The Rejects – Wally the Waiter

In this latest post in the Rejects series, in which I'm examining the named characters who appeared in Cheeky's strips in Krazy but failed to make a transition into Cheeky Weekly, the spotlight falls on Wally the Waiter.

Wally the Waiter appeared in just a single 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in Krazy (cover date 12 March 1977), but what an appearance it was. The dynamic dinner-deliverer set a new record for culinary quippage as he wisecracked his way around a restaurant, dispensing gustatory gags and mealtime mischief.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Frank again

Wally was adjudged by a celebrity panel consisting of Cheeky and Roy Castle to have served up 14 waiter wisecracks, but despite this prodigious feat of feasting fun, Wally never returned to the pages of Krazy. One can imagine the gag-cracking garcon being easliy assimilated into the ranks of Cheeky's pals in the toothy funster's own comic, with Cheeky's wanderings around Krazy Town including a saunter past the local restaurant, but Wally was entirely absent from Cheeky's own title.

Maybe Wally's record attempt in Krazy exhausted the scriptwriter's supply of restaurant raillery. It's possible the Cheeky Weekly editor felt that Auntie Daisy dished up sufficient food fun for one comic. Or maybe Cheeky believed his plate-wrangling pal's adroitness with the funnies threatened his own seat at the top table of comic jokesters.