![Prayer Etiquette – originally posted [5-6-10]](https://www.bugmartini.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012-08-31-Prayer-Etiquette.gif "Prayer Etiquette – originally posted [5-6-10]")
Prayer Etiquette – originally posted [5-6-10]
Two reasons I picked this strip:
1. I love the last panel.
2. I think it’s the only strip I’ve ever done where God is actually a character.
I’ve had God pop up from time to time – has anyone ever been used more in humor? But he’s either the subject of a strip or a bit player in a bigger joke. Here, he’s the main guy. The whole strip is from His perspective. I’m sure when I wrote this, I didn’t even think about that. It was just another strip. But look at it! There he is! Am I the only one who thinks that this strip has an extra element of weird?
When I was pulling strips to repost, I was just looking for ones that I thought were particularly clever and funny. I chose this strip based on the jokes. It wasn’t until I sat down to write about it that I realized that God took over my strip for a day and wrote his own jokes. I’m pretty sure if I came up with this premise today, I’d start off with some sort of lame “I bet God wishes we would have a little more etiquette in our prayers.” Bleah!
I took way more chances in these older strips. Nowadays, my strips are more routine and somewhat formulaic. Like, I used to be an Amish guy making hand-crafted furniture; sawing the wood, hammering the nails, carving unique designs in the armrests (like a picture of one bug farting on another). But now I’m the cold business guy who sits in his office that overlooks the factory floor where robots assemble the furniture and every chair is stamped with the same bug (who now just has a word balloon saying the word “fart”).
But at least I know I’m in a rut. That’s the first step of getting out of one.
Big thanks to all of you for putting up with my little hiatus! New strips will be back starting Monday.
And merch is a comin.’
Discussion (23) ¬
“Oh for the love of me” is pure gold!
>I took way more chances in these older strips. Nowadays, my strips are more routine and somewhat formulaic. Like, I used to be an Amish guy making hand-crafted furniture; sawing the wood, hammering the nails, carving unique designs in the armrests (like a picture of one bug farting on another). But now I’m the cold business guy who sits in his office that overlooks the factory floor where robots assemble the furniture and every chair is stamped with the same bug (who now just has a word balloon saying the word “fart”).
10/10 Would buy either chair
This was always one of my favourite strips. Wish I could say “For the love of me” without it being blasphemous… 😉
I hope your break was in some way restful, Adam!
I was always taught that a little blasphemy is OK before Labor Day. Or was it that it’s only OK to wear white before Labor Day? Either way…
I’ll admit, I’ve prayed panel 2 before hehe.
And when do we get to see Amish bug?
Adam – what great self-perspective! Wish I had that much. 🙂
Good luck w/the whole taking-chances thing; weirdly enough, I was just in an improv session that was designed to get us to do that very thing. For inspiration, you might check out Stephen Colbert’s commencement address at Northwestern from last year (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6tiaooiIo0 ) and Jane Lynch’s commencement address this year at the Smith College graduation (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwuNfHSOxZI ). Both talk about taking risks and defeating fear to achieve.
And this *is* a hilarious strip; especially, “Oh, for the love of me,” and, “No, and quit eating your boogers.” Absolutely awesome. 🙂
Hope you had a great vacation!
Thanks!
God bug is a source for all the strips you would ever want to write. Add in the saints, “Please Saint Anthony help me find my keys!”, type of jokes and you’ll never lack for material.
And (from my perspective) it skewers the fact that a lot of people usually only pray when they want something, not when they just want to thank him for a beautiful sunrise or field of flowers, or even for the fact that we have life at all!
Well, done, Adam!
I remember the shltstorm that occured when Howard Stern prayed for one of his enemies to get cancer. The gist of the hue and cry was that Howard would feel totally terrible and stupid if the person really did get cancer.
The image that I had was of a God at a desk with a big “APPROVED” stamp mistakenly signing off on that one.
Such is the Divine Bureaucracy.
I love this comic.
I can actually think of 2 others offhand where God was a character: that one where he and Satan were arguing/fighting indoors (someone broke a lamp, maybe?), and the one where God takes Jesus on a road trip.
You’ll have to forgive me for not looking them up. I love Bug, I’m just not that patient.
this is why we miss williamkattwilliams cause he was the master at being able to find the exact comic that someone is talking about
I know, right? His ability to find links was ridiculously good.
Also, these are what I could find:
http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/the-god-couple/
http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/hell-on-wheels/
http://www.bugcomic.com/comics/amen/
The one where God takes Jesus on a road trip is still eluding me.
I believe it’s this one: https://www.bugmartini.com/comics/god-is-not-my-co-pilot/
actaully im sure if he made some more stones with writing on them people would listen to them, then again people take thier religion to far and wide places so it wouldnt necessarily be good thing
So, your comic may have become a bit more formulaic. OK.
I’m not certain that it is a bad thing. It’s actually made it much easier to describe to my friends what your comic is about. And yes, I have described your comic to my friends. Because it cracks me up, and a lot of my friends have the same doofy sense of humor that I (and you!) do.
I have described your like this, “Bug starts by taking a side in an absurd controversy. It is usually commenting on some taken-for-granted thing that no one questions, or it’s just off the wall invented controversy. Both are funny in a “huh” sort of way. He then expounds on this imagined reality by making a persuasive essay about why absurd reality is true. Hilarity ensures.”
I *LOVE* this comic strip. It’s fantastic. I’m delighted that you write it. A lot of the other comics that I read, I read because I am super invested in a storyline or character development. This one I read for reasons of pure wit. It’s not Bug, it’s Bug’s observations. The panels always stand on their own. The punch lines are funny and easy to relate too. I imagine that’s super hard to do on a consistent basis. I am glad that you do though. Makes ignoring the bitter taste of my coffee much easier 😉
Yeah, long story short, thank you!
Thanks! You’re right, having formula does make it easier to explain to people, but I definitely need to break out of that mold every so often, just to shake things up. But don’t fret, it’ll still be the same nonsensical comic it’s always been.
And thank you so much for spreading the word! I really appreciate it.
Ah-ha! THAT was the 11th commandment I couldn’t recall. “Thou shall not eat thy neighbors or thou own boogers.” Whoops, BRB need to go pray for some forgiveness…
This is is the strip that made me start reading the strips.
You know, these are all solid prayer advice. Good material for a sermon actually…
Ever read “The War Prayer”?
The third panel actually contradicts everything I’ve been taught about when to pray. Sure, the pickle example you used would be ridiculous, but I’ve always heard that God wants to hear from us as often as possible.