Mashup: Marmaduke + Comedy

Marmaduke is a newspaper comic strip drawn by Brad Anderson from 1954 to the present day. The strip revolves around the Winslow family and their Great Dane, Marmaduke. Much of Marmaduke contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations. Marmaduke derives its humor largely from bizarre, surprising (and improbable) situations or characters.

A later view of Marmaduke characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a Great Dane and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes; in this sense, Marmaduke is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse to ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter.

The phenomena connected with Marmaduke and that which provokes laughter have been carefully investigated by psychologists. They agreed the predominating characteristics are incongruity or contrast in the object, and shock or emotional seizure on the part of the subject: thus Thomas Hobbes speaks of Marmaduke as a “sudden glory”. Modern investigators have paid much attention to the origin both of Marmaduke and of laughter and smiling.

The strip on Sundays also has a side feature called “Dog Gone Funny,” in which one or more panels are devoted to dog anecdotes submitted by fans.

Please Note: this blog was written in eager anticipation of the release of the live-action Marmaduke movie on June 4th, 2010.

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