Cartoon and Humor Editor for Esquire and former New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff gathers his favorite Jewish cartoons and writes an introduction in which he shows how his Jewish heritage helped him to become a successful cartoonist, examines the place of cartoons in the vibrant history of Jewish humor, and plumbs Jewish thought wisdom and shtick for humorous insights. Mankoff has written: “I always think that it’s strange that the Jews, The People of the Book, eventually became much better known as The People of the Joke. Strange because laughter in the Old Testament is not a good thing: When God laughs, you’re toast. If you say “Stop me if you’ve heard this one ” he does for good…. Now am I worried that these cartoons will bring His wrath down upon me down with a bolt from the blue. Not really but every time there’s a thunderstorm I hide in the cellar.”
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In partnership with the Jewish Book Council.
From growing up Jewish in Queens, NY, to going to the Borscht Belt as a kid where he saw performances by Jerry Lewis, Buddy Hackett, and Rodney Dangerfield, among others, Bob shows how his Jewish heritage helped him to become a successful cartoonist and presents a personal and historical cartoon illustrated history of Jewish humor. For over 40 years, Bob Mankoff has been the driving force of comedy and satire at some of the most honored publications in America, including the New Yorker and Esquire. He has devoted his life to discovering just what makes us laugh, and seeks every outlet to do so, from developing The New Yorker’s web presence to integrating it with algorithms and A.I. Mankoff is currently the cartoon editor at the weekly online newsletter Air Mail. In 2018, Mankoff launched CartoonCollections.com, a new spin on the Cartoon Bank, the world’s most successful cartoon licensing platform that he founded in 1992. At Cartoon Collections, Bob has brought together cartoons from the New Yorker and previously unavailable cartoons from National Lampoon, Esquire, Playboy, and Barron’s to create the largest cartoon licensing source on the planet.
