Tuesday, January 1st - Catbert gives consolation DVD

Dear Mr. Stevenson,

As per your instructions, I have carefully analyzed the 2008 Dilbert Calender, and provided explanation of the humor below.  I hope this will help you to be "in on the jokes around the water cooler" as you suggested you would like to be in your previous memo.  I hope Please enjoy. I really don't think anyone cares if you don't "get" Dilbert.  It's just something Dave and Kevin seem to like.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Sincerely,

John Smith

Tuesday, January 1st - Catbert gives consolation DVD

TO: Larry Stevenson, West Coast Division Manager

FROM: John Smith, Assistant to the West Coast Division Manager

DATE: December 31, 2007

SUBJECT: Tomorrow's Dilbert Strip

I believe the heading at the top of the first frame is intended to introduce the character of "Catbert" who (according to the heading) is an "evil director of human relations." One joke Scott Adams is making here is that "evil director of human relations" is an actual job title.  He is suggesting that HR staff is ubiquitously "evil."  This person is also a cat.  It is possible that Mr. Adams also dislikes cats and believes them to be evil.

The following panel shows Catbert attempting to comfort employees about down-sizing by telling them if they are fired, he will give them a complementary DVD with instructions for living off the land.  This is funny for three (3) reasons.  Firstly, it is humorous that an HR person would offer a DVD as condolences to someone who has been fired.  Secondly, that this DVD teaches ex-employees to "live off the land" is humorous because it is a dated term and calls to mind the juxtaposition between the agrarian/rural societies of the 19th century on a format that is specifically late 20th century/early 21st century.  Finally, the third joke is that the money spent to produce, film, edit, and package such a DVD is a gross misappropriation of company funds, especially considering the employee is being fired due to down-sizing, which is usually a symptom of budget cuts.

The third panel is a flash-forward to later in time showing an ex-employee watching said DVD.  This panel serves to remind you of the humor in the previous panel and takes it one step further, by visualizing the ridiculous premise set forth in the previous panel.  It is now real.  It really happened.  Catbert really did have this DVD, he was not being facetious.  It is for real (within, of course, the context of a fictitious cartoon).

The content of the DVD is also amusing because it reveals that "living off the land" is actually a euphemistic understatement for shoplifting.  Additionally, the assertion that the key to successful shoplifting is simply to run "very fast" is both a comical oversimplification of the nuances of shoplifting as well as the humorous assumption of one's failure to shoplift correctly.  The DVD instructs the viewer to run fast rather than to pocket items deftly; this is funny because a DVD which is meant to instruct is fundamentally assuming ineptitude from its viewers.  The assumption is that the viewer is destined to fail at even the simplest of tasks, which sheds some light on why they are being downsized in the first place.

Also, the whole strip is funny because Catbert is a cat - but yet they treat him like a person.

I hope this serves to answer any questions you may have had about the humor in today's Dilbert strip.  Please let me know if you need any clarification.