1 [sound]: Ring! Ring!
2 Steve: {picking up phone} Hello? Crikey! Jane Goodall! No, sorry, Terry's not here. No, don't hang up!
3 Steve: I just wanted to thank you for helping me out of that legal mess. Is there any way I can repay you? Anything at all?
4 Steve: What, the whole continent? Not even Madagascar?

I was debating whether or not we should actually see Jane and hear what she says in this strip, but I think it's more effective this way.

For those who came in late, Steve is referring to the help Jane gave him in #359.

And after this one, a lot of lemurs are celebrating.

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2013-02-25 Rerun commentary: I like the occasional joke where you get the punchline, but then have to think for a second to work out what the setup must have been.

Don't make comedy too easy for the audience, I say. You don't have to whack them over the head with the joke (and then add a laugh track so they know when they're supposed to laugh... grrr...).

This is one advantage of comics, actually. You have to rely on your setup and the quality of your gags. You can't just toss a laugh track at a series of stupid jokes that barely scrape the bottom of the funny barrel and get a sitcom onto television, riding on the coat tails of an actually funny show in the timeslot immediately before it. *cough*2 Broke Girls*cough*

*cough*(Which, by the way, screens here after The Big Bang Theory, in case there's any confusion over which sitcom I consider to actually be funny.)*cough*

*cough*(You know what would be awesome? If The Big Bang Theory got Jane Goodall as a guest star. They get all these physicists, but how about Dame Jane!)*cough*

*cough*(Are you listening to me, Chuck Lorre?!)*cough*

(I need to get some eucalyptus drops...)