"My work is being destroyed almost as soon as it is printed. One day it is being read; the next day someone's wrapping fish in it"
About this Quote
The joke lands because it’s not really a joke: it’s a bruise. Al Capp is describing the most brutal life cycle in mass culture, where yesterday’s “must-read” becomes today’s trash, literally useful only as packaging. The fish-wrap image is doing double duty. It’s funny in the old vaudeville way - earthy, sensory, a little gross - and it’s a blunt reminder that print is a disposable medium, especially when it’s made for the daily churn.
As a cartoonist, Capp worked inside an industrial schedule. A newspaper strip isn’t a novel that sits on a nightstand; it’s a product shipped on deadline, consumed in minutes, then swept away with the rest of the paper. The line exposes the quiet panic inside that arrangement: you can pour craft, politics, and personality into something that will be obsolete by breakfast. He’s talking about ephemerality, but also about power. Editors, syndicates, and the audience’s attention decide what survives; the artist watches it vanish.
The subtext is part complaint, part dare. Capp knew the trade-off of popular art: you get reach, not permanence. Yet by framing the destruction so vividly, he also stakes a claim for relevance. If the work is close enough to everyday life that it can wrap dinner, it’s also close enough to shape dinner-table conversation. Disposable doesn’t mean inconsequential; it means you have to win people quickly, again and again, before the ink even dries.
As a cartoonist, Capp worked inside an industrial schedule. A newspaper strip isn’t a novel that sits on a nightstand; it’s a product shipped on deadline, consumed in minutes, then swept away with the rest of the paper. The line exposes the quiet panic inside that arrangement: you can pour craft, politics, and personality into something that will be obsolete by breakfast. He’s talking about ephemerality, but also about power. Editors, syndicates, and the audience’s attention decide what survives; the artist watches it vanish.
The subtext is part complaint, part dare. Capp knew the trade-off of popular art: you get reach, not permanence. Yet by framing the destruction so vividly, he also stakes a claim for relevance. If the work is close enough to everyday life that it can wrap dinner, it’s also close enough to shape dinner-table conversation. Disposable doesn’t mean inconsequential; it means you have to win people quickly, again and again, before the ink even dries.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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