1 Chauffeur: That's Citroën H following us today. They're Bulgarians working for the Russians.
2 Chauffeur: They follow us, we follow them. It's a sort of understanding we have.
3 Stud: We wouldn't put up with such Bulgarity in England.
4 Chauffeur: You're in Turkey now, Mr Stud.
4 Stud: Ah... That's why there's so much stuffing around.

That's a Citroën Traction Avant in the background, the actual model used in the film From Russia With Love. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, and therefore this comic is released under the GFDL.

The first meaning of the double pun in the punchline is hopefully clear, referring to the filling inside a roast turkey.

To me, the second meaning is also clear. "Stuffing around" is an idiom meaning to faff about, to waste time in meaningless or ineffective activity.

However, trying to find a good reference for this on the Internet... I can't. There are some anecdotal references in various language fora, but I can't find a single definition from any sort of dictionary or word reference site. Some of the anecdotes agree with my definition, but I also see a couple that claim that "stuffing around" means "acting in a pretentious manner", which is a very different thing.

I asked my friends, and they all agree that "stuffing around" means, to quote one:

Doing unproductive or frivolous activity instead of advancing a known goal; perhaps actively hampering a goal (albeit unintentionally).

So... I'm not sure what to conclude. Is this usage of "stuff(ing) about" an Australian idiom? It's not in my paper edition of the Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms. Is it perhaps regional to Sydney? Or is it more widespread, and if so, why are there so few references to it on the Internet?

...

Some usages I have now managed to find:

• But Denny is up to step four in the sex addicts program while Victor is still, if you'll excuse the expression, stuffing around. — Radio National - Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
• ... the previous approach of specifying which codecs to exclude did not appear to work [...] so instead of stuffing around (e.g. importing the latest revision, etc. and then testing for any regression bugs, tec) - will just use lateral approach - disable all codecs and then re-enable only the used ones. — some sort of software development log from the University of Queensland.
• What are the priorities? Right here we’re stuffing around with people’s emotions. — focus group comments in a study of recycled drinking water by Australian company Water360.
• The idle ‘stuffing around’ in the studio, the playing around, becomes an important and necessary part of making work. — a Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis from the Queensland University of Technology
• ‘I saw you two out in the Square, shooting the jumper.’ She nods at Ev’s camera. ‘It looks to me like you guys are just stuffing around ...’ ‘We are not,’ Ev says, shifting self-righteously in his seat, ‘stuffing around.’ — My Real Life: and other stories, Julian Novitz, 2016, Penguin Random House New Zealand.
• The he said, ‘Mate,’ he goes, ‘What are you? I think you're just stuffing around.’ I said, ‘Why officer?’ He said, ‘Mate, you can’t be riding on the Harbour Bridge, riding your bike there.’ — Tales from the Valley of Death: Reflections from psychotherapy on the fear of death, Ross G. Menzies, Rachel E. Menzies, 2019, Australian Academic Press.
• So what do you do when you need to get stuff done but instead you’re just stuffing around? This is my method for fighting the faff. — 10 Ways to Avoid Procrastination, blog entry by Australian design company Powdermonkey.
• The guests were already working their way to the resort’s function centre as the couple’s lips met. The photographer was stuffing around and missed it. — Death Mask, Kathryn Fox, 2011, Pan Australia.
• I was getting annoyed by having to drop my pack and rummage every time I wanted to photograph a bird (which usually flew while I was stuffing around). — Forum post in Australia birdwatching site Birds in Backyards.
• Stuffing around (at least in New Zealand) is definitely 'messing around', not acting professionally, not answering or taking their time to get around to doing things. — Post in a forum for expats in Buenos Aires.

So it looks like "stuff(ing) around" is an Australian/NZism. There are several hits in .au sites and AU/NZ books. But nothing outside that, at least not with the same meaning. Interestingly, it seems that no language/idiom/etymology/dictionary site seems to have picked up this idiom. Not one that I could find offers any sort of definition.

So if anyone outside AU/NZ never got the original joke in this strip the first time around... Sorry. But at least you get it now!