"This is gonna be ugly..." said Jerry Seinfeld, under his breath.

"What's that, Jerry?" asked Susan. Jerry coughed. "Boy, am I ugly!"

THIS WEEK:

• WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Funny Times Ugly Sweater!

• Romeo enters an ugly contest

• BEHIND THE PAY WALL: Trying to look attractive

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Ever since September, when our first cartoon was published in Funny Times, we’ve been living in… Funny Times. Not only because that’s the newspaper’s slogan, but in September, Funny Times reached out to hire us to design an ugly sweater for their holiday store line up. The email came in on my 40th birthday (gee whiz) and they wanted us to come up with something in the style of our recently published long-form humor piece, Scenes from the Cross Stitch Games (it appeared in the October 2024 issue, which at that point had just been completed and sent to print.)

Frega, as always, was on fire with ideas and we sent our favorite four concepts to Funny Times for approval and feedback. They liked two especially (perhaps the other will come around in December 2025) but chose one for us to bring to final.

A month and a half later, here we are! With the publication of the December 2024 issue of Funny Times today, the news is official! You can now win Ugly Sweater Day at work with our “Cold As Ice” Holiday Sweatshirt!

Here’s the official product description from Funny Times:

We can attest to it. Ours arrived last week. They’re super soft and comfy. Order yours today at FunnyTimes.com

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Last March, we teased a paywalled storyline in which Romeo entered an ugly contest. Here, unlocked for all readers, is that storyline in its entirety. Enjoy!

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