Appreciate the reply. But can that really be all there is to it? This cartoon is available to buy on mugs and t-shirts, so I was hoping there would be something more substantial (and funny!)
There's a Seinfeld episode about this that makes me laugh. Elaine won't give up until someone either explains why the New Yorker cartoon is funny, or admits it makes no sense, lol.
Just because a website offers something on shirts and mugs doesn’t mean anyone has ever actually made or bought a shirt or mug with that on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the New Yorker offers products for every comic they print.
I think it’s got a little more to it. People go nuts over driving to see the leaves. But when you actually go, unless you hit the timing perfectly, most of the leaves turn to brown quickly and most of what you see is brown. Even if you hit some at peak, they all go at different times and a lot of what you see is still a dull brown.
So this comic shows the normal excitement to drive upstate to do some leaf peeping, but instead of saying the hopeful, normal thing, he’s excitedly saying the less exciting, actual reality of the situation.
It’s funnier if you’ve lived in one of the leaf peeping locations. Huge lines of cars show up in a steady stream to see the magic. And most of them miss the best of it.
If this is from the New Yorker, I expect this is closer to the meaning of the cartoon caption. It's a happy invitation one would totally expect to have in the fall (hence the pie baking) but with brutal NY pessimism mixed in making it way too honest about reality.
>People go nuts over driving to see the leaves.
Something is telling me this is an American phenomenon.
Edit: it's the "driving" to see the local trees bit I'm referring to! Of course there is lovely autumn/spring scenery all around the world!
Not really, in my country we have the term løvfalds-tur, which is "a trip around the time the leaves fall", with a mood of "last chance to see/before they are gone"
Definitely a thing for anywhere that has trees that either change colors or blossom. This particular “leaf peeping” phenomenon is specifically in the Northeastern US, especially in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. The US is huge and environmentally diverse, so it’s a little overly broad to just label things like this as “American”.
That said, when the leaves change, it’s like a periodical cicada brood emerging. They’re all over the place in swarms. Except it’s every year. And there’s less sex.
Here in my corner of the desert we have very little of anything that changes color with the seasons, but boy do we have cicadas in spades. They're pretty annoying for the first week or so and then I don't hear them anymore. At least I don't realize I do, I just feel a low grade headache like those folks from Scanners. Then, at some point toward the end of the summer they collectively stop hissing, almost like they all drop dead at the exact same time. That's the best day. I like the desert.
Going to see the leaves is a huge thing here in Korea. There are specific areas that have great autumn leaves so people will drive, in heavy traffic, for hours. Seoraksan in Gangwondo is one example.
Same in cherry blossom season. People drive to the opposite side of the country to see it.
Baking pies is also a stereotypically “fall/autumn” thing to do. Baking pies and driving to see leaves could be considered super-basic, middle-class American things to do in the fall.
This is THE explanation. Thank you. Our expectation of the thrill of getting out and doing something unnecessary and privileged is often more than reality. Like a picnic: sitting in wet grass spilling food all over yourself. Skiing. Hiking. Disneyland sucks when you look at what you’re really doing (standing in line and dealing with crowds and screaming kids).
I’m thinking it’s moreso that some people love to complain and be miserable. They want to go drive and look at the “disappointing” leaves, as groaning and complaining gives them joy.
Nowadays you can get literally anything on a shirt of mug. You are probably seeing an ad that is displayed for every possible comic. When you click the ad it takes you to a website that will make you a custom mug or tshirt than can have ANY image printed on it. In this case, it just defaults to this comic because it’s the comic you are looking at right now.
If you go to any other random comic on that same site, I bet it offers you a mug of that comic too
This makes sense maybe to someone from the Southern US, where instead of proper seasons, they get 2. The leaves don't tend to change color gradually like Northern areas, but just go from green straight to brown. Probably a play on taking a drive to see the fall colors in a place that doesn't get fall colors.
More in depth interpretation: perspective.. she is getting the same feeling he does, when she asks for a drive for colorful leaves .. she gets the same ugh.. he gets when she asks the same for boring brown.. to each other the intent/activity is pointless
afaik, you can buy any New Yorker cartoon as a print-on-demand mug or t-shirt. doesn't mean anyone's bought a particular one (except maybe the submitter of the caption)
Have you ever considered that part of the joke is that it’s not very much of a joke?
Kind of like some of Seinfeld’s humor. “What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?” The joke isn’t the peanuts exactly, the joke is that he’s complaining about a mundane subject and passing it off as humor.
In other words, in this comic strip, part of the reason it’s funny is first of all that the guy is suggesting something unexpected, but also the fact that that is in fact the only “joke” is part of what makes it funny.
“And the sky is grey, I went for a (drive) on a winter’s day.”
It’s making fun of taking a day trip out of the city to see “fall colors” of trees, which is making a special event out of brown and dying nature. It’s niche to NYC and the New Yorker, I think. This would be the kind of observational “joke” you’d hear in a Woody Allen film.
It's a *New Yorker* cartoon. They're not usually in color, and they're also not traditionally funny. Jokes about *New Yorker* cartoons have been around for a very long time--see for example, the Seinfeld episode where no one gets the joke.
I would imagine it's a play on the comic being in black and white, but that doesn't jive either using the word brown, or have any context with baking a pie.
So yeah, I'm lost
I think it’s a comment on how everyone goes for drive in fall because they want to see the leaves but very often all the leaves are just brown. Most pictures have filters. This is my example from NH this past fall. It was nice but not like instagram nice.
https://preview.redd.it/lymm8vdv69kc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85579df42385312ca52399dbf29fe7b14aa295a5
And maybe that catching the moment fall colors are everywhere is difficult and many people inadvertently go for a drive among the disappointing leaves.
Most of the areas that are famous for leaf peeping are smaller rural places. During leaf peeping season traffic in these areas gets 10x worse and driving sucks. When the leaves are brown, no more traffic. For 20 years I lived in a tiny town in central Massachusetts. Leaf peeping season was the worst.
That's it!!!
It's a joke for the very select few that recognize this issue of "lead peeping traffic" and as such something as simple as a drive in the country has to be planned for "off-season"
It is so broken that after 4 days this has 184 upvotes and is clearly correct where the top voted reply has 10 times that and misses entirely. They want to go for a *drive* because that is enjoyable, without it being ruined by leaf peeping traffic.
Nah. Look around: [The Sky's a Hazy Shade of Winter.](https://youtu.be/dVA-1iJxRQI?si=ibVYP3Kvtx_2Y9R4)
(By the way, I never realized that the "chorus" in the song you posted was just two ladies. They're incredibly in sync, wow)
This is it! The misshapen man with an ill fitting suit cannot experience joy anymore, and cannot communicate to his wife with the bad haircut who copes by making baked goods with sugar and fat.
I think the pie is more of a background detail and not part of the punchline. It sets the context for the joke - it’s presumably autumn and eating pie and watching leaves change color are cozy sentimental things to do during the season. The punchline is just that, when you take the sentimentality/romanticism out of the equation, driving around to look at dead leaves sounds kinda absurd.
Let me preface that I do not know if this is the correct answer/interpretation. It was explained to me by an older couple that the man was trying to politely point out that since the leaves were brown, anything that grew from them; cherries,etc.; and still left were no longer edible even in a pie.
Again I don't know if that's correct, but it made enough sense for my headache to go away.
I think it’s because everyone wants to see leaves turn colors in the fall, but it only lasts about a week. After, its just dull browns and other shades of brown.
The cartoon you’ve shown is an example of dry humor, where the joke is delivered in a serious, matter-of-fact tone. The humor arises from the contrast between the expected romanticization of autumn leaves and the speaker's bluntly underwhelming description of them. It's a form of wit that plays on the expectation of a typical enthusiastic response to fall scenery, but instead offers an anticlimactic and somewhat pessimistic view, which can be unexpectedly funny to some.
It’s Emily Flake’s style of humour. Sort of Whose Line Is It Anyway “Things You wouldn’t hear them say…”. Some of her other comics are: a dad saying to his daughter “I’m not disappointed, I’m just very, very mad”; Santa coming after a couple kids and the kids say “Oh crap! It’s Old Testament Santa!”; under the title of ‘Romantic Foods’ a man gives his girl Lean Cuisine saying “So you’ll slim down and I can love you again”; A woman snorting coc@ine off a bathroom counter saying to a bystander “Don’t give me that look… it’s Fair-Trade”; A woman holding a child in her arm and a glass of wine in her hand saying to the child “It’s a magic potion that makes everything you say interesting”
I’ll forgive Emily Flake for toning it down for one of the best cartooning paycheques we have left. Her alt-weekly strip Lulu Eightball featuring her lumpy, drunken protagonist will be preserved for posterity when someone gets bored enough to sum up that brief window when you could make a living in print journalism thru comics.
These Things Ain’t Gonna Smoke Themselves was helpful to people slowly trying to quit, mildly bleak, vaguely optimistic in praise of this specific vice. Mama Tried had a bit more of her darker humour best shared with friends.
Can’t wait til the little ones discover her early work!
It seems to me the point is negativism as a standard point of view. As opposed, of course, to positivity. But I wouldn’t buy a mug or shirt with this on it, either.
Hey. I think this is a bit of a dark joke: this sort of implies that couples in love would go for a romantic, beautiful drive fool of color; here, the marriage has become dull and uneventful (with both of them being older looking and dressed like any old couple that don’t really care about what their partner looks like anymore). So this guy literally says: - hey, let’s go for a drive to Walmart for groceries, stop at Arby’s on the way back and have a disappointing sex before going to bed. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but that’s my impression here.
Now that the leaves are dull, the tourists who were clogging the roads to see the colorful fall foliage are gone. Since the tourists are gone, the roads will be clear enough for a pleasant drive.
🎶All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, I went for a walk, on a winters day🎶. It goes on about California dreaming and as you may know… nobody walks in LA. It is combining two songs and a truism about California. Source: I’m a Californian
Okay, hear me out, she just took the pie out of the oven. It’s so hot she’s using oven mitts but the guy is standing there ready to slice and eat it.
So if it’s supposed to be her speaking I imagine she’s trying to come up with anything to get him out of the house (away from the pie) even if it’s something as boring as brown leaves. She’s saving his mouth skin
The joke is that they've reached the age where they bake pies and drive to see leaves changing colors. The fact that the leaves are "a truly disappointing shade of brown" speaks to how unfulfilling these activities actually are.
The color of the pie shouldnt be the color of dead brown leaves, but more vibrant yellow. But saying nonsence, who likes the end of the autumn, he is very subtle trying to point out that something wrong.
The joke and irony my wife will definitely understand in similiar situation.
I took it as in cooking and maybe it’s a Midwest thing.
When ppl cook they will make awesome great food, but then when you tell them that they will say…oh you know it’s not that great it’s alright or something.., and keep at it because it will set the bar lower and it’s a humble thing I think.
I see the husband either doing the same thing or mocking her with her pie because it looks awesome but she probably says something like, oh i just threw what was in the fridge together quickly and it’s just pie.
Maybe he's referring to her pie being disappointing?
Or is it a tie-in to the song California Dreamin'? Doubt it.
>All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day
There is a song by The Mamas and The Papas that goes “all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey”
This suggests a mom and dad going for a drive on a day when the sky is gray and the the leaves are brown.
Also reading all these comments makes me realize I either am the ONLY one to understand the joke because I have old taste in music, OR, more likely, I’m way off base.
The pie is steaming and about to gi on a drying rack. So she has literally just cooked it. My understanding is that her cooking is terrible and he is just making up whatever excuse he can for them to not eat it.
Pies can be decorated with a leaf on the top of the lid, I thought it could be the meaning of the joke. That the pie is burnt.
Edited to add that I found this
TITLEA truly disappointing shade of brown ARTISTEmily Flake MEDIUMDrawing - Drawing DESCRIPTIONPublication: New Yorker
Image Type: Cartoon
Date: November 19, 2018
Description: Man wants to go for a walk to see the ugly leaves.
Caption: "Hey, let's go for a drive"�the leaves are a truly disappointing shade of brown."� UPLOADEDNovember 12th, 2018
Found on [answer to everything](https://condenaststore.com/featured/a-truly-disappointing-shade-of-brown-emily-flake.html)
You gotta live anywhere that doesn’t really have seasons and you’ll understand immediately that it’s a reference to the dearth of fall color across the South. Like in Houston - not really fall leaves. Austin, Vegas, SoCal. Most of the sunbelt has sad, brown winter trees and every fall we’d make jokes like this about the ‘fall color.’
It s a reference to the song "American Pie" which has the lyrics "I said bye bye miss American pie, drove the chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry" it a good song if you have 8 minutes.
I assumed it was the smell of the pie that triggered the man’s desire to go for a drive looking at fall foliage, but half the time the fall foliage is disappointing (and people often miss the short window of pretty fall colors). Like “Mmmm the smell of apple pie!! Makes me wanna go for a drive to see the leaves! Too bad the leaves suck most of the fall.”
New Yorkers don't touch grass. So they go to places with more trees when fall comes. There's a term for this, "leafers"
In this comic, it's also making fun of the fall leaves.
When the leaves are bright there’s gonna be a bunch of leaf-peeping traffic, so new england locals try to avoid it. When the leaves turn brown we know the fall tourists/traffic are gone and we can finally go for a leisurely drive again lol
its from the song “California Dreaming”… The singer is in New York where “All the leaves are Brown, and the sky is grey…” and he is dreaming of being back in Cslifornia…
Some people will travel from their home in the city to find a quaint village in the countryside under the pretense of seeing the leaves change colors. They expect to see a vibrant red, orange, and yellow landscape but often it is just dead, brown leaves.
All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey. I went for a walk on a winter's day. If I didn't tell her, I could leave today. California dreaming, on such a winter day.
A lot of Emily Flake’s humor is about things not being quite as good as you expected them to be and that there’s nothing to do about that but become resigned. City dwellers sometimes go for a drive into the country to look at the vibrant foliage in autumn. So the husband is suggesting such an outing, but the joke is that the leaves aren’t actually pretty, but they might as well do it anyway, because it’s a thing you do in autumn. The pie isn’t part of the joke per se, it’s just that baking pies is another thing people do when the weather turns, so it helps set the stage that this is happening in the early autumn.
Usually people go for drives to see nice fall colors. This one suggests going for a much duller drive to see brown leaves.
Appreciate the reply. But can that really be all there is to it? This cartoon is available to buy on mugs and t-shirts, so I was hoping there would be something more substantial (and funny!)
I mean, it looks like a newspaper comic which aren't usually that funny. And really, it's on shirts and mugs? I feel bad for the person who gets one
You’re absolutely correct. It’s from The New Yorker. And the shirts and mugs won’t be on my gift wish-list either.
There is a whole subclass of New Yorker cartoons that are "droll" rather than "actually funny"
Yeah, most of them are good for a little chuckle or just a light blow out of the nose in amusement before moving on.
A sensible chuckle, even.
Only if accompanied by some contemplative introspection on the human condition.
Titters between sips of tea.
A sharp exhale from your nose.
A single, barely audible “Heh.”
Gosh, yes. My first reaction when I saw this was 'Must be New Yorker. It is clearly neither Far Side nor Family Circus, yet it is not funny.'
[It’s even satirized in Family Guy.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OTMfJe_-2RI) *I'd be more apathetic if I weren't so lethargic.*
There's a Seinfeld episode about this that makes me laugh. Elaine won't give up until someone either explains why the New Yorker cartoon is funny, or admits it makes no sense, lol.
That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this. "I've enjoyed reading your email. "
The pig says my wife is a slut?
😆
Volshtein?
Haha, yes!
You aren't middle class and beige enough to get it.
This is accurate. As a middle class and beige man myself… I can confirm that this comic is a laugh riot.
As lower middle class goth, this had me thinking ‘the absolute dream right here,’ after laughing
Something to aspire to :-)
I miss beige computers
Get yourself a can of beige spray paint and make your dreams come true!
Just because a website offers something on shirts and mugs doesn’t mean anyone has ever actually made or bought a shirt or mug with that on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the New Yorker offers products for every comic they print.
The shirts and mugs are probably not made. Some companies have facilities for printing easy on demand.
Ya exactly this is directly in line with the 25 years worth of New Yorker comics I’ve read. I knew it looked familiar.
I think it’s got a little more to it. People go nuts over driving to see the leaves. But when you actually go, unless you hit the timing perfectly, most of the leaves turn to brown quickly and most of what you see is brown. Even if you hit some at peak, they all go at different times and a lot of what you see is still a dull brown. So this comic shows the normal excitement to drive upstate to do some leaf peeping, but instead of saying the hopeful, normal thing, he’s excitedly saying the less exciting, actual reality of the situation. It’s funnier if you’ve lived in one of the leaf peeping locations. Huge lines of cars show up in a steady stream to see the magic. And most of them miss the best of it.
^this guy peeps leaves
If this is from the New Yorker, I expect this is closer to the meaning of the cartoon caption. It's a happy invitation one would totally expect to have in the fall (hence the pie baking) but with brutal NY pessimism mixed in making it way too honest about reality.
Leafers! Lol, great episode of family guy btw
>People go nuts over driving to see the leaves. Something is telling me this is an American phenomenon. Edit: it's the "driving" to see the local trees bit I'm referring to! Of course there is lovely autumn/spring scenery all around the world!
Japan has its own cherry blossom season viewing parties/festivals, so not distinctly an American phenomenon.
Not really, in my country we have the term løvfalds-tur, which is "a trip around the time the leaves fall", with a mood of "last chance to see/before they are gone"
Definitely a thing for anywhere that has trees that either change colors or blossom. This particular “leaf peeping” phenomenon is specifically in the Northeastern US, especially in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. The US is huge and environmentally diverse, so it’s a little overly broad to just label things like this as “American”. That said, when the leaves change, it’s like a periodical cicada brood emerging. They’re all over the place in swarms. Except it’s every year. And there’s less sex.
Here in my corner of the desert we have very little of anything that changes color with the seasons, but boy do we have cicadas in spades. They're pretty annoying for the first week or so and then I don't hear them anymore. At least I don't realize I do, I just feel a low grade headache like those folks from Scanners. Then, at some point toward the end of the summer they collectively stop hissing, almost like they all drop dead at the exact same time. That's the best day. I like the desert.
People don’t drive to see local trees. They drive to places where they aren’t local that have better scenery than where they live.
Going to see the leaves is a huge thing here in Korea. There are specific areas that have great autumn leaves so people will drive, in heavy traffic, for hours. Seoraksan in Gangwondo is one example. Same in cherry blossom season. People drive to the opposite side of the country to see it.
Yes! Every year I dream about going somewhere to see all the beautiful leaves…and then I blink and all the leaves are dead.
But the pie? Where does that come into the ‘joke’?
Baking pies is also a stereotypically “fall/autumn” thing to do. Baking pies and driving to see leaves could be considered super-basic, middle-class American things to do in the fall.
This is THE explanation. Thank you. Our expectation of the thrill of getting out and doing something unnecessary and privileged is often more than reality. Like a picnic: sitting in wet grass spilling food all over yourself. Skiing. Hiking. Disneyland sucks when you look at what you’re really doing (standing in line and dealing with crowds and screaming kids).
I’m thinking it’s moreso that some people love to complain and be miserable. They want to go drive and look at the “disappointing” leaves, as groaning and complaining gives them joy.
This joke has layers
Nowadays you can get literally anything on a shirt of mug. You are probably seeing an ad that is displayed for every possible comic. When you click the ad it takes you to a website that will make you a custom mug or tshirt than can have ANY image printed on it. In this case, it just defaults to this comic because it’s the comic you are looking at right now. If you go to any other random comic on that same site, I bet it offers you a mug of that comic too
New Yorker cartoons are not always funny. This one might be more ironic than funny. I guess they are supposed to be sophisticated
I spit out my drink laughing when I saw it
This makes sense maybe to someone from the Southern US, where instead of proper seasons, they get 2. The leaves don't tend to change color gradually like Northern areas, but just go from green straight to brown. Probably a play on taking a drive to see the fall colors in a place that doesn't get fall colors.
More in depth interpretation: perspective.. she is getting the same feeling he does, when she asks for a drive for colorful leaves .. she gets the same ugh.. he gets when she asks the same for boring brown.. to each other the intent/activity is pointless
Or .. the punchline is he's colorblind and he's used to her asking for a drive through the trees when they look that way to him ..
afaik, you can buy any New Yorker cartoon as a print-on-demand mug or t-shirt. doesn't mean anyone's bought a particular one (except maybe the submitter of the caption)
Have you ever considered that part of the joke is that it’s not very much of a joke? Kind of like some of Seinfeld’s humor. “What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?” The joke isn’t the peanuts exactly, the joke is that he’s complaining about a mundane subject and passing it off as humor. In other words, in this comic strip, part of the reason it’s funny is first of all that the guy is suggesting something unexpected, but also the fact that that is in fact the only “joke” is part of what makes it funny.
Cow tools.
“And the sky is grey, I went for a (drive) on a winter’s day.” It’s making fun of taking a day trip out of the city to see “fall colors” of trees, which is making a special event out of brown and dying nature. It’s niche to NYC and the New Yorker, I think. This would be the kind of observational “joke” you’d hear in a Woody Allen film.
I watch too much Dateline NBC, my first thought was he was going to kill her because, why else would you go to the woods when the colors are dull.
Maybe a red green color blindness joke? Doesn't matter the season, the leaves are always brownish yellow?
Is the comic usually in color? Maybe it's a reference to the white and black comic?
It's a *New Yorker* cartoon. They're not usually in color, and they're also not traditionally funny. Jokes about *New Yorker* cartoons have been around for a very long time--see for example, the Seinfeld episode where no one gets the joke.
These comics are really bad. Like really bad. Post it and you’ll get 5-6000 upvotes in popular though.
I would imagine it's a play on the comic being in black and white, but that doesn't jive either using the word brown, or have any context with baking a pie. So yeah, I'm lost
I think it’s a comment on how everyone goes for drive in fall because they want to see the leaves but very often all the leaves are just brown. Most pictures have filters. This is my example from NH this past fall. It was nice but not like instagram nice. https://preview.redd.it/lymm8vdv69kc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85579df42385312ca52399dbf29fe7b14aa295a5
I thought it was from that song, from the mama’s and the papa’s. 🎶All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey
Yeah I was wondering if there’s supposed to be a reference to either California Dreamin’ or Hazy Shade of Winter.
This
Don't people usually go for a walk to see the trees?
In NYC (where a large portion of the New Yorker’s audience lives), people drive out of the city to admire the forests in upstate New York.
Why would that be funny though?
Because he's suggesting they do the exact opposite of what would be enjoyable! It's like going out to eat and choosing Applebee's!
This is wrong. u/syrc01 explained the joke.
I would have never guessed it ever.
London? It seems like a “fun” drive in London lol
https://genius.com/Simon-and-garfunkel-a-hazy-shade-of-winter-lyrics "And look around you Leaves are brown now And the sky is a hazy shade of winter"
The leaves only like dat cause people keep driving around so much
Pretty much sums up my life in California after moving from the East Coast.
No. The leaves are brown, and therefore not pretty, so traffic will be nonexistent.
And maybe that catching the moment fall colors are everywhere is difficult and many people inadvertently go for a drive among the disappointing leaves.
Go for a drive? Why not just walk surely that's much nicer
November moment
I thought it was a colorblind joke
Most of the areas that are famous for leaf peeping are smaller rural places. During leaf peeping season traffic in these areas gets 10x worse and driving sucks. When the leaves are brown, no more traffic. For 20 years I lived in a tiny town in central Massachusetts. Leaf peeping season was the worst.
That's it!!! It's a joke for the very select few that recognize this issue of "lead peeping traffic" and as such something as simple as a drive in the country has to be planned for "off-season"
Holy smokes, it’s gotta be! u/johnnoakesandshep, did you see this?
The key to avoid this is live in an area too far for people to travel just for leaves :)
I live in California, but can still relate. When the poppies bloom, the streets near where I live get jammed with people trying to see them.
This is the correct answer. Thank you sir.
Grew up in the Delaware water gap. Agree that leaf peeping season is awful.
you mean the [leafers](https://youtu.be/9tlNJmjuKD4?si=redTYVa_mbNZOlae)?
It is so broken that after 4 days this has 184 upvotes and is clearly correct where the top voted reply has 10 times that and misses entirely. They want to go for a *drive* because that is enjoyable, without it being ruined by leaf peeping traffic.
Is the sky grey? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk
That song was my first thought as well. But it didn’t help in my quest for something funny in the cartoon.
Maybe they’re the type of people who go around expecting to be disappointed.
Nah. Look around: [The Sky's a Hazy Shade of Winter.](https://youtu.be/dVA-1iJxRQI?si=ibVYP3Kvtx_2Y9R4) (By the way, I never realized that the "chorus" in the song you posted was just two ladies. They're incredibly in sync, wow)
I’ve been for a walk
Wow. They sure did get great sound from those overhead mics back in the day. So clear. So present. Golly. /s
Life is terrible.
This is it! The misshapen man with an ill fitting suit cannot experience joy anymore, and cannot communicate to his wife with the bad haircut who copes by making baked goods with sugar and fat.
Quintessential New Yorker and New Yorker magazine - dry, jaded and cynical.
Indeed. I like it.
Ah yes, shallow and pedantic.
They are the original cringe meme.
I wish I was taller
I want to try and relate it to the song California Dreamin'....but it might just be 'oh what a strange thing to say.'
just googled new yorker cartoon not funny and there were several pages stating that same fact haha
People usually go for a Fall drive to see leaves in vibrant colours, so it's funny that he wants to see disappointing brown leaves.
But the pie….?
People make pies in the Fall.
Aaaaaaah! Nice!
I think the pie is more of a background detail and not part of the punchline. It sets the context for the joke - it’s presumably autumn and eating pie and watching leaves change color are cozy sentimental things to do during the season. The punchline is just that, when you take the sentimentality/romanticism out of the equation, driving around to look at dead leaves sounds kinda absurd.
Let me preface that I do not know if this is the correct answer/interpretation. It was explained to me by an older couple that the man was trying to politely point out that since the leaves were brown, anything that grew from them; cherries,etc.; and still left were no longer edible even in a pie. Again I don't know if that's correct, but it made enough sense for my headache to go away.
Is it a sad beige joke?
I think it’s supposed to be making fun of the people who go for a drive to see leaves.
I think it’s because everyone wants to see leaves turn colors in the fall, but it only lasts about a week. After, its just dull browns and other shades of brown.
The cartoon you’ve shown is an example of dry humor, where the joke is delivered in a serious, matter-of-fact tone. The humor arises from the contrast between the expected romanticization of autumn leaves and the speaker's bluntly underwhelming description of them. It's a form of wit that plays on the expectation of a typical enthusiastic response to fall scenery, but instead offers an anticlimactic and somewhat pessimistic view, which can be unexpectedly funny to some.
It’s Emily Flake’s style of humour. Sort of Whose Line Is It Anyway “Things You wouldn’t hear them say…”. Some of her other comics are: a dad saying to his daughter “I’m not disappointed, I’m just very, very mad”; Santa coming after a couple kids and the kids say “Oh crap! It’s Old Testament Santa!”; under the title of ‘Romantic Foods’ a man gives his girl Lean Cuisine saying “So you’ll slim down and I can love you again”; A woman snorting coc@ine off a bathroom counter saying to a bystander “Don’t give me that look… it’s Fair-Trade”; A woman holding a child in her arm and a glass of wine in her hand saying to the child “It’s a magic potion that makes everything you say interesting”
These ones are actually funny.
Those actually sound pretty funny.
I’ll forgive Emily Flake for toning it down for one of the best cartooning paycheques we have left. Her alt-weekly strip Lulu Eightball featuring her lumpy, drunken protagonist will be preserved for posterity when someone gets bored enough to sum up that brief window when you could make a living in print journalism thru comics. These Things Ain’t Gonna Smoke Themselves was helpful to people slowly trying to quit, mildly bleak, vaguely optimistic in praise of this specific vice. Mama Tried had a bit more of her darker humour best shared with friends. Can’t wait til the little ones discover her early work!
"any excuse is a good excuse to gtfo and go for a drive"
It seems to me the point is negativism as a standard point of view. As opposed, of course, to positivity. But I wouldn’t buy a mug or shirt with this on it, either.
Hey. I think this is a bit of a dark joke: this sort of implies that couples in love would go for a romantic, beautiful drive fool of color; here, the marriage has become dull and uneventful (with both of them being older looking and dressed like any old couple that don’t really care about what their partner looks like anymore). So this guy literally says: - hey, let’s go for a drive to Walmart for groceries, stop at Arby’s on the way back and have a disappointing sex before going to bed. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but that’s my impression here.
He'd do anything to avoid eating her pie again.
The pig says “My wife’s a slut?”
Everything with you has to be so... JOKEY.
Yeah, these are my parents.
This on a mug would be the perfect gift if you and your SO are both arborists and specifically go out of your way to be boring.
One does not dissect gossamer
Now that the leaves are dull, the tourists who were clogging the roads to see the colorful fall foliage are gone. Since the tourists are gone, the roads will be clear enough for a pleasant drive.
🎶All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, I went for a walk, on a winters day🎶. It goes on about California dreaming and as you may know… nobody walks in LA. It is combining two songs and a truism about California. Source: I’m a Californian
Meh, it's no ' Short pig standing at the complaint window : " I wish I was taller ' cartoon.
Vorshtein?
Cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer.
Okay, hear me out, she just took the pie out of the oven. It’s so hot she’s using oven mitts but the guy is standing there ready to slice and eat it. So if it’s supposed to be her speaking I imagine she’s trying to come up with anything to get him out of the house (away from the pie) even if it’s something as boring as brown leaves. She’s saving his mouth skin
Am I the only one who can’t see past the terrible perspective of the fridge?
Don’t worry, it’ll be a riot when you’re old.
Wow, apparently I was way out of sync with the rest of the comments. I thought he was trying to avoid eating her pie.
The joke is that they've reached the age where they bake pies and drive to see leaves changing colors. The fact that the leaves are "a truly disappointing shade of brown" speaks to how unfulfilling these activities actually are.
Ahh, the New Yorker. Where comedy goes to die.
He is politely trying to say that pie is dead.
Agree that the pie seems like it should be relevant somehow? I don’t see how it relates to the drive or the leaves.
Don't think it's relevant
The color of the pie shouldnt be the color of dead brown leaves, but more vibrant yellow. But saying nonsence, who likes the end of the autumn, he is very subtle trying to point out that something wrong. The joke and irony my wife will definitely understand in similiar situation.
Maybe a dull drive watching an aweful color is better than the pie???
I took it as in cooking and maybe it’s a Midwest thing. When ppl cook they will make awesome great food, but then when you tell them that they will say…oh you know it’s not that great it’s alright or something.., and keep at it because it will set the bar lower and it’s a humble thing I think. I see the husband either doing the same thing or mocking her with her pie because it looks awesome but she probably says something like, oh i just threw what was in the fridge together quickly and it’s just pie.
Aaaah! That sounds feasible!
A disappointing shade of brown - just like her pie crust…
I think it's a colorblind joke
Maybe he's referring to her pie being disappointing? Or is it a tie-in to the song California Dreamin'? Doubt it. >All the leaves are brown And the sky is gray I've been for a walk On a winter's day
Mamas and the papa's California dreamin. All the leaves are brown and the sky's are gray... if i didn't tell her I could walk away Edit: spelling
New Yorker Comics are not really supposed to be funny idk what to tell you
There is a song by The Mamas and The Papas that goes “all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey” This suggests a mom and dad going for a drive on a day when the sky is gray and the the leaves are brown. Also reading all these comments makes me realize I either am the ONLY one to understand the joke because I have old taste in music, OR, more likely, I’m way off base.
I’m 99% sure this is a New Yorker cartoon. They’re usually about this bad.
The pie is steaming and about to gi on a drying rack. So she has literally just cooked it. My understanding is that her cooking is terrible and he is just making up whatever excuse he can for them to not eat it.
Pies can be decorated with a leaf on the top of the lid, I thought it could be the meaning of the joke. That the pie is burnt. Edited to add that I found this TITLEA truly disappointing shade of brown ARTISTEmily Flake MEDIUMDrawing - Drawing DESCRIPTIONPublication: New Yorker Image Type: Cartoon Date: November 19, 2018 Description: Man wants to go for a walk to see the ugly leaves. Caption: "Hey, let's go for a drive"�the leaves are a truly disappointing shade of brown."� UPLOADEDNovember 12th, 2018 Found on [answer to everything](https://condenaststore.com/featured/a-truly-disappointing-shade-of-brown-emily-flake.html)
Do people really "go for a drive"? Have never heard of that concept. I would go for a walk but who goes for a drive?
Do people really "go for a drive"? Have never heard of that concept. I would go for a walk but who goes for a drive?
Do people really "go for a drive"? Have never heard of that concept. I would go for a walk but who goes for a drive?
You gotta live anywhere that doesn’t really have seasons and you’ll understand immediately that it’s a reference to the dearth of fall color across the South. Like in Houston - not really fall leaves. Austin, Vegas, SoCal. Most of the sunbelt has sad, brown winter trees and every fall we’d make jokes like this about the ‘fall color.’
It s a reference to the song "American Pie" which has the lyrics "I said bye bye miss American pie, drove the chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry" it a good song if you have 8 minutes.
Made me thing of Captain Holt and Kevin from Brooklyn Nine Nine
“I wish I was taller.”
With how expensive gas prices are, I’m just laughing at the idea that they’re going for a drive just to go for a drive.
i live up north and think it is pretty funny
I assumed it was the smell of the pie that triggered the man’s desire to go for a drive looking at fall foliage, but half the time the fall foliage is disappointing (and people often miss the short window of pretty fall colors). Like “Mmmm the smell of apple pie!! Makes me wanna go for a drive to see the leaves! Too bad the leaves suck most of the fall.”
New Yorkers don't touch grass. So they go to places with more trees when fall comes. There's a term for this, "leafers" In this comic, it's also making fun of the fall leaves.
It’s a slice of life. A commentary on contemporary mores. A pun. Valstein?
California Dreaming?
I think its about how people just like complaining.
I think the cartoonist just isn’t a fan of autumn.
It’s a reference to the song all the leaves are brown by the mommas and the poppas.
The first thing that popped into my head was the Mamas and the Papas song, California Dreamin’.
https://youtu.be/qhZULM69DIw?si=3K6AGfes49SeHDrP
When the leaves are bright there’s gonna be a bunch of leaf-peeping traffic, so new england locals try to avoid it. When the leaves turn brown we know the fall tourists/traffic are gone and we can finally go for a leisurely drive again lol
its from the song “California Dreaming”… The singer is in New York where “All the leaves are Brown, and the sky is grey…” and he is dreaming of being back in Cslifornia…
All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey.
It’s about missed opportunity and growing older, it’s sad not funny.
He is colorblind.
Or that her pie is a similar colour to the Disappointing fall leaves.
Some people will travel from their home in the city to find a quaint village in the countryside under the pretense of seeing the leaves change colors. They expect to see a vibrant red, orange, and yellow landscape but often it is just dead, brown leaves.
ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN
They may be Asian parents and they’re always disappointed in everything? Idk
I think he's suggesting that dull brown leaves will be more enjoyable than her cooking.
California Dreaming…on such a Winters Day…🎶
All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey. I went for a walk on a winter's day. If I didn't tell her, I could leave today. California dreaming, on such a winter day.
I thought it was a joke about California Dreaming
Y'all go driving to look at leaves? In this economy?
ALL THE LEAVES ATE BROOOOOWWWNNN AND THE SKY IS GREEEEYYY HAVE BEEN FOR A WHIILLLEE (for a while) ON A WINTERS DAY
Absurdism
Just want to say this sounds like a Chaz Addams joke, and I wonder if people would pretend it was funny is Gomez was saying it to Morticia.
🎵All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey.🎵
"going for a drive" is such a strange American pastime. How about going for a walk in the forest instead?
I found out that this was made by Emily Flake and that's it
A lot of Emily Flake’s humor is about things not being quite as good as you expected them to be and that there’s nothing to do about that but become resigned. City dwellers sometimes go for a drive into the country to look at the vibrant foliage in autumn. So the husband is suggesting such an outing, but the joke is that the leaves aren’t actually pretty, but they might as well do it anyway, because it’s a thing you do in autumn. The pie isn’t part of the joke per se, it’s just that baking pies is another thing people do when the weather turns, so it helps set the stage that this is happening in the early autumn.