Roz Chast: C/D

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Sometimes I just find her corny and banal, but at her best I feel like she captures something very funny and subtly tragic about the lives of most people - not just the generic tragic "working man," but people who think of themselves as intellectuals and *individuals* and of some higher but frustrated purpose.

I liked the one in this week's New Yorker (the Media Issue) a lot -- "Latter Day Saints": the woman who's reading Beowulf even though she doesn't like it, the guy who doesn't have a television, etc.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

too many words

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

DUD DUD DUD DUD DUD. She's like the pseudo-intellectual yuppie version of Cathy Guisewite.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

My GISing is not turning up much evidence in favor of classic. I really did like the one this week though!

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

captures something ... subtly tragic about the lives of ... people who think of themselves as intellectuals and individuals

vs.

pseudo-intellectual yuppie version of Cathy Guisewite

-- same thing, different spin, really.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, though, I can only take so many drawings of dowdy, harried mothers-in-law.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

I used to like her cartoons. I find that, for the most part, I no longer do.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Seriously, though, I can only take so many drawings of dowdy, harried mothers-in-law.
-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), October 12th, 2006 2:58 PM. (jaymc) (later)

How many do you estimate you can take? I'm just looking for a general number.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

150?

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Once you turn on Roz Chast, you can never go back. What used to be a little funny or insightful is suddenly insipid and played-out. My guess is that this occurs within the first year of a subscription to the New Yorker.

― patita (patita), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know, patita. I've been perusing the pages of The New Yorker since the late 70's and I liked her up until about 10 years ago.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

She did do the Newyorkistan cover, right? That was funny enough, I suppose and it was certainly instantly iconic.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

I think she's still occasionally funny but far less frequently than once was the case.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

she did not. that was maira kalman + some dude

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, whoops.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

i don't think she's supposed to be funny, just witty/whimsical. i like her okay--my tolerance for the cartoons has gone up over the years. I'm sick of the back page contest though

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

Back page contest should be like once a month tops.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Lots of New Yorker cartoons are lame, but I don't believe I've ever laughed once at her shtick -- the rest of the cartoonists usually elicit the occasional chuckle from me.

I guess I'm mostly bothered by the sense that I'm supposed to identify with her dorky, self-conscious, older middle-class characters, just because I read the New Yorker. It's like when NPR hosts say "Well, of course none of us are very cool, this is NPR after all" and they sort of implicate the listening audience in that, too, and say things like "You might want to ask your kids who Nas is!" Sorry, I'm not fretting about whether my daughter will call me once in a while, or what that weird mole is doing there.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm still seething after I forgot to submit my caption for the cartoon contest that surely would've won had they seen it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, do tell us, JayMC!

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

My favorite cartoonist is H Bliss because his (her?) stuff is so different from the rest of the typical NYer cartoons. The best part about Chast for me isn't the way she draws but the way she phrases/labels stuff.

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

Also:

http://modernarthur.com/blog/christwhatanasshole.html

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

I used to like her cartoons. I find that, for the most part, I no longer do.

this reads like the caption to a NYer cartoon, where the guy saying it is being smacked by a shakily drawn cartoonist-woman who's hitting him with an easel or something.

OR OR OR

two guys walking down the street, and every billboard and ad and bookstore front window has the same cartoon of the guy speaking, looking like an ugly asshole.

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

Keeping in mind that it's not so rofflicious on its own but that it's an ideal caption for a New Yorker cartoon, in its anachronism, its reference to business culture, and its appeal to smarties who get the reference:

http://cartoonbank.com/CapContest/uploaded_images/A11578.jpg

The winner: "Aye, and he replaced walking the plank with time out."

My caption: "Marketing said the Jolly Roger 'wasn't jolly enough.'"

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

looking like an ugly asshole.

Somone (I can't recall who) told me to think of all the back cartoons as being captioned with "What an asshole!" It's surprisingly effective.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

xxpost (no offense M!)

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

uh check that link M

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'd say your caption is at least as good as the winner. Shoe-in for finalist, at least.

I had an idea for a cartoon parodying New Yorker cartoons in which two women are standing in an art gallery and one is saying to the other "My masseuse has run out of champagne"

It's all in the italics.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

I'm wondering now whether it would work better if the caption read, simply, "Marketing said it 'wasn't jolly enough.'" Even more of a back-pat for readers.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

Done by this artist, right, Josh?

http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/1/46750_m.gif

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

OTM!

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

JAYMC, YOU WERE ROBBED

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I wasn't robbed because I forgot to submit the thing. This is going to be one of those things I brood about for years, like accidentally misspelling "tentative" in the 8th-grade district spelling bee.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

The NYer's greatest cartoon ever was a pirate joke:

- Children in a classroom
- Adult pirate in the third row
- Teacher has drawn circle on the board
- Teacher has written on board: Area = pi __ ^2
- Teacher is saying: "Anyone? C'mon, Blackbeard, you should know this..."

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

Funny.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

NYer cartoon parodies pop up all the time. I remember one where there are two tony looking people walking dogs, and the man says to the woman, "after you get rid of that bag of shit, would you like to get a drink?" hey, made me laff.

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

's Ok jaymc. I'm convinced my wife had a good shot at the contest for New Jersey's new motto had we submitted in time. It was "New Jersey: Brag about it!" -- Much like your cartoon, not so much roffleicious as just having the exact right tone and feel.

I'm not sure what they ended up picking anyway, and I think there might have even been a situation where they had to drop the winner because it turned out to already be some other state's motto.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

I also have an idea for an original New Yorker cartoon, which I sometimes tell close friends, but I refuse to share it in this thread, because the idea is, frankly, brilliant and I don't want any of you schmoes to steal it from me.

I like that NJ motto.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

It may or may not have anything to do with the countless hours I spent reading my grandparents' New Yorker Cartoon books stoned, but this one is one of my 'official' favorites:

http://www.cartoonbank.com/assets/1/33670_m.gif

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

New to list of things it seems criminal that I can't find on the web: the cartoon Apu and Homer get published in the NYer ("this has been on my list for a long time").

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:45 (nineteen years ago)

I feel like if your name is Roz Chast, you are pretty much destined to be an unfunny New Yorker cartoonist.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Hey, it's a living.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Roz = diminutive of, I'm guessing, Roseanne = indicates an inability to "grow up," move past childlike mentality, or a forced sense of whimsy.

Chast = kids calling you Roz Chaste for 20 years = growing up to be insecure and annoying but with a "good sense of humor" about it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

could be Roslyn.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

More likely, I'd say.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

It could be Rosalind.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/11/25/arts/26CHAS1184.jpg

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

"Born on November 26, 1954, Rosalind Chast grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents, now retired, were a high school teacher and assistant principal. Always fond of drawing, Roz studied painting and graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, graduating with a BFA in 1977."

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

Aw, why ruin everything by using a search engine.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

SHE WAS IN THE TALKING HEADS I BET

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

Interesting

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

wow now I want all those books

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

she used to be really funny, up 'til about '86 I think - as the Reagan years deepened, she got more and more topical whereas before her stuff had been sort of mildly absurdist ("Planet of the Guys" an old favorite). I think lately she's been funnier than she was a few years ago.

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Thursday, 12 October 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

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