Funny / Housepets!

This is why he bought that aspirin factory.

These are some Funny Animals in more than one sense.

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• This humorous strip counts as the second leg of a Chekhov's Gag. In an earlier comic in this “Imaginate!” arc, Grape pretends to be “The Weather Wizard, Ruler of This Land” and she and Peanut make it rain by pouring water over a running ceiling fan. When their pet parents discover the water covering the living room floor, they shout “WHO DUMPED WATER ALL OVER THE LIVING ROOM?!” — the two pets freezing in fear with their fur standing on end.
• The arc titled "The Game" is a source of comedy:
  • Grape tries to confront the other neighborhood dogs (who have pushed Peanut into participating in their absurd notion of "The Game") by trying to approach it in reasoned fashion. It backfires spectacularly here, as the dogs just double down on nonsensical reasons to continue playing, and furthermore eye Grape with suspicion.
  • Grape's attempt to get the neighborhood dogs to drop "The Game" backfires so badly that she is chased up a tree here.
  • The arc nears conclusion when the neighborhood dogs try to cut down the tree in which they've cornered Grape here. It's a Pyrrhic victory at best for the pooches, as Grape ends up on a garage roof and the tree topples over onto the chainsaw-wielding dogs.
• A touch of Mood Whiplash from action/adventure to comedy is seen in the arc "A Sinister Shadow": When police officer Fido is chasing Joel, his tag-along mouse friend Spo appears to be a touch too eager to see the situation escalate to violence:
  Spo: THIS IS EXCITING AND ALSO AWESOME Are you gonna go all COPS on him when you catch up? PLEASE TELL ME THERE WILL BE BLOOD
  Fido: THIS IS WHY I DON'T LET YOU TAG ALONG ON MY SHIFT
• In this strip, King (a human who has been transformed into a dog) absent-mindedly gets himself ready for the day in human fashion while half-asleep. He first brushes his teeth, then starts shaving his face — forgetting he now has a faceful of fur — startling himself awake when he cuts himself in the process.
• This comic mixes elements of Tear Jerker, Heartwarming, and Black Comedy. Sasha has been locked out of the house in the cold by her owner, but somehow manages to make light of the situation in Gallows Humor fashion.
  Sasha: Oh boy! It'll be just like a sleepover! Except without beds or pillows and its freezing cold and there's no food!
• At the end of "Imaginate, Too", when Grape and Peanut are talking through things, Peanut's reactions to what she knows about his crush on her are priceless. First, he freezes up when he finds out she knows about it in the first place. Then he gets an epic full-face Luminescent Blush when she reveals he re-colored the picture he took of Fido and Sabrina to look like them.
  Second comic's title: Also Stripe, I mean seriously...
• The beginning of King and Bailey's relationship starts with a corny pick-up line — and after some consideration, results in a welcoming response that comes as a humorous surprise.
  King: Hey Bailey, I have a hypothetical
  Bailey: Question? Go ahead
  King: How would you approach someone who would make your life the happiest of any dog on the planet?
  (Bailey scrunches her eyebrows in contemplation)
  Bailey (dragging King off by his collar): Let's snuggle
  King: BE GENTLE!
• Peanut's obsession with games hits a hilarious extreme. When the dog sees Grape playing a video game, he gives her increasingly frenzied advice on strategy, culminating in his grabbing the cat by the throat and vigorously shaking her.
  Peanut: GET THE THIIIIING!
  Grape: ACK!
• The moment of heartwarming, when Fox apologizes to Grape for his earlier stupid behavior after she saves him and Max from an alligator, resolves with a comedic tough-guy verbal exchange as they hug. Fox is still crying gratefully.
  Fox: If this gets on the Internet I'll kick you into next week.
  Grape: You and what army, punk?
• Bruce and Roosevelt watch the Super Bowl together... though it's clear they prefer the supposedly more manly Australian Rules Football.
  Bruce: ...even if it is the sissy American version
  Roosevelt: COME ON, KICK HIM IN THE SHINS!
• Squeak prevents her and Spo from being eaten by one of the Bigglesworths by squicking them out with her foot fetish.
  Mr. Bigglesworth: [stomps Squeak] Gotcha!
  Squeak: Ooh, you have really strong toes... press a little deeper, hon, I can take it...
  Mr. Bigglesworth: Okay I could stand to go on a diet of cold showers.
  Spo: I am both impressed and appalled. I am impalled.
• Max's jealousy of the musclebound Jata (who he notices Grape is ogling) is a source of comedy:
  • Here, Max is seen pleading fervently in hopes of being transformed instantly into a buffed-up hunk.
    Maxwell (to Kevin): I'm not a praying cat, but I know when I require the assistance of a higher power. I cannot go on living in a perpetual second place! So please, I beg of you, CHISEL ME INTO A MIGHTY STONE GOD!
  • At arc's end, Max crows about his alleged manlier physique after barely doing anything — and Grape affectionately humors him.
    Grape: Oh Maxie, I'd think you were pathetic if you weren't so adorable.
    Maxwell: Careful babe, Geneva declared possession of these guns a war crime.
• When "Four Finger Discount" Jack finally decides to pay a fine accrued for running a black market scam, he brings cash and his bill, but offers up far more money than the fine charged here. When the clerk points this out, it turns out he's addressing Jack's accompanying lawyer, who replies "Look, math is hard!"
• Grape inability to control her feelings of attraction around well-muscled males is invariably Played for Laughs.
  • Jata, a buff leopard, brings out shameless gawking in Grape (complete with little hearts for eyes) here. And here, Grape passes out in delirious shock when Jata flexes his muscles and bursts out of his jacket and shirt.
  • When the king cat Ptah suddenly and magically bulks himself up here, Grape's collar pops off in lustful surprise.
  • Grape's ogling isn't confined to male felines, either. In this strip, she is heavily distracted when the well-chiseled pooch Mungo walks behind her wearing just a towel.
    Max: [who has just finished producing a long, uninterrupted spiel about acknowledging your lover's sexual turn-ons even if you don't possess them] Grape, feel free to chime in at any time.
    Grape: What were we talking about?
• Fido finally admitting his love for Sabrina on live television is both a Wham Line, a Heartwarming Moment, and a mild Tear Jerker all in one. What makes it hilarious is that everyone's response is as surprised as one would expect them to be... except for Grape, Peanut, and Tarot (three of the pets who already knew) and don't seem to care at all. There's also Bino's "I Knew It!", followed by Duchess's rebuttal question as to why he was watching a cat wedding in the first place — followed by his resultant lack of response.
• This comic ends with King realizing that his wedding will have rivals sitting across the aisle from each other, with the feral wolves on one side and the police dogs on the other. He's legitimately worried that a brawl or similar trouble may ensue (though in fact, the ceremony comes off without a hitch).
  King: Right, the police off—
  (King realizes what that means)
  King:...we're going to have feral wolves directly across the aisle from police dogs?!
  Keene: Look, worst comes to worst, the America's Funniest Videos winnings should cover the deposit
• The nonsensical ending to Peanut's ultimate mash-up Christmas play. George Bailey reveals that the Sword of Kringle is actually the Christmas spirit that was in the Grinch all along. He then pulls said Christmas spirit out of the Grinch, cuts off his head with it, and takes the throne of Santa while the rest of the cast chant his praises. The best part is the Reaction Shot of the audience, split between enthusiastically clapping wolves and humans struggling to figure out what they just watched.
• When King and Bailey's pups arrived, King was doing perfectly fine (only incredible pride and Tears of Joy) until someone (probably Elaine) joked about squeezing his wife to make sure there were none left. It was then that he fainted.
• Sasha horribly butchers the lyrics to "Auld Lang Syne" in this comic.
  Should old acquaintance be forgot and never thought to dine
  Should olden maintenance be forgot, an owl gang sign
  For Owl Gang Signs hoo hoo, for Owl Gang Signs
  We'll knock the feathers off your tail throwing Owl Gang Signs

• The plot of "Save the Date, Part 2": Grape and Peanut are babysitting King and Bailey's pups, and practically run themselves ragged because they forgot if King and Bailey had three^note which they did or four.
  Peanut: We're bad puppysitters!
  Grape: Speak for yourself!
  (all three puppies are on the couch, playing)
• Grape witnesses Rufus kissing Maxwell on the cheek before he returns to Heaven. She is all too eager to find out what's up between the two of them while getting a leering grin on her face — one that puts shame to even Maxwell's most demonstrative examples.
  Maxwell: Would you stop looking at me like that!
  Grape: Not until I get so many details.
• Peanut's behavior during the "No Time for Hot Springs!" arc, where he's hopped up on calming treats from the medicine cabinet, is a gold mine of humor:
  • For a change, Peanut isn't the one to wake up Grape from her nap when the spa rolls into Babylon Gardens here, as he's too subdued from his calming treats.
    Peanut: Hey Grape, something surprising is happening outside.
    Grape: I know, it woke me up... Why aren't you freaking out like usual?
    Peanut: I got bored, and it turns out there's a reason Mom only gives me one treat at a time from the medicine cabinet supply.
  • Peanut spends the entire arc clearly high as a kite.
    Tarot: Peanut, I can't believe how well-behaved you're being today
    Peanut: [dazedly] I am having an excellent time with all my friends
    Maxwell: What's his deal? He sounds like when I've had too much—
    Kevin: CANNONBALL!!!
    Maxwell: I was gonna say "catnip", but—
    (Kevin dives into the hot springs)
    Kevin: IT BURNS!!!
    Peanut: [dazedly] Yes, it is unpleasant if you go too fast. My eyeballs hurt.
  • Applies to Peanut's blankly non-committal reaction when Mungo and the other police dogs let slip that they're police. It's a Call-Back to the Guys and Dolls Imaginate.
    Peanut: [clapping his hands to his cheeks, but still in the same dazed tone] Oh no, everyone. It's the po-po. Scatter.
  • And after the calming treats wear off, Peanut is left with a headache. Tarot makes him some tea, but has to tell him it's a magic(k) potion before he'll drink it. Yup, back to normal.
• The usual D&D night is thwarted when Joey and Dallas decide to join Squeak at the portable spa Keene ordered the neighborhood, and Lester is left with "the new kid"...a.k.a. Great Kitsune. In the next strip, Lester arrives, only half an hour after Joey left. Kitsune has apparently usurped him as Game Master for their group after an unbelievably epic battle using his powers.
  Great Kitsune: He's just sore cause I insisted on playing a bard.
• Maxwell's getting prodded into telling the story behind his connection with Rufus has a few humorous aspects:
  • Here, Maxwell exasperatedly agrees to tell all to get his girlfriend Grape and his ex Sabrina to stop speculating that his connection to Rufus was an amorous one.
    Grape: Storytime! Tell us about you and Rufus!
    Maxwell: Uh, no?!
    Grape: Oh come on, I thought it was really sweet
    Peanut: Sto-ry! Sto-ry!
    Sabrina: I've never heard this story, so I'm ready
    Fido: What are we talking about?
    Sabrina: Ghost Dog kissed him
    Fido: REALLY?
    Maxwell: OKAY FINE JUST STOP RUMOR-MONGERING!!!
  • Once the tale is told, including some tear-jerking moments where Maxwell had to bug out because he felt some of his friends didn't care — and Grape and he discussed it (including a brief supernatural visit from Rufus) — Grape and Maxwell return to the onsen to find Peanut telling a super-embellished version of the tale to other neighborhood pets.
    Grape: What if your deeply personal story was instead adapted into an "inspired by true events" nine-part epic miniseries?
    Maxwell: I can live with that.
• Maxwell and Grape try to give Tarot an intervention regarding her controlling of Peanut — but Grape is distracted by a very buffed-up Mungo wearing just a towel.
• Tarot lets it slip that she's aware of the chemistry between Peanut and Grape... because of course she knows, since that's the whole reason she's involved with Peanut. What sells it is the smug look on Tarot's face.
  Maxwell: You know about this?!
  Tarot: Well I was a mind-reader.
• Here, Great Kitsune meddles in Peanut and Tarot's mushy moment, with the expression on Peanut's face showing the dog obviously wondering what, and how much, Kitsune saw.
  Great Kitsune: Hey is it talking about our feelings time cause I got opinions on ship—
  Tarot: OH MY DOG WE'RE TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE!
• King can identify if Marion is/was a human with a single question: "Can you hold up five fingers?" Marion instinctively holds up his entire hand before doing a Double Take. And when Marion admits he was up until 3 AM playing Overwatch the night before his transformation, King remarks that this also proves he was human.
• Lois has an interesting tactic to get Poncho to tell her and Marion where Thomas is kept: petting him.
  Lois: My gosh, you're adorable.
  Marion: HEY!
• When Marion and Bobcat Lois go to confront Keene, Poncho tries to stop them, leading to a Failed Attempt at Drama from Lois.
  Lois: Poncho, it's entirely possible you might be a part of this but don't know it. Either way, we'd be better served going right to the top, so stand out of our way!
  [Cut to Lois sitting in her car with a deadpan "you've got to be kidding me" expression as she realises she's too short to reach the pedals or see over the dashboard]
  Poncho: Do you need a ride?
  Lois: (Plants her face on the steering wheel and sighs) Yes.
  Alt Text: hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonk
• When they are riding on Poncho's moped, with Lois having to hold onto Poncho, Marion's jealousy gets amped up:
  Marion: So what's the deal with you and the wolf? You on a hugging basis now?
  Lois: Marion, you don't have to be jealous.
  Marion: Well, forgive me, but ever since I woke up as a squirrel, half of what I've worried about is that you'd decide I'm not worth it anymore!
  Lois: I think we can both agree that, at this point, we're in for a penny, in for a pound.
  Marion: That's easy to say when you're the pound and I'm the penny!
• The "Be Mine" arc has a lot of such moments:
  • When King gets stuck boarding Sasha after she gets emancipated from her previous owner and put in the ECP, she says she never thanked King for making her dog house. He becomes nervous, thinking she's going to smooch him (like she did Fox before). But it turns out Sasha is thinking of something far more mundane — King's height disadvantage.
    Sasha: You know, I never thanked you for building that refuge in the forest.
    King: I did do that, didn't I?
    Sasha: [getting closer to him] Mmhmm, I was there recently and it reminded me of you.
    King: [blushing nervously] Uhh... how so?
    Sasha: It made me think, "Wow, this entrance is about King's height, I wonder if he forgot I was taller than him"
    King: You'd think the topical whiplash would help, but it really doesn't
  • There's another Bait-and-Switch moment after King gets roped into giving Sasha a bath. He totally misinterprets things when she says she wants his puppies. Turns out she's not coming on to him — she just wishes she could take his current litter of youngsters home with her.
    King: Okay, Sasha. For anything else we need to find a comfortable middle! You know I'm a married dog!
    Sasha: Of course, silly!
    King: Good! KEEPING THAT IN MIND, what else can I do for you?
    Sasha: I want your puppies!
    King: WHAT?! (faints)
    Sasha: [holding Rook] Your puppies are so cute! I could just take them with me! EEEE!
    Bailey: King, we're home, hi Sasha!
  • Eventually, Bailey says it's okay if King cuddles with Sasha, as she trusts him not to take it further. Cue King nervously wide awake while sandwiched between a sleeping Bailey and Sasha.
  • After Sasha gets a bit too close for comfort while sleeping, King decides he needs a shower, preferring not sleeping as much as possible (remembering not needing to after his and Bailey's pups were born) as opposed to any embarrassing situations with Sasha. But while he's in the shower, a shadowy figure with a familiar hairdo appears behind the shower curtain, eerily reminiscent of the shower murder scene in Psycho.
    King: Do I hear violin stings?^note It's "stings" in the original, not "strings"
  • Sure enough, in the next comic, Sasha "attacks" King with a scrub brush, again mirroring in more mundane fashion the murder scene in Psycho. There's a further reference made to Martin Balsam, who plays another murder victim in this Alfred Hitchcock movie.
    Sasha: Kingy! Taking a shower without letting me return the favor, how bad of you!
    King: Just let me die here, and transition to Martin Balsam.
  • In the end, King tries to tell Sasha that she needs to respect the boundaries of his relationship with Bailey. Sasha doesn't understand... until Natalie chimes in and tells her he's verbally nipping her for getting too close. Funny thing is, Bailey suggested doing exactly that in the previous comic.
    Sasha: Ohhh, why didn't you say so!
  • At the end of the arc, Kevin comes to stay at the house, and King hopes this will make things less awkward. Cut to King once again lying wide awake, this time sandwiched between Bailey and Kevin.
• When Fido mentions being bored, Sabrina knaws on a bone suggestively here. He misinterprets this as a cue to engage in some "stress eating" to cope.
• The Jurassic Park Imaginate is full of them:
  • Olive and Rook Gender Flip the central roles of Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, and Olive gets a bit too into her role:
    Rook/Sattler: Hey Alan, if you wanted to scare the kid you could've pulled a gun on him.
    Olive/Grant: GREAT IDEA! (grabs a toy gun and cocks it)
  • And then there's Maxwell playing Ian Malcolm in the only way anyone can possibly imagine:
    Max/Malcolm: So, ah, you two, um, uh, dig up, ah, dig up dinosaurs?
    Rook/Sattler: Why are you pausing so much?
    Grape/Hammond: You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm. He suffers from a deplorable excess of "acting like Jeff Goldblum".
  • When Ace and Draig are brought in as Dr. Hammond's grandchildren, Grape/Hammond mentions their parents are getting a divorce. Ace gets sad, thinking she meant her real parents, King and Bailey.
    Max/Malcolm: You brought your grandkids?
    Grape/Hammond: Have a heart! Their parents are getting a divorce and they need the diversion
    Ace/Tim Murphy: (tearing up) They are?
    Draig/Lex Murphy: Shh, it's pretend.
  • When Craig-as-Nedry tries to escape from the Dilophosaurus (played by Rockstar Hawk):
    Craig/Nedry: Hah! Let's see you unlock doors, you overgrown chicken!
    (what chicken appears behind him, wielding a crowbar.)
    Craig/Nedry: AAAAAAAAH!
  • As in the film, Ace/Tim gets shocked on the electric fence. The next time we see her, her fur is fluffed out, with static charges flying off her.
• In this strip, Grape gets Mistaken for Pregnant because she ate a ton of ice cream. She does not take Maxwell's clueless insinuation well.
  King: [while looking at a empty bucket of ice cream] You weren't feeding the pups ice cream, were you?
  Maxwell: Oh, no, for some reason Grape ended up eating most of these.
  King: [leans close to Maxwell] She's not... "Eating for two", is she?
  Maxwell: Come on! I think I'd know! [Turns to Grape who has been behind him the whole time, squinting] ...Are you?
  KER-SLAM
  Maxwell: [on the ground after being body-slammed] Well that's a relief.
• Lois and Marion decide to snuggle and smooch. In walks Sasha while they're kissing, wielding a broom at them to break them up, fully misinterpreting what's going on:
  Sasha: FRIENDS NOT FOOD FRIENDS NOT FOOD!!
  Marion: SASHA, IT'S OKAY! SASHA!
• Negabreel tries to follow Keene and Breel home by riding under their car, but speed bumps and Keene's driving make it an uncomfortable ride. Then when they arrive at the house...
  Keene: "Any landing you can walk away from-"
  Breel: I suspect this machine was never meant to fly, though.
• Breel and Keene try to escape from Negabreel with humorous results:
  • The pair's attempt at evading from Negabreel leads to them falling out a window. Breel lands safely in a bush... but Keene lands on an air conditioning unit.
    Breel: Hey, that wasn't so bad!
    Keene: Ow.
  • Immediately afterward, Karishad arrives with a ladder — having obviously removed it right when it was needed most for a window escape.
    Karishad: I finished fixing the phones, did you need this ladder for anything?
• While Todd's apparent death doesn't sound like it should be funny, the sheer Mood Whiplash of the moment and the other characters' Stunned Silence make it a great piece of Black Comedy.