Roger Irrelevant
Encyclopedia
Roger Irrelevant is a character from the British
comic Viz, created by Davey Jones. During the 1980s he starred in short, half-page or three-framed strips which later evolved to full-page spreads by the 1990s. Since 2005 he has appeared only sporadically in Viz.
A bespectacled boy of indeterminate age (perhaps early teens), Roger Irrelevant is utterly detached from reality. The premise of the strip is that he spends his entire time making irrelevant remarks and suffering from bizarre delusions, usually involving inanimate objects. Roger does not have much of a personality and is oblivious to nearly everything around him.
For example, in one strip, Roger throws a lamp from the roof of a house after a long, impassioned (and obviously unsuccessful) plea for the lamp not to commit suicide
. On another occasion he decides to elope with an armchair, declaring it is pregnant with his children. Another time sees him disrupting the funeral of a relative by dragging the corpse out of the coffin and - employing a Brooklyn
accent and emulating a character from a Mickey Spillane
novel - aggressively questioning the deceased about some stolen goods.
His parents seem to be very understanding and merely politely request that he stops his behaviour. These are the only times that Roger manages to show any sign of interaction with real people, although usually it is only in the form of saying things like "wibble wibble." (dictionary.com attributes this nonsense-word to Roger; see External Links below.) "Frisnit" and "z'goft" are two of Roger's other favourite words.
The secondary character of the strip is Roger's (normal) younger sister, Roberta Irrelevant, who is very unsympathetic towards her older brother. Quite often she despairs at the end of the strip when her brother's behaviour is somehow rewarded. For example, one strip shows Roger indulging in his customary ridiculous behaviour in public until an authority figure stops him. Roberta is pleased that her deranged brother will be put in a mental asylum, but she is horrified when the authority figure turns out to be a representative of a local drama class who is impressed with what he thinks is Roger's performance art
. He promptly gives Roger a scholarship and a promise to encourage his behaviour.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic Viz, created by Davey Jones. During the 1980s he starred in short, half-page or three-framed strips which later evolved to full-page spreads by the 1990s. Since 2005 he has appeared only sporadically in Viz.
A bespectacled boy of indeterminate age (perhaps early teens), Roger Irrelevant is utterly detached from reality. The premise of the strip is that he spends his entire time making irrelevant remarks and suffering from bizarre delusions, usually involving inanimate objects. Roger does not have much of a personality and is oblivious to nearly everything around him.
For example, in one strip, Roger throws a lamp from the roof of a house after a long, impassioned (and obviously unsuccessful) plea for the lamp not to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. On another occasion he decides to elope with an armchair, declaring it is pregnant with his children. Another time sees him disrupting the funeral of a relative by dragging the corpse out of the coffin and - employing a Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
accent and emulating a character from a Mickey Spillane
Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane , better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally...
novel - aggressively questioning the deceased about some stolen goods.
His parents seem to be very understanding and merely politely request that he stops his behaviour. These are the only times that Roger manages to show any sign of interaction with real people, although usually it is only in the form of saying things like "wibble wibble." (dictionary.com attributes this nonsense-word to Roger; see External Links below.) "Frisnit" and "z'goft" are two of Roger's other favourite words.
The secondary character of the strip is Roger's (normal) younger sister, Roberta Irrelevant, who is very unsympathetic towards her older brother. Quite often she despairs at the end of the strip when her brother's behaviour is somehow rewarded. For example, one strip shows Roger indulging in his customary ridiculous behaviour in public until an authority figure stops him. Roberta is pleased that her deranged brother will be put in a mental asylum, but she is horrified when the authority figure turns out to be a representative of a local drama class who is impressed with what he thinks is Roger's performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
. He promptly gives Roger a scholarship and a promise to encourage his behaviour.
External links
- Flash scan of strip from Viz website: Roger Irrelevant (archived from the original on June 15, 2008)
- Dictionary.com's definition of "wibble", attributed to Roger Irrelevant (archived from the original on April 14, 2008)