Sorry Lee…
January 5th, 2006It was a relief to see that this week’s New Yorker contained no cartoon by Lee Lorenz…
Which leads me to my next post—the New Yorker should fire Lee Lornez; he’s terrible.
If you’re having a hard time picturing his cartoons, a usual Lee Lorenz panel consists of a schlubby middle-aged man ogling an impossibly buxom doe-eyed blond while his equally schlubby wife angrily looks on. His women look like fantasies your grandfather might fixate on while masturbating (sorry, Gramps…). His drawings have that slightly brushy style that seems lifted from an “I can teach you to draw cartoons” book. It’s a style that screams, “1970s.” In fact, every one of his characters are inexplicably dressed in 70’s attire. And his humor is the recycled borscht belt dreck that would have been shameful even 30 years ago. I’m sorry, New Yorker, but I didn’t pay my $50 subscription to be stuck inside that head of a sexually fixated 70-year-old.
So Lee, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry but it’s time to hang up the hat. If your cartoons had any relevance, that time has passed. They are now only embarrassing. Besides, anyone whose credits included illustrating the moronic, Reagan-era joke book, Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, deserves a fate far worse than this scornful post.
January 5th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I can’t believe you’re taking issue with ONE New Yorker for being not funny. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack made of needles.
January 5th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Right. Maybe I should attack them one at a time.
Still, Lorenz’ stuff is like finding that one very sharp, rusty needle in the pile of needles.
January 5th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
I appreciate specifically-oriented bile, no matter how much it my exclude others worth of scorn.
There are almost always some very funny New Yorker cartoons. I’ll stand by that.
January 7th, 2006 at 2:26 am
I stand by you, Hinesy (although I write this drunk…).
January 7th, 2006 at 3:43 am
I agree with Hines. I don’t know how it became a commonplace that New Yorker cartoons are all unfunny. Either there’s something wrong with me, or a lot of them are pretty funny.
If I were going to nominate the next-unfunniest New Yorker cartoonist, I’d probably go with whoever it is that draws those Sex in the City types making comments about their yuppie lifestyles and relationships. I hope that was specific enough, but if it isn’t, sorry, but I dont subscribe to the New Yorker and researching this for the person;s name is therefore just too damn hard.
January 10th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I vaguely remember the joke that all New Yorker cartoons were unfunny circulating in the early 90s. There is some truth to the fact that many are not funny, but there must have been a bad period, then a round of late night talk show jokes. The Seinfeld episode about the unfunny New Yorker cartoon of course spread the idea far and wide. All this happened before I ever dealt with the New Yorker, so that when I recently did begin my dealings, I found myself surprised at how funny many of the cartoons were.