Lawrence Tierney Is Dead, Alas...

...because if he were still with us, the headstrong and tempermental actor would be perfectly suited for The Outbursts of Everett True. The comic strip's nearly a century old, but it runs on a simple premise that could just as easily catch on with audiences today:

"In the first panel, Everett is subjected to one of the many common annoyances, indignations, and outrages that are foisted upon each of us daily. In the second, he beats someone up."

Some bits, like revenge against rude hotel clerks (click on the drawing above for a full-size version) or people who cut in line, are just as fresh in 2005 as they were in 1906. A handful of other gags aren't quite as successful, and the strip isn't immune to the racist caricaturing of the early 20th century, but I swear, you could take this into a pitch meeting at Comedy Central today and walk out with a pilot development deal. After all, isn't this pretty much how the majority of American stand-up comedy works, with the physical violence weakly replaced by verbal abuse from a distance?