VERY SEMI-SERIOUS: A PARTIALLY THOROUGH PORTRAIT OF NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS, AN OFFBEAT MEDITATION ON HUMOR, ART AND THE GENIUS OF THE SINGLE-PANEL CARTOON, DEBUTS DECEMBER 14, 2015 EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO Our Coverage Sponsored by Hallak Cleaners the Couture Cleaner
Photo Credit: Liam Dalzell/Courtesy of HBO
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FEATURED IN IMAGE: Bob Mankoff and Farley Katz
Photo Credit: Kristen Johnson/Courtesy of HBO
We loved this documentary so much we are literally tickled pink! Bravo to HBO and The New Yorker Cartoonists, and since you work in the new World Trade Center, check out how Tower 3 is going up next to you here. If we didn't have a little bit of comic relief, can you imagine how unbearable life would be, particularly in this pressure cooker called Manhattan? We love it but we also love to laugh, and HBO unveils a new respect for the process of cartooning with the New Yorker in this great new work that you absolutely must see.
FEATURED IN IMAGE: Sarah Mankoff, Bob Mankoff and Cory Scott
Whittier
Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO
Only 15 out of 1,000 are picked of cartoons submitted...but SOMEONE is one of those 15 and it makes their life when they are picked. It takes a savoir faire of life, drawing ability and unparalleled wit, and sometimes it can take over two decades to be accepted. Remember what Mickey Curley says...Persistence wears resistance.
FEATURED IN IMAGE: Roz Chast
Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO
Even we would say in this overly digital world we live in, it is so refreshing to see pen and paper and the simplicity of a cartoon. As print is dying, the art of cartooning is living on. Maybe Peachy will think of a cartoon for you for Whom You Know.
The cartoonists here are inspiring and they each have a distinct style, point of view and most importantly, a personality. You'll meet a likable lineup of characters and Ed Steed and Liana Finck impressed us the most.
FEATURED IN IMAGE: Bob Mankoff
Photo Credit: Kristi Fitts/Courtesy of HBO
Uplifting, fresh and bright, Very Semi-Serious is a celebration of the human condition and absolutely what the doctor ordered for your next Monday. Or any day, really!
FEATURED IN IMAGE: Liana Finck
Photo Credit: Kristi Fitts/Courtesy of HBO
Very Semi-Serious is Highly Recommended by Whom You Know!
Every Tuesday, eager cartoonists line up outside the office of New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to show off their work. After he sifts through thousands of submissions, the magazine ends up buying and publishing about 15 each week. Whether they leave readers amused, inspired or even a little baffled, these iconic cartoons have been an instantly recognizable cultural touchstone over the past 90 years.
Directed by Leah Wolchok and produced by Davina Pardo, VERYSEMI-SERIOUS: A PARTIALLY THOROUGH PORTRAIT OF NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS, offers a window into The New Yorker, the undisputed standard bearer of the single-panel cartoon, and an unprecedented glimpse into the process behind their creation and publication. The lighthearted yet poignant feature-length documentary debuts MONDAY, DEC. 14 exclusively on HBO.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO
The documentary will also be available on HBO NOW and HBO GO.
Revealing The New Yorker’s weekly open-call cartoon submission process, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS follows Bob Mankoff as he strives to nurture new talent and represent the magazine’s old guard, while also considering how his industry must evolve to stay relevant. Mankoff has been cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997 and has also had more than 900 of his own cartoons published in the magazine since the 1970s.
The New Yorker’s signature brand of subtle, contemplative humor, Mankoff muses, can “make the strange familiar, or the familiar strange.” Editor David Remnick notes that cartoons have been a major component since The New Yorker began as a humor weekly in 1925. The film showcases vintage works from William Steig, Charles Addams, Peter Arno and James Thurber, whose “Touché!” cartoon Mankoff praises as “immediate, visual, and comic.”
In the ‘60s, cartoonists like Mort Gerberg, Sam Gross and Lee Lorenz sold cartoons to a number of magazines, many of which have since shuttered. Though a few still make a living solely on cartoons, most of today’s new generation also have “day jobs,” including Carolita Johnson (a pattern model), Zachary Kanin (a writer for “Saturday Night Live”) and Bruce Eric Kaplan (a writer-producer on HBO’s “Girls”).
In addition to behind-the-scenes footage with Mankoff, Remnick and other New Yorker staffers, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS profiles legendary cartoonists such as Roz Chast, Mort Gerberg and George Booth, as well as young hopefuls like Liana Finck and Ed Steed, as they discuss their cartoons and go through the process of submitting to – and often being rejected by – the magazine each week.
Among the cartoonists featured:
George Booth, now 89, sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker in 1969, and is one of the magazine’s most beloved and prolific contributors.
Roz Chast says that when she started selling cartoons to The New Yorker in the late-’70s, one critic commented that the editor must have owed her father money. To date, more than 1,230 of her cartoons have been published.
Liana Finck is a young aspiring cartoonist with a soft-spoken demeanor and off-kilter sense of humor. Mankoff is drawn to Fink’s unique sensibility and encourages her to keep submitting, but warns her that “reading a cartoon shouldn’t be a struggle.”
Emily Flake, a new mom, doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into “women’s issues,” and has been submitting cartoons about “the darker side of motherhood.”
Mort Gerberg, who has had over 200 cartoons published inThe New Yorker, shows a print of the first cartoon he sold, depicting two women in a cathedral, with the caption “I’ve always been partial to high ceilings.”
Ed Steed is a young artist who “came out of nowhere,” according to Remnick. Raised on a farm in the UK, and even more soft-spoken than Finck, Steed has already sold close to 50 cartoons to the magazine, even though he encounteredThe New Yorker for the first time just two years ago.
FEATURED IN IMAGE: Silvia Killingsworth, David Remnick and Bob Mankoff Photo Credit: Kristi Fitts/Courtesy of HBO
In early 2015, The New Yorker moved from midtown to its new offices at One World Trade Center. Mankoff, who recently published “How About Never – Is Never Good For You?,” a memoir named after his most famous cartoon caption, continues to meet with cartoonists there every Tuesday. Flipping through his own archive, a black book of cartoons dating back to 1977, Mankoff says, perhaps only half-jokingly, “This would make a good tombstone.”
VERY SEMI-SERIOUS: A PARTIALLY THOROUGH PORTRAIT OF NEW YORKER CARTOONISTS is directed and produced by Leah Wolchok; produced by Davina Pardo; executive producers, Regina K. Scully, Deborah Shaffer and Bruce Sinofsky; director of photography, Kirsten Johnson; co-producer, Joanna Sokolowski; editors, Nels Bangerter and Scott Stevenson. For HBO: senior producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
