The New York Times - Janet Maslin
If anyone is entitled to pepper his memoir with New Yorker cartoons, it's the cartoon editor of The New Yorker. So Bob Mankoff's new book is half prose, half illustrations and tirelessly playful…the artwork and text work together to tell a fizzy, jokey story about a long and busy career.
Publishers Weekly
12/16/2013
Mankoff’s (The Naked Cartoonist) memoir of life as the cartoon editor of the New Yorker, how he got there, and what he has seen and learned along the way, is a must-read for devotees of the magazine and is as funny as the best of his own work. The title is taken from what Mankoff calls “by far the most popular cartoon” he’s ever done, one that has become part of the American vernacular: a businessman talking into a telephone while looking at his appointment book, who says, “No, Thursday’s out. How about never—is never good for you?” Mankoff traces his career from his youth in New York City, when the fluent Yiddish spoken by his mother—a language “combining aggression, friendliness, and ambiguity, a basic recipe for humor”—heavily influenced him. The book generously displays New Yorker cartoons by Mankoff and others from earlier (Peter Arno, Charles Addams) and contemporary (Roz Chast and Bruce Eric Kaplan) generations of artists. In this way, How About Never serves up not only a mini-collection of great cartoons but also as 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 cartoon caption contest. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
"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
Kirkus Reviews
2014-02-02
Part glib memoir and part cartoon anthology from the cartoon editor for the New Yorker. The most fascinating part takes readers inside the process of just how these cartoons are inspired, created and selected for publication. Mankoff (The Naked Cartoonist: Ways to Enhance Your Creativity, 2002) knows how tough it can be for an artist to achieve that career pinnacle and what an honor it is to be a regular contributor—particularly now that so many other publications that might have provided a similar market for cartoonists have either folded or no longer use the drawings. It's also a precarious position: "I think every cartoonist—indeed, everyone who's funny for money—fears that either they'll stop being funny or whoever decides what's funny will think they have. Little did I know that one day I'd be in the whoever role." Breezy text alternates with lots of cartoons—the author's own and others'—as he details how he went from years of being rejected by the New Yorker to his early acceptances to his current role as a gatekeeper. As Mankoff notes, the magazine makes that gate difficult to penetrate, with those under contract expected to deliver 10 or so cartoons every week so that maybe one might be selected. After starting from that prescreened 1,000 per week, he writes, "eventually I cull the pile down to fifty or so" and then take those to the weekly Wednesday meeting, where editor David Remnick will ultimately pass judgment on which 17 or so will be published. 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—but the one that trumps all others: "Make David Remnick laugh." Those who aspire to a career drawing for the New Yorker will find this essential reading—or just give up.
