Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 31, 2023

Tony Bennett hasn’t been gone long enough to be disrespected in this way.

Pig: “The Sysco kid is a friend of mine.”

That joke belongs in San Francisco, 49 square miles surrounded by reality – Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane

BOO! But yeah , a good boo. Well constructed pun.

I left my harp in Sam Clam’s disco!

good way to end the year, with a groan!

Yow!

So Sunday is PUNday?

Of all the celebrity passings in 2023, Tony’s hit home the hardest. Having listened to him for decades I always felt comforted just knowing that he was still around, and somehow I just hoped that he always would be.

I think the female version of the name is spelled “Frances”.

Where little cable cars / Drive clear across my scars…

I’m so well trained that when I saw all the text I started trying to find the names of states or countries.

That was a good one

Shouldn’t she be spelled “Frances”?

That took a lot of effort. Both to write and to read.

Like a flag, may Pig’s art always wave!! (?)

I thought he was going with something like , “The sysco kid wants a stand of mine.”

Quite good!

Noe every time I see a Sysco truck I will think of this!

Classic Pastis! Thank you, Steph! Happy New Year!

Shouldn’t it be, “I left my art in THE sand, Fran?”

I wonder if Pig serves pork tacos.

I wondered how he’d work that company’s name into the gag. i gagged!

No Baseball bat today, huh Rat?

This one is a real " beauty " for sure : )

Boo, hiss

Happy New Year Steph!!!

Pig’s naked.

The late Tony Bennet, among his many talents, was quite an accomplished artist. I’m sure he’d have loved today’s Pastis Pun!

Nope, you didn’t git me………..not gonna read it.

It washed away with the tide.

Hah! I wasn’t sure a pun was coming but you delivered!

It should be Frances for a woman, not Francis.

So Stephan, not to complain or anything, but the female spelling is Frances, with an “e” not an “i”. It’s a lifelong pet peeve of mine after being put in boy’s gym classes, wood working, etc. (this was the 1960’s) Haha and I ended up with a boy nickname after all!

Guessed this one in the first panel, Stephan.

So Pig has a Sysco trough. Sorry, but I’ve been using that expression for years due to the fact there are very few food suppliers where I live; making most restaurants limited in their offerings.

It’s all in the timing.

The good news is, Pastis promised this is the last pun for the rest of the year!

Hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year!

I admire Pastis and his puns. Takes a talent I certainly don’t have

A nice and cheesy tribute to Tony Bennett.

Groan.

Surely “Frances” rather than “Francis”?

End the year on a high! Great, unfortunately I left my wallet and phone…

Very punny!!!!!

That pun was so good. It’ll haunt my dreams.

Rat, Stephan’s puns will live on forever.

Saw that one coming

…and, does rat realize that if Stephan’s art disappears, HE disappears?

It took me a second to understand rest-aurant. I’ve never seen it separated like that.

LOL! Thanks for another great year of Toons Stephan! ❤️

HNY

Come on, Rat! Lighten up! That’s actually a pretty good one! Admit it!

Bravo Steph! Happy New Year!

If he is going to leave his art there, shouldn’t he instead be ordering networking equipment from Cisco systems? Their logo looks like the golden gate bridge after all.

No disrespect is meant by this, and these strips ending in song lyrics happen frequently.

Some of the comments are about as funny as the pun itself. Happy new year!

I once worked for the competition. Instead of Sysco we called them Psycho. They called us Useless Foodservice. We both said that PFG stood for Pretty F’ing Gross.

LOL

Generally, I like puns…

Thanks. It’s been a while since one of these appeared. I’d almost forgotten how to groan.

LOL, Yay a pun strip!

I definitely bennetfitted from reading today’s strip.

Ouch.

Laughed a WEEEEEE bit too hard at this one!

One of the most torturous yet!

Stephan would have to wait until the last day of 2023 to publish the Pun of the Year.

i actually saw (heard in my head) this one coming

Happy New Year to all ‘Pearls’ fans.

Good thing Stephan didn’t name the supplier Sisko or else he’d be sued. :D

a) Remember in the old days when people read the comics for fun? b) Let us people who have been alive a long time enjoy good stuff like this because c) Good puns are a lot of fun!

Formerly S. E. Rykoff.

Dear Stephan, I absolutely loathe puns. I absolutely adore the brilliance of your puns.

Timely. Giant waves hitting the west coast.

Love these puns.

“Cisco” kid was a friend of mine….

INSERT GROAN EMOJI HERE*** More, please! LOL!

Where little cable cars take you half way to the Stars

For the character in the yellow / gold top, name should be ‘Frances’!

Pastis, you make me laugh!

Now that’s the kind of ultra contrived humor I expect from this guy.Happy new year, y’all.

I was hoping for something with “The Sysco Kid”. You know… He was a friend of mine!

Hey! At least he called it art!!

I love Pastis’s cheesy puns.

No matter how hard I try, I can never figure out the pun before the end.

Happy New Year! And may your next fart be a dry one… :D

Stephan turely went a long way to make an Un Fun Pun.

Rat should be careful; Pastis may wipe him out of the strip.

Oh, my, ghod.

And with that, San Francisco sinks slowly into the west… ;-)

I saw what was coming with “Francis” and “Sysco,” I just had to see how he got there.

Excellent.

Anybody else remember (apologies, this is from memory only)

“Count tree roads. Take me, Holmes, to the plains, I’ll be long”??

HAPPY 2024!!

https://www.youtube.Com/watch?v=3VxjTue0wFU

Frances

Have a punny New Year, y’all.

G R O A N & G R O A N – LOLOL

I love the puns. Happy New Year, all!

Tony definitely had a sense of humor. He appeared on Saturday Night Live with Alec Baldwin when Alec was doing a Tony Bennett impression hosting the Tony Bennett show when he introduced his special guest Anthony Bennedetto. They sang a duet and the real Tony could hardly keep a straight face.

One of the best puns I have read

Clever

Male spelling is ‘Francis’ – female spelling is ‘Frances’….. just sayin’…

Some folks would say this shows disrespect to Tony Bennett, as he hasn’t been gone long enough. However, this no such thing, this is Pastis homage to a great.

My favorite is I left my harp in Sam Clam’s disco!

Happy 22nd birthday, Pearls! Nothing like celebrating with a pun.