Robert Mankoff
Robert Mankoff
Robert "Bob" Mankoffis an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He is the current cartoon editor for The New Yorker magazine. Before he succeeded Lee Lorenz as cartoon editor, Mankoff was a cartoonist for The New Yorker for twenty years...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
CountryUnited States of America
adept computers found
I'm pretty adept with computers and Photoshop for my blog, and I found my style with a conversational voice and an image-ready column.
people
People often ask me about my upbringing, and if there was anything particular about it that made me become a cartoonist.
absolute funny hardest laugh medium
I think funny is just the foundation. I don't really think, to some extent, funny is the absolute most important thing. It should also communicate some idea through the medium of cartooning. Just to be funny is... You know what, the things that you laugh hardest at aren't cartoons.
cartoons comic cycle follow form given life quickly time topic
Cartoonists create so many cartoons on any given topic that we can follow the life cycle of a comic idea and how it evolves over time more quickly than we can with a form like the novel.
founder supplement ways
I was the founder of the 'Cartoon Bank' in the '90s. I was interested in finding ways for cartoonists to supplement their incomes.
editorial humor joke mind playful question retain tapping vehicle
One question about a joke is, how well is the strangeness of the situation resolved? At 'The New Yorker', we retain a lot of incongruity, tapping the playful part of the mind - Monty Python-type stuff. We also try to use humor as a vehicle for communicating ideas. Not editorial comment, but observation.
algorithms
There is no Algorithm for Humor
talent internet gatekeepers
A lot of what the Internet is showing is that talent is more disperse than gatekeepers such as myself.
cartoon months records
Cartoons, often, that you do for the New Yorker don't appear for months afterwards, and the record for that is a cartoon that was bought by James Stevenson in 1987 and didn't appear until 2000.
cartoon approach visuals
I'm very fond of the strictly visual cartoons I did when I was breaking in in the 1970's. Over time I migrated to a more verbal approach.
humorous creativity thinking
I'm really interested in the link between creativity and humor because humor is a type of creativity, and I do think that humorous people and humorous health helps creativity.
cartoon way income
I was the founder of the Cartoon Bank in the 90s. I was interested in finding ways for cartoonists to supplement their incomes.
cartoon happy-marriage
There are no cartoons about happy marriages.
cartoon needs amount
Each cartoon needs the right amount of wrong.