This joke came from an old sketchbook comic, a particularly meandering and plotless one with a title like “Lance and Eskimo Go to the Grocery Store.” In one of the final panels, the store manager comes up and tells them, “This story’s policy is ‘no shoes, no shirt, no service.’ You all have shoes, shirts, and service, so get out!” I took that joke, made it into a strip, and ditched the rest.

Oh, there was also a joke in there about “How do you get your whites so white?” which was based on a commercial that was running at the time and which inspired Lance and Eskimo Beat Feet. Interestingly, the comic did not inspire Lance and Eskimo Think About Spiders, which was an original and divine creation of the Lance and Eskimo One-Pagers Era.

I like the mini-panel of Lance and Eskimo’s feet, with Eskimo shyly curving her ankle. Also, nice happy trail, Lance. Future gratuitous bare torso shots would be even more hairless.

The Script

(Lance and Eskimo stare at the store manager, who holds a sign reading “NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE.” He points to the first line, “NO SHOES.” Lance and Eskimo look down at their shoes, then remove them. The manager points to “NO SHIRT.” Lance and Eskimo take off their shirts.  The manager points to “NO SERVICE.” Cut to Lance and Eskimo sitting on the kerb outside the store, shirtless and shoeless, next to a cart with a tea set.)
ESKIMO: You couldn’t leave your tea service outside.