The iconic “Lucy and the Football” gag that has frustrated Charlie Brown for decades actually began as a complete misunderstanding. There have been many notable running gags throughout Peanuts‘ historic 50-year run. However, none has been more iconic than the classic football gag, which has been referenced endlessly by other popular comics, including Bill Amend’s FoxTrot.
While the joke has become as timeless as the Peanuts characters created by Charles Schulz, Lucy never truly intended to trick Charlie Brown the first time it happened. The first football gag in Peanuts’ history featuring Lucy premiered on November 16th, 1952 and had a fairly similar set-up to what the joke would become.
However, Lucy was exceedingly different at this point in time. She’s pretty naive and pulls the ball away because she was afraid Charlie Brown’s shoes would make her football dirty. When she tries again, she holds it so tight that Charlie Brown actually trips over it, rather than kicking it.
Despite Lucy completely misunderstanding the situation in this early strip, and unintentionally making Charlie Brown miss, it is amazing that this is where one of comics’ most famous jokes got its start. While the “accident” formulation of the gag would only last a couple of years, it is clear that this was the original intent. Eventually realizing the humorous potential in making Lucy actively yank the ball away from Charlie Brown, Schulz went in a different direction, and it changed Peanuts history forever.
The ultimate reason behind why one of Peanuts‘ best gags was so different in the beginning is because Lucy hadn’t quite become the character she’s known for today. Just like most of the Peanuts gang’s first appearances, Lucy was incredibly different, since she was painted as a regular yet naive little girl. When the first football gag featuring Lucy was created, she wasn’t as mean as she would become in later strips, so the joke came from her misunderstanding the situation, and accidentally causing Charlie Brown to fail.
When the gag was brought back in 1956, Lucy had become the more recognizable, outspoken character Peanuts fans are familiar with to this day, and a regular antagonist to Charlie Brown. This shift marked the first time she pulled the ball away intentionally, marking this as the moment when the football gag was truly born after a few earlier attempts years prior. It would be interesting to see just how much the football gag would have changed had Lucy’s character not undergone a major shift since her first few Peanuts appearances, and began more actively setting Charlie Brown up to fail.