Emma Allen interviews the New Yorker cartoonist Lars Kenseth about how to make horror funny.
—Emma Allen, New Yorker cartoon editor Do you draw with your left or right hand? Right. I’m boring. What art do you have hanging on your studio walls/above your drawing desk? Three precariously hung shelves jammed with books, art supplies, paperwork, music equipment .
. . Now that I’m thinking about it, it could easily all collapse on my head, and I should do something about it. Soon. Wow, this Q might have just saved my A. Do you snack while you draw? If so, on what? I don’t snack and draw because I don’t think I can do it successfully. I’m clumsy and I’ll probably get salsa or dry-roasted-peanut dust everywhere. Do you listen to music or podcasts while you draw? If so, specify. I listen to a myriad of podcasts, most of which are newsy or political analysis. I’m obsessed with politics. “Rabbit Hole,” “The Daily,” “Left, Right & Center,” The New Yorker Radio Hour , “The Chuck Toddcast,” “Post Reports,” “NPR Politics Podcast,” “Up First” from NPR . . . Maybe too much news/politics. I also love “Endless Thread,” even though I’ve maybe been on Reddit thrice. And I love, love, love our Fiction and Writer’s Voice podcasts. It’s great, especially when I can’t read the stories in the magazine, which is often. I also listen to a lot of audiobooks. Right now, “Foundation,” a book about the medieval beginnings of England. What object or setting do you absolutely hate drawing? Crowd scenes. Too much work. And I always nitpick, so it takes me days to draw a scene that might take another cartoonist an hour. What’s your favorite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché ? Probably desert island, because it’s so challenging to come up with an idea that hasn’t been done! However, I do have a burning passion for Minotaur cartoons. Addams has my favorite: a Minotaur posing as a guard, casually leaning against the wall of a labyrinthine museum. Hopefully, one day, if I stay in school and eat my vegetables, I will sell one. If you could have dinner with one cartoonist, living or dead, tonight, who would it be? Roz Chast, because I miss our fun dinners whenever my wife and I would visit New York . What would you serve? I’d serve pizza and wine, because I make great pizza and I buy great wine. What was your favorite cartoon when you were a kid? Weirdly, the cartoons of The New Yorker. My dad exposed me to Sam Gross and Charles Addams at around seven years old. That was the gateway drug. The world felt so adult. I couldn’t wait to grow up. What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon-sale check on? I found out I’d sold my first two right before I walked in to see the scary Swedish rock band Ghost. They’re a group of faceless ghouls whose lead singer is . . . well, I guess I could best describe him as the antipope? I hadn’t got paid yet, but I remember feeling like I should reward myself with some Ghost merch. But I promise that’s the last time I’ll ever use my cartoon money for evil. If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would you get? My wife, Liz, and I often threaten to get tattoos together, but it never happens. Part of the problem is that I can never decide what to get. So, I guess if I had to get a tattoo right now, it would probably be a tiny dot on my shoulder or something. Dogs or cats? Cats, all the way.
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