It may surprise you to learn that I’ve only ever received one Cease & Desist letter, and it was from Gary Larson! It pertained to “Jihad to Be You,” published Feb. 20, 2006, which is this week’s “Snide Remarks” Classic.The subject matter was the then-hot issue of cartoonists drawing pictures of Mohammed and thus incurring the wrath of certain Muslims. How Gary Larson and “The Far Side” fits in, well, you’ll have to read the column and the post-column discussion.
Also: This column caused my friend Michael to leave me a voice mail in which he pretended to be a Muslim (complete with unconvincing Middle Eastern accent!) who was offended by what I had written. Not much of what Michael does is funny, so I like to give him credit when he succeeds.
