5-4-Fri: Online Cartoons

The Internet gives and gives. One of its high points is the plethora of comedy. Within that genre, I am enamored of the cartoon/animated funniness. Here are five sites worthy of your attention:

1. Doonsebury. Gary Trudeau is America's premier satirist, has a hot wife, and still produces this awesome comic strip about Mike Doonsebury and his pals, which is so on-point that newspapers cowtowed to threatened politicians and moved it to the editorial page. Check it out daily.

2. Homestar Runner. This fully online animated series takes real advantage of the Net to produce an original virtual world of nuttiness. My favorite part is how Homestar's friend Strong Bad is a Mexican wrestler with boxing gloves and surplus attitude who manages to answer your emails despite an obvious typing impediment. I have never laughed harder online. This series is so funny that I still watch the by-now endearingly retro site intro.

3. New Yorker Cartoon Bank. Your pal, iClipse has been a die-hard New Yorker reader since he was approximately 11 years old. Now-a-days, Robert Mankoff offers you access to the magazine's predigous archive of cartoons online; but the best--and most frustrating--offering is the Caption Contest. Each week, you are presented with a captionless cartoon and the chance to suggest a caption and win a signed, framed copy of the cartoon after the New Yorker publishes your winning entry in the magazine. No, I have never won, woefully. Yes, I feel robbed.

4. Odd Todd. One day a dude got laid off and started a site about it. Odd Todd has emerged as one of the InterWeb's most interesting and amusing homes for humor and grown organically as its founder has grown up. If you've never been, start here.

5. Dilbert. By now, a classic. Still, the more and more I work in an office, the funnier this strip gets. Congrats to Scott Adams for keeping the effort up and remaining relevant (I'm talking to you, Cathy).

PS - My brother has suggested a pretty funny (but technical) humor site to me, which I am enjoying as well. Check it out. Oh, and "Fou de Fa Fa" by "Flight of the Conchords" is funny, funny stuff; now playing on iTunes.