Peanut had its share of unusual characters, but Perhaps the strangest in the strip’s history was a boy known only as “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone”, whom Charlie Brown tried to befriend – unsuccessfully, of course. – in a sequence of panels set at the 1971 summer camp.
“Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” is an example of the path Peanut creator Charles Schulz often repeated a joke in successive strips, before deciding that it had run its course.
Part of what kept Peanut lasting fifty years in a row ultimately was Schulz’s talent for knowing how long a joke could last, whether it warranted just a single panel, or whether it could stretch out over the course of a month, or whether it had the potential to be repeated over decades – as was the case with a character introduced the same summer as “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone.”
‘Shut up and leave me alone’: Charlie Brown’s unnamed camp tentmate was totally uninterested in being his friend
First appearance: July 21, 1971
Aside from its single, repeated line of dialogue – which, given the character’s complete lack of any other identifying details, has come to be used as a substitute for his name – the thing about “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” is what most catches the attention is the fact that he never looks at Charlie Brown once. In fact, readers never look at the character’s face, only the back of his head, in an artistic decision that deliberately highlights his alienation from Charlie Brownthe reader and everyone around them.
The character’s one-note joke “Shut up and leave me alone” seems designed as an extreme variation on the usual rejection Charlie Brown faced throughout the strip.
While Peanut featured a number of characters who could be abrasive at times – including Peanut Gang figures like Lucy and Peppermint Patty – few, if any, characters in the strip came as close to being evil as “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone.” Sure, readers can speculate about why a kid at summer camp might attack his tentmate, but in the end, the character’s one-note “Shut up and leave me alone” joke seems designed as an extreme variation. from the usual rejection that Charlie Brown faced throughout the strip’s entire run.
The secondary character “Shut Up” was introduced at the same time as Future Peanuts Gang Mainstay Marcie
First published: August 7, 1971
Another notable thing about “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” is that it premiered just one day after Charles Schulz introduced Marciewho, of course, would be part of an iconic duo with Peppermint Patty. While the former clearly appears to be a joke with a short shelf life, the same could have been said about Marcie’s initial role in the comics, which consisted of her calling Peppermint Patty “sir” despite being repeatedly warned not to. it. Regardless, Marcie – and her use of “sir” became iconic, “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” quickly faded into obscurity.
With Charlie Brown and “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone,” the dynamic was static – there was no way to evolve, just new contexts for the same joke to appear.
This highlights Charles Schulz’s innate sense of the longevity of a joke, which in this case came down to character dynamics. With Charlie Brown and “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone,” the dynamic was static – there was no way to evolve, just new contexts for the same joke to appear. On the other hand, Marcie and Peppermint Patty’s dynamic quickly proved it could grow into a sustainable source of comedy for Peanutwhat happened over the next three decades.
Charlie Brown, the eternal optimist, never gave up hope of winning “Shut up and leave me alone”
First published: August 23, 1971
Peanut The 1971 camp cartoons, in which Peppermint Patty met her future best friend and Charlie Brown met the strip’s strangest character, took place over the course of more than two weeks, from mid-July to early August of that summer. A few weeks after the strip returned to normal, however, Charles Schulz offered a final reprise of the “Shut up and leave me alone” joke. In the comics, Charlie Brown reveals that he wrote to his tentmate and receives a response – which, of course, could only have said one thing.
This final rejection is a fun conclusion to the “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” saga, which throughout its entirety showcases protagonist Charlie Brown’s endless optimism, which creator Charles Schulz cited as the reason he continues to be such a beloved character. “Shut Up and Leave Me Alone” was perhaps the opposite of Peanut‘protagonist, a completely closed characterwhere Charlie Brown was perennially an open book to his friends and readers, and never let even the most scalding rejection get him down.