60 Minutes to do segment on New Yorker cartoons

Comments ⁶

1. Darryl Heine

   Will Harry Bliss be mentioned or featured?

2. Dale Stout

   I’m not sure if Andy Rooney ever did a segment on The New Yorker cartoons, but if he did, I would have liked it…because everyone doodles, and what are cartoons, but doodles with words? I think I’m going to take some of my doodles and put captions on them, then pass them around the office; see which ones people like – then take the best ones and see if the people over at The New Yorker like them, too…something like that.

3. Paul Fell

   I liked the old New Yorker cartoons a lot better. Back in the day, their cartoonists could DRAW. In last night’s 60 minutes segment, I saw some evidence of draftsmanship, but very little.
   To me, having a great gag without decent drawing quality is like trying to tell a joke with a mouth full of crackers.

4. Mike Peterson

   Different strokes. I found NYer cartoons of 20 years ago too embedded in the polo shirt/boat shoes world. I think they’re closer to the classic years today than they were then: Still reflecting an educated, urban sensibility, sometimes mocking it, but not in love with itself.

5. Mike Lester

   During the roundtable of Schwartz, Sipress, Chast and Hankins they briefly addressed the math: 7-800 cartoons submitted/yr, 30 cartoons bought = $?. For kicks say the NY’r pays $1000.00 per cartoon (I’d be surprised). Nobody lives comfortably in NY city on $30K/yr. Hoboken maybe.

   One more reason I’m a subscriber is for the covers. They’re weekly so they have the benefit of timing to the news cycle. Sempe’, McCall, Staake, De’Seve, Goodrich and Barry Blitt are no less entertainment for nerds like me than a Mick Stevens or George Booth cartoon. While I’d welcome both opportunities, I’d almost prefer to make the cover than inside.

6. Jeff P.

   Mike, I read somewhere back in the day that first time cartoons went for $500, but I have no way to confirm that.

   Also, the regulars, to my understanding, all have contracts w/ the NYer guaranteeing the magazine first look at anything they create. I believe they are paid whether the mag buys that week or not.

   Don’t ask me to name my sources, because this was a while back and I have enough trouble remembering what I had for breakfast today.