Description by couchtuner for HBO Documentaries Very Semi-Serious : Every Tuesday, eager cartoonists line up outside the office of New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to show off their work. After he sifts through thousands of submissions, the magazine ends up buying and publishing about 15 each week. Whether they leave readers amused, inspired or even a little baffled, these iconic cartoons have been an instantly recognizable cultural touchstone over the past 90 years.
Directed by Leah Wolchok and produced by Davina Pardo, Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists, offers a window into The New Yorker, the undisputed standard bearer of the single-panel cartoon, and an unprecedented glimpse into the process behind their creation and publication.
Revealing The New Yorker’s weekly open-call cartoon submission process, Very Semi-Serious follows Bob Mankoff as he strives to nurture new talent and represent the magazine’s old guard, while also considering how his industry must evolve to stay relevant. Mankoff has been cartoon editor of The New Yorker since 1997 and has also had more than 900 of his own cartoons published in the magazine since the 1970s
Watch It Here : HBO Documentaries Very Semi-Serious
