Get Fuzzy

Get Fuzzy
Logo for Get Fuzzy comic strip.
Author(s)	Darby Conley
Website	Get Fuzzy Website
Current status/schedule	Running
Launch date	September 1999
Syndicate(s)	United Feature Syndicate
Publisher(s)	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Genre(s)	Humor, Pets, Family

Get Fuzzy is an American daily comic strip written and drawn by Darby Conley. The strip features the adventures of Boston advertising executive Rob Wilco and his two anthropomorphic pets: dog Satchel Pooch and cat Bucky Katt. Get Fuzzy has been published by United Feature Syndicate since September 1999. It appears in over 200 newspapers worldwide.

The strip's humor comes from the conflict between Bucky's and Satchel's personalities, which are extreme stereotypes of cats and dogs. Sweet, trusting, naïve Satchel is routinely subjected to the exploitation of cruel, self-centered Bucky, who is always torturing the poor canine. Rob, the middleman, is often frazzled from dealing with them, or more specifically, from dealing with Bucky's destructive nature and overall nastiness. The three characters live in an apartment on Boston's Longwood Avenue.

Main characters

File:Th BuckyKatt.jpg

Bucky Katt

Bucky B. Katt

A twisted Siamese cat, Bucky Katt is selfish, cynical, and "lazy". His ears are nearly always drawn laid back flat on his head in a defiant, aggressive and unfriendly manner, unless he is forced to have them up or has a bedhead. In certain color pictures of Bucky, his eyes seem to be a mix of sky blue and wisteria purple, rather than a plain sky blue. Rob found Bucky huddled on a trash can, while the cat was only five ounces and a few weeks old, in Hackensack, New Jersey. While Bucky's father has never been mentioned, Bucky gave his mother's maiden name on a credit card application as "Tricky Woo." Bucky was given his name in reference to his fang, which protrudes from his mouth much like a buck tooth, but is more or less a "fang". Bucky lives in a dresser located in the hall closet of Rob Wilco's apartment, because he refuses to share a room with Satchel. It has also been mentioned that when they moved to that apartment, Bucky chose the closet because "it was the safest place in case of assault". Bucky spends much of his time watching television, especially early in the comic strip. Early on, it was said that Bucky spent at least half of his day watching television, though this was faded out as the author decided to make Bucky's schedule more nap-oriented. Many story lines in the comic have Bucky continually finding ways to antagonize and annoy Rob and Satchel. On most outdoor excursions, when Rob is present, Bucky is carried in a strap-on "Bundle-O-Joy" baby carrier, referenced as a way of keeping the cat out of trouble. Rob has also been known to use a harness leash on him for the same purpose. Bucky also has an inexplicable fear of mice.

Bucky is frequently depicted as possessing an abundance of rather disagreeable feline traits, such as anti-social tendencies, delight in random destruction (at times bordering on vandalism) and violence, hostility, and selfishness at a much higher level. Most of this is directed at Satchel, as he endeavors to wreck Satchel's optimistic outlook on life, but usually fails, because Satchel does not have enough intelligence for his rude sarcasm and is often unaware that he is being insulted. Bucky is often shown to be a very poor fighter physically. Oddly enough, when Bucky does fight, his weapon of choice is a spork. He also claims to be able to "swing a mean sock of legos". Although he feels the need to maintain an "alley cat" image, Bucky occasionally reveals a kitten-like nature. He has also once voluntarily fixed Satchel's watch, and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bucky was badly shaken; while Rob and Satchel left to donate blood, he decorated the apartment with thankful balloons and signs, and baked some cookies for them to show his appreciation.

Three obsessions dominate Bucky's life: The Death of Fungo Squiggly, the ferret who lives next door, his desire to eat a monkey, and wanting a movie made about him. None of these goals has any reasonable rationale behind it, and he fails brilliantly in his repeated attempts to fulfill these obsessions. Fungo routinely disrupts Bucky's schemes, the single encounter he had with a monkey resulted in the chimp trying to peel Bucky (thinking he was a banana), and his movie schemes always end with a lack of funding after initial rejection by Rob to "invest" into the movie project.

His attempts at intellectual superiority are undermined by his constant malapropisms and his habit of making ridiculous claims, which he never admits as being factually incorrect, such as saying that owls, locomotives, England and Canada do not exist, even though Bucky has visited the latter. Bucky is furthermore frequently depicted as believing in absurd conspiracy theories, or absurd theories in general.

Bucky owns a miniature teddy bear named "Smacky", obtained by his refusing to exchange toys with Satchel at a McDoodles restaurant even though each had the toy the other wanted. It is one of the few objects he shows great affection. As Christmas gifts, Bucky received two other bears which he named "Cracker" and "Punk", but they do not appear as often as Smacky. Bucky also owns a rag doll named "Ms. Pretty", similar to Barbie. Despite his lack of sensitivity, Bucky cares deeply for Smacky and Ms. Pretty. He was also distressed when Rob washed his blanket.

Bucky claims to be a fan of the "Yankers", even wearing a Yankees hat throughout the series, only because Rob wouldn't let him wear the "'B' is for 'Bucky'" hat. He taunts Rob when the Red Sox play poorly, but knows little about baseball. Bucky's one acknowledgment to Rob's obsession with Rugby Union football came when he inexplicably performed the Ka Mate haka made famous by Rob's favorite national team, the All Blacks of New Zealand.

Although he professes a lack of interest in the Harry Potter series, Bucky took part in a spoiler-filled discussion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with Rob regarding the allegiance of potions master Severus Snape, and also uses the series' fictionality as the basis for his afformentioned claims about trains, owls, England and Canada. Bucky seems to like Slytherin because Satchel is a fan of Hufflepuff House.

Bucky has been shown to hold extremely conservative political viewpoints throughout the strip, but these may not stem from actual convictions as much as a desire to antagonize Rob and Satchel, both apparent liberals. Bucky is also frequently shown to have francophobic and Anti-Quebec sentiments (he regularly says words like frog and canuck, although these, like his politics, appear not to stem from racism or nativism but from the desire to antagonize Satchel for his background). He also has no visible sense of pride as an American.

Satchel Pooch

An overweight, naïve, friendly, and easily amused dog. His father, named Copernicus, a Labrador Retriever and retired guide dog, and his mother, a Shar Pei, live in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. His father, one of a long line of guard dogs and Army dogs, was disappointed that Satchel had changed his name from "Number 8" to Satchel and also that he had become a "house dog". He has been alleged by Joe, a friend of his sports fanatic "owner" Rob Wilco, to be named after baseball player Satchel Paige.

Satchel is kind, gentle, and sympathetic. These traits, coupled with his naïvete and gullibility, make him a natural target for the scheming Bucky Katt. Satchel's personality serves as foil to that of Bucky's: easy to please, optimistic to the extreme, and perfectly content to peacefully coexist with everyone. He is good friends with Bucky's nemesis, Fungo Squiggly, much to Bucky's dismay. In fact, they are such good friends that Rob had a ferret flap installed in Satchel's room so Fungo could come into the apartment and leave as he pleased. Although he often seems oblivious to his own exploitation. Satchel occasionally expresses frustration towards Bucky and his hostile attitude. He seems to have forgotten that dogs are traditionally the natural aggressor in relationships between dogs and cats, and in fact, intimidation appears to be completely alien to the affable and easygoing dog. Throughout the strip, Satchel has been portrayed as a character who is taken advantage of by Bucky. Satchel sticking up for himself was a rare event, encouraged by Rob. Recent strips show Satchel becoming increasingly aggressive, and often fighting back to Bucky's relentless insults. In some cases, Satchel reacts physically to Bucky. He has only threatened Bucky with violence once, and it was due to Bucky insulting Satchel's friends, rather than anything aimed at Satchel directly. Satchel did forcibly grab Bucky once after Bucky had turned on every light in the house (as well as putting a sock in the toaster oven) in an effort to force Bucky to turn the unused lights off due to Satchel's concern over global warming. Satchel is normally unilaterally nice to Bucky, and usually receives no consideration whatsoever from the cat in return; rare exceptions to this lopsided relationship include Satchel's gift of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream to Bucky on his birthday, which elicited an unprecedented display of gratitude from Bucky.

True to his character, Satchel takes a neutral position in the ongoing sports feud between professed New York Yankees fan Bucky and rabid Boston Red Sox fan Rob. Satchel says he likes the Chicago Cubs. Satchel is also very proud of his Canadian heritage, taking the time to watch Queen Elizabeth II whenever the royal figure is on television. He is a Harry Potter enthusiast, and was once the flustered victim of a spoiler-filled conversation between Rob and Bucky regarding Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As a fan of the Harry Potter series, Satchel displays a Hufflepuff poster in his room, a house affiliation that naturally suits the loyal and friendly dog. Naturally, Satchel is also a supporter of animal rights. He asked Rob if he gave him some coins if he could write a check to "Peter" for him. (He meant the P.E.T.A)

Although Satchel cannot tell time, he wears a watch he calls "Handy." Though the watch was destroyed in an accident with a bicycle, it was later found and repaired by Bucky, who then gave it back to him as a Christmas present. Satchel also received a digital watch on the same Christmas morning that he named "Dingy" (later "Beepy"), though he is still unable to tell time with it. In addition to the watch, Satchel names everything from the carpet ("Rugger Green") to a television ("World B. Shiny") to a lamp ("Lampy") after what they are. Rob was slightly put off when Satchel told Beepy (Rob was on the couch) "Oop! Rob's sitting on Blue McCushy!"

Satchel was implied to be Christian on one occasion when Bucky got trapped in the apartments ductwork. Satchel's sexual orientation has been jokingly questioned several times throughout the strip's run. However, this aspect of Satchel's personality has never been treated as anything other than a mild amusement, and is counterbalanced by his occasional tendency to fall in love with both human and canine females. In the latter case, Satchel's primary female friend/crush is a black and white dog named Oreo, who has known him since they were puppies.

Satchel was a guest at the 75th anniversary party of Blondie and Dagwood in 2005.

Satchel's jokes tend to deliver either a pun comment or the strip's punch line. Both are usually preceded by his laughter. His jokes often involve him not fully understanding an idea. Often, a punchline provided by another character is followed by Satchel delivering a second punchline.

Rob Wilco

Rob is the "owner" of Satchel and Bucky. He serves as the straight man between Satchel's goofy naïveté and Bucky's cynical hostility, observing their antics and those of their various animal friends with bemusement, amusement, or both. In the Get Fuzzy universe, virtually all animals talk, a situation that no one seems to find odd.

Rob is portrayed as a bit of an everyman: a mediocre performer in a job he dislikes, not successful romantically, and an all-around relatively quiet guy with chronic lower back pain. His passions, which often border on obsessions, include sports (particularly the Boston Red Sox and the New Zealand All Blacks), video games, and books. Rob is often shown reading, usually while in bed. He seems to particularly like the Harry Potter series, as does Satchel. He is also a vegetarian due to what he feels are too cruel methods of killing the animals.

Many of Rob's interests are displayed visually rather than mentioned. From the t-shirts, hats, posters, statements, and books variously seen and heard in the strip, it can be assumed that Rob also likes the New Zealand rugby union team, South Doyle High School Track-and-field team (Conley's high school in Knoxville, Tennessee), Irish Rugby Team, Quebec Nordiques (specifically Michel Goulet), St. Louis Cardinals (with a memorial to Darryl Kile inscribed on his hat), Manchester United F.C. (and, oddly, also archrivals Manchester City F.C.), Otago, New Zealand NPC rugby team, Belgian comic character Tintin, MXC, The Da Vinci Code, Dilbert, South Park, The Simpsons, science fiction, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peanuts, Dungeons & Dragons, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Weta Workshop, Family Guy, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the BBC television program Top Gear, the Marine Corps, the Evil Dead series, and the music of Leo Kottke, The Ramones, Green Day, Dropkick Murphys, Ween, Pink Floyd, Sum 41 (as shown in a few strips where he wheres a shirt which has Sum 41 across it,) John Lennon, R.E.M., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, The Strokes, and Sprouts (a reference to Conley's brother's band).

At one time, Bucky, obsessed with a Persian who was living in the building, attempted to grow his hair out with a bottle of Rogaine. After two bottles were used and Rob flipped at the long tufts of hair that sprouted from the cat's head and chest, Bucky mixed some "no hair cream" with Rob's shampoo that he intended to use later. However, Rob got to the shampoo first, and as a result was bald for several weeks.

Rob's back has put him out of commission for three extended periods in the strip's history. On all three occasions, Bucky used the opportunity to steal Rob's wallet and establish his own dominion over the household.

Rob is a sports fan, and it is alleged by his friend that he named both pets after stars of baseball's Negro Leagues – Buck O'Neil and Satchel Paige. Coincidentally, Bucky also has only a single fang, his "buck" tooth. An alternate theory (probably untrue) is that Bucky is named after late-1970s New York Yankees outfielder Bucky Dent who hit a game-winning home run against the Boston Red Sox in a tie-breaking playoff game to determine the American League Eastern Division champion in 1978. However, this has not been explored in the strip. Rob is named after two friends of Conley's graduating class at Doyle High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Rob's t-shirts often carry messages of a political nature. In the July 3, 2007 strip, soon after the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the Bong hits 4 Jesus case, Rob was portrayed with a shirt that read "Dumb Hits 4 Judges". The Sunday before this, July 1, Rob's t-shirt displayed the flag of the Republic of Vermont. Political activists at the time of the strip were making headlines by renewing awareness of the effort to have Vermont secede from the United States.

His religion was only mentioned once, and he said (when asked if he minded saying what his religion was) was that he "kind of did mind".

Antagonists

Fungo Squiggly

A neighboring 2-year-old- ferret whom Bucky intensely hates (Fungo is Bucky's nemesis). He is very rough and borderline thuggish, often turning Bucky's plans to ignominious defeats and his hobby is allegedly chewing metal. The two frequently engage in fights which leave Satchel, Fungo's friend, in the middle. Fungo also smokes cigars, a habit which angers Bucky and annoys Rob.

When a new family moved into the apartment next door to Rob, they introduced Fungo as their pet. The amiable Satchel made friends with the newcomer easily, but Bucky immediately regarded Fungo as a mortal enemy. No explanation is ever given to Bucky's intense hatred for Fungo, save that Fungo seemed a bit aggressive in their first meeting, Although he whispers in Satchel's ear on occasion, Fungo does not speak audibly.

Bucky's attempts to defeat and/or humiliate Fungo almost invariably backfire, and often badly. For example, Bucky once tried to trap Fungo in a crude snare trap. Fungo yanked on the rope, causing Bucky to smack into a wall, loosing two teeth: his trademark cuspid and lower right prosterior moler. Bucky sued Fungo and took him to the Judge Judy show, where he inevitably lost. To add insult to injury, Fungo was seen wearing the smaller tooth on a necklace. When Bucky saw that, he charged at Fungo, only to be tackled by Satchel and have his fang break off yet again. Fungo still wears the small tooth around his neck to this day. Other plots have had similarly unintended consequences, such as Fungo's kidnapping of Bucky's beloved toy Smacky (twice). Another instance was when Bucky destroyed a large portion of a wall in an attempt to get Fungo once and for all. However, all that Bucky got was a small chunk of plaster to the head, thrown by Fungo. One memorably misguided attempt involved Bucky throwing a baseball at the ferret he took to be Fungo; the ball struck Fungo's mother and knocked her down a garbage chute. The two had a pie fight afterwards, though Rob broke it up as Fungo had filled his pie with tools. Another involved Bucky challenging Fungo to a duel using a Ms. Pretty prom glove, only to have the duel broken up by Chubby Huggs (see Chubby Huggs below). Many of Fungo's aggressions toward Bucky are simply reactions to the cat's attempted assaults, as Fungo does not seem to go looking for trouble.

Minor Cat Characters

Chubby Huggs

A portly, unterminably cheerful cat who believes positive reinforcement (mostly through hugging) solves all problems, and is referred to by Rob as the Dalai Lama of cats because of his peacemaking abilities. Chubby is also a cat Bucky dislikes the most, or was his second nemesis (Fungo Squiggly ranking as the first). Once Chubby is locked in his hug position, he is unable to move for 10 minutes-a fact Rob used against him by tricking Chubby into hugging a teddy bear tightly so Satchel could carry him home. He once had a "little mouse friend" named Fowly Mouse who hated him and was vicious towards him even though Chubby would take the threats as words of kindness. Bucky later attempted to kill Folwy by giving him a used gerbil cage with a mouse trap buried under sawdust with a "leaky can of Cheez Whiz in it". Bucky passed it off as a "dairy themed adventure park." Chubby is one of the few creatures Fungo Squiggly and Bucky are afraid of, as referenced during the attempted duel and an attempted cage fight in the hallway Fungo and Bucky had which Chubby broke up by hugging both of them and refusing to let go until they made up.

Mac Manc McManx

In a sequence that began September 19, 2006, Bucky met his cousin, Mac Manc McManx, otherwise known as Mac, M3, or M&M&M. Mac is a Manx cat (in reference to his last name, "McManx") lives in Manchester, England, but uses a considerable amount of rhyming slang and other speech patterns typical of Britain. He explained that he and Bucky shared a common grandmother. Mac's father, Bucky's uncle, arrived in England during the First Gulf War from a place Mac only remembers being called "Otis". Despite Mac's generally cheery demeanor, his ears are laid back flat on his head like Bucky's which may indicate aggression runs in the McManx/Katt bloodlines. It was thought that Mac returned to England after living in Rob's kitchen and using Rob's sweater drawer as a litter box for the previous few weeks. However, he was really waiting at the airport for over a month, having been detained by Homeland Security because he lost his ticket and no one could understand him. He revealed he either has a dinner plate or a teacup embedded in his head, the result of an argument with his girlfriend Julie over which football team was better, Manchester United or Manchester City

Random Orange Visor Cat

This cat looks like Chubby Huggs, but a bit thinner. She has been seen talking with Bucky and Satchel and once taking up donations for a Hairball Awareness fundraiser, where a "star-studded" concert would take place. The name "Kissy" has been mentioned belonging to her by Satchel, insinuating that Random Orange Visor Cat might be a girl.

Buttercup

Buttercup belongs to Mrs. Wilco. She is shy, but aggressive. When she first met Bucky, she told him, "Now you listen here, you foreign flea factory, you stink up any part of my house and I'll turn you into tender vittles, capisce?" Mrs. Wilco, who had adopted Rob's vegetarian lifestyle, took it to a level Rob hadn't (and definetly wouldn't consider) with Bucky, and started feeding Buttercup vegetarian cat food. Buttercup asks Satchel to kill her, and just before they leave, Buttercup attacks Rob, begging for tuna. Mrs. Wilco, though, thinks its a sign of affection. Rob gives Buttercup $400 and a take-out menu, from which she orders "15 #5's with extra pig.

Darcy

Darcy was a siamese cat Bucky was dating.

Julie

Julie was Mac Manc MacManx's girlfriend. Mac had a teacup or a plate in his head, the result from a fight with Julie over which football team was better, Manchester United, or Manchester City, as they were both from Mancester, England.

Minor Human Characters

Joe Doman

Rob's friend and co-worker, one of the few people who gets along reasonably well with Bucky. He has also pet-sat Bucky and Satchel a few times. He also comments on the strange eating habits of the Wilco household when he is over for dinner. He is African-American. His name may be a parody on the phrase "you da man". Although for a period of time Joe was popularly cast throughout the strip he has not been seen because he got a job in France. Joe is also a fan of rugby, having worn a jersey of the Scottish national team on a golf outing. Joe was originally drawn with beady eyes, but was later drawn with more detailed eyes (with a pupil and sclera).

Francis Wilco

Rob's father, who is a retired firefighter and former member of the United States Marine Corps (1969-1974) who reluctantly pet sits Bucky and Satchel from time to time. Francis does not like Bucky, and is willing to do a fair amount to keep him out of his hair. He has thinning hair and is usually pictured with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Like Bucky, he generally calls Rob "Robert".

Mrs. Wilco

Rob's mother, who has not yet been given a name. She live in an indeterminate place with her cat, Buttercup, and a dog named Chewie. Rob has visited her apartment on two separate occasions, once for Thanksgiving and once for Easter. The first time (Thanksgiving) Rob had to fly there, but the second time he was able to drive, implying she might have moved. She has joined Rob in adopting a vegetarian diet, and has gone further to the point of forcing her cat Buttercup upon the diet.

Roger Wilco

Rob's "idiot brother" (according to Francis), who visited briefly in 2005. He made a previous, silent appearance at a memorial service to honor the firefighters killed in the 9/11 attacks in 2001 shown shortly after the attacks. His first appearance, though, was in a color strip in which a stunt (called a "total idiot") played Rob in "The Get Fuzzy Experience" and allowed himself to be attacked by Bucky. At the end, Roger was shown holding Bucky with plastic gloves and laughing at the stuntman's idiocy. Joe Doman is also shown laughing. The third time Rob's back went out he pet sat for Bucky and Satchel. His name is a pun on "roger, wilco", a phrase from 1940's naval radio code meaning "message received, will comply".

William (Wilco?)

Rob's Marine cousin, called "Willie" by Satchel, who lost a leg in the Iraq War. An uncharacteristically serious story arc showed Rob meeting William's plane when he returned home.

Minor Dog Characters

Mrs. Pooch

Satchel's mom, who doesn't have a name yet. She is the shar-pei part of Satchel. On their vacation to Canada, Mrs. Pooch was very happy to see her son. She told Rob, Bucky, and Satchel that Copernicus had to go to Feline Acceptance Classes for a week because he bit their neighbors' nice cat. She is cheerful, like Satchel. None of Satchel's seven other brothers and sister have been mentioned.

Oreo

An old, old, old friend and love interest of Satchel's. She has the fur patterns of a Border Collie but is more terrier sized. Although she is Satchel's love interest, she is more interested in a bomb dog called Chaser.

Ira Chihuahua Ira Chihuahua first appeared in Satchel's dog conference and appeared a second time. Ira prefers to go by his initial, I. Chihuahua. In his second appearance, he was telling Satchel at the playgroup that he had worms in his stomach.

Motor

Motor is 1/4th Belgian Tervuen and is offended when someone calls him a German Shepard, though he looks like one. He also believes that turtles can predict the future. In one Sunday Strip featured in "Loserpaloosa", Motor was talking to a turtle named "Conficuous".

Smoky

Smoky is an old friend of Satchel's who has a smoked pattern to his fur. He used to chase alot of cars, but has lately been "really into smells". He and Satchel once rode in a Ford pick up truck for hours. Satchel and Smoky don't usually agree, but in that instance, they both agreed it was the most fun ever.

Negative reactions

Pittsburgh

Many residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania reacted angrily to an October 30, 2003 strip. When Bucky asks a travel agent for suggested destinations "based primarily on smell", the agent promptly produces a brochure from the Pittsburgh board of tourism. This was originally intended as an "in-joke" jab at a friend who lives in the Pittsburgh area. Conley later confessed shock over the large volume of hate mail and even death threats he received in response, and Pittsburgh city officials publicly denounced the strip.

An apology promised by Conley took a rather unexpected form. The 2003-11-17 strip questions why the Pittsburgh joke caused such an uproar and archly notes that several protesters rather hypocritically stated that New Jersey smelled worse than Pittsburgh. Satchel closes the strip by explaining that the original strip "should have made it more clear that it was [nearby borough] Sewickley Heights that smells", coupled with a post-it note advertising an apology to Sewickly Heights. Unsurprisingly, this "apology" failed to appease many of those who had complained.

Conley took things a step further in the next three strips, the first of which showed a survey in which voters ranked the five smelliest places in the United States. In order, they were ranked Cleveland, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Darby Conley's "@##", and New Orleans.

The second showed apparent greeting signs/tourism slogans for people that come into Pittsburgh. Featured were "Pittsburgh: Turn Left at Erie", "Pittsburgh: If You Smell Anything, It's Coming from Ohio", and "Pittsburgh: Gateway to Cleveland!"

The third and final one showed Satchel and Bucky as trading cards, with Satchel being "Mario Lepooch" (a parody of Pittsburgh Penguins owner and star Mario Lemieux) and Bucky being "Buck Tekulve" (after former Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve). The last panel showed Satchel wearing a Cleveland Browns hat and Bucky in a LeBron James jersey in a final insult to Pittsburghers.

At the time of the controversy, Get Fuzzy did not run in any Pittsburgh newspapers. However, the strip now runs in the city's Post Gazette and Tribune-Review papers.

Bob Lobel

A strip published on May 13, 2005 resulted in legal action. In the original strip, Rob, Bucky and Satchel are watching television. Satchel asks "Is this sportscaster... drunk?" Rob replies "Lobel? Who knows. He's like some TV outreach program or something." Lobel has been reported as having appeared on air in an intoxicated state which Lobel denies.

Less than a week later, Boston sportscaster Bob Lobel filed a libel lawsuit against Conley, United Features Syndicate, and the New Bedford Standard-Times newspaper. The New Bedford paper was named specifically because it did not censor the strip as several other Boston-area papers did, including The Boston Globe; most either refused to run the strip or substituted "Him?" in place of Lobel's name. The lawsuit claimed that the strip was both personally and professionally damaging, especially given that his contract was under negotiation for renewal at the time.

On November 16, 2005, a brief article in the Boston Herald reported that Lobel and Conley had settled the suit out of court. Conley made a public apology to Lobel, saying the strip was not intended to imply that he had been drunk on the air. Further details of the settlement were confidential, but the Herald quoted an unnamed source as saying Conley had made a substantial donation to charity.

The strip was left out of the Get Fuzzy collection Take Our Cat, Please.

Collections

Title	Publication Date	ISBN	Strips collected
The Dog Is Not a Toy: House Rule #4	April 15, 2001	ISBN 0-7407-1392-2
Fuzzy Logic	April 1, 2002	ISBN 0-7407-2198-4
The Get Fuzzy Experience	April 2, 2003	ISBN 0-7407-3300-1
Blueprint for Disaster	October 1, 2003	ISBN 0-7407-3808-9
Say Cheesy	May 28, 2005	ISBN 0-7407-4663-4	2002-11-17 - 2003-08-31
Scrum Bums	September 1, 2006	ISBN 0-7407-5001-1	2003-09-01 - 2004-06-13
I'm Ready for My Movie Contract	September 1, 2007	ISBN 978-0-7407-6922-1	2004-06-14 - 2005-03-26
Take Our Cat, Please	May 1, 2008	ISBN 978-0-7407-7095-1
Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky	April 21, 2009	ISBN 978-0-7407-8098-1
Dumbheart	October 20, 2009	ISBN 978-0-7407-9189-5

Treasuries

Treasuries contain two books in one binding with some color strips.

Title	Date	ISBN	Notes
Groovitude	September 2, 2002	ISBN 0-7407-2894-6	Contains The Dog Is Not a Toy and Fuzzy Logic
Bucky Katt's Big Book of Fun	April 2004	ISBN 0-7407-4136-5	Contains The Get Fuzzy Experience and Blueprint for Disaster
Loserpalooza	May 7, 2007	ISBN 978-0-7407-5709-9	Contains Say Cheesy and Scrum Bums
The Potpourrific Great Big Grab Bag of Get Fuzzy	September 1, 2008	ISBN 978-0-7407-7367-9	Contains I'm Ready for My Movie Contract and Take Our Cat, Please

Reception and awards

Initially appearing in 75 newspapers nationally, the strip grew in popularity very quickly.

Conley received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 2002 for his work on Get Fuzzy.

External links

• 30-Day Archive
• NCS Awards