Cartoonist David Sipress talks humor and life in his book

Some people might make lemonade from whatever lemons life brings, but David Sipress makes cartoons. In his book, “What’s So Funny? A Cartoonist’s Memoir,” Sipress gives readers a delightful and intimate book about his childhood in New York, his relatives, his education, and his adult experiences, interspersed with selected cartoons from his past 24 years as a staff cartoonist at “The New Yorker.”

Sipress, who draws single panel cartoons, tells the stories of his life as if looking through his photo albums with readers, telling you want he remembers about the most interesting snapshots. (In fact, there are some black-and-white photos included.) He doesn’t stick to a chronological timeline.

Young David attended a school for academically gifted children; his father hoped he would become a professor with a brilliant academic career. One day, Sipress met a cartoonist for “The New Yorker” who came to give a career day talk at his school. This experience inspired Sipress to tell his teachers and schoolmates that he wanted to be a cartoonist, too. “Who I didn’t tell, were my parents. I somehow understood that they wouldn’t approve.”

This admission is especially poignant as Sipress reveals his mother was a wonderful painter in her own right, as well as an accomplished pianist and singer. “These artistic pursuits were secondary and could never take precedence over her primary vocation—keeping our apartment clean and beautiful and cooking delicious meals that featured all my father’s favorite dishes.”

Sipress’ father, Nat, owned a jewelry store; he was very proud that some of his clients were wealthy celebrities. Nat, a self-made man who rejected everything about the stifling, impoverished childhood he had endured, could not understand his son’s choice to drop out of Harvard to become a cartoonist. Pursuing an artistic career caused a years-long rift between Sipress and his father. One of Sipress’s cartoons about their strained relationship shows a man talking to his wide-eyed young son, with a caption that reads, “Here’s the deal: we call the shots when you’re young, you call the shots when we’re old, and everything in between is a non-stop battle for control.”

Like many moms, Mrs. Sipress worried a lot about her son. “When I was six, she decided, without any evidence, that I was having trouble seeing. She took me to the eye doctor, who declared my vision perfect. Undeterred, she got me a pair of glasses, ‘just in case.’ I never wore them.” This anecdote is accompanied by a cartoon of a mother standing next to a child on the front step. The child is a misshapen blob, completely invisible underneath layers of winter clothing. The caption reads, “Are you sure you’re warm enough, dear?”

Sipress writes, “It’s always been a huge relief to know that the only place I need to search for ideas when I sit down at my desk is my personal reservoir of thoughts and feelings. I draw and write about what makes me mad, what I think is stupid, what confuses me, frustrates me, worries me, and above all, what makes me anxious.” No doubt this autobiographical quality is what makes his cartoons so authentic and funny.

If you like to read personal memoirs like Roz Chast’s “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” you will certainly enjoy Sipress’s humorous, relatable book. It’s available to check out from Carlsbad Public Library.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Cartoonist David Sipress talks humor and life in his book