Look Who's Small Talking

Coming to a water cooler near you

Oh, uh, hey! How’s it, uh, how’s it going? How’s your weekend? Cool cool, yeah. Great, well, hey, listen: this week’s ToonStack is all about small talk. You know, like an informal type of discourse that does not cover any functional topics of conversation or any transactions that need to be addressed? What? Did I just copy that off of Wikipedia? Uh, oops, yeah. Haha, I guess I did. So…how’s your weekend?

This is going great! Some people aren’t blessed with the gift of gab like I am (clearly), and that can cause some pretty awkward moments. 

ANYWHO, enough about me. ToonStack: your thoughts on small talk?

-Johnny

Hilary Campbell

I live for small talk. Hate it when people are like “I can’t stand all the small talk at parties” and it’s like I’m sorry why? Discussing the weather is riveting, it’s what we all have in common!

Ellis Rosen

I hate small talk, not because I like profoundly important talk. I hate small talk because I hate any kind of talking that isn’t an ongoing bit that’s lasted for years. I only talk in bits, even my small talk. For instance, I’ll only talk about the weather behind its back due to an ongoing feud. Whenever I talk about music, I confidently proclaim that the band being discussed is mostly known for their cover of sandstorm. What I’m trying to say is, I hate small talk and also I’m very annoying.

Navied Mahdavian

Personally, I love small talk. And the smaller the better. Like, really small. Like baby talk. Often, I stand around parties and just say “googoo gaga.” Sometimes I’ll even curl up into a fetal position to make myself even smaller. If you stand far away from me, which people usually do, I look positively minuscule.

Colin Tom

I like small talk. I’m not so interested in the benign pleasantries, but more so in what it’s covering up: our juicy, juicy, lives of SIN. Subtle twitches of the eyes, engorged pulsing forehead veins, gritted bleeding teeth–these are all signs of more interesting conversations that are purposefully not being had. It’s all about interpreting the signals to wring some interest from the idyllic facade of small talk.

Mads Horwath 

Maintaining conversations can be pretty hard for me at parties, being around that much level of energy is a bit overstimulating so over time I devised methods in dealing with it. If they have pets or a project they’re passionate about, I just ask about that and let them do all the talking. That way, they’re happy and I don’t have to do anything really.

Sofia Warren

Some talk is so small, you can’t hear it at all! It’s smaller than the human ear canal. That’s a fun fact I learned from my oldest&best friend, who is an audiologist, but who doesn’t read this newsletter. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s not best friend behavior. Oh my god. Wait— do I have any friends? What even is a friend? None of this existential angst would have happened to me if I’d stuck to talking about the weather.

Johnny DiNapoli 

My go-to small talk topic? You know it’s the weather. I once had a neighbor who I mostly saw when one of us was taking out our garbage. And I brought up the weather at least 95% of the time. We had what I thought was a nice, small talky relationship. Only after he moved did I learn he RESTORED A 19TH CENTURY OUTHOUSE IN HIS BACKYARD AND NEVER TOLD ME??? Dang.

ToonStack News Stack:

• New book alert! Sofia Warren’s Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator is out and available to order here.

• Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class, and join the next live class!

• Listen to Hilary’s brand new podcast What’d You Do This Weekend?

• Order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams, out now!

• 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...ToonStack! 

• 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!