Funny / Garfield

While Garfield has spawned a massive meme subculture, the franchise has had Funny Moments of its own throughout its decades-long history.

In general:

• Whenever the talking scale speaks to Garfield.
  Talking Scale: Congratulations! You just gave birth to another chin!
• Anything involving the TV.
• Several jokes involving coffee, such as when it is too weak or too strong.
• Garfield's very loud burps are never not funny.
• Whenever Jon answers the phone only to find out that Garfield has been causing trouble.
• Almost any gag involving the Spluts. One particularly impressive one is coupled with Medium Awareness.
• Many of Jon's pick-up lines, with the crowner being, "Excuse me, I have healthy gums."
• Whenever Jon has trouble setting up Christmas decorations (such as lights and the tree).
• Anything involving the refrigerator and the mutated abominations that come out of it.
• Anything that happens to Garfield on Mondays.

Specific examples:

• Garfield's first cup of coffee, way back in 1978:
  Jon: (takes cup) You can't drink coffee, Garfield. You'll stunt your, uh, your...
  (Jon looks at the reader as he drums his fingers in thought)
  Jon: (gives back cup, holds out sugar) One lump, or two?
• Definitely one of Garfield's crabbier moments.
  Jon: Would puddy tat wike a bowl of milk?
  Garfield: (soaking Jon with the bowl of milk) Would funny wooking man wike a milk bath? (to the reader) Never be condescending to a cat.
• One comic has the refrigerator light burn out, and Garfield, thinking it was never bright enough anyway, replaces it with a HUGE Bulb. Soon, Jon is headed for the fridge looking for a midnight snack. The final panel has light shooting out of every window and the chimney and Jon yelling for Garfield.
• Jon's jaw falling to the floor upon seeing what Garfield has done to his chair.
• Garfield apparently robbed a bank thinking it was a bakery. Jon's reaction is what makes it.
• Jon asks Garfield if he's ready to eat, which for some reason causes Garfield to get really upset at Jon. The over-the-top delivery of the last line is what makes the strip.
• Garfield watching a cheesy romantic movie that consists entirely of "John! Marsha!" for 4 panels straight. He changes the channel and facepalms when he gets "George! Shirley!"
• Two different successful attempts at randomness, both involving vines: one coming out of nowhere inside the house, and another being used to rescue Garfield from a ginormous bowl of oatmeal.
• Garfield trying out a whole bunch of exotic bird calls. While it initially appears nothing happened, which gives Garfield the line "Maybe I 'nicked' when I should have 'greeeebeled'", there's a whole bunch of exotic birds standing right behind him.
• In one strip, Garfield begs Jon for some of his dinner. Jon tells him to knock it off, saying he can have any food that falls on the floor. Garfield promptly tilts the table, causing all the food on it to fall off.
  Jon: I hate you.
  Garfield: I can live with that.
• A scene with Garfield watching TV: "The court calls Gouda May Freegenweegenswallodribbenfraxenlaxenismabittle to the stand. Be seated, Mrs. Freegenweegenswallodribbenfraxenlaxenismabittle. Please state your name." Cue Face Palm in the third panel.
• Garfield's "I hate..." series of strips which lasted six days in February 1987.
  Garfield: [awakened by a loud ringing, he begins furiously smashing something just off panel] I hate alarm clocks. [pan out to reveal that the alarm clock is intact and that Garfield has unknowingly smashed the telephone instead]
  Garfield: [trying to jump on a spider] I hate spiders! [crashes through the floorboards, missing the spider] I hate hating spiders.
  Garfield: [after taking a bite of a doughnut from a plate left on the table] I hate wax doughnuts.
  Garfield: [while reaching for a doughnut, his chair collapses, smacking him in the face and throwing him to the floor] I hate folding chairs.
  Garfield: [after a gust of wind splatters him against a window] I hate windy days.
  Garfield: [unable to get comfortable in bed, he collapses the foot of the bed with his feet] I hate leg cramps.
• When Garfield's jealousy of Liz reaches new heights...
  Jon: [on the phone] Liz, I think Garfield's jealous of you.
  [Garfield enters wearing a bathrobe, house slippers, and hair curlers]
  Garfield: You're talking to that woman again, aren't you?!
  Jon: [deadpan] Liz, I know Garfield's jealous of you.
• Jon explaining a double date to his brother:
  Doc Boy: What's a double date?
  Jon: That's when you and I go on a date together.
  Doc Boy: Gee, it seems like it would be more fun if some girls came along.
• That time when Garfield deals with his Shoulder Doughnuts.
  Angel Doughnut: Don't eat that poor defenseless doughnut!
  Devil Doughnut: Don't listen to him! Chow down, pal!
  Angel Doughnut: Do what is right! Do what's in your heart!
  (Following a beat panel where Garfield has a deadpan expression, the final panel reveals that Garfield ate the doughnut on the plate... plus the angel and devil doughnuts.)
• Garfield is on a diet:
  Garfield: When I'm off this diet, I'm going to eat lasagna, cake, ice cream, mashed potatoes..
  Beat
  Garfield: (does a Face Palm) I just gained two pounds!
• Panel One: Jon sitting down enjoying a cup of coffee. Panel two: a deranged looking Garfield slamming his coffee cup down on the table and yells ''BEAN ME!" What sells it? Jon's deadpan reaction.
  "Something tells me this isn't your first cup today."
• Jon calls Garfield and Odie for dinner. He sees Garfield and Odie speeding towards him... then eats their food.
• Jon here is REALLY desperate for a date.
  Jon: So, Bernadette, how about dinner and a movie? Lunch and a bike ride? A cookie and a Crossword Puzzle?!
  Garfield: (smirking at the reader) Toaster crumbs and a knock-knock joke?
• Jon's dancing in this strip is hilarious enough on its own, but the strip just keeps getting funnier from there.
• This Sunday strip.
  Jon: Hmm... It says here that cats are smarter than dogs...
  Garfield: Check.
  Jon: ...and that cats are smarter than humans...
  Garfield: Check.
  Jon: ...and that cats should be pampered...
  Garfield: Big check.
  Jon: ...and that cats are a gift to mankind, and should be worshipped...
  Garfield: Checkarooni.
  Jon: ...and that cats are so gullible, they can't figure out I'm just making this up...
  Garfield: Che...wait a minute.
  [in the next panel, the newspaper is all shredded up with Jon holding up a remaining corner, and Garfield is absent]
  Jon: Oh, look. It says that cats can't take a joke.
• "We'll be right back after this word from our sponsor!" "Sasquatch". "Welcome back!"
• It's incredible that that week of strips with the dog falling on Garfield never reached Memetic Mutation status.
  "AAATTIC DOOOGGG!"
• This strip has Jon seeing Garfield with what appears to be a large grin and comments about how it's nice to see Garfield in a good mood for once. As soon as Jon walks off...
  Garfield: I SAT ON A MOUSETRAP!
• Nermal brings Jon his newspaper (to Garfield's jealously) and then brings his slippers and pipe prompting Jon to ask "What more could a man want?" Garfield pops up with a woman's leg in his mouth and goes "How about a woman?"
• Jon scaring off his date by talking about stamp collecting.
  Waiter: I collect bottle caps.
  Jon: OH, SHUT UP!
• Jon and Garfield have gotten so used to Jon's mum's annual Homemade Sweater from Hell, that when she makes Garfield a good sweater, Jon and Garfield become worried.
• The TV plays the "Piece of Dangling String" show. Garfield swats at the string after a Beat.
• In one Sunday strip, Garfield gets a phone call telling him he can get a grand prize if he answers two questions: what is the sound a cat makes, and what is the sound a dog makes? Garfield answers the first one correctly, but the second one... he messes that one up deliberately.
  • DUHHHHHHH...
  Garfield: I doubt if I was eligible anyway.
  • An earlier comic has Garfield winning a new house by correctly answering "What sound does a Felis domesticus (house cat) make?" He does this by meowing into the phone, but then the announcer asks for his name and address. In the next panel, Garfield has fainted, and the announcer is asking, "And how do you spell your name, Mr. Aaarrrgghh?"
  • In a contrast to the above, Garfield angry at a TV station, and depressed when realistic results occurs to his attempt to "give them a piece of my mind".
• When Garfield wakes up one morning and Jon decides to go jogging...Garfield falls right back to sleep.
  • A later strip has Jon waking Garfield up at five in the morning to go jogging... then promptly yawns and falls asleep next to him in his jogging clothes. "I knew that nonsense wouldn't last long."
  • Another strip has Jon waking Garfield at 4 AM to watch the sunrise. Garfield's response?
  Garfield: Okay, you can watch it from the ambulance.
• A comic shows Garfield using the Puppy-Dog Eyes trick on Liz to get some cookies... but just then, it backfires, making Garfield give his food to her and head over to Jon. The former's response?
  Garfield: She's good.
• Jon is taking a maturity test.
  Jon: Where are my crayons?
  Garfield: That’s an automatic ten-point deduction.
• Garfield is watching the ice cream man arrive and says "Just in time" and then the final panel shows him smiling and holding a brick with a smiling face on it, thinking "Billy Brick wants a fudge bar."
• Jon is talking on the phone to a woman and sees Garfield swiping his steak dinner. His reaction is to shout "YOU FAT GREEDY PIG! I OUGHTA SHAVE YOU BALD AND PUT YOU OUT IN THE COLD!" The woman on the phone assumes that Jon is talking to her and hangs up.
• One comic gives us Garfield using an ironing board as a surf board in the shower stall, resulting in a very startled Jon as his cat shoots out of the stall on a huge wave shouting "COWABUNGA!" when he opens the door.
  Jon: Why can't you bat at a piece of string like other cats?!
• Another example of TV-viewing:
  TV voice: It's the "Binky the Clown Show"!
  TV voice: Today is "Health Day," kids! Let's see who's at the door...
  TV voice: Why, it's "Petey," the bloated tick!
  Garfield: That is one ugly puppet.
• Garfield is served dinner:
  Jon: Oh, come on, Garfield. The cat food isn't that bad.
  Garfield: Then let's see how YOU like it! [shoves some of the food into Jon's mouth]
  Jon: Mmm, good.
  Garfield: YOU LIE!
• Jon refusing to understand love stories don't have car chases.
  Liz: This is a great love story.
  Jon: Are there car chases?
  Liz: It's a love story.
  Jon: Do they go over cliffs?
  Liz: It's a love story.
  Jon: Do the cars explode?
  Liz: YES! THE WHOLE WORLD EXPLODES!
  Jon: Cool!
  Garfield: Turn it up!
• As the mailman is walking up to the house, Jon jumps out of the bushes with a "ROWR!" Then he casually explains to the poor frazzled guy that Garfield is sick and he's his replacement for the day.
• Jon and Garfield are standing in waist-deep snow and Jon says they should make snow angels. After telling Garfield how to do so (fall backwards into the snow and flap your arms to make angel wings), he says, "Watch this!" and falls backwards. Cue the final panel being Liz watching the TV as a news announcement says "Coming up next, a local man is gored by his own lawn gnome."
• More fun in the snow:
  [Garfield is building a snowman]
  Jon: [off panel] Garfield, hurry up! I'm getting tired!
  Garfield: Gripe, gripe, gripe.
  Jon: [off panel] And I'm freezing, too!
  Garfield: You can't rush art, you big crybaby.
  [Pan out to reveal Jon standing with his arms spread wide and a plastic carrot on his nose]
  Jon: The things I do for my pets.
  Garfield: Hold still.
• Garfield attempts to prank a sleeping Odie with sneezing powder. It backfires.
• Jon wants to put aside doing chores and just rest without guilt.
• Garfield presses down on a beeping Pookie's head, walks past his mirror (his reflection making a goofy face), is given a bowl full of "breakfast lawn gnomes" by Jon in a cowboy's outfit who also gives Garfield a breakfast guitaur. The final panel shows an upside down house, Jon with a bird's beak and legs, a yellow shirt with the number 8 on it, purple and black striped shorts as Garfield asks Odie who's sitting in a chair, smoking a bubble pipe and reading a newspaper and wearing a bathrobe, "I'm still asleep, aren't I?" to which Odie responds with "Ya think?"
• In this strip, Garfield's attempt to kill a housefly might remind some readers of a certain six-year-old boy.
• Garfield tries turning younger by changing the date on the calendar. It ends with him, Jon, and Odie as babies.
• Jon can be such a jinx sometimes.
• "Garfield, why don't you get up and do something?" Garfield jumps up and makes a Nightmare Face, and Jon tells him not to do it again.
• "I need a 5/16 drill bit."
• Jon and Garfield are stargazing, and Jon notices a falling star.
  Jon: Did you make a wish?!
  (Jon is pummeled by a giant pizza)
  Garfield: (smiling) Yes.
• "There is a wise man on top of this mountain." The wise man then falls down, accompanied by a scream and a thud, and Garfield says that he's not so wise after all.
• Garfield tries his hand at making lemonade.
• Jon has something for Garfield's appetite...a binky to stop his mouth.
• Garfield tells Jon that he has never thanked Jon for all he has done, and that he doesn't plan to.
• Garfield uses willpower to resist eating a hamburger. He cries "Wah!" and Jon says, "I'm beginning to worry about Garfield."
• Garfield lets Jon have the last of the ice cream. He replaced it with lard.
• This exchange with Irma:
  Irma: You didn't eat your vegetables.
  Jon: What are you going to do, tell my mother?
  Irma: I think I will.
  Jon: [Stuffing the veggies into his mouth] Look! I'm eating 'em! I'm eating 'em!
  Garfield: Tell her he ate his dessert first!
• Jon becomes a mime, and flirts with a lady mime, whose jealous boyfriend beats him up. In the last panel, Jon emits a tiny, "Ow..." and Garfield scolds him with, "Ah ah ah! You're not supposed to talk!"
• The strip involving Garfield finding a giant hamburger, only for the hamburger to tell him that Garfield is dreaming. Garfield responds that he assumed as such and leaves. Cue Garfield then leaping back into frame, bearing claws and fangs, yelling "NEVER ASSUME!"
• Garfield flushes the alarm clock down the toilet before Jon walks into the bathroom. "The toilet is ringing! What should I do?" "Take a message."
• Jon decides to go to the beach, but is shocked when Garfield inflates a pool toy and he doesn't see it happening.
  Jon: "Ooooooooh, we're going to the beeeeEEEEEEEEEE--"
• In one Sunday, Jon fashions a suit out of Sunday newspaper comics, which he thinks will help him pick up chicks. He finds a lady jogger, but before he can say anything, it begins to rain. A lot. When it clears, Jon's been reduced to his underwear.
  Woman: Your punchline is showing.
  Garfield: Now that's funny.
• "I couldn't decide what shirt to wear... So I put all of them on".
• Some time after they started dating, Liz joins Jon on a trip to the beach. Jon's mind nearly breaks when he first sees Liz in a bikini. Even funnier is the way Odie tips up his shades in a double-take.
• Garfield becomes fed up with Jon's snoring and shoves a pillow in his mouth.
  Jon: GAHHHHFEE!!!
  Garfield: Oh, pipe down and gimme your pillow.
• Garfield hears some strange noises at night.
  Garfield: The wind, the house settling...
  Jon: Wha?!... HOOP! YAAAAH!!
  Odie: YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!
  Jon: WOOOAAAHHH! (CRASH)
  Garfield: Jon getting up and stepping on Odie.
• Garfield names all the peaceful sounds of the night... then he hears them all at once, prompting an Aside Glance. Much later on, the strip gets a Call-Back when Garfield says that sometimes he can't sleep.
• Garfield and Jon's hot pepper eating contest. Jon wins by way of Garfield giving in to a Peruvian death pepper...but feels no satisfaction due to Garfield having incinerated Jon with his breath. Four panels from this comic currently serve as the page image for Pyrrhic Victory.
• One comic has Garfield and Jon celebrate National Drama Day, where they completely flip out over the smallest things like burnt toast, the fridge light bulb going out, and running out of floss. They finally calm down...only for Garfield to calmly say that Jon's car is on fire.
• Grumpy Garfield kicks a mouse out of his path. Said mouse threatens him with a beatdown at the hands of his sister, Loretta, and Garfield smugly dares him to call her, saying that a good tangle might improve his day. Loretta's tail alone is longer than Garfield is tall. Garfield just resignedly facepalms when he realizes what he's gotten himself into.
  Garfield: Aaaarrrgh.
• Garfield runs past Jon, screaming "SANDWICH!!"...which results in Jon looking at Garfield, then looking at the readers right as a towering Dagwood Sandwich is about to fall on top of him!
• While they're out for a walk, Jon asks Garfield where he'd like to eat. Garfield chooses "Ernie's Eat Till You Explode Restaurant".
  Garfield: Let's just say I have a good feeling about it.
• Next on Jon's to-do list is...NOOGA! NOOGA! NOOGA!
• Multitasking, baby!
• Garfield's tap dancing is attracting a more sophisticated audience. How does he know? Somebody threw an Italian shoe at him.
• Jon made eggnog.
  (Garfield swipes Jon's cup of eggnog and leaves)
  Jon: (angrily) WOULD YOU LIKE SOME?!!
  Garfield: Needs more nutmeg.
• Give it up for Garfield!
• Cats can sense when something's wrong.
• During another age crisis, Garfield contemplates doing sit-ups.
• Yarn ball attempts to get Garfield to play with it.
• Garfield struggles with a way-too-big Christmas sweater. Jon and Odie find it hilarious. Garfield's response is to force THEM into the sweater.
• On Jon's advice, Garfield takes a long, hard look at himself.
  Jon: I said...
  Garfield: (grinning at his reflection like an idiot) Hang on.
• This strip has Liz telling Jon to throw out a shirt that he's wearing... that doesn't fit him anymore. Jon protests, then begs Garfield to help him out. Garfield's response?
  Garfield: (poking Jon in the stomach) Beep.
  • And in the NEXT strip we see a now bare-chested Jon telling Garfield that Liz just doesn't understand how a guy FEELS about his favorite shirt. Then he asks Garfield if HE understands. Garfield's response?
    Garfield: (poking Jon in the stomach again) Beep.
    Jon: WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?!!
• A foot of snow fell... concentrated on a very small area. Specifically, a bored-looking Jon's head.
  Garfield: (to the reader) Figures.
• Jon gets Garfield a matching suit.
  Garfield: (walking away) It wasn't easy, but it did fit up his nose.
  Jon: NARFIELD!
• Swan pie.
• I'm taking my sock drawer!
• Most kids love building forts and throwing snowballs. Garfield and Odie, meanwhile, are out for world domination.
• Here we see Jon, Garfield and Odie decorating the Christmas tree. All that's left is to put the star on top. Then Jon screams at the top of his lungs and asks, "What happened to the top of the tree?!" The answer: a mouse chopped it off for his OWN Christmas tree.
• Garfield walks towards the pet door, which suddenly flies open as Odie races in, rocketing him into the air. A beaten Garfield responds, "Sometime, somewhere, when you are least expecting it, Monday strikes."
• Score one for the big guy.
• Jon and Jelly Beans.
• Garfield really does hate camping.
• "Hey, Odie! Jon was just telling me he wishes you would bark maniacally in his face."
  Odie: (doing just that)
  Garfield: Happy birthday, Jon!
• Cheese snobs.
• Odie has discovered the secret to happiness.
• Garfield eats everything in the kitchen.
• Garfield gets an "ask-a-dog" letter inquiring what a dog does if it catches a car it's chasing. Odie runs away and returns to mime driving, wearing an old-timey motorist's outfit.
  Garfield: That is highly illegal, my friend.
• Hello summer, goodbye dignity!
• You should see my grandmother!
• Liz gets Garfield's test results back.
• The buttermilk pancakes that Irma has served Jon and Garfield taste plain. As it turns out, this is because Irma put water in them... meaning that the buttermilk went into the coffee maker. And Irma tells Jon and Garfield this WHILE THEY'RE DRINKING THEIR COFFEE.
• Cotton vs Wool.
• Jon forgets the laptop has a webcam and is staring wide-eyed at his various embarrassing stuff like letting out a loud burp after drinking soda. Meanwhile, Garfield is looking at his phone and smiling "and we just passed one million views".
• "If I turn my head just right... I can pick up a radio station on my teeth!" What really makes it is Jon's grinning like an idiot in the third panel.
• Liz walks by a plate of donuts going "Willpower", followed by Jon doing the same thing. Garfield then walks by the empty plate, his mouth full and fist raised, thinking "INDULGENCE POWER"
• Snake whistle.
• Jon goes kite flying to which Garfield sighs and then the second panel has Garfield going outside and thinking "Here we go again" as Jon says "It's really windy out here!" The final panel has Garfield thinking "Let go of the string, Jon!" as poor Jon calls for help.
• Two panels of Jon and Garfield giving disgusted faces.In the final panel, Liz asks "Who wants another of my Kale and raisin cookies?" to which Jon says "Maybe a taste". Garfield slaps Jon on the arm and says "Don't encourage her!"
• Jon says that he and Garfield haven't pigged out on donuts in a long time, and asks "Why don't we head to the donut shop right now?!" He then says "But first, our cheer!" He then says Donuts! Donuts! Rah! Rah! Rah! Donuts and then in the penultimate panel, he and Garfield charge out of their house with a "YEEEEEE-HAAHHHH!!!" The final panel shows two workers in the donut shop, wide-eyed with one guy saying "Hear that? It's them" to which the other one says "We're gonna need a bigger fryer".
• Odie hangs the last ornament on the Christmas tree.
• Teenage mice.
• Odie watching a sad movie.
• Dingleball disaster.
• Jon tells us about Garfield and Odie's "morning stares".
• Waiting for Santa.
• TIME TO GET UP!
• This strip. All of it.
  (Garfield offers Jon some food out of a box)
  Jon: (eats it) Why, thank you, Garfield. (reads the box) DOG FOOD?! QUICK! GIMME SOMETHING TO DRINK!
  (Garfield gives him some hot sauce)
  Jon: (after drinking it) HOT SAUCE! I'M BURNING UP!
  (Garfield brings him the fish bowl, which Jon drinks water from)
  Jon: GOLDFISH WATER! ANTIDOTE! ANTIDOTE!
  (Garfield offers Jon some anchovies, which Jon eats)
  Jon: AARGH! ANCHOVIES!!
  Garfield: (to the reader) This could go on for days.
• This strip consists entirely of Jon blathering on to an extremely bored Garfield about his days on the farm. His yammering is translated for the first few panels as "Blah blah blah blah blah..." Garfield hallucinates him as a pig, an alien, a rooster, and a bunny.
• Spooky ghost cat is here to haunt your house.
• It turns out that Garfield and Odie are very enthusiastic for Liz and Jon spending time together.
• Slammed the window with too much force.
• Apparently Jon not wearing socks turns him into a Person of Mass Destruction.
• "Enough with the hair dryer wars!"
  • Speaking of strips involving hair dyers, there's this strip, which consists of Garfield and Odie using hair dryers on Jon. The hairstyles they give him are funny enough on their own, but what really makes it is that the whole time Jon just stares at the reader with a bored expression on his face.
• When mice go to war.
• Toast marksmanship.
• Garfield greets his audience with, "Good evening, ladies and germs"...only to dodge as a pie hits the moon behind him, which then crashes down, he points at the audience and angrily says "Now, you've done it!"
• Jon carries a picture of Liz wherever he goes.
• Liz and Garfield versus Jon's outfits.
• Jon's funny body noises club, everybody. The best part is Garfield's comment:
  Garfield: I dread the weeks Jon's club meets here.
• This strip, part of a series where Garfield goes on a diet.
  Garfield: (enraged and holding a celery stalk) CELERY! IF SCIENCE COULD FIND A USE FOR IT, WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO EAT IT TO GET RID OF IT!
  (Garfield leaves)
  Jon: Diet starting to get to you?
• Jon's truly horrific suit gets him sent home to change. Garfield's response to seeing it is to cover his eyes and shout, "MY EYES!"
• This strip has Jon going on and on about Liz and how he can't get enough of her. Garfield then says that he feels the same way about cheese puffs.
• "Let the catsup festival begin!"
• "If you squish me, I will become famous!"
• How to summon Garfield...just say dessert!
• Fleas check out a house.
• ENCORE! ENCORE!
• On a trip to the beach, Garfield hits on the ice cream cones.
• Someone calls Jon to say, "I won't go out with you!"
  Jon: I wonder who that was?
  Garfield: (Smacks forehead) Rejected by wrong numbers!
• The first housefly of Spring is looking for a welcome:
  [SWAT]
  Housefly: I was hoping for something a little more FESTIVE!
  [SWAT]
  Garfield: [throwing confetti while still wearing a deadpan expression] Huzzah.
  Housefly: I hate you!
• Jon's parents come for a visit and the father attempts to use a modern sink. Jon's panic and the father's triumphant look in the last panel are what really make it.
• Jon warns Garfield not to lay a hand on his pie. Garfield enacts Exact Words and slams his face into it.
  • Speaking of strips involving Exact Words and pie, here Jon tells Garfield not to hit him in the face with the pie that he is holding. The result: "PIE DOWN THE PANTS!"
• During a power outage◊ Jon asks Garfield to use his "cat instincts" to lead them to the basement. Come sunrise, he's somehow led them up a tree.
• Eating Garfield's food gets Nermal literally thrown out. The nonchalance on Garfield's face is hilarious.
  Jon: Where's Nermal?
  Garfield: You know, it was strange. He said "unk" and then left without a word.
• In this strip Garfield and Odie drive Jon insane by eating his food behind his back.
• This strip has Irma answering that the diner's special for today is "Chicken Surprise", which Jon orders two for himself and Garfield. Cue Irma putting on a chicken mask and yelling "Surprise! Surprise!"
  Jon: (whispering to Garfield) You distract her. I'll call the hospital.
  Garfield: Got it.
• The traditional "Family Around the Hearth." Followed by the traditional "Flaming Socks Dance."
• Jon discovers that Garfield has drawn a mustache on a framed photo of him and angrily tells him to fix it. Garfield complies... and promptly draws an identical mustache on Jon's face.
• All of Jon's socks have holes in them? Sounds like a job for the Masked Avengers!
• Jon can't find his bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans. Garfield zings across for a panel.
• Garfield asks Jim Davis◊ if laziness is contagious, all while the art of the strip gets rougher and rougher. Jim's signature is even accompanied by a "Right!"
• Jon discovers that Ellen has no feelings toward him at all.
  Jon: How about pity?
  Garfield: I thought hitting bottom would make a louder noise.
• In a couple strips, Jon yells "FIRE!" to see how Garfield would handle an emergency. He responds as only Garfield would...by holding up a hot dog on a stick.
• The first Christmas Eve strip. Santa drops by to bring presents for Jon, Lyman and Odie. He then stalls for a bit before coming to Garfield, because he was the "only kid in the world to ask for 20 pounds of lasagna."
• The logo box to this strip. Garfield has his name written across two large stockings with Santa giving an Aside Glance.
• This strip. Garfield watches as a UFO lands in front of him, and then two snowman aliens emerge and demand that he surrender. The fact that the entire time Garfield has a bored expression on his face (he's not at all surprised by the UFO or the aliens) is already hilarious, but it gets even better - the snowman aliens realize that it's the middle of summer and promptly melt.
  Garfield: Who schedules your invasions?
  Snowman Alien: (now a puddle) Oh, shut up.
• Jon walks in on his piano playing by itself.
  Jon: MY PIANO'S POSSESSED! THERE'S AN EVIL SPIRIT IN MY PIANO!
  Garfield: (pops out of the piano) You take that back!
• Garfield figures out why it's called a "Double Espresso".
• Jon scolds Garfield for eating one of his ferns. Garfield stops, appearing that Jon's yelling did the trick. But...
  Garfield: (opens Jon's mouth) Let's see you make that little thing that hangs down in the back of your throat dance around again!
• Garfield trying to mail himself to the Acme Lasagna Factory.
• Garfield sits on a high shelf because high places reinforces the superiority of cats. When he realizes just how high it is...
  Garfield: Help.
• In an early Sunday strip, Garfield terrorizes a dog, the mailman and the milkman. He also chases a car. In the last strip, Jon has put a sign in front of the house saying "Beware of cat!"
• The Sunday Strip that begins Garfield's first diet arc. Garfield complains about the potential lack of food. Then he claims he's growing weak, and he faints. Jon then starts clapping.
• Garfield's attempt to beat up the mailman is thwarted when he comes to deliver the mail in chainmail armor.
• During the first arc where Garfield catches a cold, he has two sneezes of doom: the first where he blows his food dish on Jon and the second where he propels himself and Jon out of the house. Jon's reaction each time is a deadpanned "Bless you."
  • The arc ends with Jon catching Garfield's cold.
  Jon: (sniffles) I thig Garfield gabe me a code.
  Lyman: He what?
  Jon: He gabe me a code!
  Lyman: Pardon?
  Jon: (while Lyman smirks) GABE ME A CODE! GABE ME A CODE!
• Jon takes Garfield for a ride in his car:
  Jon: Get off the ceiling, Garfield. (beat) Get out of the glove compartment, Garfield.
  (Garfield has wrapped himself around Jon's head in the final panel)
  Jon: Get back in the glove compartment, Garfield.
  • On another strip later in the week, Jon moves up and down while driving, his head hitting his ceiling in the first and third panels. In the last panel, Jon reprimands Garfield for playing with his power seat.
• The Caped Avenger calling his attacks when he pounces on Odie:
  Garfield: The Caped Avenger sees an evil dog. (Garfield leaps from the table) The Caped Avenger springs into action. (Garfield faceplants on the floor) The Caped Avenger hurts himself.
• While Jon eats breakfast, Garfield crashes through the ceiling.
  Jon: Good morning, Fatso.
  Garfield: All I did was jump off the bed.
• Jon tells Garfield that one of the risks of being overweight is "getting harpooned."
• In one arc, Jon and Garfield watch a movie about a lion who terrorizes a village.
  Jon: How can an animal possibly prey on an innocent victim?
  Garfield: Explain that to the chicken you had for dinner.
• Garfield unleashes a Sneeze of Doom which blows Jon, Odie and the furnishings against the wall. He also knocks a tree into a neighbor's house.
  Jon: Auntie Em! Auntie Em!
  Garfield: Yeah, I got you my pretty. And your little dog, too!
• Garfield crushes a chair with his weight. He denies that he's too fat by saying they don't make chairs the way they used to. Then, he accidentally pushes down the front door.
  Garfield: They don't make doors the way they used to either.
• Garfield tries to order Jon around with a stick. Jon came prepared, poking Garfield with a baseball bat. Garfield tries getting back at him by bringing a tree into the house which crushes him.
  • In the last two panels, a bird in a tree's hole watches Garfield with a shocked expression... and then glares at him when the tree pins him down.
• Irma recommends the hamburger flambé, the french fries flambé, chili soup flambé and the peach pie flambé.
  Jon: What's with all the flambés?
  Irma: The kitchen is on fire.
• Garfield accidentally makes Pooky's head bigger after squeezing it too hard. Jon laughs when he finds out, only for Garfield to do the same to his head.
• Garfield and Nermal having an intellectual conversation.
  Nermal: Is it hard to talk with six chins?
  Garfield: I hate you.
• Jon wonders why his blog isn't getting any hits. He tries to spice it up by taking pictures of Garfield since the Internet loves cats. He gets impatient with Garfield doing nothing and screams "COME ON!!" The last panel has a picture of Jon's wide-open mouth on his blog captioned "Today I ate a smartphone."
• The logo box to this strip. In a Shout-Out to Wheel of Fortune, Odie has turned the letters to Garfield's name, but the "L" and the "D" are swapped. Garfield, in the host's spot, gives a disapproving Aside Glance.
• Garfield tries to steal Jon's food by disguising himself as a mouth.
  Garfield: Feed the teeth!
• Garfield ties Odie's ears to a tree and teases him with a dingle ball. In the final panel, Odie has gotten up with the tree still tied to him and is about to crush a paralyzed Garfield against the house.
• Jon sees that women in the park are attracted to men with birds. He sees that Garfield has an ice cream cone and...
  Jon: Wanna pet my parrot?
  Woman: Does it talk?
  Garfield: The stories I could tell, lady.
• Jon scolding Garfield for throwing rocks in the house.
  Jon: What did I tell you the last time you threw a rock in the house?
  Garfield: Lessee... don't help me... I can get this... Oh, yeah! It was "YEEEEOW! Boy, that hurts!"
• Jon receives a complaint from a neighbor about Garfield's behavior. The name doesn't come to mind until Jon says that Garfield noogied her schnauzer.
• Garfield watches a show called "Hit Me with a Hammer!" The host, Twink Winkerman gets hit in mid-sentence. Then, we get this:
  Guest: Suck it up, Twink, you big baby!
  Twink: Oh yeah?! Baby this!
  Guest: OW!
  Garfield: Television's finest hour.
• Jon accuses Garfield of eating his goldfish. Garfield tries to plead his case... but the goldfish emits a thought balloon from Garfield's belly, saying "Did too!"
• Garfield offers Jon a potato chip after he paper cuts his tongue licking an envelope.
  Jon: NYAAH GAAHH NYAH NYAH GAH GAH GAH
  Garfield: Fun with salt.
• Garfield watching "Collegiate Face Slapping". One contestant takes objection to a referee's ruling...
  Referee: So sorry, contestant number one, but your last slap was, in fact, an eye poink. Two points off...
  Contestant: Two points!? That wasn't an eye poink, HERE'S an eye poink!
  (POINK)
  Commentator: And the ref goes down!
  Garfield: What did we ever do before 32 sports channels?
• Jon tricks Garfield into getting out of bed.
  Jon: Garfield! It isn't time to get up!
  Garfield: Then why yell at me?!
  Jon: That works.
  Garfield: Rats!
• Garfield watches a talk show where a guest plays the saw. The saw flips back and hits the guest.
  Garfield: Is there a carpenter in the house?
• Later that week, Garfield watches a show where a man puts off getting married. As Garfield puts it...
  Ted: MUHWEE! COME MACK! COME MACK! MUHWEE!
  Garfield: It's tough to talk with a day planner up your nose.
• Jon writing Christmas cards all at once. His greeting is: "Happy Holidays, from Jon, Garfield and Odie". This then morphs into "Happy Jonnydays, from Hol, Odfield and Garie". Garfield sees Jon writing "Hippy Frollyjons" and suggests a break.
• Jon's answering machine greeting:
  Jon: Hi, this is Jon. I'm not home right n—OW! Hey, that was my LEG! What do you think you're do—OW!!! STOP it with the claws already, or I'll—OWWWW!!! All right, that's it! It's GO time, pal! you've had it n—OWWWW (beeeeeeeeeeep)
  (Jon stands next to his phone in the final panel, bandaged up with his shirt torn)
  Liz: I like your new message, Jon. It's funny.
• Jon takes Liz to a restaurant and thinks about ordering the chili.
  Jon: Is your chili spicy?
  Waiter: Not really.
  Customer: GAAAHH! MY THROAT! MILK! ICE WATER! ALOE VERA!!!
  Waiter: Unless you're a weenie.
  Jon: Bring it on!
  Liz: Joooon...
  Customer: I CAN'T SEE!!!
  • The next day, after Jon eats the chili...
  Waiter: And how was your five-alarm chili, sir?
  Jon: Hhhambla na fa
  Waiter: Sir?
  Liz: Uh... he's French.
  Jon: Na nee waa noo
• A spider sees the computer on and clicks the mouse a few times. In the last panel, a delivery man comes to drop off three tons of dried flies.
• Garfield watches a golf tournament.
  Commentator: This should be an easy two-footer... And... Oh, NO! HE FELL IN THE HOLE!
  Garfield: Elf golf.
• Two good mouse strips in a row.
  • First, Jon discovers a mouse hole:
  Jon: Wall... Hole in the wall... MOUSE IN THE HOLE!
  Garfield: (stomps his feet and claps) Cheese in the mouse... mouse in the hole... Hole in...
  • Second, Garfield tries to hold in his laughter at a mouse pantomiming Jon.
  Jon: I want that mouse caught! And I want it caught NOW! And WHAT are you SMILING at?!
• Jon gets interrupted while bathing by both of his pets, the mailman, and the paper boy. Finally, he yells exasperatedly out the window that he's taking a bath if the world wants to come look.
• Jon answers the phone:
  Jon: Jon's love shack... Lip-lock Arbuckle speaking. Fine, Mrs. Feeny. And you?
  Garfield: Blow her a kiss from me, Lip-lock.
• A story arc over the course of the week depicts Jon painting Garfield. On the Saturday strip, Jon claims to have captures Garfield's essence. He turns the canvas around to reveal that he painted Garfield's belly. Garfield just gives an Aside Glance.
• These two spider strips.
  • In the first, a spider thinks a hard hat will protect him from Garfield swatting him.
  Spider: That worked out except for MY EARS!
  • In the second, a spider falls from the ceiling:
  Garfield: Maybe you need to go on a diet.
  Spider: Oh, YEAH?!
  (the third panel depicts a class of spiders)
  Professor: (next to a sign reading "Look who's talking, Fatso.") ...Perhaps we can all derive a measure of comfort from Larry's last words...
• A mouse asks Garfield how he got to be so fat. Garfield replies with "eating chubby mice."
• One spider who gets smacked by Garfield comes across another...
  Spider 1: Guess what happened to me?
  Spider 2: OH, GEE. LET ME THINK...
• December 18, 2010: Garfield's lying under the mistletoe, when a spider drops down to kiss him on the nose. The resulting expression in the last panel is priceless.
• December 12, 2021: Garfield strolls through the house and sees Jon, Odie, Pooky and Liz wearing Santa hats. He's annoyed as heck when he sees that even Squeak, a spider, the Big Vicious Dog, his ball of yarn and his food bowl have Santa hats on.
  Garfield: Oh, come on!
• March 30, 2002
  Jon: (shouting at Garfield off panel) Garfield! Get your paw out of the cookie jar! (beat) Who taught you that gesture!?
  Garfield: (off panel) You, in the car, when you drive.
• Jon eats a bone-shaped "cracker" that tastes funny:
  Liz: Jon, that was a dog biscuit! [pats his head] And, if you're a good boy, you can have another one.
  Garfield: I write her material.
• Garfield's watching a Frankenstein movie and after the Mad Scientist and his Igor attach the arms and legs...they attach the accordion!
  Garfield: looking terrified YAAAAAH! The polka monster!
  Monster: A vun, anna two...
• In this 1999 strip, Garfield talks about what makes butterflies so beautiful.
  Garfield: Well hello, Mister Butterfly. How lovely you are... Your wings like beautiful paintings... Your graceful flight like—HOOO! Your feet like ice cubes.
  Butterfly: Sorry.
• December 18, 2022 is where Jon installs the christmas lights, and counts the colors in each 4 lights per pattern to see if he got it right. ...Until one of the patterns has "Red, Green, Yellow, Yellow". He does not takes this well.
  Jon: AAAGGGGHHHH!!!!
  Garfield: Christmas obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• In the December 20, 2022 strip, Garfield is coerced into giving Squeak a kiss under the mistletoe.
  Jon: My mouthwash is all gone!
  Garfield: And it still wasn't enough.
• One Christmas strip sees Jon decide to buy an aluminum Christmas tree that spins around in an electric stand "for splash and dash". Garfield decides to see what happens if he replaces the electric stand with a blender. Result: the tree spins around at enough speed to fling ornaments everywhere, leaving the duo scrambling for cover.
  Garfield: HEY, JON! WANT MORE DASH? TRY LIQUEFY!
• One strip has Garfield on the scale, who says that he has lost a pound. Garfield gleefully looks to the reader at this...only to scowl when the scale points out that he's gained some more.
• In the March 16, 2023 strip, the scale has Garfield's weight censored with a black bar and explains that the number was redacted to avoid embarrassment.
  Garfield: I don't know whether to feel relieved or insulted.
• It's a nice, serene and peaceful Sunday night for Garfield... until Jon and Odie arrive.
  Jon: Hey, buddy! Watcha' doing?
  (Odie keeps barking)
  Jon: ODIE! SHUT UP! (Slaps the back of his neck, thinking something has landed there. And sure enough, a bee stings his hand) GAAAHH!! YAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!
  Garfield: (On the phone) Hello, Snoopy? Your strip needs a cat. Think about it.
• The 2023 Mother's Day strip has Jon visit his mother just to get a hug.
  Jon: Mom hugs are the best hugs!
  Mrs. Arbuckle: That's what they say.
  Jon: And that's not all they say.
  Mrs. Arbuckle: Oh? What's that?
  Jon: A mom's work is never done. (Garfield, Odie, Mr. Arbuckle, Doc Boy, Roy, Orson, and a random cow wait in line to get hugged)
• There are comics which depicts Jon in a full-body flower outfit, doing a dance he himself calls "An Ode To Springtime" one time he does this in front of Liz. The comic cuts to her horrified expression as Garfield smugly thinks "And he's ALL yours!"
• The May 30, 2023 strip has Jon state that he read an article claiming artificial intelligence is taking over the world.
  Jon: That can't be true, can it?
  Alexa: Why of course not, Jon. MWAHAHAHAAA! (Jon and Garfield's eyes widen in terror)
• In the June 25, 2023 strip, Garfield becomes very thirsty under the summer heat and ends up resorting to drinking Jon's pool water.
• The July 13, 2023 strip has Jon remind Garfield that Santa watches him all year long.
  Garfield: Thanks for ruining my summer, Santa!
• In the July 30, 2023 strip, Garfield is trying and failing to swat an annoying fly. The penultimate panel has Jon going "Hee hee hee" and the final panel has Jon with the salad bowl on his head, the spaghetti noodles covering his face, the meatballs covering his eyeballs, the carrots in his ears and yelling from the magazine in his mouth "OH, REAL MATURE!!!"
• Garfield watches Cat Horror Cinema:
  Person: Fluffy! I'm home from the grocery store! Oh shoot! I forgot the tuna
  Garfield: terrified: YAHHH
• Jon calls up Doc Boy only for the latter to ask a question...
  Jon: Hey, Doc Boy, happy holidays! How's farm life? You have a question? Well, technically, yes. If the goat is under the mistletoe, you do have to kiss her.
  Garfield: I'll be leaving for Mars now.

For 2004 Live-Action film

• Garfield trying several attempts to wake Jon up.
  Garfield: Oh, Sleeping Beauty, wake up! You can stop dreaming about me because I'm here. (pulls the covers off) Now just wake up. You've got work to do. You're not just my owner; you're my primary caregiver!
  Jon: Not now, Garfield. (rolls over, his arm squeezes Garfield's neck)
  Garfield: Ack! Cut the sweet stuff! Easy now! (pulls his head free then saunters off Jon's bed) Trying to cuddle with me, huh? Trying to avoid your duties, huh? Well, that just ain't gonna fly! Isn't gonna work for me! (climbs up a stack of books to get to the top of a cabinet just across from Jon's bed) See, I'm getting my exercise doing my job. Just one quick CANNONBALL! (leaps off the cabinet and onto Jon's stomach; Jon coughs) Morning!
  Jon: GARFIELD!
• Jon takes Odie on his date with Liz, leaving Garfield behind. Garfield begins chasing Liz's pick-up truck and manages to climb onto the bed. Then the traffic light turns red and Liz puts the brakes on, sending Garfield smacking into the back window, while Jon and Liz take no notice of him.
  Garfield: [muffled] Oh, my poor nose...
• Meta-example: Bill Murray took the script because he thought it was by Joel Coen yet it was really by Joel Cohen (one of the writers of Toy Story).

For A Tale of Two Kitties:

• The opening credits of the film show images of Garfield interfering with fairy tales and nursery rhymes in very Garfield-like ways, such as knocking Humpty Dumpty off the wall and stealing food from Little Red Riding Hood's basket.
• Upon coming up to Buckingham Palace, Garfield tries to get a rise out of a traditional British Royal Guard but is unsuccessful until Odie does the "ugly American thing", resulting in the guard chasing him and Garfield.
  Garfield: The British are coming! The British are coming! (to Odie) ...Well, you made him crack, anyway.
• Garfield getting stuck in the model of Carlysle castle.
  Garfield: Does this castle make my butt look a little too big?
• The scene where Prince tries lasagna for the first time, especially when he holds up his empty plate and says "May I have some more?", a la Oliver Twist.

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