. Maybe there are other measures? Like professed religion? ORrwealth and class (prosperity gospel)? Or race?

      Peter, being Mary’s boyfriend, is obviously going to Heaven. Thus his sins are nothing more than character-building stubbling blocks. And if you punish him for his sins then you are just spitefully interfering with G-d’s plan.

    3. Miri

      Try mentally framing it as “Mary, the hardcore fundie, defending her white, Christian boyfriend she has deemed morally pure as incapable of sinning” And it makes a bit more sense?

      1. Miri

        In the same way that Toedad was apparently threatening Becky and Joyce with a gun on campus because he loves his child so much and wants to keep her safe, in Carol’s eyes at least – Peter was clearly using comedy and shock tactics/the Power of his Perfect Peen to Save Sinners’ Souls?

        I like alliteration!

        1. Miri

          Alternatively, think of the victim-blamey “tempted man” crud a lot of fundie communities apparently peddle (“no matter what the circumstances, it was the woman/girl’s fault for being alluring” – one thing I saw once had this young woman talk about how her brother shouted at her and her friend because they were lying down chatting when he came into the room and apparently a male seeing a female lying down immediately becomes flooded with thoughts of lying on top of them. And after that they were no longer allowed to lie down under any circumstances in mixed company coz if they did and were assaulted it would be their faults for sending out provocative signals in the eyes of their families and community): “Peter can’t be blamed for getting his peter out if women are going to reveal their ankles/knees/elbows/throats/decolletage/any cleavage around him!! Why is he being blamed for their licentious behaviour?!”

    4. Jungle Dwayne

      Why is this surprising to you? Hardcore fundamentalists start by dividing people into “good” and “bad” (obviously Peter is good). Nothing a good person does is wrong, there are always ways to explain it. This of course explains the Trump phenomenon.

      1. Needfuldoer

        “People I like can do no wrong, people I dislike can do no right.”

        Truthiness at its finest.

    5. C.T. Phipps

      >Now this is where really cannot suspend my disbelief; Mary the hardcore fundamentalist Christian defending indecent exposure.

      To many Right Wingers, anything that offends the Left must be good.

      Louis CK exposing himself to random women?

      Well, he’s just misunderstood because women complaining about sexual harrassment.

      1. Amelie Wikström

        To paraphrase a famous tweet, when you break conservatism down to its essentials it turns out it’s only ever creating a in-group who the law protects but doesn’t bind, and and out-group who the law binds but doesn’t protect. It’s both its entire goal and method. It’s a movement that never got over the invention of rule of law and wants to get back to having nobility lording over peasants.

        Yes, the Marys and Peters of society literally think if you’re one of them you can do no wrong, and if you’re not you can do nothing right. It’s saved me a lot of mental struggle once I realized you can’t call them out on this morality based entirely on hypocrisy because they don’t actually believe it’s wrong, they think we “should” have two different sets of standards for people. Cause it worked out so well in France that time. . .

  25. Nono

    I’m not sure what lesson Mary is trying to sell here. That if you expose your penis you get cancelled? That cancel culture is bad because it ruins careers of people if they decide to dangle their dangles (which Mary wants to be able to do)?

    1. Buli-buli

      Ok first off sorry. I accidentally ht “flag” instead of “reply”.

      Secondly, and I think I have an answer, but will need to get twisty in my reasoning.

      I read recently the reason conservatives are so quick to equate LGBTQ+ and paedophilia while being so slow to raise the age of marriage is because they have a b8nary view of sexual immorality.
      There’s heyerosexual marrisge and everything else. Gay sex, premarital sex, and pedophilic rape are all equivalent.

      Mary has already declared her boyfriend’s junk to be art. Thus, canceling her boyfriend is like cancelling the Michaelangelo’s David. Maybe worse since Peter’s genitals delivered moral lessons.

      1. newlland(Henryvolt)

        …I actually had a couple conversations back in the day with a relative who equated homosexuality with Incest and pedophilia, we would have deep heated conversations from time to time with me trying to point out every reasons those things are not the same. Once it ended with them saying “Sexual sin is sexaul sin, it’s all the same in the grand scheme of things” which I found ridiculous because that like saying a crimes a crime but not every crime isn’t the same in value, Jay walking and littering ain’t on the same level as murder or rape.

        Alot of years have gone by and things have changed with them, they don’t seem like the same perso so I don’t know if they hold the same views but I still worry about them at times.

      2. C.T. Phipps

        I just take it as flat out hypocrisy.

        The GOP talks about groomers, pedophilia, and Democratic sex cults.

        However, the GOP are trying to protect child bride laws (or spread them) while also having people like Matt Gaetz and Trump in their ranks. Everything is projection.

        1. JBento

          Every accusation from the GOP is a confession.

    2. lily

      well, becky did have a hold of a politicians twitter for a while lol so she prolly has experience with handling stuff like that better than other ppl her age

  26. Buli-buli

    Alright. I didn’t think it was worth it before, but two sins in I am calling it.
    Roz definitely needs to visit Mary’s Hell House.

    1. Reltzik

      WE might need Roz to visit Mary’s Hell House, but I’m guessing Roz has no need to do so whatsoever.

      1. James

        If Mary has *any* sense of awareness or self-preservation, Roz is preemptively banned from the Hell House.

        …so yes, we absolutely do need to see Roz visiting the Hell House.

    2. Nono

      They’re roommates, so I’m guessing Roz has already heard too much while Mary was planning the Hell House.

  27. brionl

    This is going to end up with Peter stuffed and mounted in Mary’s closet, isn’t it?

    1. Reltzik

      For certain values of “stuffed” and “mounted”, yes. Yes it will.

      1. jy3

        Peter’s not going to be stuffed, since Mary probably isn’t into pegging.

    2. Proxiehunter

      I’m pretty sure Mary is going to be stuffed after he mounts her.

  28. Dara

    Wow this is weaksauce even for Mary. Wow.

  29. Rikunda

    She is definitely republican. Cancel culture. *rolls eyes* It is results of their own actions! It is like actions are not meant to have after effects.

    1. Thomas

      No, you see, if you do a bad thing you go to Hell, but if you lose your job over doing a bad thing, it’s cancel culture and that’s against God’s will.

      1. C.T. Phipps

        Except if you’re an Evangelical saved by faith alone.

        Then you can kill a baby and go to Heaven because you’re saved.

        Which is actual logic I’ve heard.

        1. CJ

          Must be a widespread concept, there seems to be a version of buddhism that basically does the same. Acting like an asshole without having to face consequences.

        2. JBento

          It’s not like the Parable of the Good Samaritan exists SPECIFICALLY to say “deeds or GTFO” or anything.

  30. NinjaNick

    Mary needs a clown nose.

    1. The Wellerman

      Fuck no. If anything, a clown needs to chase her just to prove a point. Or a dinosaur. Or both.

      1. deliverything

        How about this thing?
        https://www.deviantart.com/hodarinundu/art/Siats-Full-Charge-519436253

  31. TlalocW

    K, have to tell my Hell House Story. Lived in Tulsa. Guts Church (real megachurch) put on a Hell House. I went one year. Normal Hell House stuff – the gays in Hell room, the woman regretting her abortion room, drunk driving, etc. Last room is the Rave in Hell Room with a recorded voice telling us to give ourselves to Jesus. A hallway that comes into the room lights up – guy in a tan suit at the end. Obama? No, he’s white. Hallway darkens, lights up again. Guy in a suit is closer. Darkens, lights up. Guy is almost at the entrance, and he literally transforms into Satan before our eyes, and I yell loud enough to be heard over the music, the recorded sermon, people dancing, “OH, MY GOD! YOU’RE DOING THE GIRL-TO-GORILLA TRICK USING PEPPER’S GHOST! THAT IS FANTASTIC!” Everyone – the group I was in (didn’t know any of them) and the performers (demons dancing in Hell) stops what they’re doing to turn to look at me – so I start excitedly explaining Pepper’s Ghost at which point some church officials came over and asked me to leave.

    So I got kicked out of a Hell House for being a magic geek.

    1. TlalocW

      Also, I waited in the entrance hall of the building for my group because once you stepped outside you were underneath a giant tent, and there were church members waiting to witness to you. So my group comes out, and we exit, and one young teen girl is having a hard time holding stuff in and starts crying, and six people immediately surround her, and I see a couple of them shoot each other a, “We got one,” look. A young couple came up to me, and I said, “Before you start, can you look me in the eyes and tell me whatever version of Jesus you believe in would approve of what’s going on in there?” He couldn’t. “Have a good night, sir.” “You too.”

      Surprisingly good hot dogs at their outdoor concession stand.

      1. The Wellerman

        Just read this, and I must say, that’s all just fucking horrible. ?

        I myself wouldn’t give money to this church even for a hotdog. And this is from someone who really likes hotdogs. ?

        1. TlalocW

          I get where you’re coming from, but I had never seen a Hell House in person though I had long heard of them so wanted to experience it for myself. The church is generally a lot of horrible people, which is why they do it in the first place. If it makes you feel any better, whenever I was hired by a mega-church to entertain, they would often ask if I had special church rates, and I would say yes and give them a rate that was $25/hr more than my normal rates, and I would donate it to a liberal charity.

        2. The Wellerman

          Re: that last part, yeah that’s the spirit. Or rather, lack of mega-church holy spirit, which is even better! ?

          Just tell me one more thing. How did their hotdogs compare with the one’s from your favorite place for them?

        3. TlalocW

          They just held a more flavorable char than ones I normally bought. For hot dog places, there is a Tulsa version of a hot dog, made by a local franchise called Coney I-Lander that puts cinnamon in their chili. They just used Nathan’s though so no big deal. In the Kansas City area there was a place started by a guy from New York which had a menu full of different city hot dogs – some of them real (like the Chicago Dog which he called the Buttercup), and some he made up – like the Boston version had beans on it. I eventually went through the whole menu including the Goofy Dog, which is a plain hot dog with peanut butter. It actually works.

        4. The Oracle

          I appreciateand respect the grift. They’d have just used the money on something stupid, anyway.

    2. Joshua Kronengold

      Well, dang, Pepper’s goddamn ghost. You’re right, that’s a great trick and well worth pointing out!

      1. TlalocW

        I mean they’ve got the money to do shit right, and the production values were off the charts though the messages sucked. I think that was the year I had been laid off from my regular job, but my severance package was pretty good so I waited until the new year to really look for a new job. I actually got a job at one of the magic/costume stores in town to help out the owner during October (sold a record 8 gorilla costumes), and people from GUTS would come in and try to guilt him into giving them discounts on make-up, fog machine juice, lighting, etc. He always said no. I wonder if he helped with the set-up. If he did, he charged them, and they paid a high price for his expertise.

  32. Kitschensyngk

    So the moral of this story is that I should show my penis to people?

    1. The Oracle

      [Bob the Tomato voice] It’s in God’s plan for each and every one of us.

  33. Chaucer59

    Is her entire show based around the Horrors of Peter’s Peter?

    1. Clif

      Signs point to yes.

  34. Reltzik

    “No, seriously. One moment you’ve got a stable, reliable income as a stand-up comedian, and then it’s gone in a flash.”

    1. C.T. Phipps

      Then people complain and you still get an incredibly successful tour because of assholes defending you.

      It is AWFUL.

      1. The Oracle

        It’s so difficult getting slightly frowned at and being able to turn that horrible adversity into a massive profit. I can’t imagine anything worse than a person politely asking me to stop doing sick stab combos like it’s Assassin’s Creed in the local Fazoli’s

      2. James

        You have to get along with a mere FIVE NETFLIX SPECIALS

        1. C.T. Phipps

          When is Louis CK’s suffering going to end!?

          *cries into hundred dollar bills*

    2. Chaucer59

      *Groan*

    3. Joshua Kronengold

      A++ pun, would be punned again.

  35. Reltzik

    Okay, here’s what I don’t get about socially conservative Christianity’s hate-fest for “cancel culture”…

    … isn’t that their jam?

    Trying to get For Better or Worse taken out of newspapers because it acknowledged the existence of gay people? Demanding anyone who might possibly have heard of Critical Race Theory be fired from any teaching position? Scopes monkey trial? How are all these and a million other things not them doing “cancel culture”?

    … this is another thing that magically becomes okay when it’s THEM doing it, isn’t it?

    1. Kitschensyngk

      The reason it’s not “cancel culture” when THEY do it is because it’s THEM doing it.

    2. JBento

      Damn, I hadn’t realised ti before, but now that you’ve put it like that I’m beginning to think that each and every one of these people is intellectually dishonest and a disingenuous shit.

      1. Reltzik

        A lot of them are just tools, completely lacking in self-awareness and spreading (in full sincerity and earnestness) the lies they were tricked into believing.

        Still shitty due to the total irresponsibility, but it’s a different KIND of shitty, so no one silver bullet will actually work.

    3. FlyingFish

      A smaller piece of a larger phenomenon: When the alt-right acts all scared of being “replaced,” the fear is real, and it’s the fear that their “replacements,” once in power, are going to do to them what THEY’VE been doing to others for literal centuries.

      Someone once said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”; they could learn a lot from that guy!

      1. C.T. Phipps

        “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
        -Jean Paul Sartre

        Or as I explained it, “Replacement Theory is why people hate mutants in the X-men because they argue that humans will be displaced by mutants. Except, if you scratch even the surface, you realize these people are afraid of babies and their own children being a bit different. Now replace mutants with brown people and realize what utter cowardly shits these people are.”

        I think Sartre wins but I have Cyclops and Kitty pryde in my example.

        1. Reltzik

          According to Sartre, finding meaning and value in choosing Cyclops and Kitty Pryde over Sartre counts as a win. So you’re good.

        2. NickG

          The alt-right would have it in for Kitty Pride for anti-semitic reasons even if she weren’t a mutant.

        3. C.T. Phipps

          I think that was actually Chris Claremont’s plan. Use mutants to talk about bigotry while getting actual diversity.

      2. Reltzik

        Nonono, they’re doing what Jesus said and focusing on the mote in everyone else’s eye before worrying about the splinter their own. It’s just them being good Christians!

    4. Mark

      Exactly. But you are talking about people for whom “I am righteous” is a postulate, not a proposition to be tested. It is the foundation of all of their reasoning. A most un-Christian position. Too bad they never read Mt 19:17 / Mk 10:18 / Lk 18:19.

      1. Reltzik

        They know those verses, and they’re their favorite weapons for clobbering anyone who claims that non-Christians can be good people.

        And really, what good is a Bible verse if you can’t clobber someone with it?

        1. The Wellerman

          That’s precisely the point of Biblical Literalism tho.

          It’s to have a nearly endless quote-mine that can condemn nearly any behavior or thought or way of living under the grounds that defies the “Will of God” without having to offer any evidence of harm.

  36. Amós Batista

    Totally crazy idea, and someone should already said that: my bet is Ruth will use Peter, who is the most available naked person, to break up with Jennifer. In a way or another.

    1. Alex

      Wait why does the breakup have to involve nudity?

  37. Amelie Wikström

    I never realized it but it’s funny, “cancel culture” is really the same flavor of conservative horsecrap as “original sin”. Well, one is branding the actions of your ancestors as something you should get consequences for and one is branding your own actions as something you should not get consequences for. But both end up being utterly misguided arguments to support existing power structures and not get ideas above your station.

    Anyway I love Becky’s and Mary’s relationship which can non-reductively be described as “yes that thing you said is actually terrible but for the other party”.

  38. thumb

    I do wonder how Peter feels about this. I assume this is his kink. Because if it ain’t the lad needs help.

    1. Eldritchy

      Judging by how pissed off Mary is in the present times this might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  39. Lone Duck

    Thank you to commenters, I forgot that this was in the common room. Displaying nudity under false pretenses in a common area is a form of harassment. I can’t imagine Ruth being cool with it.

  40. FlyingFish

    “It doesn’t have to involve penises!”
    “OH! You mean like how Laura Dern got blacklisted for a year and needed a literal bodyguard after her appearance on Ellen.”
    “NO! That’s COMPLETELY different!”

  41. C.T. Phipps

    He IS Louis CK.

  42. Rabisch

    OK. This is even weirder than the usual weird side of DoA. Mary has lost her mind and I can’t wait for Billie (Ruth, Becky or someone else) to show up and tell her that everything in this Hell House seems to revolve around Peter’s penis and this is a clear sign of her obsession with male’s genitals. That it wouldn’t be a bad thing, if she didn’t deny it behind the Art excuse..

    1. Alex

      Somehow I didn’t notice this until you said it but now I’m laughing to myself as I type.

  43. Deanatay

    Mary’s Scarin’ ‘Em Straight!

    …Back to Joyce’s party, where they can have fun.

    1. Eldritchy

      The only thing straight about it will be their escape route, furniture and walls be damned.

  44. ValdVin

    Panel two is a damn funny way to show the reader that Peter’s the only performer to Mary’s announcer.

    1. MacareuxMoine

      Indeed. The question here is: Couldn’t she find any more volunteers, or did she not even look for any, because they wouldn’t match her standards anyway?

  45. Ari

    Okay, but… a lot of cancel culture IS actually incredibly bad. I’m not talking about famous people who’ve credibly done shitty things losing opportunities that were built on them being likable or at least professional to begin with, but it’s not that uncommon for small time artists to face extremely vicious harassment for things that really should not be a big deal, like “disagreed with some other members of your minority group about whether you prefer more wholesome or more messy portrayals of that minority group” or “made offensive jokes 20 years ago at age 13” or “there is scene gossip about you from someone who would be a known abuser if anyone was paying attention.” Very different groups of people are using the same term to describe an entire spectrum of behavior, but not everything in that spectrum is okay just because a lot of the backlash comes from regressive idiots who are really really mad that anyone is allowed to disagree with their stupid opinions.

    1. Eldritchy

      Sadly it seems to have grown out of the Puritan mentality of shunning the “sinners”.

    2. thejeff

      One of the problems with cancel culture is that it works best on in-groups. It’s notoriously ineffective at cancelling open bigots whose appeal is to other bigots. It is effective at cancelling people whose appeal is to the groups they they supposedly offend – even for fairly minor offenses or entirely false ones in some cases.

    3. Twitcher

      Weep for Lindsay Ellis. Interestingly, Youtuber Xiran Jay Zhao got together a bunch of her Southeast Asian cohorts, who all agreed that not only was Raya The Last Dragon not as good a movie as it could’ve been, but it was actually severely hampered by being a cut-rate Avatar Legends clone with Southeast Asian elements used as mere decoration.

      1. Eldritchy

        Oh I’ve seen that one. It’s crazy that their Youtube career begun because they were REALLY pissed off at the live action Mulan XD

    4. Alex

      Terms like cancel culture seem to describe a wide variety of behaviors.

      1. The Wellerman

        Ah, concept creep. It happened to “sin”, it’s happening to cancel culture, and it’s not gonna go away any time soon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        1. Alex

          Maybe, but I’m not sure there was ever one agreed-upon definition.

  46. wakeangel2001

    Cancel culture is usually about what people say, when you’re whippin’ your dick out in public it isn’t so much getting cancelled as it is becoming a sex offender

    1. thejeff

      People do get “cancelled” for being sex offenders – generally when for whatever reason it can’t be taken to court. It usually has little effect other than that they go on a tour ranting about cancel culture.

  47. Stephen Nedland

    “This person committed a crime, became a registered sex offender, and got canceled!” That’s not going to have the impact that you think it will, Mary.

  48. motorfirebox

    Mary is definitely loopholing Peter, right? We’re all agreed?

  49. Keulen

    Looks like Mary’s hell house is gonna be hilariously shitty.

    1. Eldritchy

      And very exhausting for her boyfriend.

  50. Brandon

    Peter got off lucky if you ask me, Indecent exposure is at best a 4th degree misdemeanor and at worst a class 2 felony.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      He’d become an internet folk hero like a certain acquitted murderer.

  51. Sillyhead

    I gotta admit. I absolutely love that punchline “Seems unlikely.” LOL.

  52. Rectilinear Propagation

    That third panel is so hilarious it really speaks to how miserable Mary is that it hasn’t become 5 different people’s avatar.

Leave a Reply to Brandon Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.