Triple Entendre

Recently I wrote a series for Dilbert where Asok the intern dies, and is cloned back to life. But his DNA gets mixed up with a Snickers candy bar and he becomes half human, half snack. In the third panel of that comic, Asok awakes and asks, “Why do I feel nuts?”

http://dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20071208.html

I drew his arm in a way that would, I hoped, leave some humorous ambiguity about what type of nuts he was feeling. I expected that the comic would be banned in newspapers, and make an interesting anecdote for this blog. But apparently no one noticed the third possible interpretation of why a fellow with his hands under the sheets would feel nuts. I suppose it’s just as well.

You can’t get away with a double entendre in the comic pages, but apparently a triple entendre is safe.

Did you notice it?

Comments

[Hazy Dave]

I didn't notice he had arms under that sheet either. Good one. More evidence, as if any were needed, that the writing is 90% of a comic strip (with the usual "Prince Valiant" exception, of course).

The best joke I can remember slipping by the censors was in "Get Fuzzy" a couple years ago, when Bucky was expounding on traditional holiday meals such as "Easter Ham, Thanksgiving Turkey, Valentine's Day Beaver..." and so on. (Rob's reaction of "Wait... Valentine's... WHAT?" wasn't even enough to ring the alert that this might not be Bucky's standard carnivorous slavering after ferrets, monkeys, etc.)

[JD]

Nope, I didn't notice any arms at all. Perhaps you should have drawn another bump or two to indicate where his hands were suppose to be. _That_ would have probably gotten the results you were looking for.

[Oli]

Didnt he already have nuts?

For the record i didnt spot it, but i don't think it really works as one.

http://ramblingsofanofficeworker.blogspot.com

[More]

Yep, I saw it. I was expecting this blog a few day's earlier. I know you like to sneak these things past the cencors.
Adaptation of : I feel nuts. Take youre hands out of your pockets.

[Nimrod]

Because the first two interpretations make sense in the context of the strip, but third interpretation has nothing to do with anything. Why would a guy who suddenly has a Snickers bar body be surprised about still having balls? Is that the #1 concern on his mind at that moment? I mean, I found the storyline believeable up to that point, but then you lost me.

[Phil McCrackin]

Ehhh... too high-brow for my taste - where have all the good fart jokes gone?

[Damian]

Nopes

i assumed he didn't have arms

i missed a great yoke

[Andy Watt]

This reminds me of the old joke -
Man: Doctor, I've got a problem, I can't get my trousers on
Doctor: I can see your problem. You have a steering wheel stuck down your underwear.
Man: Thanks Doc, that's been driving me nuts...

You sort of need an english accent for it to work properly. Apologies.

You've put hidden smut in before though, I'm sure of it... that last panel had the feel of a hidden second joke (the comment from Asok seems just too this side of a Carry On Film), and I've felt that before while chuckling at a punchline in a Dilbert... naughty naughty, but clever you for proving how dim the newspapers are for not noticing. I like to see a little subliminal subversion so subtle that the censors miss it, even if you don't.

Oh and Avi - "It'd have been more noticeable with some folds in the sheets around crotch level, or even some of them vibrating movement lines or something..."

No, I'd definitely have missed it then. Fer gawd's sake!

[Jostein the norwegian]

Yes I noticed it. And I laughed out loud. It's brilliant!

I wasn't really going to post this as I thought you would get hundreds of replies like this. But as you didnt't...

And it's good it wasn't so obvious. The jokes usually are funnier when you need a second or two before you get them.

[Melissa]

Of course I noticed. I thought it was extremely clever to have a line with three meanings that way.

[Simon Jester]

I did notice it, but then dismissed it; a normal male wouldn't ask why he's able to feel that sort of nuts...

[wernman]

Nope.

[Mike]

I didn't notice it but to be honest that "arc" of strips sucked and I really stopped paying attention pretty early on.

Because it was all so contingent on the previous strip the first panel of each one seemed to be a real stretch to explain what had gone before ("Previously on Dilbert...").

I was in a bad mood with you for days when this strip was being published.

Keep up the good work though!

[Andreas Toscano]

Didn't notice then, didn't laugh now. Cheap.
On the other hand, the dead horse rules.

A

[vlad_tsepes]

Of course I noticed! It's one of the oldest jokes on the planet - immortalised in the Bloodhound Gang song, "Bad Touch". Good for a bit of a snicker though.

However I just about snorted coffee and blood over the first "flogging a dead horse" comic strip. But then work has been like that recently. We have a General Manager who's touch with reality is about as tenuous as a butter fingered fat kids grip on a stainless steel rail in a typhoon.

[Fritz P.]

Yes, I did notice it (and liked it by the way). I was very surprised that the papers ran it. I kept wondering why they hadn't noticed the nuts joke, since every now and then your syndicate pulls the plug on jokes with a better hidden double entendre. I even started to think that maybe it was just me and my dirty mind and that innocent little Asok was not touching himself underneath those sheets. Thanks for reassuring me on this one, Mr. Adams :-)

[Martijn]

No I didn't get that one. The picture on my screen is too tiny, the two lines representing Asoks arm are too small. But I like the fact that I could enjoy this strip twice. And I like that you keep trying to get sneaky stuff like this in the newspapers! Hah!

[Will]

Yes, but maybe partly because I'm a regular reader, and I'm used to some of your subtle mind-in-the-gutter jokes (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

[Simes]

I noticed it, but thought that was just the double entendre. Was there a whole third entendre I completely missed?

[in the gutter]

You didn't draw the 3rd bump... now that would have been brave (and stupid).

[dontbother]

Yep. First thing I thought of. Same thing happened to me when I reincarnated after a motorcycle accident in which I crashed into the front fender of a moving Toyota sedan at 100 kph (62 mph for the metrically challenged). After slamming into the handlebar and instruments, not only did my pelvis fracture, but my nuts blossomed into snowballs (that's the name of a flower) bigger than those of a blue-balled bull elephant in serious must. I couldn't walk for a couple of months, but I might've been able to roll on my own had my left knee not been smashed by the three-point landing I made after flying 10 or 20 meters from the crash site.

[gautam]

I thought those two little bumps under the sheet were his legs, not hands. Well, I must be wrong - Apparently Asok's nuts are located way below than average.

[stupot]

I presume snacking on his DNA container is the third?

[Luke]

I didn't notice!!!

http://thisdevilsworkday.wordpress.com/

[Kevin Kunreuther]

Was I the only person who noticed Asok Candy Clone was touching his nuts? (Kangaroo Fuel - quote from comments: "Part Snickers bar is very funny. You should get compensated by Mars,Inc (http://www.mars.com/global/home.htm).
OTOH, the editors should have jumped all over the last panel - "Why do I feel nuts?" (Take your hands away from your crotch, Asok) -"

Feel free to use the suggestions I made over next few months concerning Asok - (For other commenters benefits, here they are again:
1.)Asok isn't dead. He's reported as being dead. Remember, who is delivering the news, the PHB. About as reliable as not.
2.)I'd expect Candy-clone Asok and original Asok to compete at work. I'd imagine a Carol and Alice catfight over Candy-clone Asok.
3.)Catbert will eat Candy-clone Asok to restore the natural order (even if cats can't taste "sweet"). I'd expect to see an Asok-sized cat-turd in his open litter box as proof to other employees Catbert really does eat interns for breakfast - I'd imagine the return of the grim shrouded employee hi-fiving Catbert at that moment - for maximum impact grossness funny, next day final panel, turd-clone Asok appears as the new intern for Mordac. I'd expect return visits of Asok Turd-clone. Comments from everybody appreciated.)