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The Larfs Issue

Not As Good As It Used To Be

The story of Viz’s early days at the turn of the 1980s is the kind of tale that would bring a tear to the eye of any elderly gentleman who remembers a time before the internet.

Viz

Viz

Viz

Viz

Vice: How did you both first get involved with Viz?

Graham Drury:

Davey Jones:

Viz

What tends to go on in the Viz office on a day-to-day basis?

Graham Drury:

Which newspapers tend to end up inspiring Viz strips?

Weekly News, People’s Friend, Chat

Take a Break

The “Top Tips” in Take a Break are really good. I saw one once that was a guide to making a dangly ghost for Halloween by ruffling a tampon and putting two googly eyes on it.

Annoncering

Davey Jones:

People’s Friend

Take a Break

Take a Shit

Do any actual comedians work on Viz?

Graham Drury:

A favourite strip of mine was the one-off featuring elderly Care Bears vegetating in a care home. There wasn’t even a joke in there, but the drawings were so upsetting that it became funny. Who did that?

Davey Jones:

Why do you think Viz became so popular and blew up like it did in the early 90s?

Graham Drury:

For as long as I can remember, people have been saying, “It’s not as good as it used to be”, and you even used it as a tagline for a while. Was it Mark E. Smith who said that?

Jo Brand said she didn’t like the Fat Slags because they’re “too unsubtle”. Is it weird getting attention from people like that?

Did you charge him a silly price for it?

Viz

Yeah, why is it that Viz is always up there?

Loaded

Do you have any control over the adverts? The “Improve Your Memory” ad has been in there for years. It took me years to realise it wasn’t a running joke.

Viz seems to have a big male following.

Davey Jones:

Makes sense. The magazine has always been joyfully offensive, but has there ever been anything you’ve worried about printing?

Graham Drury:

My Family

You got into a bit of trouble with the UN over a strip called “The Thieving Gypsy Bastards”—I guess that might have offended some people.

The Sun discovered that the guy who complained to the UN was convicted of thieving soon after. Do you ever regret running strips?

Has getting in to trouble become a recurring theme?

How do you think Viz will be remembered? Auberon Waugh called Viz the legitimate heir to Swift and also said that, more than “serious” literature, “Viz has a genuine vitality of its own which comes from the society which it represents”. That’s quite good of him.