Audience of One
Cartoons that only the creator loves
I’m not the best salesman. When I submit my batch of cartoons to the editor, I generally leave a note: “Hey, here are my cartoons for this week, they are all terrible and I am trash. Thanks! -Ellis.” I’m constantly told to stop doing that, but here’s the thing: all my cartoons are
terrible and I am trash. I’m kidding! Sort of. The truth is cartooning is an emotional process with lots of ups and downs. I can go from “this cartoon is genius” to “this cartoon is garbage” in under ten seconds. The truth, of course, is often “this cartoon is fine,” but where’s the drama in that? I can't speak for my colleagues but I think this mindset is pretty universal amongst our ilk.
I think it’s a bit of a defense mechanism. The rejection rate is so high in this ‘biz’ (that's a cool abbreviation for “business”) so we have to be emotionally prepared for any cartoon to be deemed “bad.” If we hate the cartoon first, it softens the blow when others see it that way.
However, sometimes we make a toon that we just can’t help but love. It breaks through the shield of protective self-deprecation and strikes us in our heart. When this happens, there’s nothing we can do to prepare ourselves for its potential fizzle. Can’t sell it anywhere. Doesn't do the numbers on social media. Gets a polite “ha” from friends. These are the reactions cartoonists fear the most, and when it happens to a cartoon we particularly love it hurts that much more. In this spirit, I have asked the toonstack team to bravely post their absolute favorite toons that no one else likes. My hope is that together, we can reassess these toons and look at them with new eyes. My hope is that instead of “ha” we can muster out a “ha!” If nothing else, you, the reader can get insight into what we think is funny where others don't. I have no doubt that the cartoons here will be funny, and that my colleagues are underestimating their genius. Except for mine. Mine is terrible and I am trash. Thanks!
Navied Mahdavian
There’s this game I like to play where sometimes, when someone says a name, I’ll pretend to mix it up with someone else’s name that is similar. Let me give an example to help illustrate:
AMY: Ellis is my favorite cartoonist.
NAVIED: Personally, I prefer his music. Sings soulfully “We can't go on together /
With suspicious minds.”
AMY: No, that’s Elvis. I said Ellis.
NAVIED: Yeah, he’s ok too.
See? Hilarious! Like this cartoon, it’s more of a game only I find funny. And I get to show how smart I am in the process. Like Isaac Newton.
I loved her in Grease.
Kendra Allenby
Here’s one from the very first batch I ever brought into the New Yorker. I’ve never had a dishwasher as an adult, which means they’ve developed a slight whiff of mystery for me (do they actually clean the dishes or do you need to clean them first and then use the dishwasher as a weird water-wasting cupboard? Reports differ). Regardless, I can only assume if you leave kitchen goods this way for long they start holding political rallies and taking you down is their aim.
Ellis Rosen
When I came up with this cartoon I said to myself “Ellis, by George, you did it. You made the funniest cartoon of your career. You can sleep easy tonight, old man.” And I did. I slept that night dreaming of fame and fortune, showering myself in hundred dollar bills, interviews on late night shows, newspapers spinning into view, with headlines that read “Ellis Rosen Draws Funniest Cartoon of All Time.”
But then harsh reality. Tepid responses from friends and family. Confusion. “I don’t get it.”
The fools! Didn't they know genius when they saw it!! No worries! The New Yorker would buy it! They would buy and then the world will see! They WOULD SEE.
BUT: Nothing from the New Yorker. Nor Airmail, nor Alta, or anywhere else. Nada. Dejected, I walked through the rain in a trench coat and 5 o’clock shadow, ignoring the man playing sad saxophone under a street light. I looked down at my reflection in the gray waters of the Hudson, and only saw despair. A fish popped out and said “Get out of here loser!”
Wait a second…that gives me an idea for a cartoon. Holy moly it's a good one! It might be the best idea yet! Ellis you ol’ fool! You did it!
Amy Kurzweil
This cartoon LITERALLY has an audience of one. Do you get it? Ellis, do you get it? Did I do a good job on this prompt? See how you named the issue this week “Audience of One” and I happen to have a cartoon which is about a woman in a theater and she’s the only one there. Did I win ToonStack? Or am I terrible and trash? You have to tell me, I’ve lost all perspective. It’s almost like I spend all day alone on a metaphorical stage, assembling a cast of unique fictional characters from my imagination and parading them out into the public eye one by one, but it’s just me here. It’s just me! Am I doing this right?
Bob Eckstein
Dear ToonShack Editor,
The following cartoon has been inexplicably rejected everywhere, including The New Yorker nineteen times. So you can imagine my excitement when you promised to run this one in the coveted first spot of ToonStocked. No, thank you––I’ve been a big fan of your ToonStocked for many years.
Stay well, stay funny, stay six feet back,
Bob Eckstein
Johnny DiNapoli
Office humor, am I right? Am I right? I haven’t worked in an office in a while. I don’t know why this cartoon makes me laugh. It has the rhythm and feel of a joke, and yet...makes no sense. I don’t know. Maybe I’d get it more if I knew Tom.
Ali Solomon
This cartoon was so much fun to create that it never dawned on me that no one would have fun reading it. I’ve submitted some variation to a bunch of different publications, with no luck. I send it every six months to The New Yorker thinking, “Maybe they just missed it the first eight times.”
Nada.
Sometimes the snakes are wearing party hats. Sometimes the caption is “Well, that orgy was a bust.” But the end result is always the same—snakes slithering off into the sunset, unloved and unsold.
Asher Perlman
Ever since I was a young boy in Hebrew school, I’ve been fascinated with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Not so much the whole cities-of-sinners-destroyed-for-their-wickedness thing, but rather the bizarre punishment levied on Lot’s Wife. In drawing this cartoon, I think there’s a slim chance that I overestimated the universality of my fascination. Also, Lot’s Wife doesn’t have a name! She’s just called “Lot’s Wife”! I feel like if you’re going to turn into a pillar of salt, you at least deserve to be a named character, but I guess that’s a conversation for another cartoon that no one will love as much as I do.
Jason Adam Katzenstein
I actually first made this without the little title at the bottom. I’d just seen Heat for the first time ever! In 2021! And I thought, surely this is one of the most iconic scenes in film and everybody’s thinking about it all the time, right? So when nobody got it I added the title, and when still nobody got it I considered a career change until I remembered there’s nothing else I’m equipped to do.
Michael Shaw
If I draw a cartoon of a tree falling in the woods and no one laughs, is it still funny?
Sorry, I’m drawing a blank…but thanks for looking.
For Your Pleasure: Cartoon Extras
Have you checked out cartoonstock.com? Thanks to New Yorker cartoon editor emeritus, Bob Mankoff, this is the place to license and buy prints and merch of the best cartoons in the world, from The New Yorker, Wired, Airmail and... coming very soon... ToonStack!
Start a drawing class with Kendra at the 92Y this February, options for adults and teens.
Listen to Michael Shaw and Bob Eckstein on their popular new podcast The Cartoon Pad. Their new book The Elements of Stress is perfect for Valentine’s Day, if you didn’t want to spend much.
Check out Ali Solomon’s cartoon book I Am “Why Do I Need Venmo” Years Old, a great gift for people you know turning a year older and are pissed about it.
Order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams, out now!
Order Hilary Campbell’s Murder Book, out now!
Pre-order Sofia Warren’s book, Radical!
Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon!
Be sure to check out Shelby Lorman’s newsletter, Please Clap!
The same goes for Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!
See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!
And hey, we always would love it if ya:
This one made my day! This is how I feel every time my cartoons get rejected, which is... often... but it's especially sad for the cartoons that have me giggling to myself and no one else gets it. Nice to know I'm not alone!
Oh, how I know that feeling.