''Is it...silent?'' ''Well, there's a percussion track''

#991; The Chipmunks, and What Came After

  — December 23rd, 2013

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It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I realized the Chipmunks (which I had always known as cartoon characters from my childhood) were actually, as pop-cultural entities, much older — dating back to their eponymous novelty Christmas record in 1958 or, arguably, the “Witch Doctor” song all the way back in 1952. There was a short-lived cartoon in 1961, but the Saturday-morning cartoon that I and people of my generation are most familiar with didn’t come around until more than 20 years later (1982-1990).

The audio trick that creator Ross Bagdasarian used to create the sound of the Chipmunks’ voices was so simple, and the resulting songs so popular in the late 50s and early 60s, that I figured they must have spawned some knockoffs. Sure enough — enjoy the squeaky sounds of:

The Nutty Squirrels (singing “Uh Oh”)
The Grasshoppers (singing “Shortnin’ Bread”) (More info)
The Three Happy Crickets (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”)
Woody Woodchuck’s Christmas Sing Song (info only)
Sing Along with the Busy Beavers (album download)
BONUS LINK: The Happy Hamsters sing “Ghostbustin'”, a few decades later. Full album here.

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Fresh(-ish) Far Side Cartoons

October 19, 2025 by David Malki !

Back in 2020, an official website was launched for Gary Larson and his comic The Far Side, which until then had only existed online as unofficial fan archives and so on.

Along with the site, which reruns a smattering of daily cartoons, there was a section called “New Stuff” in which Larson described the joy of learning to draw with a digital tablet for the first time.

Since then, the “New Stuff” section has been very infrequently updated with new cartoons — including one quite recently. It’s lovely to see more work from Larson; for many of us, The Far Side is like an old friend.

I also recommend looking through the “Sketchbooks” section to see a ton more proto-comics and draft ideas, many of which might easily have become a classic during the comic’s run.


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