Roz Chast

Dave Kellett posits that Roz Chast would've handeled yesterday's strip better. I respectfully disagree. At first glance, Roz's website appears to contain twelve comics. (Thirteen if you count the one I had to enlarge to read). Of those, I found two that were mildly amusing. For comparison, I also clicked the "Random Comic" button on the Sheldon site 12 times. I got these results:

1. Funny [sheldoncomics.com]
2. "Squee!" [sheldoncomics.com]
3. Guest strip [sheldoncomics.com]
4. Quietly laughed [sheldoncomics.com]
5. Cackled loudly [sheldoncomics.com]
6. Cackled even more loudly [sheldoncomics.com]
7. Still laughing [sheldoncomics.com]
8. Had to wipe spittle off the monitor [sheldoncomics.com]
9. Back to the cackling [sheldoncomics.com]
10. This one [sheldoncomics.com] which was funnier a couple days ago the first time I saw it, but is still quite amusing.
11. Chuckle [sheldoncomics.com]
12. More laughing aloud
[sheldoncomics.com]

I'm only one data point, of course, but if more people conduct a similar experiment I hypothesize that we'll find that most Sheldon comics are funny, whereas most New Yorker comics are confusing.

Similarly, the Roz Chast-esque do-over of yesterday's amusing Sheldon strip is thoroughly baffling. Are the names references to something?

I have to agree with theyranos, in the Dave Kellet -vs- Roz Chast competition, there really is no contest, Dave wins hands down.

In my own little data set, I laughed to varying degrees for 11/12 comics - the 12th was from the Drive prologue and not really intended to be funny at that point in the series. (Also, I got 3 Flaco comics. Jackpot!) The only Rox Chast comic I found amusing was the one on her bio page.

Personally, I thought Arthur's insistence of a do-over far more amusing than the Chast-ification of the comic itself.

Side note, theyranos's 12th comic was near the end of the coffee-cup lid series. Those are the ones that got me into Sheldon! :)

I think Roz Chast appeals to women- it seemed like female humor, after all. I didn't think she was laugh-out-loud funny, but I did smile. I particularly liked the DKNJ strip.
But, yeah. Dave wins. Sorry Dave, no self-loathing allowed here! You rock very fully!

My random hit results were:
Gym Watcher's Field Guide (Gramp)
Nano hair technology of the future
The Sleeper has awakened!
The four stages of art and how it comes full circle
Tron moves in next door.

I didn't get the do over names at all. It wasn't really funny or even enough to make me smile. It seemed like random obscure names. It could have been funny if the names had some context or association to charactristics Like Tallulah means "leaping water" or Brenna means "little drops of water."

O Great Dave Kellett -- master of the Sheldon and Drive universes, author of a much better comic than mine, exclusive provider of "Squee!", target of flattering but totally sincere hyperbole -- I beg of you, please explain the names! It's been driving me nuts ever since this was posted.

...which is why the do-over strip fell flattet than a pancake for a large chunk of your readers...

you gotta realise that the internet is not just for US-ians to play with.

Dave, when all is said and done, did you hear from Roz? And did she get the joke/tribute?

I feel for you, man... tough room!

But to answer your question, I didn't hear from her, no. She's not super online, for the most part.

I don't understand this strip at all except that I think it's not supposed to mean anything, but it made me chuckle more than the first version. I think it's because each "puchline" was one word instead of a description, so the timing was different.

But the next strip is about The Three Stooges! We can all relate to that one. :) And us readers who were boggled can have a happy ending. Nothing the Curly noise can't fix!

This strip I think would make more sense to everyone if you read it in conjunction with the descriptions from the original strip.

Bill - sneaks up on you and slaps you on the butt (Bill Clinton)

Roger - gets all up in your business. Refers to an article of the same title by Roger Ebert.

Bernadette - Not sure about this one. Forming a band together suggests someone in music. An artist by the name of Bernadette Seacrest has lyrics with wind and rain in them, but this might be a stretch. Could also be a reference to Bernadette Peters, but I don't see how.

Emilio - again not sure. Putting the stuff through a search engine brings up Emilio Pucci, a fashion designer who apparently has a penchant for showcasing the crotch. Bounce Pass could also reference someone in sports, soccer or basketball.

Thank you PinkyB from the bottom of my heart. Your explanations are satisfying enough that I can finally stop obsessing over this and reading every wikipedia entry with the name "Bernadette" in it, then go back to reading the sheldon archive.