Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 27, 2018

oh, boy

Hmm, TJ, I have to tell ya, you’re a little slow on the uptake.

That not they want silly

Seems to me that the last time TJ engaged in renovations on that house, it ended with holes knocked in the walls and the floorboards pried up.

Sheriff alert….

TJ has fingers of two different colors.

Thank you Sheriff.

The strip today is so predictable, there was nothing else to comment upon.

Brad & Toni had that coming. TJ has been a buddy. Getting him to move is still necessary – but they should have paved the way for the request a little better – not right on the spot.

And that was the moment Brad knew the rental house was going to be completely destroyed and they would be forced to find a new place to live. Toni briefly thought about telling the DeGroots the plan to add an additional room to the house they owned, but then realized that telling the DeGroots things they have a right to know is simply not the way things are done in this comic strip. In the meantime, Luann has begun shopping around to make cameo appearances in other comic strips, since she doesn’t appear to be in this one anymore.

This cannot end well.

Tell TJ not to bother. According to Sunday’s strip, you guys have saved up a down payment and are going house hunting. TJ can continue renting there – if he desires.

It’s sure easier to get things done in the comics. TJ could have a room up in a week or so. No plans – no building permits – no financing – no permission from Frank & Nancy…

He has a bigger smile than his brains. It doesn’t let him think clearly.

TJ is a lot of things, but he’s not stupid. There’s no way he’s clueless enough to honestly think that that’s what they were going to ask him.

If Brad and Toni have an ounce of backbone between them, they’ll shut this idea down and explicitly say what they mean. So of course we’ll now get to watch these guys try and add a room to the house.

“Hey, nothing can go wrong. I can do this easily. It’s not like Ann Eiffel has come back to town.”

It was Brad and Toni’s idea to have TJ stay around to begin with,

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2016/08/10

and if they’re thinking of buying a new home and moving out, what right have they to throw TJ out for the sake of a sometime guest?

Besides, the Horner house already has a semblance of an upstairs that could be fixed up.

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2009/03/16

My late father built one long room in the attic of the house I grew up in, with a sliding wall access to the stairs and doors to the eaves areas on either side for storage. And that house was smaller than the one Gregg portrays the Horner house as being.

BTW- what ever happened to Brad’s California King mattress?

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/04/12

TJ can sleep on the couch. No need to evict him just yet. In fact, I’m shocked that they didn’t consider that to begin with – he’s fairly easy-going, I’m sure he’d be willing to give up his room for Shannon (who he adores)!

Can he be more dumb.

Don’t be dense, TJ. You just don’t want to give up living in that house, saving on 1/3 of rent and hanging out with Brad. Time for you to GO!

WHATAGUY

Why, oh why, doesn’t Shannon sleep on the couch?

Perhaps TJ is willing to pay the costs for the extra room? After all, he has income from the cafe and he also gets a monthly stipend from the trust fund his father set up for him. Let’s give Brad & Toni a few days to mull over TJ’s generous offer. Also, a 3rd bedroom would increase the value of the house!

I know my opinion is unpopular; however, here it is. Brad and Toni need to move. The house was Brad and TJ, then Brad and Toni and TJ. Now, the extra room is needed for a child that Brad and Toni watch. It’s Brad and Toni that need the extra room. TJ is a renter and has rights.

What will TJ neglect:A building permit?

An architecturally sound plan?

Telling Brad’s parents that he is going to modify their property?

All of the above?

TJ, you were smart enough to commit insurance fraud, you should be smart enough to know it’s time to go.

TJ can cook and build – Brad and Toni are so lucky!

There are other options- SHANNON could sleep on the couch the few nights a month she’s over. They could get a cot or an inflatable bed.

That awful TJ – he’s friendly, helpful, doesn’t bother his roommates, and works as their free-of-charge cook and handyman. He should know they want him to get out in order to make room for someone who doesn’t live there.

TJ could sleep over another friend’s house, or on the couch. Or, as I said the other day, get an air mattress and let Shannon “camp out” in the living room. You can throw blankets over chairs and tables and she can pretend she’s in a tent. I’ll bet she’d love that.

Sure. It was all good when TJ agreed to rent the house. That allowed Frank and Nancy to be able to afford buying it. So now are Brad and Toni willing to pick up the slack in the rent? When they’re trying to save for a new house? And what will Frank and Nancy do when B&T move into their new house?

B&T ought to realize that it is they that are causing the problem by taking care of their niece; not TJ.

Some friends they are.

There. That ought to get the TJ critics all riled up. ;o)

Gah

This is a Dear Abby type problem: how to tell a dear friend, “thanks but no thanks” about his controlling kindness, you have other plans. Will they give in, and let him control the situation, or have the ability to tell him no, they have other plans? WIll his feelings be hurt, and how bad? Or will it be bad? Dear Abby like I said.

Continuing my comment from yesterday:Irritant #3. TJ hits the lottery. Angered at the disrespect he has been shown, TJ moves to Miami Beach. Brad & Toni lose TJ as a friend. Depression sets in.

Oh, c’mon – he’s putting on an act… right?

Who else saw this one coming? It was TJ that convinced everyone to do a complete remodel of this house to start with. All this will do is ad value to the investment. while they are at it. May as well add a hot tub and solar panels. Maybe a small Den.

TJ is Brads main squeeze and will always be so.

people talking about TJ-s “-rights_” just aren’t getting it …it’s not about rights, it’s about your two friends, one of them your best friend, asking you to move out ( if they do).

Hey guys, I don’t think you all know this but TONI AND BRAD ARE MARRIED NOW!! It’s time for TJ to leave. I love him too but if they have to keep taking care of Shannon every night and they plan on having their own kid in the future, then he should MOVE INTO TONI’S OLD APARTMENT!! I sworn I could have said this last year…

Just the other day they decided to go house hunting, now they want TJ to move out?

No. Shannon doesn’t need her own room. She needs to learn to follow rules in other people’s homes and T.J. needs to move out to let these two live their lives as wife and husband. Of course, that requires Brad and Toni to actually implement some rules and grow a backbone, neither of which they seem capable of doing.

I’m having a really hard time staying with this arc. Suspension of disbelief is understood in a comic, but this is pretty thick. Why can’t Shannon sleep on the couch and Brad keep his own bed? If it is keep her out of mischief, where does she sleep at Jonah’s without incident? Unless Jonah is dropping her off more often than we realize, why would she need her own dedicated room? You don’t build an addition onto a rental house, TJ. (Yeah, they once remodeled it, but that was also a stretch.)

Again, TJ’s ‘Mr. Sunshine’ approach to all this sits well NOT with B&T. At least, Frank and Nancy need to approve any modifications, if not the city as well. Didn’t Frank remind Brad of that in the very first renovation (busting out a wall for an opening, and painting the walls black, right?). Those were pre-Toni times, I believe.

How many days a week does Shannon stay with Brad and Toni? While the issue of whether or not they want to keep T.J. as a roommate is one thing, evicting a paying roommate to facilitate being used as a free babysitter seems a bit extreme. (I also wonder who will start learning to cook when T.J. is gone…)

3

So, again in my manner of thinking this is utterly unfair for TJ. He is a renter of this home just as Brad and Toni are. Presumably they AGREED to a lease of some sort that would have a time associated with it to conclude. TJ should not be forced out due to the inconvenience now being perceived by Brad and Toni in terms of their caring for Shannon.

Should Brad and Toni live independently from TJ? Probably. But to just come out of the blue and state “get out” or whatever permutation of that that Brad had in mind…. just not nice, nor fair. TJ is a rent paying tenant and just because he is not the “couple” does not mean he has no say in the matter.

A correct path would be for Brad and Toni to start a dialogue with TJ saying something akin to “We are finding the current living arrangement is becoming challenging on some levels, and we are wanting to talk with you about what we would like to do once this current rental period concludes.”

Then the three of them would have time to formulate a plan that works well for each of them.

So one lousy night of sleep and TJ is ready to kick his best friend to the curb?

Two points. I am baffled why some folks think T.J. is stupid. You may dislike him, but he is obviously highly intelligent (think how he handled Ann Eiffel). That aside, if Brad and Toni are truly uncomfortable with him staying there, they have an obligation to speak up. Being nice just gives mixed messages. This arc is about getting into a new house, and the emotional and growth issues involved. (Shannon sleeping on a couch – not so much.)

And just where does ‘Smile E. Coyote’ get his tools and supplies?

-

….from Acme, of course!

Brad is forgetting what loyalty is. Keep TJ, who has done everything for you, and get rid of the kid, who is a pain and a drain.

Why does there have to be any renovation? Brad and Toni seem reasonably satisfied with the status quo and they enjoy TJ’s cooking (so he does contribute something of value to the househhold. What Brad and Toni need to do is to tell Jonah he needs to to get a a regular sitter for Shannon when he’s going to be working. Jonah should be dealing with this the way other single parents have to do. Brad & Toni could agree to let Shannon visit occationally, but only if it’s scheduled ahead for when they’re not working or have made other plans — no more last minute surprises. Jonah has caused this situation and he should be the one to fix it.

“Square Feet In Your Mouth”

“Are We Zoned For Twighlight?”

“The Inner Limits”

“Hill Street Blueprints”

“Made It To The Sardine’s List”

“The Man With A Thorn In His Side”

“Heads, Shoulders, Toni’s Stepped-On Toes”

or

“With Six More, You Get Eyeroll

Is it me, or is T.J. getting more “tanned” as time goes forward?

@MATTHEWJFAZIO: No, it was Brad who is getting ready to kick his best friend TJ to the curb, not TJ doing the kicking…

Shannon. Sleeping bag. Problem solved. Next story arc!

They should know that they should never try talking logical and rational to TJ, who has delusion of grandeur and the gift of glib, while not awake.

Nothing good will result.

Wonder what would happen if TJ and Mr. Gray went into real estate/construction/property management together…..

There is one problem. The house belongs to Nancy and Frank and they have allowed TJ to live there since he works for the Fuse. In asking TJ to leave Brad is acting as if the house is his, which it is not.

Wow, all those comments and, unless I missed it, no one suggests that Toni & Brad sit down with Jonah and tell him to get his act together? If he hasn’t hit the big time by now, it’s not gonna happen. Time to step up and be a responsible father for a change, instead of foisting his kid off on his sister & brother-in-law every week or so. How does this dude pay his bills? There must be some source of income. Why isn’t he paying someone to watch Shannon on a regular basis so Toni & Brad can have a life of their own? They shouldn’t have to rearrange their life every time Jonah gets another bit-part in an off-off-off-Broadway play.

whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!!

If TJ leaves, who will do the cooking?

Get out, TJ. You are not wanted. Period. End of story. End of your tenure in the house, Go. Leave. Be gone. Get thee behind me, Satan!

Guys, look at us. we’ve taken a fairly simple situation and really explored is to the maximum; in fact, from over 200 different perspectives as of this writing. I’ve not seen another strip come close. Hey GnK, we’re holding up our end!