The first Friday in May of every year is No Pants Day – at least that is when this curious annual ‘event’ usually takes place. But with the pandemic, quarantine, the whole work-from-home thing, and those awkward Zoom calls: who really needs to wear pants anymore?! And this year the strips will be…um…stripping because a whole bundle of cartoonists will be doing pantsless specials of some of your favorites. All for a good cause.

Cartoonists across King Features Syndicate, Tribune Content Agency (TCA), Andrew McMeel University (AMU) and Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) will have No Pants Day editions in support of selected nationwide charities that will help clothe the homeless and those struggling during this particularly difficult year.

Comics editor of King Features, Tea Fougner says:

“It’s been a tough year for so many people, and we know that everyone could use a good laugh as well as a helping hand. No Pants Day felt like the perfect opportunity to use a bit of irreverent humor to share a laugh while also shining a spotlight on nonprofits across the country that are getting much-needed clothing items into the hands of people facing financial hardships.”

No Pants Day is an unofficial event that takes place the first Friday in May. It began – as all great ideas are wont to do – as a fad among college students in Texas circa 2002 and it has spread worldwide (or at least to a few countries that like the cold wind billowing between one’s bare thighs). How and why it became a thing have been lost to the passage of time but at least it brings the fun back to our drab – now housebound – lives.

Here is the list of participating cartoons you will need to divert your eyes towards today [and you are allowed to not wear pants while you do it, if you feel particularly eager]:

Rhymes with Orange, by Rina Piccolo
Zippy the Pinhead, by Bill Griffith
Gearhead Gertie, by Mike Smith
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, by John Rose
Mallard Fillmore, by Bruce Tinsley
Arctic Circle, by Alex Hallatt
Dennis the Menace, by Marcus Hamilton
Blondie, by Dean Young and John Marshall
Pardon My Planet, by Vic Lee
Rae the Doe, by Olive Brinker
Mark Trail, by Jules Rivera
Intelligent Life, by David Reddick
Macanudo, by Liniers
On the Fastrack, by Bill Holbrook
Bizarro, by Wayno
Sally Forth, by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe
Hi and Lois, by Brian Walker & Chance Browne
Marvin, by Tom Armstrong
The Lockhorns, by Bunny Hoest
Shoe, by Gary Brookins
Political Cartoons, by David Hitch
Spats, by Jeff Pickering
Prince Valiant, by Hal Foster (Social media only)
Dick Tracy, by Joe Staton and Mike Curtis
Brewster Rockit, by Tim Rickard
Barney & Clyde, by Gene Weingarten, Dan Weingarten & David Clark
Loose Parts, by Dave Blazek
Off The Mark, by Mark Parisi
Mount Pleasant, by Rick McKee and Kent Sligh

No Pants Day

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