Presto!

December 1, 2016

This comic strip is an homage to a popular animated cartoon moose from the early nineteen-sixties who made appearances on television for years afterward through the magic of syndicated television (the way I was introduced to it). Those who know will get the reference. Those who don’t get it, ask your parents. If your parents don’t get it, ask your grandparents. If both your parents and grandparents don’t get the reference, then you should probably go watch some reruns of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

If you are still at a loss, it’s like this: The show often featured little cartoon vignettes between stories. In one such recurring vignette Bullwinkle J. Moose would attempt to perform the classic magic trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat for his best friend Rocket J. Squirrel (a.k.a. Rocky). With each attempt, instead of a rabbit, he would pull out some ferocious animal (lion, bear, rhino, tiger), stuff the animal back in and make a short quip about his failed attempt to Rocky. After at least one of the attempts he quips “I guess I don’t know my own strength”.

With the proper context in mind, my thought process behind this one was the potential humor in Norton attempting the same classic trick for Wilfrid, and with using the same lead up pull out something resembling the famed cartoon moose, with the moose delivering one his quips to Norton.