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Funny Friends: Bob Eckstein

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SHARING IS CARING

By Mia Beach

What drew you to being a cartoonist?

Sam Gross, the late cartoonist, who I contend was the world’s best. We had become friends through my first book, The History of the Snowman, which he did cartoons for (he would appear in three subsequent books of mine.) and for my birthday he took me to the infamous New Yorker lunch at Pergola del Artistes. It was there he dared me to try to submit cartoons for the New Yorker. Until then, I was an illustrator and writing humor for various places like The Village Voice , SPY, National Lampoon, Newsday, etc. It never dawned on me to do gag cartoons until Sam suggested it. But I went in and the magazine bought and ran a cartoon of mine. Actually the first one I drew. Hecklers on Poetry Night. Still not a bad idea. “You call that a metaphor?!?”

At the time I didn’t really appreciate this. I knew nothing about the gag cartoon business and assumed selling only one cartoon was subpar and that there was but a dozen or so cartoonists. The waiting room to see Bob Mankoff had like a dozen people. But upon seeing the cartoon in the printed magazine I was hooked. I caught the bug and threw myself into New Yorker cartoon books and any instruction books on the subject. I began to abandon my other work and produced hundreds of cartoons and made a living from it, selling most of the cartoons I created to places like Barron’s, MAD, Harvard Business Review, Parade, Playboy and others that no longer buy cartoons. Then just when Trump won, everything in my world hit the fan. Most of the magazines all folded. Bob at the New Yorker left. And comedy itself became largely unrecognizable to me. I became an old fart and I put out three cartoon collections, basically in honor of and in gratitude to the great New Yorker cartoonists who were mostly out of work, too. Now, I absolutely cannot make a living from cartooning.

You did a tribute book to bookstores, and more recently to museums- why these subjects, and what is your next topic?

Part of it is getting to know these places, hearing their stories and seeing a need to get those out to raise awareness. A lot of it is just me looking for an excuse to spend time there. And certainly a small part is drifting toward where there would be interest in my work, finding my people. I would maybe never have done a museum book if people still found me funny or if SPY magazine, National Lampoon or MAD magazine were stay around. God bless, Funny Times and Writer’s Digest and American Bystander. Please, tell me how I can help.

What are some of your favorite subjects to draw?

A good joke. A really, good, solid joke you know is special. They don’t come around as often. For me it can be months when something just appears that I don’t even have to ask someone else what they think of it. It’s been a long time. There was a time when I would be half way through the drawing and I knew it was going to in the New Yorker. For various reasons that ain’t never happening again. But, boy, what a great feeling. Now most of my work is, I believe the technical word is, crapola. Self-editing, fear on my part, fear on editor’s part, current trends in comedy and little inspiration. Those who inspired all died.

What’s the weirdest job you have ever had?

I’ve only done writing humor and doing drawings since I was a teenager. I never had a job except when I was a starter at a golf course and the owner excused me of being on drugs because I was making the golfers laugh. I was fired after three hours.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?

I hate to admit this, it pains me to say, it but on the cover of the New Yorker. The magazine still has the pull on me I have never been able to break away from since I first started there. Trying to be as honest as can be.

What are some fun facts about you?

I married my college nemesis after running into her again at a funeral a dozen years later…I never finished high school but taught in college right after I graduated…I have over 800 antique snowmen in my house…I was backstage for Live Aid…I was a top ranked collegiate tennis player and played once in Arthur Ashe Stadium…my nautical office has been selected one of the Top Ten Offices in the world by MacWorld magazine and has been featured on TV and magazines…I played the New Yorker caption contest once and was a finalist…I love being in Funny Times.

Bob Eckstein is a New York Times bestseller, New Yorker cartoonist and world’s leading snowman expert. He has spoke and taught around the world on the subjects of bookstores, writing, comedy, cartoons, museums and, of course, snowmen. You can follow his latest projects on his Substack newsletter, The Bob. He lives in New York City with his wife, Tamar Stone.

Check out more of Bob’s Cartoons here!

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1 COMMENT

  1. Love these stories uncovering the cartoonists bios. Thanks Bob Eckstein for all you do and have done to make life bearable during these tense times.

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