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BC caveman 2449

B.C. is a newspaper comic strip created in 1958 by Johnny Hart. It focuses on a small band of cavemen, led by one named B.C. Others in the strip include Peter, Clumsy Carp, Curls, Thor, Wiley, Grog, the Fat Broad and the Cute Chick. There is also a cast of talking animals that includes John the Tortoise, Dookie Bird, a family of ants, an anteater, dinosaurs, clams, snakes and an apteryx: a wingless bird with hairy feathers (a kiwi to the rest of us).

Initially, B.C. was a gag-a-day strip. After Hart became a born-again Christian in 1977, the strip gradually began adding more and more of Hart's religious and political beliefs until most strips were Christian-themed. Some newspapers refused to print certain strips that were deemed overly proselytizing. After Hart's death in 2007, it reverted to a mostly gag-a-day strip maintained by daughter Perri Hart and grandson Mason Mastroianni.

Tropes used in B.C. include:
  • Anachronism Stew: For a supposedly prehistoric comic strip, it's had references to movies, hippies and several other things that didn't exist until modern times (not to mention that Clumsy Carp wears glasses). Some strips hint that it may actually take place After the End and Earth All Along.
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The Fat Broad: (answering a ringing telephone) Prehistoric times. (suddenly realizes what she's doing and runs away screaming) A TELEPHONE!!

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  • Animal Talk: All the animals in the strip, except the clams (who can be heard and presumably understood by humans) and dinosaurs (who only speak in GRONKs).
  • Animated Adaptation: A Thanksgiving and Christmas special aired in 1973 and 1981, respectively.
  • Aside Glance: Happens quite often after a character does something unusual or stupid.
  • Author Tract: After Johnny Hart became a born-again Christian, he began injecting his religious beliefs into more and more strips. One particularly controversial one featured a menorah turning into a cross.
  • Bamboo Technology: Among other things, a telephone built into a tree.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Wolf, more or less.
  • Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game: Characters have actually been known to make golf swings while hanging by their feet from a tree branch. For a bonus, there's Bizarre And Improbable cheating when Clumsy Carp balances a submerged golf ball on his nose and raises it out of the water for a friend to hit, in exchange for a share of the winnings. Another time, B.C. (or possibly Thor) somehow wound up, after his swing, with the ball balanced on the head of his club. Consulting the massive rule book, Peter found a rule that "covers it explicitly," and told the unlucky fellow they had to shoot him.
  • Catch Phrase: "Great Zot!"
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Several characters veer into this trope. B.C., Clumsy Carp and Wiley appear to be the biggest offenders.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Curls
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B.C.: I'd like you to meet Curls, master of sarcastic humor.
Clumsy Carp: Let's hear you say something funny.
Curls: I'm pleased to meet you.

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Clam: Now I have to kill him...

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