Althouse: Out of all of "Instagram’s Favorite New Yorker Cartoons in 2024," one stands out as not funny in the way it was thought to be funny back when it was shared.

December 10, 2024

Out of all of "Instagram’s Favorite New Yorker Cartoons in 2024," one stands out as not funny in the way it was thought to be funny back when it was shared.

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That's from August 21.

You can check out all of The New Yorker's most shared cartoons here.

There's also this, from July 22, the day after Biden dropped out:

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40 comments:

wild chicken said...: Was something big supposed to happen at the DNC? I thought it was cut and dried for Biden. The cartoon made me think more of 1968.; 12/10/24, 8:44 AM
narciso said...: It tells you how much in the bubble they were; 12/10/24, 8:46 AM
Aggie said...: 'were'; 12/10/24, 8:48 AM
Enigma said...: Biden looks dead in that cartoon. Was the thought to make him a Weekend At Bernies statute while in office? Just let his husk dry up and mummify in place? Circus sideshows need new attractions. Step up and see Biden's body for $1.00.; 12/10/24, 8:52 AM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: Like the late night TV talk shows, The New Yorker (to which I once subscribed) has abandoned any pretense of appealing to anyone outside the metaphorical Upper East Side of Manhattan. Same for many other once-mainstream publications (The Atlantic, the formerly major newsweeklies, even Scientific American). They have converted themselves from influential publications to hobbies for their owners.; 12/10/24, 8:52 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: It was the Joy! Joy! Joy!; 12/10/24, 8:53 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Yeah, they're not out of it yet. Seems to me like they're working overtime to shore it up.; 12/10/24, 8:54 AM
Wince said...: It's amazing how out-of-touch and unfunny the overtly political cartoons were compared to the others.

The apolitical cartoons were funny because they depicted universally shared experiences.

The political ones were insular narratives.; 12/10/24, 8:54 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: TWANLOC. These people do not live in the same country as the rest of us.; 12/10/24, 8:56 AM
narciso said...: They cannit meme if their lives depended on it; 12/10/24, 8:59 AM
gilbar said...: So, there was a lot of hot air coming off the Democrat National Convention?
And, that was supposed to be funny; HOW?

did they Even HAVE Democrat National Convention this year?
or did they just appoint Kammy as their fall guy?

i guess The Problem with counting on voter fraud*, is that the other side's poll watchers have to let it happen

counting on voter fraud* YES, i'm talking about gilbar assuming that the Democrat vote "count" would be in excess of 100,000,000; 12/10/24, 9:02 AM
Anthony said...: I can't think of a single New Yorker cartoon that I ever found funny. One or two may have given me a small chuckle. Otherwise, I find them to be as inscrutable as Russian jokes.; 12/10/24, 9:11 AM
Louie the Looper said...: I like the cartoon with the kitty.; 12/10/24, 9:12 AM
john mosby said...: Isnt the universal New Yorker cartoon caption “I think I’ll just kill myself?”

JSM; 12/10/24, 9:19 AM
Aggie said...: My grandmother had been raised a rich girl - her father bought her a Model T when she was about 16, an outrageous thing for a small mill town, before women commonly drove, much less teenaged girls. Anyway, she always had the New Yorker, and I always relished pouring over the cartoons from a young age, too young to care about 'Going Ons About Town' or any of the other regular features. The cartoons, though - they were always terrific, back in the 60's and 70's. Too bad all of these genuinely creative talents have conscripted themselves to such empty causes, such a disappointment.; 12/10/24, 9:24 AM
baghdadbob said...: Roz Chast makes me chuckle.; 12/10/24, 9:30 AM
CJinPA said...: I recall talk that Hamas supporters were supposed to turn out in force.; 12/10/24, 9:32 AM
Quaestor said...: The Nooyawker isn't for thinkers anymore.; 12/10/24, 9:35 AM
Lazarus said...: They had the New Yorker in the doctor's office when I was a kid. I don't know why a pediatrician would put that out. The only thing I could understand (sort of) was the cartoons. Sometimes it was hard to see what the joke actually was. The typography back then was also off-putting. When I finally read an article, it was a John McPhee article about collecting and eating roadkill. Not a great introduction.

Later, like a lot of people, I subscribed. It was more about having the magazine and being a subscriber than about actually reading the magazine, but the back of the magazine articles, the reviews and such, actually were interesting. They still are, but the magazine has gotten far too political and politically biased. Even James Wood has felt he had to work the occasional anti-Republican dig into his reviews.; 12/10/24, 9:43 AM
wsw said...: Sickening. Long way from J Thurber's, The Years with Ross.; 12/10/24, 9:55 AM
n.n said...: Emanations of methane from the penumbra of the DNC is a first-order ironic forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change.; 12/10/24, 9:59 AM
tcrosse said...: The New Yorker cartoons today are filled with characters from Woody Allen movies, and not the early funny ones.; 12/10/24, 9:59 AM
n.n said...: There were babies sacrificed on the barbie in the making of this cartoon.; 12/10/24, 10:02 AM
D.D. Driver said...: Atlas cringed.; 12/10/24, 10:05 AM
Tom T. said...: The wolf and sheep cartoon is one of my favorites.; 12/10/24, 10:14 AM
PM said...: Remnick has lost his mind and is banging around the NYer office like a bird trapped in the kitchen.; 12/10/24, 10:28 AM
robother said...: It was only Kamala-- no need for air sickness bags-- just a little throw-up in your mouth.; 12/10/24, 10:42 AM
Magilla Gorilla said...: My wife subscribes, but I can no longer look at a publication that harbors such contempt for me and most of what I believe. Even the non-political cartoons aren't funny anymore, though Roz Chast is still nice.; 12/10/24, 10:49 AM
Drago said...: gilbar: "did they Even HAVE Democrat National Convention this year?"

Yes, they did, and then they astroturfed a nationwide, legacy-media backed and amplified, paid online influencer hyped, $2.5 billion combined (DNC + darker dollars), hoaxed up "Joy Joy Joy"-"Everyone is excited about kamala!-"Sold out arenas!"/(bussed in and paid, literally) 10 week sprint of a campaign where they hid kamala until the pressure became too great and her idiocy and policy lunacy and flip flops "went explodey" in her face and supposed macho man Stolen Valor / Spirit Jazzy fingers Walz was relegated to his home state after his "macho-ness" was basically rejected by everyone (duh) leading to a hilarious "white dudes for Kamala" marketing campaign!

Funniest part about it all?

How LLR-democratical Rich became the de facto kamala campaign Harry-Sisson-representative to Althouse blog amping the "incredible" energy and talents of kamala and spirit finger-y Walz every single day! Oh what fun that was!; 12/10/24, 10:50 AM
MadisonMan said...: This one will forever be my favorite.; 12/10/24, 10:51 AM
tim maguire said...: Some of them were cute. Most of the political cartoons amounted to little more than "you are smarter than the people who don't think like you."

I liked the Trump-Harris debate--and I wonder if they knew it could be taken as the Trump-The System debate.; 12/10/24, 11:04 AM
wendybar said...: The BEST political cartoonist (in my opinion) is A.F. Branco. I used to love Hope and Change comics from Stilton's Place, but he doesn't put out as much anymore, since his wife passed.; 12/10/24, 11:06 AM
henge2243 said...: All the energy of erectile dysfunction; 12/10/24, 11:13 AM
Whiskeybum said...: I knew before clicking the link which one it would be. That one’s just a classic.; 12/10/24, 12:04 PM
Yancey Ward said...: It was funny at the time but is even funnier in hindsight how utterly disconnected the Democrats were from reality in the big push to sell Kamalamadingbat and Tim Waltz as Joy Personified. The thought of either in the White House is as funny as rectal cancer.; 12/10/24, 12:51 PM
JK Brown said...: Energy? Hot air, maybe. From all the "How Could You?"s.

Now the RNC, they had energy, welcome to the party energy, that rolled across the land.; 12/10/24, 1:09 PM
rehajm said...: What bilge. If this shit resonates with you an examination of your life should occur. I know you will not take the opportunity...; 12/10/24, 2:39 PM
Hassayamper said...: Lame as lame can be.; 12/10/24, 2:41 PM
Former Illinois resident said...: Fake excitement. Like a roomful of pink pussy-hat wearing AWFLs exhibiting "excitement" about Kamala Harris for president.; 12/10/24, 4:04 PM
Matt said...: They truly love the smell of their own farts.; 12/10/24, 6:22 PM