Cartoon Editor, The New Yorker, Cartoonist & Author

Bob Mankoff is cartoon editor of The New Yorker and founder of The Cartoon Bank. He has edited dozens of cartoon books and published four of his own. Over 900 of his own cartoons have been published in The New Yorker over the past 20 years, including the best-selling New Yorker cartoon of all time (the harried businessman at his desk with a phone to his ear, reviewing his calendar and saying: “No, Thursday’s out, how about never.  Is never good for you?”).  He is the subject of the new HBO documentary film “Very Semi-Serious,” available for viewing starting December 14, 2015.

Mankoff’s book The Naked Cartoonist(Black Dog & Leventhal), is a funny easy-to-follow approach to the creative process through the medium of cartooning, which reveals simple secrets to finding your inspiration, honing your wit, getting great ideas, and being more creative every day. In his memoir How About Never–Is Never Good For You?: My Life in Cartoons (Henry Holt & Co), Mankoff shares myriad images and his funniest, most beloved cartoons, to trace his love of the craft all the way back to his childhood, when he started doing funny drawings at the age of eight and takes readers into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker to show us the soup-to-nuts process of cartoon creation, giving us a detailed look not only at his own work, but that of the other talented cartoonists who keep us laughing week after week.  He also reveals the secrets to winning the magazine's caption contest. He edited “The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker” (Black Dog & Leventhal); the best-selling coffee table book, featuring all 68,647 cartoons published in The New Yorker since its debut in 1925. 

He is also a successful entrepreneur: in 1991, he took out a small business loan and started The Cartoon Bank, a business devoted to licensing cartoons for use in newsletters, textbooks, magazines and other media.  The Cartoon Bank initially licensed material that was not published by The New Yorker.  In 1997, The New Yorker purchased The Cartoon Bank from Mankoff, giving The Cartoon Bank access to all cartoons published in the magazine over the past eight decades.  That same year, Mankoff was named cartoon editor of The New Yorker. 

Mankoff graduated from Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences in 1966, and then entered the doctoral program at City University of New York to pursue a degree in experimental psychology. At age 30, just short of completing his dissertation, Mankoff decided to use his know-how in a new way: as a cartoonist.

In 1977, Mankoff spent four months creating hundreds of original cartoons, and then started submitting them to magazines throughout New York City.  It took more than a year to break into The New Yorker–perhaps the most prestigious outlet for a cartoonist–and within three years became a regular contributor, as he is today.

Praise for How About Never – Is Never Good For You?: My Life in Cartoons

“Lucid, illuminating, and encouraging . . . How About Never – Is Never Good for You? is not just a charming memoir but also a charming grab bag of cartoon history, cartoon theory (nothing too woolly) and shoptalk.” —New York Times Book Review

“Mankoff's deep understanding of humor, both its power and its practice, is the live wire that crackles through his new book . . . How About Never is more than a memoir . . . it's also an enormous window into the mystery and alchemy behind the creation and selection of New Yorker cartoons.” —The Washington Post
“Evidence that the New Yorker's cartoons can still unerringly reflect the texture of our times.”

“This is a generous book, giving abundant credit to both the older generation of cartoonists whom the young Mr. Mankoff hero-worshiped to the new blood he has brought to the magazine during his tenure.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“By mixing his snappy-banter writing with actual New Yorker cartoons, Mankoff offers fascinating insight into the professional trials and artistic struggles of a cartoonist--and his own method of defining what, precisely, makes a New Yorker cartoon.” —Entertainment Weekly

“How About Never serves up not only a mini-collection of great cartoons but also a look at the shift in styles through the editorships of legendary William Shawn, Tina Brown, and current editor David Remnick. Mankoff also provides a very funny and insightful look at how to win The New Yorker caption contest. . . A must read for devotees of the magazine.” —Publishers Weekly

“Fascinating . . . Mankoff offers a number of tips on the ‘intelligent humor' that makes it into the New Yorker--and even how to better your odds in the weekly caption process . . . Those who aspire to a career drawing for the New Yorker will find this essential reading.” —Kirkus

“Bob Mankoff's fascinating, forthright, and funny book provides an inside look at the nuts and bolts of New Yorker cartoons: how the artists come up with ideas, how the cartoons are selected, the workings of the famous Caption Contest, and much more. Mankoff also writes with first-hand knowledge about the topic of laughter itself. He dares to ask the question, ‘What makes something funny?', and answers it with intelligence, originality, and, of course, humor.”
—Roz Chast

“Is Bob Mankoff mad, a genius, or a mad genius? This book does not answer that question, but you'll love it.” —Andy Borowitz

“More than anyone, Bob Mankoff has kept the New Yorker tradition in cartooning alive, while managing to oversee its renewal. He's also a very funny guy, with either a stipple-pen in his hand or a computer keyboard beneath his fingers. And, if that's not enough, he's one of the few funny guys around who actually has something sensible to say about what makes funny funny and he does so here.” —Adam Gopnik

“Hilarious... a unique look at how the best cartoons in the world are created.” —Christopher Guest

Videos and Links

Very Semi-Serious Film Trailer

Bob Mankoff on 60 Minutes

Charlie Rose, The Week: On “Very Semi-Serious” (Dec. 11, 2015)

Bob Mankoff on Charlie Rose (Feb. 3, 2014)

TED Talk: Mankoff gives a TED talk on making and selecting cartoons for The New Yorker

Bob Mankoff on Twitter

Mankoff on NPR about cartoons, The New Yorker, humor, and “getting it”

New York Times article “Comic relief” on Mankoff’s memoir How About Never

SPEAKING TOPICS

I ONLY READ IT FOR THE CARTOONS:
An Insider’s Cartoon History of The New Yorker.
Bob Mankoff is the ultimate New Yorker cartoon insider. He’s been a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker for thirty-five years and it’s Cartoon Editor since 1997. He sees over a thousand cartoons a week in order to help select the fifteen or so that go into the magazine, that over it’s long and storied history has published over eighty-thousand of them. In this fast paced and funny multi-media presentation featuring cartoons and videos, Mankoff ushers you into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker (Shhh! You’ll upset the fact-checkers) to show you the soup-to-nuts process of cartoon creation, giving you not only a detailed look at his own work but that of artists who keep you laughing every week, except, of course, when they don’t, puzzling you with a cartoon that you “don’t get”. What’s up with that anyway?  In this presentation all will be explained including how to increase your odds of winning the famous New Yorker Caption contest.

THE CARTOON CAPTION CHALLENGE:
Crowdsourcing Lessons in Humor from The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contests (where your audience also gets to pick the punch lines).

A shorter audience participation version can be added to any of Bob’s talks.

Humor is traditionally at the hand of its author. What happens when the audience picks the punch line? Each week, on the last page of the magazine, The New Yorker provides a cartoon in need of a caption. Readers submit captions, the magazine chooses three finalists, readers vote for their favorites. It's humor—crowdsourced—and with more than 2 million submissions provided by 500,000 participants, it provides tremendous insight as to what makes us laugh. In this talk Mankoff analyzes the lessons we learn from crowdsourced humor. And then it’s your turn.
The sponsor is provided with a captionless cartoons for a campus/company wide caption challenge. Mankoff selects the finalists who then compete on stage in a live Cartoon Caption Challenge. It’s winner take some because all contestants get original signed cartoons by Mankoff.

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK:
How & Why Jews Became “The People of the Joke.”

From growing up Jewish in Queens, NY, to going to the Borscht Belt as a kid where he saw performances by Jerry Lewis, Buddy Hackett & Rodney Dangerfield, among others, Mankoff shows how his Jewish heritage helped him to become a successful cartoonist and presents a personal and historical cartoon illustrated history of Jewish humor.

LAUGH FOR THE HEALTH OF IT:
A Cartoonist Journeys into Humor and Health

Laughter may not be the best medicine but it’s certainly the cheapest. But as Bob Mankoff shows using humor itself and research, there are real medicinal benefits of laughter. Until recently these real benefits were ignored or, ironically, laughed off by doctors and nurses. But they’re not laughing any more.  Actually they are, for your health as well as theirs, as well as creating a field of psych-neuro-immunology that looks at how the mind, especially the humorous mind can help heal the body. One thing for sure, after seeing this talk by Bob, you will feel better. Just take two of his cartoons and call him in the morning. And, yes, this talk is illustrated with cartoons that both enlighten and entertain, while expanding our perspective on humor, health and healthcare.

ON THE MONEY:
A History of Business and the Economy as seen through the Eyes of The New Yorker Cartoons.

The New Yorker has been at the forefront of social commentary since it was first published in 1925. Even when the markets have been down, its famous single-panel cartoons have found a way to add humor to the economic landscape. In On the Money, fans can revel in The New Yorker's best cartoons on the theme of money and business, culled from the past 80+ years. From bossy businessmen to crooked creditors to slighted stockholders, no one in the financial world has escaped humorously critical jabs from the master of cartoon humor. Mankoff is editor of cartoon collection books: On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons & The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons.

THE NAKED CARTOONIST:
Exposing your Ideas, Imagination & Wit
How to Enhance Your CrEaTiviTy

As cartoon editor of The New Yorker, and one of its most gifted contributors, he spends his life pursuing that elusive thing called creativity, and inspiring it in others. If you've ever wondered where great ideas come from, or yearned to channel your creative energies, or just wanted some pointers on how to get those artistic juices flowing—this this talk (and his book The Naked Cartoonist) is for you. Along with some help from his well-known cartoonist friends, Mankoff takes you on an entertaining words-and-pictures journey through the art, craft, and zen of cartooning, along the way providing lots of personal anecdotes about his development as an artist, and about life at the world's most urbane magazine. But you don't have to be an aspiring cartoonist to appreciate The Naked Cartoonist. Mankoff's wisdom, and his practical yet whimsical approach to the creative process, are designed to benefit anyone who has ever stared at a blank piece of paper or canvas and dreamed of transforming it into something truly original (and maybe even commercial). What's so funny? Mankoff knows best. He also knows how you can find your own personal voice and message, how you can learn from the masters of the past, how you can transform a current event into a comic tour-de-force...even how you can incorporate telling lies and taking naps into your daily work routine—and justify it.