January 15, 2018, 4:30pm
I Only Read It For The Cartoons: An Insider’s Cartoon History of “The New Yorker”
Robert Mankoff
Bob Mankoff is the ultimate New Yorker cartoon insider. He’s been a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker for 35 years and was its Cartoon Editor for 20 years. As editor, he viewed over 1,000 cartoons a week’in order to help select the 15 or so for the magazine, which over its long and storied history has published over 80,000 of them. In this fast-paced and funny multimedia presentation featuring cartoons and videos, Bob ushers you into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker (Shhh! You’ll upset the fact-checkers) to show you the soup-tonuts process of cartoon creation, giving you a detailed look at his own work as well as the artists who keep you laughing weekly. Mankoff’s presentation will explain it all including how to increase your odds of winning the famous New Yorker caption contest.
Robert Mankoff’s career started, unexpectedly, by quitting a Ph.D. program in experimental psychology at The City University of New York in 1974. Shortly after, he began submitting cartoons to The New Yorker. Three years and over 2,000 cartoons later, he finally made the magazine and has since published over 950 cartoons. The New Yorker named Bob Cartoon Editor from 1997-2017. As editor, he spent his days mentoring cartoonists, new and old, towards the laughs that readers expect. By 2005, he started the “New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest.” With over 2.5 million entries to date, the contest receives 5,000 reader submissions a week. The Washington Post said of his 2014 book How About Never – Is Never Good for You?: My Life In Cartoons – “Mankoff’s deep understanding of humor, both its power and practice, is the live wire that crackles through his book … It’s also an enormous window into the mystery and alchemy behind New Yorker cartoons.”