Great Book Recommendation

Another friend of mine has published the absolutely quintessential book about Looney Toons. It's called (look at picture above and read title) and it's a big, hardback book with an unbelievable amount of pull-out stuff inside. It's like every other page is a gift pack of some sort. There are envelopes with stickers or posters or old scripts inside. There are tear-out valentines cards, a catalog of ACME products, a pop-up graphic dealy bobber, postcards, a wearable mask, all kinds of stuff. No kidding, look at these action shots...

Here is an old comic book reproduction within the book. You can leave it there or rip it out and run around the house with it:













Here are some script pages reproductions inside an envelope that's stuck in the book:


















The whole book is very much an insider's look at the process and legend of all those decades of great cartoons with never-before-published production sketches and all kinds of stuff that makes the nerd in you get all twitchy. If you or someone on your gift list is a cartoon fan, he/she/you/they/it will love this dang thing.

I'm not kidding. If I was, I would be honest about it.

Here's a place to buy it. (I get no kickback, I just like the book and the author)


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Book Suggestion

Here's another bit of business I've been meaning to get to: A good buddy of mine has released his first book of cartoons and I'd like all of you to buy 100 copies and convince a 100 of your friends to do the same. If he doesn't sell enough books, his wife will make him quit cartooning and go back to being a small child working in an illegal shoe factory in the 3rd world.

So click this link and get to it! We've got a little boy to save!

THIS IS ALSO A LINK TO THE BOOK. WHAT A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT THIS WOULD BE!


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VeganMoFo

Here's a link to a month-long blogosphere event called VeganMoFo. Thought some of my herbivore buddies might like it.

http://veganmofo.wordpress.com/

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TALK TOO MUCH

I recently did an interview with The Comics Journal and they have posted the first of three parts here:

http://www.tcj.com/interviews/a-conversation-with-bizarro-cartoonist-dan-piraro-part-one-of-three/

Good lord, I talk a lot. They say that in Part 2 I talk about "why comic strips have gotten so bad." I hope I didn't name names.



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THE BIG TULSA SHOW!

(Click the poster above for more bigness!)

Folks, it's finally happened! My performing career has reached such a fever pitch that I will be headlining at the Tulsa Elks Lodge! Can anything stop me now?

I'll be in Tulsa for two different types of show, on two subsequent nights, this is the second one, as closer inspection of this blog will show. The show the night before will be at Philbrook Art Museum, and different than this one. Click here.

This Elks show is different in these ways:
1. MORE and different stand-up comedy and cartoons. And some slightly more adult humor.
2. A special V.I.P party beforehand, for people with a few extra bucks (to charity) and a misguided desire to meet me in person in a smaller room.
3. MORE songs than on the previous night, with talented backup musicians. NONE have EVER been performed in public.*
4. ALL the money goes to charity. You can spend a few bucks, have a great time, then pretend you went out of your way to do something nice for someone!
5. You will want to attend BOTH shows, compare and contrast.

Come and see me, laugh, meet me, get some signed cartoon books for holiday gifts, take pictures, create a memory that will last for an undetermined amount of time. This year, I'm looking forward to spending the week before Thanksgiving with YOU!

Ticket info here.

*Except one



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THE BIG TULSA TALK!

As you can see from the poster above (click it to see it huge and legibly) I'll be appearing at Philbrook Museum of Art in my hometown of Tulsa soon! I'll be doing a bit of a hybrid sort of presentation with some stand-up comedy, lots of my favorite cartoons on the big screen, a discussion of my fine art, and an overview of my 25-year career as a cartoonist. And, most exciting and terrifying of all, I'll be performing a few of my original songs with talented musicians. Not comedy songs – songs about death and depression and hard drinking and sin. It will be FUN!

The next night I'll be doing a different kind of show, also in Tulsa, see the next post for that info. You'll want to be at BOTH of them! Trust me.

I'll be answering questions and signing books and whatever afterward, so this is your big chance to rub elbows with me and pretend I'm a celebrity. I'll help by dressing funny, like celebrities usually do. We can take a picture together and you can use it on your Christmas card. (No Hanukkah cards, please.*)

For more info, go to the Philbrook web site. http://www.philbrook.org/

*Kidding, of course. You can put me on whatever card you want.**

**Just a small sampling of some of the sort of politically incorrect humor I am likely to employ!

Halloween, Idiots, Teeth

Bizarro is brought to you today by Teeth.

I hope everyone had a dandy Halloween weekend. CHNW and I stayed home and watched scary movies. If you ever want to see a movie that will absolutely make your blood run cold and afraid to be alone after dark for the rest of your life, find one other than 1959's House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price. If, on the other hand, you want to get stoned and laugh your buttocks off, this might be just the right choice.

I love old movies (and new movies, too, I'm not some weird gay guy still living with his mother, after all) and it always amazes me what passed for scary in olden times. Part of my problem is probably that I don't believe in anything supernatural – ghosts, demons, magic, spirits, etc. – so I never fall for those kinds of stories. The only movies I find "scary" are films about murderers or whatever. Things that could actually happen to me. I can't bear slasher or torture movies at all.

When I was a teenager, however, it was different. During my brief few years as a fundamentalist "teen for Jesus" type, I firmly believed in the devil and demons, so movies like The Exorcist scared the crap out of me. Almost as much as the prospect of President Sarah Palin does now, for instance. Oh yeah, it's election day, I have to go vote. You should go vote, too, unless you're superstitious and think that gays, Mexicans and socialists are trying to take over America. Then maybe you should skip it.

Let the angry comments begin!

By the way, the "idiot" joke above was a collaboration between me and my good friend, Wayno. Here's his post on how it morphed as we discussed it.