113. Lost Cheech Wizard Strip

January 12, 2007

Q: I am looking for a “Cheech Wizard” strip I’m sure was in the National Lampoon; never has this been reproduced anywhere, and even Mark Bode [Vaughn Bode’s son] doesn’t know about it: I believe it started out with Cheech saying “No matter how hard you shake it, one drop always rolls down your leg”. It ended with Belinda Bump saying, “Shit, Cheech, you came in my ear”, to which he replied “Yes. little pussy bottom, God hisself spoke to me in my moment of passion and told me to fill your marble-like head wif wisdom”. When/what issue did this appear? Or was it published somewhere else?

A: According to Carol: “G’day. The Cheech strip in question is titled ‘Sperm’. It appears in colour on the back cover of Bode’s 1973 comix book Schizophrenia. I can’t find it in any issue of the ‘Poon I’ve got. The most likely special for it to have appeared in was “Comics” (1974 anthology)but it ain’t there either. As it’s only two panels, it probably never appeared in NatLamp.” Thanks, Carol!

Comments

The "No matter how hard you shake it..." comment was in an early Idyll strip. There definitely was a Cheech strip with the "came in my ear" comment. I'll look it up if I get the chance.

—Steve

January 15, 2007 12:59 am

Steve: Is it possible this strip was in one of the Lampoon's anthologies or other collections, like their book of cartoons? All those I have asked have said this strip wasn't in the normal Lampoon issues; I have gone so far as to acquire many back issues in a vain hunt for this strip. I would very much appreciate your help!!!

—Chris

January 16, 2007 9:30 am

G'day. The Cheech strip in question is titled 'Sperm'.It appears in colour on the back cover of Bode's 1973 comix book SCHIZOPHRENIA. I can't find it in any issue of the 'Poon I've got. The most likely special for it to have appeared in was "Comics" (1974 anthology)but it ain't there either. As it's only two panels, it probably never appeared in NatLamp.

—Carol

January 26, 2007 9:42 pm

Pox Girls to the rescue once again...thanks, Carol!

—Mark Simonson

January 26, 2007 9:48 pm

That one never appeared in the Lampoon. It must have been in more than one Bode comic book, because I once owned an issue with that comic, but I never had Schizophrenia. 'Sperm' wasn't the title - it didn't have one - the first of the two panels was a white splat with the word "Sperm!" written as a sound effect. The "No matter..." speech wan't in it; I won't dispute Steve, as I only had one issue of Idyll and don't remember that line from the copy I had.

—Runar

February 9, 2007 12:59 am

To all: Carol and Steve were right; the line "No matter how hard you shake it, one drop always..." is from the exact strip of Idyll he mentioned, and was both in the original Lampoon issue he quotes and also in the "Comics" anthology. The Cheech Wizard was a two-panel strip on the back of Bodes' "Schizophrenia" from 1973; at the time I posted this I found a copy on e-Bay and it arrived a few days after Carol's response. It is on the back cover as she said, titled "Sperm" and was almost word for word as I remembered it. The only this is I must have once owned this comic, but despite the fact I still have all (??) my old underground comix from that era, I don't have this one (that is, until I found the copy on e-Bay), so in my memory it was in the Lampoon, since tht's where I remember most of the Cheech Wizard strips having been originally published.

—Chris van Laer

February 15, 2007 10:32 am

Vaughn BodÈ was the National Lampoon's Dave Berg. You had to wonder in both cases whether the artists had photos of the editor and/or publisher in compromising positions with a domestic animal.

—John Figler

January 22, 2009 10:04 pm

In his forthcoming Lampoon book, "Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead," Rick Meyerowitz says that the popularity of Cheech Wizard baffled him back then, and still does.

—John Figler

May 12, 2010 8:21 pm

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