Can't Sleep? Charlie Brown Knows How to Help and These Peanut Comics Prove It
The Peanutsgang is usually not the kindest to Charlie Brown, or the most conscious of what he has going on. One such way that this lack of notice for Charlie Brown is evident is the way that characters have woken up Charlie Brown in the middle of the night multiple times throughout the comic strips' history.
The importance of a good night's sleep cannot be understated, which Charlie Brown learns the hard way. No character is woken up in the middle of his sleep as often as Charlie Brown, making it a running gag for the perennially down-on-his-luck character. Snoopy and Sally are definitely the biggest offenders of waking poor Charlie Brown, but these comics make one want to get a lock for Charlie Brown's bedroom door.
10 "I Must Be Out of My Mind"
November 30th, 1994
Snoopy, as the Flying Ace, goes on his own little mission that involved him flying behind enemy lines and getting some cold root beer in France, otherwise known as Marcie's house in Snoopy's imagination. When he comes back home, Snoopy sleeps in Charlie Brown's bed to try to get some much-needed rest. Seeing Snoopy, Charlie Brown remarks that Snoopy looks tired, so there must have been some action out there.
The debut of the Flying Ace occurred on October 10th, 1965.
Snoopy responds that he made the bonkers decision to reenlist after a fifth root beer, so he will be out on another mission soon enough. Charlie Brown is a good buddy to stay up to talk with Snoopy about his latest adventure, even though it is late at night... and it's all in Snoopy's head. It would not be the first or last time that Charlie Brown would get woken up by Snoopy, but it is one moment that the pair seem to enjoy.
9 "School Starts Tomorrow!!"
September 2nd, 1991
Charlie Brown, sound asleep, gets woken up by Sally at full volume and intensity as she blasts that school starts tomorrow. After she gives her bullhorn-like announcement, she calmly tells her big brother that he can go back to sleep now. Sally is not the biggest fan of school, so her alarm over the quickly approaching start date is understandable.
However, she probably didn't need to yell about it at the top of her lungs at her own brother while he tried to sleep. It is hard enough to wake up for the first day of school after a summer of sleeping in. It is even worse to be woken up by drill-sergeant-like yelling when it is not even time to wake up yet. Charlie Brown may love Sally, but she lives up to her annoying little sister reputation in this comic strip.
8 "Try Shuffleboard"
May 6th, 1996
Consumed with the thought of whether life is like golf or baseball in the middle of the night, a voice comes to Charlie Brown suggesting that the more laidback sport of shuffleboard is like life instead. How life is like any sport to begin with is anyone's guess, but it is perplexing enough to keep Charlie Brown awake, even into the wee hours of the night.
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It is odd that Charlie Brown is kept awake by what kind of sport life is like, but then again, Charlie Brown is one odd kid anyway. Regardless of whether his thoughts are actually productive, they do not seem to bother good old Snoopy, who stays asleep through Charlie Brown's tossing and turning. Charlie Brown could turn just about anything into a late-night worry, as this comic suggests.
7 "Why Can't You Just Scratch at the Door Like Other Dogs?"
November 3rd, 1963
Out in the cold to sleep on top of his doghouse during winter, Snoopy sprints to the Brown house when he reaches his cold temperature limit. Snoopy's way of getting into the house is a bit more intrusive, as the pup kicks the door harshly and loud enough to wake Charlie Brown.
Annoyed at being woken up so abruptly by the banging, Charlie Brown posits that scratching the door like any other dog would be a better option than kicking it. Seeing Snoopy kick at Charlie Brown's door to be able to come into the house becomes a running gag, setting Snoopy apart from the typical dog like many of his attributes. If Charlie Brown wants to avoid being stirred from his sleep, a doggy door to the house might be wise.
6 "Can My Generation Look to the Future With Hope?"
October 23rd, 1995
Stuck on thinking about whether his generation can be hopeful about their futures, the voice in Charlie Brown's head does not sound too confident about it. It is very much in line with Charlie Brown's overall personality that the voice he hears stutters out unsure words and possible caveats. Charlie Brown's worrying out loud doesn't just kept him awake, but it has also woken up Snoopy.
Charlie Brown's anxieties have no time limit...
Showing that Charlie Brown's anxieties have no time limit, he is kept awake by worries of the present as well as worries about the future. Likewise, he gets overwhelmed by the worries about his own individual self as well as for his entire generation. Perhaps a nice white noise machine would be a good thing for Charlie Brown and his sleep.
5 "Typing!"
September 22nd, 1974
No one wants a phone call in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for Charlie Brown, that is what he gets when the neighbors call him to complain about Snoopy keeping them awake all night. The neighbors have not been kept awake by Snoopy's barking; that would be too pedestrian for Snoopy. Rather, Snoopy has kept the neighbors awake with the loud click-clacking of his typewriter.
Since he is the World Famous Author, Snoopy takes the role seriously, writing day and, unfortunately for his neighbors, night. Snoopy is a common culprit for waking Charlie Brown up from his sleep. Charlie Brown often has to rein Snoopy in when he gets to be a bit of a handful, which this comic illustrates perfectly when he needs to step in to reduce the noise from Snoopy.
4 "The Foreign Legion"
June 9th, 1971
In one Peanuts story, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty go to a carnival, where she lays it on pretty thick, hinting that she has eyes for him. However, things hit a snag when Peppermint Patty brings up Little Red Headed Girl and Charlie Brown looks around for her, ignoring Peppermint Patty and making her extremely mad as a result.
Peppermint Patty's birthday is noted to be October 4th!
Later that night, Peppermint Patty calls her good pal (and secret crush) Chuck while he was fast asleep because she got tired of waiting for him to apologize. Before Charlie Brown can even form a response, she hangs up on him. Consequently, he is left in his bed reminiscing about the days when someone could join the Foreign Legion to escape their girl troubles, which plague Chalrie Brown at the moment.
3 "I'm Hungry!"
February 5th, 1967
Despite saying their good nights, Snoopy decides he is too hungry to sleep. He gets out of bed beside a soundly sleeping Charlie Brown to get his dog dish and wakes up his owner, expecting Charlie Brown to feed him now. Understandably, Charlie Brown is miffed at Snoopy's late-night timing and yells at Snoopy to go back to sleep.
Snoopy begrudgingly listens, but not without complaining that his stomach will stay awake all night, even if his head can fall asleep. The next morning, Charlie Brown gives Snoopy his breakfast hastily since his dog was so hungry during the night, only for Snoopy to now have his stomach asleep while he is awake. There is just no winning when it comes to Snoopy. At least Charlie Brown stood his ground for a change, even if it did mess with Snoopy’s appetite.
2 "Try Sleeping"
March 11th, 1995
Lying awake at night with worries about everything imaginable swirling in his head, Charlie Brown wonders why one person has to be consumed with the problems of the world. Snoopy offers a brilliant solution: "try sleeping." Snoopy's suggestion may sound obvious, but sometimes the easiest solution is the best one. Charlie Brown is one kid with "neurosis" as his middle name.
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Charlie Brown has existential worries far above his age level, which is not great for the eight-year-old's mental health nor his sleep. Snoopy could offer some lessons on how to relax, as seen by his laid back demeanor and his ability to fall asleep without a care in the world. In strips like these, Charlie Brown does not need anyone to wake him up in the middle of the night, because he does a good job of keeping himself awake thanks to his anxieties.
1 "Moo!"
March 26th, 1961
Playing pretend with Snoopy, Charlie Brown acts like a cowboy while his faithful pup acts like a cow, giving his very best moo. While he is deeply enmeshed in his cowboy character, Charlie Brown gets distracted by Lucy and Linus, who are on their way to a movie that is a quadruple feature rather than the standard double feature. Spending basically the whole day at the movie theater, Charlie Brown gets home and snuggles into his bed, thinking that he feels like he is forgetting something.
Sometime later, already deep in sleep, Snoopy reminds Charlie Brown of what he was forgetting by climbing on top of him and giving his loudest and most angry moo. It is not a great feeling to be forgotten, especially when Snoopy has just been standing out there pretending to be a cow for who knows how long in this hilarious Peanuts strip.
- Created by
- Charles M. Schulz
- First Film
- The Peanuts Movie
- Cast
- Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Bill Melendez, Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Lisa DeFaria, Venus Omega Schultheis
- TV Show(s)
- The Snoopy Show, Peanuts by Schulz
- Movie(s)
- The Peanuts Movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's All Stars!, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
- Character(s)
- Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Sally Brown, Pig-Pen, Marcie (Peanuts), Peppermint Patty, Woodstock
Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.
