Drunken Lemurs Strike Back

In this week’s Dilbert, Wally is fired for posting a comic that calls managers drunken lemurs. There’s some background to that story, in case you missed it yesterday on Good Morning America.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WaterCooler/story?id=4323900

And here’s the link to the Dilbert series that continues for a few more days.

http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20080220.html

One of my ongoing problems in the strip is trying to restore things back to their normal Dilbert universe after something dramatic happens, such as a death or firing or company takeover. Today you will learn, if you don’t already know, a literary phrase that describes how lazy authors resolve this sort of thing.

The phrase is “deus ex machina.” It refers to a bad writer’s trick of having some improbable character arrive at the end of a story and conveniently solve all the problems. It’s considered a cop-out. I use it frequently because comics need quick solutions, and I have plenty of improbable characters to choose from. Look for the deus ex machine to help Wally get his job back in the next few days.

And next time you want to impress someone with your literary knowledge, drop a deus ex machine on them. Act surprised that anyone doesn’t know what it means. More on that phrase…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina

Since I know you will ask, in the ABC video I am drawing on a Wacom Cintiq 21UX monitor, which is how I create the strip. Here’s a link that shows it:

http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/index.cfm?CMP=KNC-google&HBX_PK=cintiq+21ux&HBX_OU=50&gclid=COGlzZWN2JECFQM7gwodtkMoZg

Comments

[andorand]

the link to the series is dead; should read: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-02-20/ after the redesign

[BTTFVGO]

I just watched the Garfield movie, I haven't seen it in a while but started about the time Garfield was in the castle kitchen with the other animals making lasagna and I got to see it - a drunken lemur - had too much cooking sherry! Excellent!

[Annie]

You should get one of these:

http://www.threadless.com/product/984/Deus_Ex_Machina

[Daniel Ted Feliciano]

Haha...that is a complete shame.

[Patti]

Patti says:
Scott! I am/was dreaming!
Dilbert, Wally and I just got back from the zoo where we were studying lemurs..alongside our pointy haired boss.
. We threw them some tasty liquor-filled chocolates and they seemed to enjoy those very much. As we studied them, we realized that when drunk, they were more intelligent than we had first thought. Tthe fact that we made a lunch out of those same chocolates, had nothing to do with our findings. In fact, we all believe that we made quite wonderful decisions at the office after watching those drunken li’l creatures. At any rate, Dilbert and the rest of us have decided that drunken lemurs can truly make ..... great decisions.. (I think inspired... pointy haired boss... agreed and will visit lemurs, often)

Now! I believe, I am awake (and "Dilbert-free" for a moment)
And I think of the many good decisions "humans" have made over a glass (or glasses) of wine or liquor.
In fact, isn't that why the casinos offer gamblers those free drinks?
Is it not the reason why they seek to keep us drunk as we gamble?
Don't we actually get much smarter at decision-making.. as we drink?
Just watch the many lunches flowing with drinks (and CEO's rantings) at your local restaurants during lunch and dinner.
Decisions, decisions, decisions! Brainpower is awesome!

SO? Why does management feel they were being mocked?
Maybe, it was not the reference to "drunken" that offended them. Perhaps it was the word "lemur?"
I guess they found that particular Scott Adams “lemur” comparison to be highly offensive.

... Hmmmmmmm .... TOO BAD.

"Oh bartender? Free drinks for all the decision-making lemurs in this place. Okay?"
... (now, excuse me while I get myself ...out of the way .. of this stampede)

Yep, Brainpower is .......firing (oops..) away!!

[Mr. Wampus]

Tarditi,
You got your wish! Bob the Dinosaur is the Deus ex Machina! Good call. Do you also have the ability to see through walls or predict lottery numbers?

[Shalene]

You totally threw in an advertisement and I clicked on it.. sneaky! Luv the series!!!

[pand0ra]

Great job on the series!

[Melony]

Slapped with a Suit??... in spite of myself i had too laugh... utterly ridiculous

[dsg]

Hi Scott,

This isn't the first time Wally has been let go. All the major characters have been canned or demoted in the past. You've always done a pretty good job of getting them back. Can deus ex machina really exist in a strip with a talking dog a cat running HR, and numerous other creative plot devices? Anything should be expected here. In your case deus ex machina is a Latin phrase meaning "let's move on to a new plot line, before this get stale." Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the post,
dsg

[Mike Brown]

The "Grimbledown Down" strips by Bill Tidy were a great source of workplace humour - one of the few I remember before Dilbert. I sneaked a few of these onto office notice boards. G D was a secret government research establishment. Amongst the gems - a dolphin being trained to place bombs had called a senior researcher a "murdering b*stard", Treem the harassed PHB, asks why the dolphin hasn't been told to apologise and is advised that the senior man requires a written apology.... There was also the contraception research group's fury at being placed second in the Christmas tableaux competition, Treem points out the Judge's comments "Could have done with a child in the crib" - and many many more. Not even I will read this comment because it is to an old post - ah well

[RustyRose]

Absolutely LOVE this whole Drunken Lemur business. Sounds like something people in Politics (here in South Africa)would get up to. Wait.. they already do that!

[Kevin Kunreuther]

Slap suit?
Damn that was really funny - took me unawares - I was eating at time - thank goodness there was someone next to me who knew how to perform the Heimlich!

[Andrew Denny]

More colloquially, I call it "with one bound, he was free".

[kursatsenturk]

don't know what the other drunken lemurs' problem is, but for me the link to your monitor works

http://www.blogdevri.com

[iManon]

You might want to have a look at a UK design at http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/B/berkshire_cruciform.html

It was featured on a program called grand designs. The house is built in a cross design with the kitchen in the middle on the ground floor. Lets be practical here, the kitchen is the UK we have our clothes washing facilities in the kitchen. This design has nothing above the kitchen, so clothes can be thrown down from the floor above. Everybody is happy. Check it out it is a sensible design spoilt by my creativity.

[Chris]

I just looked at Saturday's comic and of course Dogbert is perfect to be the "God in the Machine"(Deus en Machina). Scott the arrogance of your inner demon amazes me.

[KiwiAtaahua]

Funnily enough, last week there was a letter of complaint in the local newspaper about Garfield's violence towards spiders. You just can't please 'em all.

[john]

I love how Patti acts really smug about her knowledge of "deus ex machina" when she actually misspelled it in her post.

[Ben]

I absolutely love Dogbert's ultimate pickup line today.

[Abu]

The phrase “deus ex machina.” Saw it used here as well http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24wwln-lede-t.html?ref=magazine

[Minister of Silly People in Green]

Can't wait to try the unltimate pick up line. Did it work on your wife?

[SC]

Why a lemur?

Why not a drunken ocelot? Are lemurs inherently funny? Probably. But is it the animal, or the name? Or both? Inquiring minds want to know...

[mijj]

Not only will Deus Ex Machina be acceptable in Dilbert, I think it should be a character. Possibly a janitor of some sort. ... erm ... D. S. X Machina. Dave, to his mates.

... anyhoooooo ....

[Navid]

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want more? visit my blog and don't forget to put your comment and inform me about your idea.
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[John C.]

Nice “deus ex machina” today.

Wasn't this an old story from months back though? Either that, or I have the ability to predict future lame news events.

[KN]

I actually don't normally read comics, but I think I will start reading *yours* because of your blog. Thanks for the interesting tidbits!

[Leora]

I got all excited by the title, thinking there would be video of a drunken lemur fight, preferably in Star Wars costumes.

Never give a drunken lemur a light sabre...

[L. Silva]

You could always pull a "Bob Newhart" and have it all have been a dream.

[Chris]

If you publish an E-Book of your comics, please do not have that ABC reporter do the voiceovers. Thank you.

That is all.

[Sean Arenas]

I see Dogbert is your Deus ex machina. Is your Sunday strip, like usual, going to be separate from the weekly storyline? Or is it a 6-8 frame punchline on the whole drunken lemur joke?

By the way, have you noticed how tough it is to type deus ex machina into Word? It spellchecks "deus" into "dues" and "machina" into "machine" ...
What I don't get is why, after it spellchecks my "deus" into "dues," and then I manually correct it back to "deus," does it still want to change "machina" into "machine" ?? Wouldn't Microsoft Word have figured out by now that, if I had meant "deus," that I would also mean "machina?"

[Tim C]

What sort of gambling den would name itself after a
bent fish? Is it some sort of 'Godfather' reference?

[Robin]

Wikipedia (the article doesn't have any sources, unfortunately) calls the particular use of deus ex machina to keep continuity in an ongoing series (Kirk's new girlfriend dying, and so on) the "Reset button technique".

I think my favourite use of it was the start of the second series of a sitcom ("Sean's Show", I think) in which all the supporting characters had been killed off at the end of the first. The actors came in and introduced themselves as "I'm Barry's twin brother, Barry" and so on.

[Miguel]

Regarding the Deus Ex Machina, Stephen King once remarked that "Although one is now not supposed to ever use a deus ex. machina in his or her fiction because these gods from the machine are not believable, I notice that they arrive all the time in real life." (Book notes from Skeleton Crew)

I believe you also have your share of stories like his...

[Ron Hardin]

The TV news is reading to kindergarteners, I think. Maybe women.

I threw out the TV in disgust in 1971, and it's gotten worse.

[drew]

Robert McKee does a seminar called "Story" that I highly recommend to anybody that is even remotely interested in writing. I first learned of the phrase from his seminar.

A funny example of deus ex machina is in the movie Dodgeball.

[Kevin Kunreuther]

I prefer my deus ex machina scenario of Asok re-appearing and competing with his clone. (Eventually the candy clone Asok is eaten by Catbert and excreted as fecal clone Asok and adopted as a sidekick by Mordac). But if I started writing and publishing a "fork" of the Dilbert strip, that would probably draw the ire of the dark forces of unspeakable anguish, I mean the attention of United Media and Dilbert.com legal representatives.
George Lucas doesn't mind "forks" or fan-fiction created around characters he created, as long as such created work is not sold for money, goods or services - it must be distributed freely. Would you object to freely distributed fan fiction based on Dilbert characters and universe or would you object on grounds of protecting your intellectual property from being diluted from your personal vision of the characters?

[Colin]

I find comics are always so much better when described in text or read out loud by a reporter, don't you?

[marcela]

Thanks to your widget I can now enjoy Dilbert daily AND understand this post. By the way, as an architecture student, I've been enjoying your "ideal house design" posts, nonetheless some of my teachers might object to many things in your proposal, but that just goes to show how every house should be built according to the needs of the person who will live in it. Anyway, it's fun to watch mere mortals trying to do your job ;)

[WCE]

Continuing (interrupted), the CIA took the message to heart, and much of the CIA's approach to espionage (especially spy satellites and listening devices) has its roots in the 007 movies.

Few of the CIA agents actually bothered reading the books, and fewer still are familiar with John LeCarre's vastly-superior works. "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", and "Smiley's People" are three of the best spy books ever written, IMO. The lead characters are anything but dashing and glamorous, George Smiley is approaching retirement, fat, wears glasses, and his wife is constantly sleeping around on him. Yet he understands how people think, and notices details that others overlook. He only carried a gun in one chapter in one book, and said the character felt ridiculous doing so.

If you have the luck to find any of these in DVD, and are interested in espionage in the slightest, I recommend them without reservation. Alec Guinness' portrayal of George Smiley is, to me, his crowning achievement in film, even better than ObiWan Kenobi.

[WCE]

I would go so far as saying that Ian Fleming, the creator of the 007 stories, went one step further than the "deus ex machina", actually incorporating it as a regular feature in the books and movies. Bond's spy gadgets (as mentioned in the Wikipedia link) provided him by "Q" in the second chapter of the books, and in the briefing scenes in the movies, are many fans' favorite parts of the movie.

Fleming was, himself, an inventor before he was a writer, inventing spy gadgets for British Intelligence during WWII, so I don't hold it against him that he invented a cheap-out format for his books, where he'd just write the second chapter last, incorporating all the spy gadgets needed to get Bond out of all the corners he'd written him into. Fleming was also interested in illustrating to the general public how he felt gadgets could increase the capabilities of the Free World's spy agencies.

The CIA took the Bond movies more seriously than British Intelligence took Fleming, whom they took to be something of a crackpot.

[Mokkery]

OK, it’s Friday night and I’ve had a few drinks, but tell me this isn’t a brilliant idea for an advertisement...

A profile of Scott as he draws a Dilbert cartoon on his Wacom Cintiq 21UX monitor.

The caption reads: dilbert ex machina

(I should add that “dilbert ex machine” translates to “Dilbert out of a machine.”)

[Mokkery]

OK, it’s Friday night and I’ve had a few drinks, but tell me this isn’t a brilliant idea for an advertisement...

A profile of Scott as he draws a Dilbert cartoon on his Wacom Cintiq 21UX monitor.

The caption reads: dilbert ex machina

[Ally Eden]

well,well now. I tried to answer your house plan yesterday and it said my email addy was invalid? so I went to my account for that addy and there it was valid as ever. must be this vista windows with its gliches?
I do art to on a wacom tablet and have a art site but will keep it secret for now. I do freelance. Once a friend wanted me to do her art for martial arts in comic form in a book she planned to promote on Karate, but I was turned down when I did a few layout art pics. You have to be born into this form of art or have a apptitude for its creativity, I wish I could draw comics with such flair and ease, nevertheless I do clipart as some artist said about my computer art, he said he hates music accompanying the art when I told him I have a web page but no music. Art is sooooo Cool!

Ally

[Angie]

This is so applicable. I gave your first comic that started this all (the one on the abc.com website) to a coworker of mine - he has it posted in his cubicle - some thought was given to posting it on the office-wide bulletin board, but that was considered not a good thing especially as the Morale Team is trying to improve morale in the office, not further squash it.

[RavenBlack]

But if you try to impress by 'name-dropping' deus ex machinae in literate company then you just look like a pretentious fool who thinks they are cleverer than they are.

Or if you mention it to anyone who's watched the recent crop of Doctor Who. They will inevitably have learned the meaning of deus ex machina after discussing the show with friends.

[Chimmie]

When I first heard about the guy in Iowa, I looked up at my own cube wall and there was that very comic, posted the day it was published. Since I haven't gotten fired over it yet, I went ahead and have been posting each one from this week below it. It's even funnier since we have a stuffed monkey hanging from our ceiling fan in the office and frequently comment that trained monkeys could do a better job...

[jimbot]

hi scott,

oh man, i was looking through your archives
and wow!

thank you thank you thank you!

i was laffing soooooo haaaaarrrrrd!

"im already chasing this ambulance"

"i recommend the keith richards model"

omg omg

i think your funnier than ever!!!1!!!1111!!!

[Adrian Rodriguez]

Please, something with LOUD HOWARD! or the DEAD HORSE!...

I Just Love'Em!

[Thomas]

Since you reference the correct wikipedia article, why can't you also reference it in good latin? It's deus ex machina and will always be... machina is greek, feminine and all those things... so the e at the end is pretty much like an insult to anyone raised in classic languages. Then again, if some looser will care... Wait. I'm sure I have a date...

[lulu]

I have blown up the last panel for yesterday's strip - "Can you prove you're stupid" and taped it to my desk. That says it all!

[MB]

Dilbert comics were banned at an old job, the ones about the I.S/I.T departments got too much attention from lemurs passing in the corridors.

[Patti]

Patti says:
I forgot to suggest that we just hang YOUR picture on the wall. You know, to show our disgust with that firing. My picture of YOU, is already hanging...alongside Dilbert’s and Wally's. And? THE BOSS' PICTURE IS TILTED & SLIGHTLY.. BLURRY. Gee, can they fire us...for that?

[Patti]

Patti says:
I forgot to suggest that we just hang YOUR picture on the wall. You know, to show our disgust with that firing. My picture of YOU, is already hanging...alongside Dilbert’s and Wally's. And? THE BOSS' PICTURE IS TILTED & SLIGHTLY.. BLURRY. Gee, can they fire us...for that?

[bitguru]

You mean there are people who don't know what deus ex machine means?

In comics I have more often heard this called the "reset button." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reset_button_technique

I suppose that deus ex machine is a subcategory (the unlikely, does-not-
follow-from-previous-action subcategory) of reset button.

[Patti]

Patti says:
Good job. I love todays comic. Think pointy haired boss gets the point? lol ..love ya

[Drew]

I have seen my bosses drunk. The bobbing of the heads and the periodic squeaking leads me to believe that perhaps they aren't lemurs, but perhaps drunked groundhogs. I really don't know, but at least I laugh about it. Thanks.

[JD]

OT - The DNRC Newsletter

For those of you who don't get the newsletter, Scott gave us an update on how his restaurant was doing. He wrote:

"Last night I stopped in to eat, without a reservation, and couldn’t get a seat."

Scott, don't you know restaurant owners always keep one table empty for themselves or their special guests? You make it a discreet table that can't be seen from the waiting area, but that way you're always able to eat at your own place.

And imagine how important you'll feel next time you are there on a busy night, some VIP wants to be seated and you tell the host/hostess to "put them at my table."

:-)

[Bloodboiler]

Being a long time aficionado of your oeuvre, I remember that you once killed Dilbert and then had the garbage man make a clone for Dogbert. After that, whatever you do to get jobless Wallu back to status quo hardly qualifies as 'deus ex machina'. Whole thing is hardly even an 'auribus teneo lupum' situation.

[Clearmoon]

I put the Drunken Lemur strip up at my desk (next to several other Dilbert panels that were eerily appropriate to my workplace) shortly after the guy got fired over it. I'm happy to say, I also got fired (for something else entirely) less than a month later. Maybe Dilbert is the key to life's problems.

[Rachael]

You misspelled it as "machine" twice.

[squigs]

Of course, Deus Ex Machinas are perfectly acceptable in Dilbert. I don't think any of us read the strip for the ongoing character development or clever resolutions.

I apologise if this clobbers any illusions you have that Dilbert is epic literatre:)

[Jeremy]

ala South Park, Family Guy, etc...pure brilliance.

[cass]

"The casino's attorney defended the action. The firing lemur was incapacitated by an alcoholic disease at the time."

HA!

[Matt Brown]

From that perverted website for the drawing machine, whoa!!

"delivers a highly sensitive pen-on-screen experience and a generous active area for working directly on large . . . "

Exchange 'pen' and 'screen' with the word 'girl' and add a happy ending and you have the box description for a hooker-in-a-box.

[macuga]

It's safe to say that most readers of your blog already know what "deus ex machina" means. It's not like you said "Methylaluminoxane."

[Hari]

By now you've already written and submitted your solution, but I like the idea of Catbert escorting Wally out of the building and having them walk past a conference room where a pack of drunken lemurs is having a meeting.

[E]

Scott,

I've very much enjoyed the recent published consultant strips and the current nod to the drunken lemur comic firing of a few weeks ago. Freaking hysterical.

At this point, your comic has reached a new height.

Some thinkers will talk about the self-reflexive nature of language and thought, calling them meta-language or meta-cognition.

Basically it means we can "talk about talking and write about writing" or "think about thinking" and the process involved in consciousness and the expression of language can reflect back onto itself in interesting ways.

By using the initial irony, which by mocking the real world silliness... caused more silliness, thus becoming more fodder for your comic... you've now entered the world of "meta-funny" or "meta-irony."

By using your comic itself to generate more material for your comic, it lowers your workload in coming up with new material... and it seems that you are now surprisingly close to a "self-perpetuating funny machine."

And you didn't even need a bozo from Canada to get this done for you!

It is excellent on so many levels, I just can't contain how happy it makes me :)

[Dadmin]

Scott, The "drunken lemurs" comparison has really struck a chord in our "subordinate" world. That same strip has been posted on our bulletin board for months, now. No word yet on any firings, mainly because there's no security camera pointed at our bulletin board to finger the culprit. Since the strip is still on the board, the "drunken lemurs" in my company seem to know how to take a joke.

[disembodied consciousness]

I just assumed that Wally would apply for a job at the same firm, would be interviewed by a character that looked somewhat like a drunken lemur, and would be rehired into his old position. Since new hires are protected, Wally is now layoff-proof.

Dance lemur dance!

[Matt]

I hope it's Phil!

[ShirtBloke]

Drunken Lemurs! Drunken Lemurs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzaUA2-nHR4

[PRB]

You can use the Dallas ex machina.
It was a dream... It was only a dream!!!

[Nate]

hahaha oh shit I've had that comic hanging on my wall since it was published.

[Boozeheimer]

I don't know what the other drunken lemurs' problem is, but for me the link to your monitor works.

[rita mae]

I can now die happy. The video of you drawing at your Wacom Cintiq 21UX monitor was sooooooooooooo cool. Made my day.

Think I'll share in case you care how I accomplish my magic at work.

I use a Dell monitor and Dell QuietKey keyboard at work. My phone is a Lucent multi-line system, and my printer is a HP Laserjet 2300. My calculator is a Sharp EL-1197P (12 digit, 2 color ribbon printer). My postage system is a Hasler SmartSeries with a Hasler AES3 postal scale for ensuring the proper postage is affixed to every piece of mail.

Whatcha think? Does my job sound neat? Wanna try it for a day?

I love my job. Do you love yours? Let's do lunch.

Rita Mae

[chuck]

So Heracles is going to appear in next week's strip and give Wally his job back? Cool.

[jerry w.]

So, is this posting a “deus ex machina” to cover up the fact that you spent way too

much time putzing around with the design of a house by committee and are not

prepared to post something else? Adversus solem ne loquitor!

Love that Wikipedia page....

http://boskolives.wordpress.com/

[Real Live Girl]

Do the employees there have any morale left to raise after that episode? Management like that is why the liquor industry is recession-proof.

[Mokkery]

To Scott: You have more zeitgeist than a barrel full of eponymous monkeys.

To everyone else: If you really want to impress someone, take the time to fine out how “machina” is pronounced. (Hint: it’s not “machine” with an “uh” tacked onto the end.)

[John]

You probably already know, but there is a wiki that catalogs these tricks used by writers. Here it is:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusExMachina

[Tarditi]

I'm hoping either for Phil, The Prince of Insufficient Light or Bob the Dinosaur to intervene somehow... They're just fun characters.

As much as I enjoy the schemes of Dogbert, getting Wally out of a jam doesn't seem to fit his idiom...

Perhaps they could engage Ratbert as a recruiter and his "perfect candidate" can be none other than Wally, but neither party would be privy to the "perfect" match... Hilarity ensues.

THAT'S GOLD, JERRY! GOLD I TELL YA!

[grant]

Drop the machina and you have a great game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex

[a. julie]

According to Creation Engine, your product no longer exists.

[Muppet]

Ha ha...the creation link says - this product no longer exists!

[DF]

Let me guess, a CEO comes into the PHB's office and tells him that he heard drunken lemurs make great managers, so he hired some. Then either Wally says something like "Since my bosses are drunken lemurs, can I have my job back", or the drunken lemurs just offer him a new position doing the same job.

[Ricky]

The link you provided for the monitor is dead.

[friskybeaver]

This blog no longer exists.

[Sam]

What is this dues sex machine
which you speak of?

[Adam]

According to that link, the product no longer exists...you should hang on to yours, it might become a collectors item!

http://www.livingwithanerd.com