That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for April 22, 2024

/// Rembrandt painted this hard-working Scholar

at his desk in a stiffly starched collar.

Here he’s writing a note

about what Plato wrote.

Although brilliant, he still lives in squalor.

“Please, don’t bother me. I get paid by page that I have to copy by hand.”

“I can’t wait until AI.”

It’ll be a payday bonanza

if I can write a wonderful stanza

Please play me some more Mario Lanza

So I can rhyme extravaganza!

Larry H Parker got me 5 million for my whiplash claim!

“Plagiarising? Me? I don’t even know what that means.”

“You talkin to ME?”

Nothing. Just my crib notes for the bar exam tomorrow.

Party of six? Okay, but there are five others on the wait list before you, so it looks like about a 45-minute wait.

“If bein’ a scholar means I have to wear one of those things around my neck, I’m droppin’ outta school.”

“Fashion? Sadly, no. This is to keep me from chewing on my stitches.”

Realizing the test is on chapter 21 and you studied chapter 12

Before being banned for plagiarism, Joe made fluffy collars for rich people.

He’s sick your jokes ‘bout his ruff./

He’s had quite enough of your guff./

And, while we’re about it/

(You better not doubt it:)/

He refuses to pose in the buff.

Tobias Van der Snutch, (Tubby Toby to his friends), is caught in the act of copying old jokes he’ll later use in his stand-up comedy.

I’ve finished Nantucket. I think I’ll revise Manchester.

“Now if I just had a mullet, some really big floppy shoes, and a red ball for my nose, this look would be complete.”

THis one goes into the top 10

Hugo copying his answer from volume CLXIV of the Renaissance Wikipedia.

“Poem? No, it’s my grocery list. Though I am hoping to have it published.”

He’s spending a quiet hour/

Aloft in his ivory tower/

with Boccaccio’s Decameron/

and when he’s done “hammerin’ “/

he’s going to need a shower.

“But I’m almost finished! You told me the photocopier wasn’t repairable!”

Don´t bother on my account.

Portrait of a scholar: 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:Paintings of open books" Wikimedia 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and Yandex search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found and once there find the text string Scholar, and click its link for info and links that point to more info about this roughly life size painting, plus the museum’s Description. 

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #3308 (April 21, 2024) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu. I have added a comment there pointing the blog entry with my comment and reply pointing to info about this artist I used to point to here. So far, 9 works associated with him have been used here, the April 22, 2022, strip being the prior.

His pen he has already dipped/

But he cannot decipher the script !/

It’s his favorite topic/

But he’s too presbyopic/

He has to admit that he’s whipped..

Excuse me, what rhymes with orange?

That ruff makes me think of the flying head from the Baron Munchausen movie

Me? A scholar? HA!

I’m having to write “I will not write on the wall” 100,000 times.

“What makes you think I stole Jerry Seinfeld’s puffy shirt?”