Bovine faces the cliche

Until when? I'm already home!

   A former colleague studies the cliches we lean on when we're not entirely sure what to say. It's also true that like everything else, "you gotta start somewhere" and that even hackneyed speech began with somebody's fresh insight.
     As I read about how cartoonists work, they speak of beginning with the cliche or even a stock scene (like the castaway on a desert island) and then tweaking and twisting for something fresh. Would that be like "upcycling"? Maybe you'd like to comment on how you add a new twist to a familiar theme.