hello world!
Whether he knew it was going to be or not, Lewis Carroll’s creation, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been a mainstay in popular culture since it was published in 1865. As is natural in the life of something with such staying power, people eventually are going to start using it as a way to tell jokes. The whacky characters and nonsense world is perfect fodder for any genre of comedy, be it political humor, cultural satire, or absurdism. One does not have to look that hard to find a reference to the world and characters created by Lewis Carroll.
When Frank informed me of my task to rank the top ten funniest Alice in Wonderland cartoon/comic strips, I was intrigued. He then told me to be funny or else I was to be fed to a Jabberwocky. The Alice in Wonderland monster, not the masked, bucket-hat wearing, Filipino, hip hop dancers. I don’t know what they eat. With a task in hand and a threat looming over my shoulders. I was filled with the healthy amount of fear needed to brave the task that lay ahead of me.
After digging through the depths of the internet, I think I managed to find the top ten funniest Alice in Wonderland comics. Remember, these are the top ten funniest cartoons, to me. I don’t want to hear cries of, “off with his head!” Because you thought number three should be number five. With that said, let’s get this show on the road.
Now before you click off this page because you disagree with what is being said here. The original work of Mr. Carroll was a satirical view on Queen Victoria’s Court, and comedians are lazy and steal jokes, I would know. It’s only natural the, “Aliceverse” has become a template for political ribbing. Therefore, I felt I needed to include a political cartoon. This is the only true political cartoon on the list because I’ve been informed there is an election coming up and I’m saving the rest for then. Right now, this is just about jokes. So, let’s move on from politics.
This isn’t the first time Alyss’ name has been messed up. Okay, I know it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but I’m going to explain to you why this is actually fantastic. As we all know, nothing makes a joke funnier than an explanation as to why it’s funny. I’m going to make a guess that when you’ve exposed yourselves as super fans of Alice in Wonderland, someone, somewhere, has made some version of this joke to you. There is even a DJ who’s named Alison Wonderland. Maybe you laughed the first time you heard it, maybe you rolled your eyes, maybe you were the one who thought, “I’m a comedic genius!” And said it. Whatever the case, it wasn’t the last time you’ve heard this joke. And that is what is so funny. Making you read this pun one more time made me laugh. And I assure you, you will hear this joke again and again and again. I was honestly tempted to repeat this previous comic for the next nine slots but decided that would be a tad bit sadistic. You’re welcome.
There is no better procrastination tool than Youtube. We’ve all been there before. When that algorithm hits just right. Oh, the sweet dopamine. What feels like five minutes is actually three hours and you tell yourself you will get back to work after one more video. After the video, you realize it’s 8:17pm, “it would be insane to start working unless it’s a multiple of five.” you think to yourself “8:20 is a better number.” And off you go to another video of a cat being scared by cucumbers, you look up and it’s 8:22, “Welp, might as well round it off at an even 8:30.” and the cycle continues. In my own head cannon, this is also the reason why the White Rabbit is running late.
This comic, by Maria Scrivan, made me laugh… Okay, you caught me, this comic by Maria Scrivan made me blow some air out of my nose slightly harder than usual, but in the modern era, that’s equivalent. Did anyone else read this with the side effect voice that goes on in the background of pharmaceutical commercials? For those of you who live outside of the United States, our pharmaceutical companies are allowed to market their drugs to us, the non-doctors, in the hopes that we tell our non-non-doctors AKA doctors, that we want the specific drug. In said commercials, they have to read out the side effects and for some unexplainable reason, it’s always over footage of some kind of outdoor jazz concert, attended solely by middle-aged couples.
Also, the mentioning of effects lasting longer than four hours is actually a reference to a very specific drug, I was unsure if I was allowed to say the name and function of the drug but I think I have some freedom here. It’s Viagra. Which is what happened when Eat Me was passed through the heart crystal. Imagine four hours of that… Okay, stop imagining.
Speaking of medication, it looks like Alice might need some ibuprofen and a cool glass of water after the night she had.
Look, we’ve all been here before, what started as a nice calm night hanging out with friends tossing back a couple of cold, “drink me’s” somehow, turns into a blurry mess. You wake up still wearing the clothes you had on the previous night, including the shoes, your head is pounding, you reek of hookah smoke which means at some point you ran into the Blue Caterpillar, and the Cheshire Cat is nibbling on the remaining bits of a half-eaten Crunchwrap supreme. You scour your medicine cabinet for an, “eat me.” So that you can feel in some way normal. Then hop in the shower to wash off the unknown sins of the previous night.
This comic is quite strange. What’s even stranger is there are at least five more Peanuts comics with the exact same concept. This has led me to create a theory. I’ve always thought the peanuts were based in reality and all the wild stuff Snoopy does, like flying on his dog house, is in his mind. This comic obliterates that idea, which leads us to one of two conclusions. The first is that Snoopy, is in fact the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland dressed as a beagle. The second theory and my personal favorite, Snoopy is some kind of omnipotent being able to bend reality at will.
As I write this, a massive pile of dirty laundry stares at me, but that’s a problem for tomorrow me. This feels more like Alice in OCD land. This cartoon is so grounded, that the best joke I can make about it was, Alice in OCD land. I just looked up at my pile of laundry and it somehow got bigger but I don’t have time for clean clothes. I have to keep going down the rabbit hole and introduce the next comic!
We’ve now officially entered into hilarity territory. One thing I like about this cartoon is that it’s got the most amount of characters in it; the Blue Caterpillar which I’m assuming is yellow in this for legal reasons, the Mock Turtle wearing a melting fez for some reason, a card soldier attempting to appear nonchalant by whistling, the Dodo who looks as though he over imbibed on whatever is in the Caterpillars hookah, as well as the Mad Hatter himself preparing to run a marathon. Just as I remember them. Little known fact, “We’re all mad here.” Is actually about the subway in New York. Why are they so angry? I’ve ridden on the subway in New York before and the only thing remotely close to being taken to a new world was when a Peruvian pan flute band randomly showed up. People watching is a great way to realize that being weird is okay because everyone is weird. That is until you make eye contact with a stranger so you quickly look away, then after a bit, you go back to people watching and make eye contact with the same person again!
[Insert Alice in Wonderland-related segue here]
I felt bad that you, dear reader, were not involved in the list-making process, so I’m giving you the chance to insert your own transition as an unbirthday present. Comment your segues below and I won’t read them.
I like to think the reason the White Rabbit has such a look of fear is that he lives in a state with trigger laws. Sorry, I said I was going to move on from politics but that was a pretty good joke. The inspiration for the White Rabbit, Bibwit Harte, is the royal tutor for Princess Alyss, this cartoon raises the question, does he teach health class? If so, he should know how to put on a prophylactic. Or is that taught by a P.E. coach as it is here? The White Rabbit has been missing from the comics in this list and I did that on purpose. This cartoon blows the rest out of the water.
There’s only one comic that I think is better than this. Without further ado, I bring you the single funniest, Alice in Wonderland cartoon, that I found in my many, many, *looks at Frank*, many, hours of research.
C’mon! Comedy genius right here. Don’t tell me you didn’t at least blow some air out your nose at this one. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum AKA General Doppelgänger having the Cheshire Cat neutered implies that they have some kind of ownership over him is quite weird to me. Imagine owning an animal that can talk to you. That will be wild… I just remembered parrots exist but they can’t hold an intelligent conversation, they hold no opinions on things like the stock market or geopolitical issues. Neither do I though. Where was I going with this? Oh yes, adopt don’t shop. That’s it for this list. This is the part where I’m supposed to say that I want to hear what you think the funniest Alice in Wonderland cartoons are and if you think I should have placed them in a different order. I’m not going to say that, because I worked hard on this list and I can’t handle someone else showing me something better than what I chose. All jokes aside, I hope you all enjoyed reading this. I will be back soon with another Alice-themed attempt at making you laugh.
For more information on Looking Glass Wars & Alice in Wonderland, check out the All Things Alice Blogs From Frank Beddor
Jared Hoffman graduated from the American Film Institute with a degree in screenwriting. A Los Angeles native, his brand of comedy is satire stemming from the many different personalities and ego’s he has encountered throughout his life. As a lover of all things comedy, Jared is always working out new material and trying to make those around him laugh. His therapist claims this is a coping mechanism, but what does she know?