1073: Weekend

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Weekend

Title text: Of the two Garfields, you wouldn't think the cat would turn out to be the more compelling presidential speechwriter, but there you go.

Explanation

This comic was posted right after the weekend, on a Monday, so it was on time to emphasize that we all hate Mondays.

In the first image, there is a reference to the Loverboy song "Working for the Weekend"; both the song and the panel refer to how most working and middle-class people are constantly focused on merely surviving until Saturday with enough energy to relax properly.

Cueball then goes on to state the fact that any calendar used is just a social consensus and since nature doesn't know the day of the week he simply suggest making this Monday into a Saturday. Actually, why not make all days into Saturday, to have eternal weekends?

When you actually stop and think about the speech, the argument turns into utter nonsense. Simply renaming every day on the Gregorian Calendar to "Saturday" doesn't actually do anything, and "the first Saturday of the week" would carry the exact same stigma as "Monday". Furthermore, if Cueball is proposing to abolish the work week entirely, the economy would collapse within days, hours, or possibly even minutes, depending on how quickly the news spread and how rapidly stocks started to sell. This fact may explain why the last panel is drawn in negative, with the background black. It gives a very ominous feeling to the last remark.

No confirmation has yet been found that any of these words are references to something from former US President James Garfield or to Garfield the cartoon cat who are the two speech writers mentioned in the title text. However, Garfield the cartoon cat has often bemoaned the existence of Monday (ironically, because he is a cat and not subject to the common human work schedule). And hence the title text suggest that this speech was written by Garfield the cat, and that this would be a better speech than any delivered by James Garfield.

Transcript

[Cueball stands behind a lectern on a podium before a very large crowd.]

Cueball: We all hate Mondays. We're all working for the weekend.

Cueball: But our chains exist only in our minds.

[Zoom in on Cueball from the lectern upwards, seen from an angle. He raises one hand in explanation. His text goes above the frame and is written in the top part of this panel which is frame-less.]

Cueball: Calendars are just social consensus.

Cueball: Nature doesn't know the day of the week.

[Closer zoom on Cueball who looks straight out of the panel, the top of the lectern is just visible.]

Cueball: My friends—

Cueball: We can make today Saturday.

[Extreme close-up, the lectern now below the panel, and negative colors with Cueball and the text in white on a black background.]

Cueball: We can make it Saturday forever.

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Discussion

I usually start spewing this kind of nonsense when I lose track of what I'm saying in a speech. Who needs scripts? Davidy²²[talk] 13:35, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Since I am not well read regarding James Garfield's speeches perhaps this is an effort to point out that James Garfield's speeches were less compelling than the desire to avoid Monday's and how lasagna makes everything better.?66.88.136.254 20:10, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

How can you make the statement "abolish the work week entirely, the economy would collapse within twenty four hours." This is unsupported by any kind of evidence. Many countries don't have a 40 hour work week, and it is becoming rarer in the US as well. Even if everyone stopped working tomorrow, it wouldn't collapse the system because it would be like a holiday. Are you assuming the abolition of the work week would mean no one works, or that it would be replaced by an inferior system that collapses the economy? Neither seems rather realistic. 63.149.29.1 21:15, 11 October 2013 (UTC) Robert

Missed Source

Hi There, I just went random on xkcd and noted that one first time... But I know the concept from a book: Sam Small flies again by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Knight ... One of the stories is about Sam Small deciding that it is now Saturday... on and on and on... Funny story, should not miss here...141.101.93.49 14:19, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't think it's a reference. The joke is that Garfield (the character) hates Mondays. 108.162.237.89 02:09, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I have watched the Garfield Movie, and this speech seems very similar to one made in the movie. I recommend that someone looks into that. 162.158.79.23 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Looks as if Garfield the president was shot on a Saturday (July 2, 1881) and died on a Monday (September 19, 1881). In between he probably wasn't a big fan of Saturdays, hard to say what his final take on Mondays was. Assuming that after being shot the president indeed disliked Saturdays and assuming that being dead is worse than being shot, the cat was right then; Mondays are worse. MK