Frazzled by "Frazz" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Because he can.

He says this in the second strip. He loves being around the kids and teachers and frequently "teaches" philosophy, literature, music, and general kindness. To him, his work as a janitor is more about making the lives of the kids and the teachers meaningful than it is about cleaning.

Answer: Miss Plainwell

Frazz tries for over a year to work up the nerve to ask her out; Caulfield eventually sets them up on a date together, and Miss Plainwell reveals to Frazz that she's liked him for a long time. Mrs. Olsen is the ancient, crabby teacher. Otsego and Decatur are not teachers at all but names of other cities in Michigan (as is Plainwell), the state that Mallett is from.

Answer: The main character from "The Catcher in the Rye".

When Frazz tells Mrs. Olsen that Caulfield was named after "The Catcher in the Rye," Mrs. Olsen mistakenly thinks that he means a baseball player. Caulfield is very smart for his age: he has read "The Old Man and the Sea" and "Atlas Shrugged" and dresses as literary characters for Halloween. The "father's brother's..." thing comes from the movie "Spaceballs."

Answer: Horseback riding

Frazz plays basketball with Mr. Burke (although neither one is very good at it), runs with Miss Plainwell, and goes cycling with Clutch. He loves physical activity and doesn't care much for television or video games. Once, he buys an entertainment system that costs him over three thousand dollars: a bicycle.

Answer: It's short for his last name, Frazier.

His name is Edwin Aloysius Frazier. The logos on his shirts are often in-jokes by Mallett that reveal his preferences for bands, sports teams, etc.

Answer: The Fighting Martha Stewarts

The kids and Frazz want a scary name for their team. They also suggest "The Lima Beans," "The Noisy Furnace in the Dark Basement," and "Coffee Breath." They eventually go with "Frazz's Outfit" because...well, Frazz has no fashion sense.

Answer: A guinea pig

His name is Lyle Lovett (Frazz named him after the singer). He gets loose in Mrs. Olsen's room one day; Frazz finds him when he chews through an electrical cable, causing the lights to flicker.

Answer: Guitar

Frazz is primarily a songwriter but often plays and sings his songs aloud. Many gags are based around music, such as when Caulfield keys in part of Beethoven's fifth symphony on the phone keypad (and gets a German speaker on the other end), or when the kids record a new, musical message on an answering machine (with Frazz accompanying them on guitar) that asks the callers to stand on one foot and push buttons with their noses.

Answer: Principal

Though being a principal is respectful in an adult's eyes, Spaetzle wishes that he had the love of the students that Frazz has. The students love to play jokes on the principal, like taking the screws out of his chair so it will collapse when he sits on it or dragging a plant across the lawn to give the illusion that the school building is blowing away.

They also laugh when they hear that Spaetzle sat on a Tootsie pop or stapled himself to a chair.

Answer: Calvin and Hobbes

Some fans have theorized that Jef Mallett is actually Bill Watterson and/or means "Frazz" to be a sequel to "Calvin and Hobbes," depicting an older Calvin. All of these theories are false--Mallett and Watterson are different cartoonists and "Frazz" is not a sequel series. "Calvin and Hobbes" ran from 1985 to 1995 and charts the adventures of a six-year-old self-proclaimed genius and his tiger, Hobbes. Though an underachiever in school, Calvin has a very active imagination and discusses philosophical issues with Hobbes.