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 700 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

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Bucky Katt

Bucky B. Katt

The first character of the trio is twisted Siamese cat Bucky Katt: Selfish, cynical, and lazy. His ears are nearly always drawn laid back flat on his head, a feline sign of defiance, aggressiveness and/or unfriendliness (regardless of Bucky's actual mood), unless he is forced to have them up, gets surprised, 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. The Humane Society found Bucky huddled on a trash can, while the cat was only five ounces and a few weeks old, in Hackensack, New Jersey, later adopted by Rob. While Bucky's father has never been mentioned, Bucky gave his mother's maiden name on a credit card application as "Tricky Woo," a reference to the ludicrously pampered (but in fact good-natured) pet dog of that name in James Herriot's stories of his experiences as a vet. Bucky has been said to be named for Negro League baseball player Buck O'Neil (Satchel Paige, another great Negro League player, was the impetus for the name of the dog Satchel), though other strips have suggested otherwise. Bucky lives in a dresser located in the hall closet of Rob's apartment because he refuses to share a room with Satchel. It has also been mentioned that when they moved to the 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 phased out as the author decided to make Bucky's schedule more nap-oriented. Many storylines have Bucky continually finding ways to antagonize and annoy Rob and Satchel, which he once called a hobby. 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, though he does "mouse patrol" at night.

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 violent behavior, hostility, and personal 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, as Satchel does not have enough intelligence for his rude sarcasm and is often unaware that he is even being insulted. Other foibles are that he is "ignorant, arrogant, selfish, hostile, and ha[s] many hygiene issues". Rob, who is more cynical and worldly-wise than Satchel, frequently jabs at him in ways calling him out on his behavior, once remarking that his cat's intelligence quotient was 1 after he got that score in a magazine intelligence test. Bucky is often shown to be a very poor fighter physically, often getting hurt or humiliated (or both) when he might pick a fight. 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 kinder, kitten-like nature. He has also once voluntarily fixed Satchel's watch, and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, 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 either about him or in some way by 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 in the zoo 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. Earlier in the strip, Bucky mentioned several times wanting to have a statue made of him, but Satchel suggested a plaque so pigeons couldn't perch on him.

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 even when he knows they are, 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 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 cap throughout the series, though more to annoy Rob because he wouldn't let him wear his Boston Red Sox baseball cap (he calls it the "'B' is for 'Bucky' hat"]] hat than anything else. He taunts Rob when the Red Sox play poorly, but apparently knows little about baseball. Bucky also occasionally mocks Rob's obsession with Rugby Union football, although he did once inexplicably perform 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 aforementioned claims about trains, owls, England and Canada. Bucky seems to like Slytherin because Satchel is a fan of Hufflepuff House. He also has the values Slytherin House hosts, being of great ambition and an evil cunning.

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 and support of the Yankees, appear not to stem from racism or nativism but from the desire to antagonize Satchel for his background).

Bucky's religion is "Felinism", and he has been mentioned as a Freemason.

Satchel Pooch

An overweight, naïve, friendly, and easily amused dog, Satchel Pooch is the second member of the odd "family". 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's joke often involve him delivering either a pun comment or the strips punchline, often preceded by his laughter. Often, strips will have someone else delivering the punchline, followed by Satchel delivering a second punchline.

Satchel is kind, gentle, and sympathetic. These traits, coupled with his naïvete and gullibility, make him a natural target for the scheming Bucky. Satchel's personality serves as foil to that of Bucky's: easy to please, optimistic to the extreme, having (barely) less common sense then Bucky, 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. Satchel sticking up for himself is a rare event, often after encouragement by Rob. Recent strips show Satchel becoming slightly more aggressive and less surrender-prone, and often fighting back verbally to Bucky's relentless insults. In some cases, Satchel reacts physically to Bucky. He has only directly threatened Bucky with physical violence once, and it was due to Bucky insulting Satchel's friends (he called them "Eurotrash" due to the fact that many of their breed names have European nations in them), rather than anything aimed at Satchel directly (after which Bucky briefly became meek and timid). 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 climate change. 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 (though this was probably due to Bucky believing the ice cream contained actual monkey).

True to his character, Satchel takes a neutral position in the ongoing Major League Baseball feud between professed New York Yankees fan Bucky and rabid Boston Red Sox fan Rob. Satchel occasionally expresses support for the Chicago Cubs--although he once was punished by being forced to wear a Cubs hat, dubbed the "hat of shame" in reference to the team's long record of futility. Satchel is also very proud of his Canadian and European heritage, taking the time to watch Queen Elizabeth II whenever the royal figure is on television. He is a Harry Potter enthusiast, and once the sixth book was almost "spoiled" for him because of a 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, occasionally asking Rob for money to donate to PETA or Greenpeace. His musical tastes appear to be based in light pop, including Barbra Streisand, Kenny G and Michael Bolton as well as folk music, and is apparently a Christian based on some strips.

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 dubbed "Dingy" (later renamed "Beepy"), though he is still unable to tell time with it (although at some point he did figure out how to tell time). 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 has been slightly put off when Satchel talks to the objects, often referring to them by name. Eventually Rob at least slightly accepted Satchel's desire to name objects, if only for a second- he referred to the television as "Sammy Sung" and also made a reference to "Little Baby Tivo"; however, Satchel had run into them accidentally while chasing a mailman he saw on TV and broke both of them, one of the only times he and not Bucky actually caused some destruction in the house.

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, usually seen on television. 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. However, in recent strips Satchel has become stressed over Oreo's liking of an FBI bomb-sniffing dog named Chaser and has gone out of his way to try to make himself more presentable to her, going as far as to take advice from Bucky (which has resulted in mishaps, specifically one where Bucky glued Satchel's front legs to his body with spray adhesive, thinking it was deodorant).

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

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 a poor haircut and 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 strict vegetarian due to what he feels are too cruel methods of killing the animals.

Due to the relative emotional immaturity of Bucky and Satchel, Rob seems to have a care-taker relationship with his pets. This is further show as both Satchel and Bucky have child-like behaviors (some examples are Satchel naming inanimate objects, Bucky and Satchel getting toys at McDoodles (a parody of McDonald's), Bucky and Satchel becoming upset when Rob washed their respective blankets, and Bucky carrying teddy bears and dolls around in a backpack). He refers to Satchel and Bucky both as his "pets" and his "roommates" through the strip.

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), British fantasy author C.S. Lewis, Manchester United F.C. (and, oddly, also archrivals Manchester City F.C.), Otago, New Zealand NPC rugby team, Belgian comic character Tintin, MXC, the Public Broadcasting Service, The Da Vinci Code, Garfield, Dilbert, South Park, The Simpsons, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, 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 blues, folk, and rock, specifically the music of Leo Kottke, The Ramones, Green Day, Dropkick Murphys, Ween, Pink Floyd, Sum 41 (as shown in a few strips where he wears 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), among others.

At one time, Bucky, obsessed with a Persian (Le Beautifal) 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. This is also the reason Rob has his hair in the current haircut, because he thought it looked better short as compared to his original hairstyle.

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. On the third time, which was the longest period Rob's back was thrown out, it was noted that Rob was "loopy on pain killers", in Bucky's words, telling Satchel to "apologize to [Queen] Elizabeth". Bucky used the opportunity to trick Satchel into giving him half his food at every meal for three weeks, handing him a note supposedly from Rob saying so (Satchel noted the lack of simalarity between Rob's handwriting and the forgery but dismissed it as the result of Rob's painkillers).

Rob is a sports fan, and it is alleged by his friend Joe Doman that he named both pets after stars of baseball's Negro Leagues – Buck O'Neil and Satchel Paige (despite, as noted above, Rob saying he did so because of his one fang). An alternate theory (probably untrue) is that Bucky is named after late-1970s New York Yankees infielder 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, though a joke about the words "Bucky dent" was used in 2001. 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) that he "kind of did mind".

Early in the strip, Rob wore square framed glasses, but by the time his hair had grown to its current length, he had stopped wearing them, suggesting that he may have switched to contacts. Sometimes Rob is still seen wearing glasses, usually while reading.

Antagonists

Fungo Squiggly

Fungo Squiggly is the pet ferret of the neighboring Garcia family, whom Bucky shares a rivalry with and hates intensely, whereas Satchel has befriended Fungo, and the rivalry he shares with Bucky still does not keep Fungo away from Satchel. In Fungo's debut strip, the Garcias moved in next door and introduced Fungo to Rob and his pets as their ferret, "Mr. Squiggly", in a tomato box. Fungo's first name was not revealed until later in the strip by Satchel, and for a time was only known as "Mr. Squiggly". From the minute the two were introduced, Bucky was rude and aggressive to Fungo for no given reason, but Satchel was kind and friendly to his new neighbor, resulting in a friendship shared by Satchel and Fungo. Fungo has the habit of chain-smoking cigars, frowned upon by both Rob and Bucky because Rob thinks it's annoying and it angers Bucky. Fungo does not have any audible speaking lines throughout the entire strip, but sometimes whispers into Satchel's ear.

Fungo and Bucky take the impetus given by their rivalry as a chance to keep their hatred for each other going strong by setting traps for each other or playing tricks on each other. For instance, Fungo has kidnapped Bucky's stuffed bear Smacky twice in the series, and once, Bucky tried to set a trap that would send Fungo down a garbage chute, but the plan backfired and sent Fungo's mother down the chute instead, resulting a in a pie fight that was broken up by Rob after Fungo filled a pie with tools and planned on throwing it at Bucky. On one occasion Bucky sued Fungo on Judge Judy for assault but lost because Judge Judy didn't think he had any case and he had threatened Satchel after failing to testify on his behalf, as well as his refusal to explain his placing a snare in the Fungo's home prior to the alleged 'assault.' The rivalry clearly does not prevent Satchel and Fungo from hanging around each other, for once Rob made a ferret door for Fungo so he could go in an out to visit Satchel as he pleased. Also, Fungo works at "Ferret TV" a television channel made specifically for ferrets' enjoyment and entertainment. Once a fight between Fungo and Bucky was broken up by an optimistic cat named Chubby Huggs (see Chubby Huggs below) who hugged them tight during a duel and refused to let them go until they made up.

The exact motive for Bucky's hatred of Fungo is unexplained, though he did seem somewhat aggressive in his first appearance. It has been suggested that Bucky may mistake the Mustelid for some sort of rodent, given their simaler body shape and his calling Fungo a "rat", "rodent", or "stretched rat" at various times. It may be as inexplicable as his desire to kill and eat a monkey (he has also called Fungo a monkey). It may simply be a biproduct of Bucky's agrresive meanness. Regardless of the motive, Bucky is clearly the agressor in most encounters, as Fungo does not seem to go looking for trouble.

When Bucky set up a contest with the reward being "a day with Bucky", Bucky was shocked to learn the winner was Fungo Squiggly. Bucky had made a gift bag for Fungo, but Fungo tossed it aside. He wanted to play Twister with Bucky, who refused to do so.

Minor Cat Characters

Chubby Huggs

A portly, interminably cheerful cat who believes positive reinforcement (mostly through hugging) solves all problems, Chubby Huggs is referred to by Rob as the Dalai Lama of cats because of his peacemaking abilities. 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, à la Ignatz Mouse and Krazy Kat. Bucky later attempted to kill Fowly by giving him a used gerbil cage with a mouse trap buried under sawdust with a "leaky can of Cheez Whiz in it", trying to pass it off as a "dairy themed adventure park", saying the mousetrap was an exercise machine. Chubby is one of the few creatures that either Fungo Squiggly or Bucky is afraid of (not due to maliciousness, but due to the embarrassment and potential dangerous consequences of his constant hugging), as referenced during the attempted duel in the hallway which Chubby broke up by hugging both of them.

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 native of Manchester, England, although he lived with Rob, Bucky, and Satchel for nearly three and a half years. Mac speaks largely in cockney slang. McManx explained that he and Bucky shared a common grandmother. Mac's father arrived in England during the First Gulf War from a place Mac only remembers being called "Otis", so Rob tells Bucky that his family is from Massachusetts, to which Bucky replies, "Blast! I'm a filthy communist!!!". Mac's mother is from Hartlepool. Mac reveals that all of his family hates monkeys, not just "cousin Gene". Mac also claims to have a brother named Percy, who is a dog. According to Mac, he is a mix between a Manx cat and a tabby cat; he tells Rob that "(his) dad's a McManx, (his) mum's a McTabby" when Rob asks why he has a big tail (as Manx cats do not have tails; Mac also has some orange coloring in his fur that some tabbies have). 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. 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 (soccer) team was better, Manchester United or Manchester City (Mac is a huge Man City fan).

Mac was thought to have gone back to England several times over his stay with Rob. The first time came after he had disappeared following his initial visit, when Rob found out that he had been living in a pasta pot and had been using his sweater drawer as a litter box. The second time, Mac was detained at the airport for a month after he had lost his ticket home and set off the alarms due to the plate/teacup imbedded in his head; the airport police also couldn't understand him and found a mobile phone that his friend "Al Kayda" gave to him. The third time Rob bought him tickets to a Man United FA Cup game in order to get him to leave, but found him on the couch three days later. Mac didn't officially leave until December 28, 2009, after Rob bought him a business class ticket to England for a Christmas present; originally Bucky was going to ship Mac back to England in a box after Rob canceled an auction whose proceeds Bucky was going to use to buy Mac a plane ticket, but Rob used frequent flyer miles to give Mac a ticket. Rob also said that he liked the idea of someone else having to deal with Mac for seven hours. Mac was also one of the animals involved in a story plot in which he, Chubby Huggs, Foodar, and Shakespug were staying at Rob's apartment. It is implied Rob let Mac stay at the apartment since he and Satchel never came up with a effective way of getting Mac to leave.

Buttercup

Buttercup is Rob's mother's cat. She is shy, but aggressive. Mrs. Wilco, who had adopted Rob's vegetarian lifestyle, took it to a level Rob hadn't (and definitely wouldn't consider) with Bucky, and started feeding Buttercup vegetarian cat food. Buttercup didn't take kindly to that, asking Satchel to kill her and attacking Rob before he left, begging him to bring her tuna. Rob responding by giving her a barbecue take-out menu and $400, with which she ordered "fifteen number 5's with extra pig."

Foodar

Foodar is a cat who has a bizarre radar-like-seventh sense (according to Bucky all cats have 6, the sixth being knowing which humans are afraid of them or dislike them so they can sit on their laps) that allows him to detect food. This ability is apparently limited to meat and grain based foods, as he has been shown to be unable to detect fruits and vegetables (this makes sense as cats are naturally canivores and fruits and vegetables do not smell). His name is a pun on 'radar'. He was first introduced as a friend of Bucky's who snuck into the apartment while Rob was on a business trip. He, along with Chubby Huggs, Mac Manc McManx, and Shakespug, were stray pets that stayed in Rob's apartment for a few weeks. Rob is later seen mentioning to Satchel that he used tuna to lure Foodar out of the apartment.

Minor Human Characters

Joe Doman

Rob's friend and co-worker, Joe Doman is also one of the few people who gets along reasonably well with Bucky.His name may be a pun on the phrase,"You da man,". 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. 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, Francis Wilco 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. Although he doesn't mind hanging out with Satchel, 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". It is also implied he is a Vietnam veteran, as when he was listing reasons he had earned the right to avoid Bucky, he mentioned that he had 'done two turns in the war'. Once when Francis came over, Bucky had asked Francis who he had voted for. To this, Francis replied, "well, if it isn't little Buddy. That's not a polite question, Buddy," which suggests that Francis forgot Bucky's name.

Mrs. Wilco

Rob's mother, who has not yet been given a name. She lives 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 as noted above forced the diet on Buttercup.

Roger Wilco

Roger Wilco is 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 September 11 attacks in 2001 shown shortly after the attacks. His first appearance, though, was in a color strip, a spoof of MTV's Jackass in which Rob allowed himself to be attacked by Bucky. 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". Roger also visited the apartment after Rob's back went out, which is the longest time he has been in a strip, and the first time he had been shown speaking to Rob.

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.He notes that while on deployment he missed Guiness,cruellers and The Simpsons. He was sad that Dunkin' Donuts no longer made crullers, a sentiment shared by Satchel.

Rob's Boss

Rob's boss made appearences early in the strip. He made a brief appearence in a strip after Rob lost his hair, asking him to remove his Red Sox hat, claiming that "[they're] trying to create an atmosphere of sucess." He also appeared in a brief story arc where he selects Bucky to be a mascot for a power tool company, which resulted in Bucky making a mess of various foods with the free sample tools he was given.

Minor Dog Characters

Mrs. Pooch

Satchel's mother, an unnamed Shar Pei. On their vacation to Canada, Mrs. Pooch was very happy to see her son. She told Rob, Bucky, and Satchel that her husband 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

Oreo is an 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 supposedly more interested in a bomb dog called Chaser.

Ira Chihuahua

Ira Chihuahua is a generally irritable (though not to the extent of Bucky) chihuahua who first appeared in Satchel's dog conference and appeared a second time. Ira prefers to go by his initial, I (as a play on the term "ai chihuahua"). In his second appearance, he was telling Satchel at the playgroup that he had worms in his stomach.

Motor

Motor is an old friend of Satchel. He is much more aggressive than Satchel when it comes to Bucky's insults, though this does not seem to deter him. He is 3/4th Belgian Tervuren and is offended when someone calls him a German Shepherd, though he looks like one.

Smoky

Smoky is an old friend of Satchel's who has a smoked pattern to his fur.

Chaser

Chaser is a bomb dog who is the object of Oreo's affections, much to Satchel's dismay.

Creiten Salad

Creiten Salad is Satchel's cousin from Prince Edward Island. Bucky misunderstands Creiten's accent and mocks him.

Shakespug

Shakespug is a small pug who wears a yellow dishwashing glove, and usually applies Shakesperian quotes to his language rather than using regular language, unless he cannot come up with a quote. He stayed at Rob's apartment for a while along with Mac Manc McManx, Foodar, and Chubby Huggs. Shakespug was the only one of those animals that Rob let stay in the house but was eventually forcefully removed from the house after he woke up Bucky while playing a game of Battleship with Satchel; Bucky threw him out while quoting the line "Out, damned spot, out I say!" from Macbeth. Shakespug also seems to understand Mac Manc McManx the best through his "britspeak". On one occasion, Shakespug did not speak in a Shakesperian quote, "O, Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat! Up tails all, and a pox on the hangman" (which Bucky pointed out was not Shakespeare, but was Ben Jonson) to apply it to Bucky.

Filthy Frazier

One day Satchel caught Bucky "soap-bombing" a dog called "Filthy Frazier", who appears to be insane. He threatens to kill Bucky, but Bucky continues to soap bomb him, but the fight ended with Bucky mooning Frazier from the window. But then, contrary to what Satchel and Bucky believed, Filthy Frazier did get into the building and later attacked Rob viciously in the hallway. Filthy Frazier tells Rob, later, to put Bucky out there and that he'd make him into "gut-tar" (guitar) strings out of him. Soon Satchel and Bucky discover Frazier and Rob hugging and crying, due to Rob telling Frazier that he has to live with Bucky and his bad attitude. His last appearance was when Bucky caught him on a string around his muzzle.

Negative reactions

Pittsburgh

Many residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania reacted angrily to an October 30, 2003 strip. When Bucky, observing that a large number of tourist packages were based on landmarks or other features, 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. This failed to appease many who 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 (and a few in Canada). In order, they were ranked Cleveland, Ohio ("Remember: Get Fuzzy didn't say this one!"), New Jersey ("Not technically a city, but, hey"), Philadelphia ("Or, as 'Burghers call it, 'Filthydelphia'"), Darby Conley's "@##" ("Again, not technically a city, per se"), and New Orleans ("Worse than Lubbock, but better than Darby Conley's @##!").

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 and the treasury The Potpourrific Great Big Grab Bag of Get Fuzzy.

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	2005-03-27 - 2006-01-29
Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky	April 21, 2009	ISBN 978-0-7407-8098-1	2006-01-30 - 2006-12-09
Dumbheart	October 20, 2009	ISBN 978-0-7407-9189-5	2006-12-10 - 2007-10-07

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
Treasury of the Lost Litter Box	May 4, 2010	ISBN 978-0-7407-9335-6	Contains Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky and Dumbheart

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