Writing in Toon

While I am a fanatic devotee of “Ren & Stimpy,” I can sympathize with Nickelodeon’s anxiety about the joke in which Ren confessed to Stimpy, “While you were asleep, I soothed my saddle sores with your tongue,” and Stimpy responded, “That’s OK, Ren. I wasn’t really asleep.” That joke has too high a sexual quotient for children.

However, Nick’s substitute joke, in which Ren said, “I polished my boots with your tongue,” has too low a humor quotient for anyone. What’s funny about boot polishing? What Ren should have said was: “I cleaned off my filthy, disgusting, cow-flop-encrusted boots with your tongue.” That joke is both funny enough and sick enough for “Ren & Stimpy.”

As to your sidebar headline--”The Fans: Isolated Loonies or Crest of a New Wave?”--I cannot speak for other fans, but I am definitely an isolated loony.

DAVID NATHAN

Los Angeles