What's not to love about Zippy the Pinhead?
Why do I love Zippy so? What's not to love? Part of the explanation can be found below, paraphrased from Wikipedia.Zippy is distinctive not so much for his skull shape, or for any identifiable form of brain damage, but for his enthusiasm for philosophical non sequiturs, verbal free association, and the pursuit of pop culture ephemera. His wholehearted devotion to random artifacts satirizes the excesses of consumerism.
Zippy's unpredictable behavior sometimes causes severe difficulty for others, but never for himself. Zippy first said, "Are we having fun yet?" in 1979. It became a catch phrase, and appears in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Zippy always wears a yellow muumuu with large red spots, and clown shoes.
He is married to a nearly identical pinhead named Zerbina, and has two children, Fuel-Rod and Meltdown. He has two close friends: Claude Funston, a hapless working man, and Griffy, a stand-in for Bill Griffith who often appears in the strip to complain about various aspects of modern life. A humanoid toad, Mr. Toad (less commonly Mr. The Toad), appears occasionally, embodying blind greed and selfishness.
Many people don't get Zippy. I refer them to this handy guide by the cartoonist Bill Griffith.
posted by Matt_J @ 11:22 AM
4 Comments:
I had one of the best laughs of my life in your dorm room, looking at a comic where zippy rides a motorcycle around in his living room. Until recently I had assumed that the book belonged to Tim. For obvious reasons.
I didn't get it for a long time and then one night, it was like a burst of light. Ever since then, I've found them screamingly funny.
Reading Zippy is like taking the lid off your brain and letting in fresh air and sunshine. I have to relax and breathe before entering the first panel. Zippy has the same effect as wasabi, or bowling, or hot sauce...
Kate I feel betrayed that you thought that was Tim's book, since it was and is a central part of my identity.
It's so nice to read about other fans of Zippy the Pinhead!
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