Season’s Greetings! Part Three

by Robert Archerd, December 23, 2022

My late brother and I both spent over 60 years creating, among other things, cartoons and jokes. And we knew early on that many humorous ideas are just out there in midair and free for the picking. That is to say, many are just so darn obvious it’s hard to take or give credit for coming up with them. They’re just there, everywhere. And as a perfect example of how ubiquitous certain ones can be, consider the many variations one can easily come up with to parody the phrase Feliz Navidad (as I’m sure you know, Spanish for Merry Christmas).

I’ll include below six such variations, all of which I see as obvious, that I’ve used to create Christmas cards over the years. And when I say “create,” I refer to the card itself, as the basic idea — “sitting there in midair,” as you recall — pretty much writes itself.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the copyright “ ©” symbol at the base of my drawings and may wonder, what’s up with that? Okay, an explanation is in order. One of the many variations springing forth from Feliz Navidad is, of course, Fleas Navidad. And I’m simply one of probably several cartoonists to have come up with it, and did so more than 40 years ago (1980 or ’81, if memory serves). So, back in 1990, I’m on a public bus and see a man carrying a shopping bag. On the shopping bag is a Fleas Navidad cartoon. All well and good so far, but the drawing is an almost exact replica of my own original drawing from back in the early ‘80s! I was pissed! I can easily understand another…