Last night I attended a wonderful panel discussion at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago with New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff and cartoonists David Sipress, Charles Barsotti and Matt Diffee.
“A History Told Through Humor” examined how The New Yorker’s cartoons represented their respective eras and how humor changes with each new generation of cartoonists.
It obviously was also a great way to draw some attention to the new Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker, which Bob and crew were happily selling and signing in the lobby.
The best part of the evening for me, however, was the opportunity to meet Mankoff, who flattered me by actually recognizing me and my cartoons. We shook hands and talked for a moment before he headed out for the signing. Nice guy.
I was also pleased to see fellow Chicago cartoonist Pat Byrnes and meet his lovely wife Lisa Madigan as well as a number of other local artists. Sometimes cartooning is such a vacuum, it was fun to emerge from my cartoon spider hole and say hi.
The evening gave me an interesting new idea for a recurring feature on the ol’ Andertoons blog too. Stay tuned…