Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 30, 2013

I knew the Pork Pie hat was a disguise !

“Breaking through the fourth wall” means addressing Doonesbury readers directly. Imagine that a play takes place in a single room four walls within the context of a larger theater. Remove one of these walls. The audience of the theater sits in seats facing the remaining three walls. Normally, both the actors and the audience pretend that the fourth wall, the separating wall, remains intact. However, the playwright (in this case Trudeau) may have the actors (in this case Jeff ‘n’ Zipper) address the audience (in this case you and me) directly. This kind of action is known in theater as “breaking through the fourth wall”.

Here “deporting” would involve Trudeau removing Jeff or Zip or both from the strip.

“What the bloody hell is he on about?” That guy actually a Brit?

so, they are both a bunch of pommies.

@Linguist, @DylanThomas3.14159: when the performers “break the fourth wall,” they’re not so much breaking it as pushing it from its normal place at the edge of the stage out to some flexible position in the audience. I have been to plays where I’ve been shaken down for spare change by the actors, or brought up on stage for a few minutes, but there is no actual interaction here—it’s just the audience member doing double duty as a prop.

If our own real live Babygirl had been my “arm candy” at Shakespeare’s “Henry V”, when I tried to look closeup at the “magically floating sword”, I probably wouldn’t have gotten such smackdown treatment. My gorgeous daughter was with and could have handled the dude with feminine ease and grace, but she was in the ladies’ powder at the moment.

But your point is well taken, Susan, and I agree that Drews’ news will be more fun than Jeff ‘n’ Zip’s tweet-room palaver. Prettier than the dudes too.

I LOVE Alex’s hair; it’s just plain sexier somehow than even Drew’s lady-on-the-castle-parapet locks are. True even though Drew may fit our societal expectations of “classical” beauty better than Alex does.

Don’t get me wrong, Drew may attract more general "ooohs and aaahs and ohhhs of polite appreciation. But Alex grabs the raunch — if you know what I mean — while exuding pharamones like Old Faithful, and won’t let it go till the Lord Comes. Especially when she’s young and pregnant and bustier, and more flushed, and ditzier, and dependent on her dude.

Or maybe Creator (read: evolution or emergence if you feel) just sneakily planned it all that way to keep Daddy round about during the critical months to help keep the forming fam together.

Or maybe that’s just me. Oh, and Toggle the Hub too. Obviously.

Any other males out there agree? Which lady — Drew or Alex — do you find more attractive at this moment?

4th wall = the old mixing it up with the audience move…

pheromones

Maybe GT hasn’t decided yet what Drew’s news is……?

Early pregnancy doesn’t necessarily cause one to be more flushed, so much as more of a green hue. There are times later on when you may feel flushed, as you feel like you have a furnace going on in there. The kicks just felt like butterfly wings. No big deal there really, though it was a funny sort of feeling, but that was much, much later.

Of course, pregnant women are all individuals, so each will have her own story to tell. I can never believe the TV show “I didn’t know I was pregnant.” I think most pregnant people experience some pretty obvious signs.

@Bruno Zeigerts

In Shakespeare’s times, involving the audience was a normal feature.’>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In my acting days, I was in numerous Shakespearean productions. Many of Shakespeare’s actor soliloquies, particularly in the comedies, are most effective when directed at the audience. This was how they were originally meant to be performed.Also, the " asides" to the audience, draw them in and make them feel part of the play and can be quite funny.I think of Benedick , in Much Ado About Nothing, hiding in the bushes, listening to young Claudio, who is attempting ( badly ) to compose a love song. After Claudio’s off-key caterwauling, Benedick turns to the audience and says:" And had he been a dog that had howled thus, they would have hanged him ! "

My favorite use of the fourth wall was in the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. When George wanted to eavesdrop on the other characters, he would go upstairs, turn on the TV and watch the show he was on.

“4rth”?

Blimey!

“For God and Harry!”

For God and Harry Truman?Or for God and Harry Potter?Or for God and hairy Nicki Minaj wig?

“Still waiting for some honesty from [Calimesa Jim] about BENGHAZI and the [non-existant] COVER-UP. … Just tell the truth – the election is over.”

Is that all you’ve got, Skep? Must be. Cuz if you had any evidence you’d have mentioned it.

what a sell out…i expect more.