Garfield / Tropes D to G

D

• Dagwood Sandwich:
  • These things can be dangerous!
  • Another time, he made one so long that it extended across the street.
  • And during one April Fools' Day, Garfield came across◊ the Trope Namer himself making one.
    Dagwood: (to the audience while holding one of his sandwiches) Making sandwiches is an art, and I am an artist! (Garfield walks up to him)
    Dagwood: Hey, who are you?
    Garfield: A patron of the arts. (while patting his now-full stomach)
• Damned By a Fool's Praise: Anything Jon likes is subject to this. Jon has ridiculously weird taste in things and tends to purchase things on impulse, then almost immediately forget he had those things upon obtaining them.
  • There's a comic strip where Garfield is watching an infomercial for something unknown but so bad that he can't help complaining endlessly. Jon walks by and tells Garfield he has three of the product.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes once tactfully described Garfield as "consistent."
• Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: In a July 1982 arc, Garfield goes around prowling at night. The week ends with him back at home, wondering what he should do that weekend. Turning on the lights and shocked by the brightness, he resigns, "I think I'll just sit around and blink a lot."
• Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone at some point, though Garfield is the most prominent. Special mention must be given to the bathroom scale ("You know those two pounds you lost last week? They are back with reinforcements"; "Let me put it this way... Have you ever considered a career as a river barge?").
• Deep-Fried Whatever: "If it ain't deep-fried, it ain't worth eating."
• Delayed Reaction:
  • In one strip, Jon has just woken up when Garfield pops out of his dresser to scare him. Jon walks away, gets coffee, and comes back before he screams in fright.
  • This strip shows Garfield's reaction to Nermal's Stealth Insult in this fashion.
    Nermal: It's too bad that cute isn't contagious. *leaves*
    Garfield: Why would you say tha- HEY!
• Demoted to Extra: Almost all of the supporting cast (particularly Arlene, Nermal and Jon's family) hardly appear in the 2010s.
• Depending on the Artist: Ever since the strip went to being in color every day, there's been little to no consistency on the palette of Jon's house, wardrobe, etc. This also applies to the older strips, which were colored retroactively with just as little regard for consistency.
  • This even seems to extend to the point of things sometimes being colored some shade that makes no sense whatsoever; for instance, the bushes outside of Jon's house are sometimes bizarre colors such as orange or pink.
• Depraved Dentist: This strip's "Beware of Dog" signs read "Beware of the dog" who somehow managed to get dentistry tools.
  Dog: Next.
• Desert Skull: In one sequence, Jon brings home one of these, which Garfield then puts on Odie, while Jon talks to his mother about it.
  • Jon also has one under his bed as a example of how rarely he cleans.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Garfield once caught a bird and attempted to throw it up in the air and catch it in his mouth, completely forgetting that birds can fly.
  • When one of Garfield's shows is interrupted for breaking news, he calls a television station to give them a piece of his mind. The plan goes sour when he forgets that all he can say is "Meow".
  • In a similar strip, Garfield hears about a radio station contest offering a new house for the first caller to answer a question. When he discovers that "Meow" is the answer, he gets through and wins the prize. Garfield is thrilled...until he finds that he has to give his name and address over the phone as well.
    Announcer: Uh, and how do you spell your name, Mr. AAARRRGGHH?
  • In one strip, when Garfield is about to eat a fish, it warns him that it'll call reinforcements if he comes closer. When he does, the fish calls a bunch of other fish in bowls. Garfield only considers this a sushi bar.
    Fish: That didn't have quite the effect I was hoping for.
  • Two alien snowmen invade Earth and melt before finishing their threat to "puny Earthling" Garfield.
    Garfield: Who schedules your invasions?
    Alien: Oh, shut up.
  • A bird tries to attack Garfield from behind and ends up being eaten by him.
    Garfield: I don't think he thought that through.
  • September 3, 1988: A mouse is loose and Jon wants Garfield to kill it by telling him to "act like a cat." We know what Jon means when he says this, but Garfield, thinking conversely, promptly falls asleep.
  • August 23, 1995: Garfield and Odie have a "Do-Nothing Contest," and Garfield tells Odie he's won. Upon hearing his victory, Odie gets up and cheers... and then Garfield wins.
  • During an arc where Garfield and Odie goes missing, Jon puts out an advertisement for help looking for them, with a promise of a big cash reward. However, since he didn't specify anything about his pets, all kinds of people come to his house with different animals claiming they're Garfield and Odie, hoping to get the cash that was advertised.
• Diet Episode: There are numerous strips about Garfield being put on a diet by Jon (or occasionally Liz). He never loses any weight.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: While talking to Liz on the phone, Jon says he lied about his past and had thousands of girlfriends.
  Jon: Okay, I'm still lying!
  Garfield: And the hole gets deeper.
• The Dinnermobile: In this comic, Garfield mistakes a hot dog truck for a giant hot dog. He feels rather silly when it proves inedible, but then decides to have "dessert" by doing the same thing to an ice cream truck.
• Dirty Old Woman: ”HEY WORLD! I'M TAKING A BATH! COME ON IN AND WATCH!" "I'll be right back." "I'm sure the man's joking, Reba." (September 16, 1984)
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Another "I wouldn't say you're fat" joke leads Garfield to look for... Hit men? In a phone book?
  • This strip has Jon throwing Garfield out the window (and it wasn't even open!) just because Garfield was making fun of his suit.
  • Garfield can give as good as he gets. Some of the cartoons have had him frame Jon for animal cruelty (usually by wearing a girdle so tightly it looks like he's starved thin) and get Jon arrested all for putting him on a diet.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe:
  • When Garfield and Jon are absent, Odie watches a documentary about Mozart, reads War and Peace and dresses like the dog from the trope page, pipe included.
  • Jon got a huge pipe and asked Garfield if that made him "look more sophisticated". It was a bubble pipe and Garfield replied, "Sadly enough, I have to agree".
    • Although in earlier strips, Jon did smoke a real pipe. This died out rather quickly.
  • Garfield while displaying a spider trophy.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Happens to Jon while riding his bicycle in this strip.
• Does Not Like Spam: Garfield really hates raisins. Doubles as Shown Their Work, as raisins can be fatally poisonous to cats in Real Life.
  • He also won't eat spinach, snails, mice, fruitcake, grapefruit, and certain brands of cat food, but other than that, he'll eat anything.
• Does This Make Me Look Fat?: During an Arbuckle Family Reunion, a woman asked if her pants made her hips look big and somebody answered "it's not the pants".
  • Jon made a phone call and was told to hold. When he told Garfield his call was "very important to them", Garfield said "and the check is in the mail, and this won't hurt a bit, and no, those pants don't make you look fat at all".
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • There was a strip in which Garfield got a lot of amusement out of scratching Odie's rear, because that made Odie become so excited that he jumped up and down. Garfield just kept scratching until poor Odie was in a frenzy. A few readers have noted that the gag looks suspiciously like a metaphor for something else...
  • Just look at the second-to-last panel.
  • Another beach one, with Jon wearing a flotation device with a very Freudian placement of the head....which the woman he asked to "go boogieboarding" leaves in a much lower, more flaccid state when she turns him down....
• A Dog Ate My Homework:
  • In this strip Garfield passes by a dog, who holds a sign saying: "Will eat homework for food".
  • In another strip, Jon goes to a class reunion, and meets his old English teacher, Mrs. Fronzak:
    Jon: What are you doing at the class reunion?
    Mrs. Fronzak: Waiting on that overdue term paper, Jonny.
    Jon: My, uh, cat ate it!
    Garfield: Leave me out of this!
  • Garfield also finds out that this is actually a very lucrative business for dogs.
  • A dog has a signboard reading "will eat homework for food".
  • When asked if dogs really eat homework, Odie eats the piece of paper with the question.
  • The old Garfield website had a section about excuses for forgetting your homework. One of them depicted Odie eating some papers, followed by a Venus flytrap eating Odie. The caption was "My dog ate it, and then my science fair project ate my dog."
  • When a nine-year-old asks why his dog won't eat his homework, Odie (via Garfield) suggests he try dipping sauces.
  • When Odie receives a letter asking him how to get more fiber in the sender's diet, he barks an answer that Garfield translates as "eat more homework".
  • Someone sends Odie a letter asking if he can help with a book report on beagles and Odie barks a reply that Garfield translates as "Only if you want someone to eat it".
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • Garfield had a few laughs at Nermal's expense in this strip, but Nermal got the last word. In another comic, Garfield has a nightmare about a super-sized Nermal beating him up after he refuses to share his food.
  • In one strip, Odie turns to Garfield and actually talks, giving him a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech and chewing him out for all the abuse he's put up with over the years. Garfield wakes up, revealing it was all a dream and goes to kick Odie like always, when Odie gives him the strangest smirk...
  • Jim Davis has admitted that since most of the humor is derived from Garfield pranking, or downright abusing, Jon and Odie, he'll occasionally draw a strip where Odie, Jon, or both, will pull a fast one on Garfield to break the monotony.
  • A spider, presumably one of those that Garfield smacks often, gets some payback on Garfield in this strip.
    Spider: Revenge is mine!
• A Dog Named "Dog": Conversed in an early strip, where Lyman said that he grew up with four cats all named Cat, because there's no point in naming an animal that won't come when you call it.
• Dogs Are Dumb: While Odie is the most obvious example, other dogs in the strip, while generally more intelligent than Odie, are still quite dim-witted compared to Garfield.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Jon Arbuckle's brother hates being called "Doc Boy". Unfortunately, their Dad likes to call them and their mother "Jon Boy", "Mom Boy" and "Doc Boy".
• Don't Answer That: Garfield says this to his mirror after asking it who's the cutest cat and then seeing Nermal walk in.
• Don't Explain the Joke: In April 26,2012, a spider about to be swatted said it was okay as long as Garfield didn't sit on it and then explained he said it because Garfield was fat.
• Don't Tell Mama: Jon was at Irma's Diner and she pointed out he didn't eat the vegetables. He sarcastically asked if she'd tell his mother. When she said that she would, he quickly started eating them. Garfield told Irma to tell Jon's mother he ate the dessert first.
• Don't Try This at Home: Garfield readies himself for a 20-hour nap and tells the readers "Remember, I'm a professional. Don't try this at home".
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: This strip has Odie wake Garfield up with a bark, causing Garfield to jump in shock and bump his head onto the ceiling. The result is implied to have ended badly for Odie.
  Jon: You're up.
  Garfield: And Odie's on a bus bound for Nome.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Two cops seeing Jon, Garfield and Odie's antics.
  Bubba's partner: I'd say they've at least broken at least three city ordinances. Right, Bubba?
  Bubba: I didn't see nothin'. Let's get a doughnut.
• Doom It Yourself:
  • This occurred in one strip when Jon and Doc tried setting up some Christmas lights when Jon visited the family farm for the holidays. They ended up both getting entangled in the lights:
    Jon's Dad: What am I going to do with you two?
    Garfield: Why don't you plug them in?
  • Jon walks in, a bruised and disheveled mess:
    Jon: I got the Christmas lights up.
    Garfield: I know. I saw it on the evening news.
  • Jon has had a lot of these. In one strip, Garfield puts toast in the toaster and wonders if Jon's fixed it. Cue the toast flying out of the toaster, ricocheting off of every wall in the house, chasing Jon and Odie and finally crashing into something off-screen. Did Jon fix the toaster? "Yup."
• The Door Slams You: Has occurred to Garfield at least once. Not surprisingly, on a Monday.
• Dope Slap: Garfield does these frequently to Jon.
• Dork in a Sweater: Jon sometimes becomes a fashion victim, and a few of those occasions have involved sweaters.
• Double Entendre: "Wanna pet my parrot?" (said to a woman). Even Jim Davis pointed out in a compilation how risqué that one is.
• Down on the Farm: Jon takes Garfield to his parents' farm from time to time. One notable instance was during Christmas, as covered by one of his TV specials.
• Downer Ending: The April 17, 2022 strip gives a bad ending to Garfield.^note  To elaborate: Garfield is thoroughly annoyed with a fly that keeps buzzing around him and won't leave him alone, and all of Garfield's efforts in swatting it amounts to swatting air instead, so he decides to don a fly costume in the hope of sneaking up on the fly. The attempt, however, draws the attention of a large swarm of spiders, which promptly traps him in their spider silk. To add insult to injury, the fly Garfield intended to lure with his costume comes back to annoy him yet again with the buzzing at the end, after Garfield is immobilized and the spiders had already left.
• Dripping Disturbance: Garfield faces this occasionally. First he turns the shower head upside down to stop the dripping, only for it to keep dripping even upside-down, then he notices it as one of the sounds commonly heard at night and then he stops the faucet from dripping by using Jon's toe.
• Drive-Thru Antics:
  • February 6, 1998: Jon orders from a drive-thru and asks Garfield what he wants. Garfield answers, "One of those [order] boxes right next to my bed!"
  • July 26, 1998: Jon has trouble with the automated order box.
    Order window: May I help you?
    Jon: Two Happy Burgers and two fries, please.
    Order window: Would you like a Happy Burger today?
    Jon: Yes, I want two Happy Burgers.
    Order window: Any fries with that?
    Jon: Yes, two fries!
    Order window: OK, how about some Happy Burgers?
    Garfield: Ain't technology great?
    Jon: TWO BURGERS! TWO FRIES!
    Order window: May I help you?
  • April 13, 2000: Jon is refused from ordering "Happy Burgers" because he isn't happy. The drive-thru attendant suggests that he get "Grumpy Burgers" and "Rude Fries" instead.
  • November 12, 2013: At the drive-thru with Jon, Garfield is confused for a "fat lady in a fur coat". He knocks the head of the order box clean off.
• Droste Image: Done in the logo box of this strip.
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: Liz, of all people, pulls this on Jon here.

E

• Early-Bird Cameo: Bertha makes an appearance in the background at a laundromat just 10 days before she appears as Jon's blind date.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: During the first few years, the strip barely resembled itself. By the mid-1980s, it settled into its style that it has more or less held to this day.
  • Garfield had a larger, more lumpy design and was almost always seen on all fours.
  • Jon was more of an everyman instead of a loser, and he was also a cartoonist who smoked a pipe. The cartoonist thing does get brought up every now and then in the comics and is a more prominent element in the adaptations.
  • Jon gets a roommate early on in the series named Lyman. Many of Jon's early interactions are with Lyman instead of Garfield. Odie is introduced as Lyman's dog until Lyman mysteriously fades out of the comic, and Odie becomes Jon's by default.
  • The humor was often topical in nature. Early strips reference Weight Watchers, bachelor magazines, college football, The Mickey Mouse Club, Labor Day, Milk Duds candies, and other things that would largely be familiar only to American audiences. They also feature a range of '70s and '80s slang and trends such as Lyman donning a white disco suit in an early strip. Some strips had wordplay and puns (such as Garfield calling a diet "'die' with a T" and Lyman quipping that his motivation to view a film where a boy places a tack on his teacher's chair lay in his liking for films where "the boy gets the girl in the end"). By the early 1980s, the topical references and wordplay were largely abandoned in order to make the strip more marketable in other countries.
  • The strip's art style was vastly different during the first few months of its run, with more bizarre proportioned character designs (Odie's elongated neck and Jon's more bizarrely elongated face) indicating a more caricature-focused approach than successive years and elaborate use of detail/shading. By 1980, the strip had largely settled into a flatter and more laconic style, which in turn elapsed into a wackier and more perspective-based aesthetic (one largely retained by the strip until its transition into computerized drawing in 2011) by 1985.
  • In one early strip, Garfield admits to liking Mondays because he doesn't have to work. In another relatively early strip, the "unfortunate" thing that happened to him on a Monday was sleeping through the entirety of it.
  • Odie has a "thought bubble" (saying "I'm hungry!") in a 1980 strip. He would thereafter remain mute.
• Ear Worm: This strip has Jon whistling a melody which Garfield then finds unable to get out of his head… until he whistles it into Odie's ear, causing it to get stuck in Odie's head.
• Easter Egg: The strip seen here seems to be nothing more than a lame attempt by Garfield to brag about how lazy he is... unless you actually look up the strip on the day (twenty-four years previous!) he's referring to.
• Eek, a Mouse!!:
  Mouse: Your owner doesn't seem to like us.
  Garfield: Well, he's got this thing about mice...
  Mouse: You mean the part where he stands on a chair and screams?
  Garfield: That too.
  • Jon did it the first time, and was appalled at Garfield's reaction.
  • Garfield jumped on Jon in this one.
  • Garfield did it in consideration for the mouse's birthday.
  • Jon yelled "Eeeeeeek!" then he said "Um... I mean, get the mouse." Garfield said it'd go into his blog.
• Elderly Future Fantasy:
  • This strip has Jon talking to Garfield saying as someone gets older, their ears and nose grow in size. Both Jon and Garfield then fantasize over their much older versions of themselves and being horrified of their bigger noses and ear before agreeing they will never grow old.
  • Another has Garfield and Odie as older versions of themselves. Odie sneezes, making him lose his teeth. Garfield laughs at him, only for Garfield to lose his teeth. Both put each other's teeth in their mouths, and spit them out after realizing they both have the wrong teeth. It's then shown that it was a dream Garfield is having. He then checks Odie's teeth, much to his relief that it was just a dream.
• Eleventy Zillion: From the aforementioned zipper strip: "Take a gander at this outfit. It has six gajillion zippers!"
• Embarrassing Nickname: Doc, Jon's farmhand brother, whom Jon always calls "Doc Boy". Still better than "Iguana Gums".
• Embarrassing Pyjamas: In this comic, Jon gets locked outside in his bunny pyjamas. And Garfield refuses to let him back in before everybody can see it.
• Encouraged Regifting: This strip features a mouse giving Garfield an early birthday present. Once Garfield figures out it's cheese, the mouse asks "Care to share?".
• Enemy Mine: After being driven crazy by a fly for a few days, Garfield is desperate enough to ally with a spider to get rid of it.
• Epic Fail:
  • Garfield attempts to kill a spider by closing a window on it. It doesn't go well.
  • Jon bought a set of weights for his workout. He "can't get them out of the car".
  • This, also a case of Tempting Fate.
  • Jon's attempt to wrap a gift ends with him covered in tape and the gift still unwrapped.
  • Odie tries to bury a bone but ends up burying himself instead.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: A famous multi-week story arc had him meet his mother in a touching reunion. This story was adapted for the television special Garfield On The Town.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: Used in the Halloween 1989 story arc.
• Every Man Has His Price: In this case, the "man" is a talking scale. Upon weighing himself in the April 14, 2022 strip, Garfield attempts to bribe the talking scale into lying about the result for him, but the scale refuses. Garfield promptly names his bribe of choice, which gets the scale to oblige.
  Garfield: If you give me a good number, I'll make it worth your while.
  Scale: You can't bribe me!
  Garfield: Two words: unlimited batteries.
  Scale: Hellooooo, SKINNY!
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Jon spent all morning writing a love sonnet and then the computer crashed. Actually, it didn't. "Even the Internet has its standards".
  • Garfield has no problem with hunting animals for food, but got upset with Jon's family turning his pet chicken Nadine into soup because he considered her family.
  • Garfield is considering cheating on his diet. He decides to stick to his diet when Arlene asks if he wants a share of a rat she's having.
• "Everyone Is Gone" Episode: One mini-arc in 1989 where all of a sudden Garfield woke up alone in an abandoned house. After several days, it was revealed that it was All Just a Dream of Garfield stuck in an Alternate Timeline where he never existed, and he woke up overjoyed upon seeing Jon and Odie again.
• Every Pizza Is Pepperoni: Whenever the titular character is shown eating pizza, it's always a pepperoni pizza.
• Evil Laugh: One strip has Garfield squish a spider with a rolled up newspaper, when:
  Spider: He he he he...
  Garfield: That's not good.
• Evil Lawyer Joke:
  • A spider showed up with a lawyer and a restraining order against Garfield, who was smiling because he'd "never squished a lawyer".
  • Garfield is about to watch a movie titled "The Giant Bloodsucking Leech Versus a Personal Injury Attorney".
    Garfield: This one could go either way.
• Evil Twin: When Jon tells Garfield Santa Claus has been watching him, he wrote a letter suggesting Santa might have seen his evil twin.
• Exact Words:
  • "We'll be back after a word from our sponsor." "Sasquatch." "And we're back."
  • Jon tells Garfield that he can have "one bite of lasagna and that's it". Garfield then proceeds to eat the rest of the lasagna in one bite.
  • Jon once wanted to take Garfield for a trip but Garfield didn't want to get inside the kitty carrier. Jon was quite clear: "Before we go on this trip, one of us is going to have to get into this kitty carrier". Naturally, Garfield then stuffed Jon inside.
  • Last helping. Jon took the last helping of lasagna and allowed Garfield to do whatever he wished with the pan. Garfield hit Jon with it.
  • Jon told Garfield not to scare him from behind. Garfield scared him while facing him.
  • Jon told Garfield not to kick Odie off the table. Garfield kicked him to it.
  • Jon told Garfield not to take the lid off a cookie jar. Garfield then turned the jar upside down and "took the jar off the lid".
  • Jon told Garfield not to set foot on Mrs. Feeny's property again. He later had to tell him to get his toe out.
  • Jon asked Liz out for a date and she said she'd think about it after wheeling Garfield to X-Ray. Then she thought and answered "no".
  • Jon told Garfield not to hit him "in the face with that pie". Result: "pie down the pants".
  • Garfield was drinking coffee when Odie made a "yip" sound at him. Garfield told Odie not to do that and then Odie barked.
  • Jon told Garfield not to destroy the couch. Result: "Destroyed everything but the couch, right?"
  • Garfield's idea of breakfast in bed is to have his bed filled with breakfast.
  • Jon warns Garfield that his hamburger better be on his plate when he comes back. Garfield eats the burger and sits on the plate.
  • Jon attempts to teach Garfield self-control by putting a box of kitty treats in front of him while he's sitting in the living room and tells him not to take the treats. He leaves the room, telling him the treats still better be there. Jon peeks and sees everything in the living room gone, except for the treats.
  • Jon asks Garfield to get up and do something. Garfield gets up... and scares Jon with a frightening face.
    Jon: Don't ever do that again!
    Garfield: I can't win.
  • Garfield claims that an evening inside a warm house while it's snowing outside is perfect for "curling up with a good book". The strip ends with him curling up on top of a book.
  • Garfield states that he's saving the cookie he's holding for later. He eats it soon afterwards.
    Garfield: Late enough.
  • Jon tells Garfield that it's "time to get up". Garfield gets up... still asleep.
  • Jon states that he has put a bell around Garfield's neck to allow him to tell where Garfield is. It turns out that he has Garfield wrapped with a rope around a bell that's bigger than Garfield.
  • Garfield demands an apology from a talking scale for calling him fat.
    Talking Scale: You're fat!
    Garfield: I demand an apology!
    Talking Scale: Okay, I'm sorry that you're fat!
  • The September 26, 2021 strip combines with trope with Tempting Fate. Garfield goes outside, sees a leaf from a tree turning orange, points at said leaf, and saying in a commanding tone: "I am not ready for autumn yet. Do not fall off that tree!" Cue all other leaves from that tree falling on top of him.
  • In the April 19, 2022 strip, Garfield claims that he needs "to get away from it all". Then he lies down just outside the house.
    Garfield: This is far enough.
  • Garfield is dangling off a tree again in the October 5, 2022 strip. Upon seeing Odie walking below, he calls out: "Odie! Do something!" Odie walks toward the tree... and Garfield panics with an Oh, Crap! expression.
    Garfield: No! No! Not that!
  • In the June 10, 2023 strip, Garfield says he's "a very fast typist". After Jon reads what Garfield typed, Garfield points out he "said fast, not good".
  • In the June 11, 2023 strip, Garfield burps at Jon's face and Jon says "Don't do that! Or anything else on this list!". Garfield reads the list, pours coffee on Jon, and says "Missed one".
  • In the July 3, 2023 strip, Jon asks Garfield to be more cheerful when the latter complains about Monday. Garfield responds by doing it again in a fake toothy smile.
  • Jon tells Garfield to not kick Odie. He promptly slaps him instead.
  • Jon hopes Liz picks a monster movie instead of a cheesy romance flick for movie night. She does pick one, called "When Godzilla Met Sally".
• The Exit Is That Way:
  • Jon opens a door.
    Jon: Boy, it's dark outside!
    Garfield: That's the closet.
  • Jon is excited about the new year and tries to get out of his house, only to mistakenly open the closet door.
    Garfield: New year, new start, new world, same Jon.
• Exposed Animal Bellybutton:
  • Played straight with Garfield on more than one occasion, but subverted in one strip. Garfield notices a black spot on his belly in the mirror and remarks "I didn't know I had a belly button". Said spot turns out to be a bug, which promptly flies away.
  • Also played straight with some animal characters who appeared in some strips of this comic, especially bigger ones.
• Extreme Omnivore: Garfield, occasionally.
  • Non-food things he has eaten include his own food dish (accidentally while shoveling down his food super-fast), the TV remote (to prevent Jon from taking it), Jon's wallet ("Genuine cowhide."), and an unknown object Jon was carrying on a plate ("I hope that was food!") When on a diet, he's resorted to knowingly eating wax fruit, his own blanket and pages from (or all of) a diet book.
  • If the June 27, 2021 strip is anything to go by, Garfield is willing to take a bite out of the moon should he be hungry enough.
• Eye Poke: One strip features a televised face-slapping tournament that ends with one of these from one of the athletes.
• Eyes Always Shut: Jon's mom.

F

• Face Doodling: While he's asleep in one strip, Garfield draws a mustache on Jon's face.
• Face Fault:
  • "Hey, Garfield, I lost a button...Garfield?"
  • Garfield does this in this strip when Jon fools him into thinking that the gas bill is a letter from Santa chastizing him for trying to convince Santa that he's been good.
• Faceplanting into Food:
  • In one strip, Jon forces Garfield to get up early so that they can watch a sunrise. After Jon is done describing the beauty of the rising sun, it is shown that Garfield is lying facedown on a plate of scrambled eggs, snoring.
    Jon: Get your face out of the scrambled eggs, Garfield.
  • In one strip, Jon tells Garfield that he told his date stories about his childhood. He then says she "nearly drowned". Garfield glances at the audience and says this is the third date this month to fall asleep in her bowl of soup.
  • In one strip, Garfield is lying facedown in a dish full of cat food, saying that he's about to doze off.
    Garfield: This is it. I've reached the pinnacle of laziness and gluttony...how depressing. There's no place to go after you've reached the top.
  • In one strip, Garfield discusses the trope while he's lying facedown in a bowl of soup, saying that a philanthropist called J. Worthington III was found lying facedown in his tomato soup. He says that it could be because he was about to write J. Worthington IV out of his will.
• Failed a Spot Check: Happens to Jon here. He's so wrapped up Breaking the Fourth Wall, that he doesn't notice Garfield taking off with the refrigerator.
  • Years later, when Jon prepared a cookout, he complains about the pork chops and ribs taking a long time to cook. Liz questions Jon where the charcoal is, then...
    Jon: CHARCOAL!
    Garfield: (Orders a pizza.) Thick or thin crust?
    Odie: Urf.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Jon getting a girlfriend, until his birthday on 2006.
• Faint in Shock:
  • In one strip, Garfield passes out when Jon suggests that maybe he should go on a diet. Jon's response is to clap sarcastically.
  • In this strip, Jon wonders if he could've been a doctor. Garfield shows him a splinter in his finger, causing Jon to faint.
    Garfield: When you're done fainting, I'd like to know where you keep the tweezers, doc.
  • Garfield and Odie go outside during a snowy day. Snow falls off the roof and lands on them, making snowmen outlines of themselves. Odie goes back inside, unbeknownst to Garfield. The snowman of Odie falls apart, and Garfield screams and faints.
    Jon: Wimp.
  • In this strip, Garfield is talking about how cats get red eyes, longer claws, sharper teeth, and frizzy fur on Halloween night. He then looks in a mirror, turns white, and faints.
  • Garfield passes out after Jon accidentally saws a button off his shirt in this comic.
  • In this comic, Garfield is about to whack a spider with a newspaper, only for the spider to pass out before he can do so.
• Fake Rabies: Garfield and Odie have had fun with Jon's shaving cream.
• Faking the Dead: When Jon asked Lisa if she already had plans for New Year's Eve she screamed and fell down. Jon told her she had faked her death "last year".
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: It was a monday and the screws on the chandelier above Garfield needed tightening.
• False Reassurance: A mouse tries to get Jon's cheese but Garfield beats him to it. "No mouse will ever get your cheese while I'm around." Garfield tells Jon and then eats the cheese.
• Fan Disservice: The program "Santa's Summer Vacation" that Garfield is watching in the August 17, 2023 strip has Santa Claus eliciting shock and displeasure from Garfield due to his outfit of choice.
  Garfield: That man should NOT wear a swimsuit!
• Fat and Proud:
  • Garfield is often portrayed as taking pride in being "fat and lazy".
  • Bertha, a woman that Jon dated in March, 1987, is portrayed as a fat glutton with absolutely no shame or self-consciousness, which allows her to bond with the similar Garfield. Ironically, she ends up reappearing for a single strip sixteen years later in 2003 after having shaped up and lost 200 pounds.
• Fat Flex: When Jon is Flexing Those Non-Biceps, Garfield gives himself a Heroic Build before commenting "Did you know you can flex fat?". Another with the same premise used "It's amazing what you can do with fat."
• Feeling Their Age: Garfield hasn't aged as well as he'd like, as some strips make it clear. The June 10, 2021 strip is one example.
  Garfield: (hunched over) Oh, like you've never sneezed and thrown your back out?
• Fight for the Last Bite: In this comic, Garfield and Jon's date Berta end up fighting over the last piece of food.
• Filching Food for Fun: The strip has stealing food for fun as a stock behavior for Garfield, as well as one of its most frequently recurring gags. One strip has Jon try and turn the tables on the cat by stealing his food. Garfield, who is already tucking into Jon's dinner that night is unimpressed.
• Filler: The first collection, Garfield At Large, ends with a single-panel filler strip of Garfield walking into the sunset. The follow-up, Garfield Gains Weight, begins with a single-panel filler strip of Garfield sitting atop the television and looking into the screen, much to the annoyance of Jon, Odie, and Lyman.
• Finagle's Law: Jon had a date that night. That made him sure he'd "get a huge pimple" that day. Garfield considers it "a time-honored tradition".
• Fireworks of Love: Discussed in one strip. Jon asks Garfield if his lips are pouty or kissable, and Garfield gives him a big kiss on the lips before saying that they're kissable, but not "that fireworks-going-off, give-you-goosebumps kind of kissable".
• First Gray Hair:
  • Garfield finds a gray hair, panics, and tries to dye it. It doesn't go well.
  • Jon finds (presumably) his first gray hair — or, rather, Garfield finds it for him — in this strip shown two days before Garfield's 20th birthday in 1998.
• First-Name Ultimatum: "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaarfield!"
• First-World Problems: Jon sings about "having the blues", and hits on a woman passing by his house:
  Jon: Hey good lookin', I got the blues. Wanna cheer me up?
  Woman: You? The blues? Ha! There you sit in your powder-blue oxford shirt in your own home in a middle-class suburb. You don't know nothin' 'bout the blues!
  Jon: Well, excuse me for succeeding!
  • In another strip:
    Arlene: So how's domestic life treating you, Garfield?
    Garfield: Awful! Jon used too much oregano in the lasagna tonight...
    Arlene: I grieve for you, Garfield.
    Garfield: It's a jungle in there, Arlene.
• Fishbowl Helmet: Garfield wears a fishbowl helmet while pretending to be an astronaut, much to Jon's frustration about his missing goldfish that the fishbowl used to house.
• 555: This strip.
• Flanderization: While certain character and story elements were present in the strip almost from the very beginning (Garfield's love of lasagna, for example), the early strips might come as a surprise to readers born after 1980 or so. When the strip was starting out, many things were different: Jon wasn't overtly a nerd, although he did have trouble getting dates; Odie was stupid, but not to the extreme degree he was later portrayed; and Garfield himself was less a cool-as-ice Deadpan Snarker than a genuinely mean-spirited (and at times sadistic) misanthrope. (The mean streak remains, of course, although the outright sadism has now softened into Comedic Sociopathy.) Also, the stories were originally slightly more based in reality; the madcap surreality that the strip has become famous for didn't truly get under way until the mid-1980s.
• Fleeting Demographic Rule: Many of the comics' have near-identical jokes as ones that have appeared previously, usually some years apart, but occasionally this is subverted as there have been almost indistinguishable strips only a few months apart.
• Flipping the Bird:
  • Garfield's response to a reprimand (Garfield is off panel for the whole strip):
    Jon: Garfield! get your paw out of the cookie jar!
    [next panel: no dialogue, Jon looks shocked]
    Jon: Who taught you that gesture?!
    Garfield: You, in the car, when you drive.
  • Who can forget the time Jon got flipped off by someone off panel? Odie's face is priceless there.
• Flower-Pot Drop: The strip has used this a few times:
  • Odie crashes into a piece of furniture and the flowerpot on it falls off and crashes onto Odie's head.
    Garfield: I'm innocent! I swear it!
  • One of Garfield's audience members throws a flowerpot at Garfield before he can get on the fence.
  • A flowerpot is thrown at Garfield, along with many other things, during his fence act.
  • A mouse drops a flowerpot on Garfield for taunting him.
  • Garfield drops a flowerpot on Odie after he kicks him off the table.
• Fluffy Dry Cat: Garfield had this happen to him sometimes.
• Fluffy the Terrible: This strip featured Fluffy the Fierce. Sure, he was not much taller than any cat that'd fit the name Fluffy but he was described as a legendary ratter. Until he met Matt-the-Rat, that is.
• Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: Garfield once turned on the hot water in the sink to show Odie that all the pipes were connected. Of course, Jon's shower went ice cold.
• Food and Animal Attraction: Used in this strip.
• For Inconvenience, Press "1":
  • This strip features Jon trying to call Liz only to receive the following message: "You have reached the veterinary clinic of Doctor Liz Wilson. If this call is an emergency, press six. If you wish to make an appointment, press two. For billing, press three. For office hours, press four. For directions, press five. To speak with the receptionist, press one. Para Espanol, presione siete.^note For Spanish, press seven. To leave a voicemail for Doctor Wilson, begin speaking after the beep. Please leave your name, the date and time you called, a number you can be reached at and a brief message." Jon ends up leaving a snore as voicemail.
  • This strip has Jon trying to reach customer service, only to receive the following message, much to Jon's annoyance: "Thank you for calling customer service. Press one to leave a message that will never be returned. Or press two to speak to a representative who will never answer."
    Garfield: At least they're honest.
• Force Feeding:
  • Shows up in this Garfield strip, using scrambled eggs.
  • In one strip Garfield forces Jon to eat a smart phone.
  • Garfield does this to Jon in this strip when Jon reads from a cat food label that it's "fit for a King". Garfield describes Jon as "the "King's" food taster".
• Forgotten Birthday: Jon doesn't even care to learn what he forgot to make Liz angry at him.
  Jon: Liz is angry with me for some reason. I forgot something or other. Like a birthday, or whatever.
  Garfield: Women are so detail oriented.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: This strip during a week involving Garfield's conscience.
• Formerly Fat: One of Jon's female acquaintances, Bertha, lost 200 pounds. Garfield was disappointed.
• Foul Medicine: In one strip, Jon is chasing Garfield, who is doing everything he can to get away from him. At the end, Jon yells at him to take a pill, indicating that Garfield hates the taste of them.
• Fountain of Youth: On his birthday in 2014, Garfield tried to change the year on the calendar so that he would get younger, rather than older. It worked a little too well.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot:
  • A few early strips had Garfield answering letters.
  • They then revisited the practice three times in later strips.
• Fourth-Wall Portrait: This strip. While Jon's pig drawing fits with the comic's art style (it closely resembles Orson from Jim Davis's other strip, U.S. Acres), Garfield's... doesn't.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Since Garfield, as a house cat, doesn't have a proper last name, Jon reprimands him by referring to to him with his own surname (Garfield Arbuckle) in this strip.
• Funny Answering Machine: This trope is used several times by any woman Jon tries to call for a date.
  Suzy: Hi, this is Suzy. I'm not at home, but please leave a message at the tone... Unless you're Jon Arbuckle, in which case the machine will automatically hung up. ...Beep!
  Jon: This is, uh, Ed Smith. (machine hangs up)
  Garfield: Just amazing.
  • A 2008 strip had Liz listening to Jon's answering machine message, commenting on it being 'funny'. Jon was being pounded by Garfield while he recorded the message.
• Funny Phone Misunderstanding: In this strip, Jon is talking to a woman named Debbie on the phone. Garfield sneaks off with a steak and Jon angrily calls him a "fat greedy pig". Debbie immediately hangs up, thinking he was talking to her.
• Funny Robot: More like a "funny AI system", but Garfield constantly has to endure fat jokes directed at him by his wise-guy talking bathroom scale. (Although he has bribed it on more than one occasion to get Jon to take him off a diet.)
• Fur Is Clothing:
  • Garfield ripped his "cat suit" in the February 12, 1981 strip when he tried to pick up a chocolate covered peanut. He then said he needed a bigger one.
  • The August 10, 1985 strip had Garfield try to cheat the bahtroom scale by taking off his fur as if it were a suit before stepping onto it.
  • In the September 20, 1987 strip, Odie notices a thread on Garfield and pulls at it, which causes the fur covering Garfield's lower half to fall down like pants. Jon laughs at Garfield's misfortune, which causes Garfield to retaliate by making Jon's pants fall down by taking his belt. The mailman Herman Post then laughs at Jon, which results in Herman Post running in terror while Jon tries to pull down Herman's pants and Garfield grabs onto Jon's legs while trying to hold his fur pants up, the scene witnessed by Jon's eldery neighbor Hubert, who calls for his wife Rheba to come and see.
  • The title panel of the August 1, 1993 strip shows Garfield's fur hanging on a clothes hanger as if it were a suit.
  • The title panel of the November 7, 2004 strip shows the door to Garfield's dressing room opening, revealing a startled Garfield powdering his face and clad in only boxer shorts, a corset and socks while his fur suit is hanging on a clothes hanger behind him.
• Furry Ear Dissonance: Garfield has very round ears for a cat.
• Fuzzball Spider: Spiders are typically depicted in a very stylized manner, as small black dots with eight black stick legs. Sometimes a distinct head is visible, and sometimes not.

G

• Gag Haircut: One gag has Garfield shave Jon bald.
• G-Rated Drug: Garfield, like a lot of Real Life cats, tends to react this way to catnip.
• Garden-Hose Squirt Surprise: Happens to Odie.
• Gassy Gastronomy:
  • In this comic, Garfield steals all the soda pop in the fridge, much to Jon and Odie's horror. They attempt to run for cover, only for Garfield to belch so tremendously that it sends them flying.
  • In one strip, Garfield belches loudly enough to blow Jon's hair backward and then claims to be out of soda.
• The Ghost:
  • Ellen, until she finally appeared onscreen. And had amnesia.
  • Jon's neighbour Mrs. Feeny and her dog. All that's known is that they really hate Garfield for horrendous things (e.g. Garfield had shaved her dog bald, painted him green, stole his bell collar, duct taped him to the ceiling; for Mrs. Feeny, Garfield gave her laxative-laced bran muffins, sent her a hairball package for Christmas, destroyed her garden, and even abducted 15 howler monkeys from the zoo then dumped them all into her house....yeah, we don't know how Garfield did it either). Since Mrs. Feeny can never get back at Garfield, she beats up Jon instead.
• Giant Medical Syringe: One Garfield Sunday strip has Liz administer shots for Garfield and Odie. Subverted for Odie, whose shot was smaller than what Garfield told him in the waiting room. Once it's Garfield's turn, however, Liz is carrying a needle that's almost as long as she is tall.
• A Gift for Themselves: The June 17,1992 strip has Jon gift Garfield a set of golf clubs for his birthday. When Jon then asks if he may borrow the golf clubs, Garfield says, “Sure…” In the last panel, Garfield, now armed with a club, chases Jon around while saying, “…Right after I’m finished with them!”
• Gift Shake:
  • One strip has Garfield shaking a Christmas present that goes "rattle, rattle" and saying "I hope it's for me." Then it goes "rattle, rattle, CRACK!" and Garfield says "I hope it's for Odie."
  • In another strip, Garfield tries weighing, measuring and shaking a present to determine what's inside, then says "So much for the scientific method", grabs Jon's face and demands to know what it was.
  • In another, John catches Garfield shaking presents and asks if he's been peeking. Garfield replies that he's only been doing it with his ears.
• Gilligan Cut: Happens when Garfield writes a letter to Santa in this 2012 strip.
  Garfield: [typing] Santa, bring lots of presents to my house. I will have cookies.
  Jon: Ha! You can't bribe Santa!
  Santa: Ooooooooo, cookies.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Parodied in the August 22, 1991 strip, where Garfield sings a note so high, the last panel shatters.
• Gone Horribly Right:
  • Wanting to approach birds without being noticed by them, Garfield glued some feathers on him and put on some swim fins. He ended up being chased by other cats.
  • In the 2014 birthday comic, Garfield changes the year on the calendar, thinking he'll get younger on his birthday if he does so. It turns out this also affected Odie and Jon.
  • In this comic, Garfield tries to lure a seagull with a slice of bread so he can catch it, only to get burried under an entire flock of Seagulls.
• Gonna Need More X:
  • In the September 15, 2007 Garfield comic, Garfield's normal Running Gag about crushing spiders with newspapers was interrupted when Jon saw a spider with a hard hat walk by, chuckling to itself. Garfield followed it saying, "I'm gonna need a bigger newspaper".
  • When Jon and Garfield go to the donut shop, the employees say they'll need a bigger fryer.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel:
  • Until he ate them. Also a variant with them arguing over whether or not he should eat a pie. Garfield says he'd be thinner if the good angel were quicker witted to the bad one's retorts.
  • The Garfield book A Garfield Guide to Safe Downloading: Downloading Disaster! (from the Garfield's Guide to Digital Citizenship series) has Nermal laying in bed with a laptop, too sick to go to the movies. He contemplates that he can't go out to the movies with the guys and will have to wait till next weekend when everyone has already seen the film, a zombie cats movie. "Or... you could go online right now and download the movie," encourages a shoulder devil Odie, but a grandmotherly shoulder angel cat tells him "Oh no! Downloading a film before it's officially released sounds like stealing!"
• A Good, Old-Fashioned Paint Watching:
  • Occasionally used to show how boring a life Jon's family has on the countryside, since the most mundane things excite them (watching the washing machine instead of the TV ("Here comes the red sock again!"), counting every brick in the wall of the silo, taking a trip to see the new water tower, going to the airport to watch the planes land etc.)
  • There's an actual in-universe TV show called Watching Paint Dry.
  • In one strip, Jon accuses Garfield of watching the paint dry and Garfield says he's actually waiting for it to peel.
• Goofy Print Underwear: Garfield shows Jon's underwear with teddy bear prints to a girl Jon's trying to impress.
• Good Parents: Garfield's Mom, in her rare appearances, does prove to be one. She never strays from being kind and understanding toward him and treats even his Big Eater habits as more of a charming feature than something to be ashamed of. This strip even implies that Garfield still keeps in touch with her after their reunion ten years prior.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Jon plays a video game and is shocked by his character getting decapitated. Thankfully, we don't get to see it.
• Greasy Spoon: Irma's Diner. You have two kinds of coffee (regular and decaf), pickle brine as a choice of beverage, and a five-pound "he-man" burger. Jon has found dry-cleaning slips and false eyelashes in his food. Irma thinks that letting cheese age means keeping it in the back of her truck, and her idea of a "special treat" is a scoop of mashed potatoes in an ice cream cone. Garfield once found a hoof in a burger there.
  • If you order a burger, you just get a hamburger patty plopped down on the counter in front of you. If you want a bun, you have to order the Deluxe Burger.
    Garfield: Go for it, Jon. Get the Super Deluxe and get a plate, too.
  • The February 28, 2021 strip presents some more options.
    Irma: Okay, Jon... what'll it be?
    Jon: I'll have the happy heifer steak.
    Irma: Cold, or burnt to a crisp?
    Jon: Cold.
    Irma: Limp fries, greasy onion rings, or lumpy mashed potatoes?
    Jon: Fries.
    Irma: Stale crackers, moldy bread, or rock-hard biscuit?
    Jon: Um... crackers?
    Irma: Week-old salad, or lukewarm soup?
    Jon: Soup?
    Irma: And what do you want floating in it? Fly or gnat?
    Garfield: Gotta love a diner!
• Groin Attack:
  • Happens to Garfield on the fence in this 1990 strip.
  • Garfield throwing a snowball at Jon: "Oops, a little low..."
  • What happens to Jon’s "traditional" leaf outfit.
  • That time Jon put his pants on when they came straight out of the dryer, and found out the hard way that certain metal parts might still be hot and thus very uncomfortable for a man to wear.
• Grossout Fakeout: In one Sunday strip (which was later adapted for Garfield and Friends), Odie creates a puddle of drool in Garfield's bed, causing Jon to assume the worst and put Garfield in a diaper.
• Grounded Forever: In the book Garfield's Big Book Of Super School Excuses, one excuse for "Why I Can't Go Out With You" is "I'm grounded until college".
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: In a Story Arc in July 1986, Garfield gets stuck in a week of Mondays.
  Garfield: Oh no! It's the Monday that wouldn't DIE!!!
• Grumpy Old Man: Jon's dad. Also his neighbor Hubert (who was mainly a character in the 80s).
• Guest Strip: Davis' father wrote this 1982 strip.
• Guilty Pleasures:
  • In-universe, everything Garfield catches on TV.
  • Jon enjoys a show called "Bowling for Geeks", but quickly changes the channel when Garfield walks in.
• Gypsy Curse:
  • Back when he was in school, Jon annoyed a gypsy woman who cursed him, saying he'd never get a date to the prom. Garfield considered it "a waste of a perfectly good curse".
  • This comic strip, in which Jon unwisely angers a gypsy fortune teller and she makes his head shrink as a punishment.
  • Jon believes Garfield to be one.