美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I'm Just Trying To Make Myself Laugh': 'New Yorker' Artist Shares His Cover Stories

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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Barry Blitt drew his first cover for The New Yorker back in 1992, and ever since, he's been skewering¹ politicians of all stripes. Barack and Michelle Obama fist bumping - that was Blitt. Donald Trump² prancing³ in a tiara and a lady's bathing suit - that was Blitt.

BARRY BLITT: I have a sketchbook open, and I'm just trying to make myself laugh.

KELLY: A new book simply titled "Blitt" features some of his most memorable⁵ and merciless work. I asked Barry Blitt if he's ever had regrets over any of his cartoons.

BLITT: I mean, I regret them all as soon as I send something in.

KELLY: (Laughter).

BLITT: I cringe, you know, wish I had drawn⁶ the jacket better or the background color was brighter or for whatever reason. But I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know if you're suggesting - if you're leading me towards the fist bump cover.

KELLY: I wasn't. But since you bring it up, tell me how that one came to be.

BLITT: (Laughter) We all remember the campaign of 2008 when Obama was running for president. There was a lot of stuff being said about him and Michelle. It was whispered and insinuated⁷.

KELLY: That he was Muslim, that he wasn't born in the United States.

BLITT: Yeah, that he was a terrorist, that Michelle was a - some kind of Black Panther or something. There was rumors⁸ of a video of her saying kill whitey. I mean, I just scribbled⁹ in a sketchbook all of it in one picture, and it - I threw in a burning American flag and a portrait of Osama bin¹⁰ Laden¹¹ on the wall of the Oval Office.

KELLY: And you show them dressed in what would be stereotypical¹² Muslim garb¹³.

BLITT: Barack, yeah. I had Michelle dressed as - you know, she had a gun on her back, and she was sort of, like, a - I don't know - a fictional¹⁴ Black Panther. It was a ridiculous picture, and I hoped it would be seen as such. I thought it was obviously satire¹⁵. But not everyone felt that way. I mean, the picture still makes me laugh. I don't regret it.

KELLY: What kind of backlash did you get? Who called and said they were mad?

BLITT: Well, just about everybody of every political stripe. I mean, one of the main criticisms of it was that people would say, oh, I get it, but what are those other people going to think, which, you know, seems kind of condescending¹⁶ to me. Barack Obama was interviewed about it and was disgusted, and so was John McCain, you know, Rush Limbaugh. Couple of days in, Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" talked about it, about how ridiculous the reaction was. And it just seemed to - it seemed to turn to love after that. I think people took a breath and realized this wasn't going to cost anybody the election and was just a cartoon.

KELLY: One other president I'm curious if you've gotten any feedback from is our current president. You've got a cartoon called "The Big Short." And just to describe it for people, the entire cover is a hand with very, very short fingers, which alert listeners will get is a reference to President Trump. And I saw that and thought, I wonder if he called up and yelled at you over that one.

BLITT: Oh, certainly not. No, we've had almost no communication. I think he did mention the cover on one of the shows. But obviously that came from Spy magazine. They started calling him short-fingered vulgarian. This seemed like a nice way to not only taunt¹⁷ him, you know, and say he has short fingers. But I used a palm chart so I could write stuff about him onto the palm. So it's got stuff like - on his life line - going to live a long time - long, very, very healthy. And line of intellect - fantastic, continues onto back of hand.

KELLY: (Laughter).

BLITT: And of course, beautiful singing voice - you'd be surprised.

KELLY: This is - to describe for people who can't see it, these are words running across this very short-fingered hand kind of like a palm reader would be reading.

BLITT: Right. There's life line. There's a heart line. I mean, I learned a whole bunch about palmistry by doing this.

KELLY: You do as you leaf through this collection see the references to, you know, classic photographs like the World War II sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square, that picture we've all seen. You changed it up back in 1996 with a cover that features two male sailors kissing. And it was titled "Don't Ask."

BLITT: That was around the time of don't ask, don't tell, the policy I guess implemented¹⁸ under Bill Clinton. And that was the first controversial cover. But you're asking me about how I came up with that idea. Is that what you were asking me, or...

KELLY: Yeah.

BLITT: I mean, that's what you're using basically. Those are the tools you're - as a cartoonist, you're playing on cliches and images that are in people's minds, iconic images. So you have a starting point, a reference to depart from and make your little joke.

KELLY: And then you trust that they'll get the reference.

BLITT: Yeah, ideally. I mean, I tried something with a couple of would-be terrorists on an airplane. And one of them has a can of Diet Coke, and the other one has some Mentos. And he's slipping the Mentos to the guy with the Diet Coke.

KELLY: (Laughter).

BLITT: And I guess not everyone gets that reference.

KELLY: I have two young sons who would get right away that you were suggesting an imminent¹⁹ explosion. How did that one go down? What kind of reaction did you get?

BLITT: It didn't run, but it got some laughs. And really, what more could we ask?

KELLY: There is one that you feature in the book which I gather New Yorker editors decided²⁰ to kill at the very last minute. It is a sketch⁴ of Anthony Weiner, the disgraced politician. Do you want to describe it?

BLITT: I have him standing²¹ on a chair, contemplating²² ending it all. And instead of throwing a rope around his neck, he's got a string of wieners basically.

KELLY: A noose²³ of wieners. Let's just say it.

BLITT: A noose of wieners.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITT: That would be a good prank²⁴ gift.

KELLY: Did you think The New Yorker would - should have run this? Did you push back hard?

BLITT: Should have?

KELLY: Yeah.

BLITT: No, no. I never push back, you know? I've - or I haven't yet, you know? I usually have enough doubts about any of the drawings that I feel sort of relieved if something gets killed.

KELLY: Well, can you give us a sneak²⁵ preview? Any ideas for next week's cover?

BLITT: I mean, I've got loads of Trump drawings around. Harvey Weinstein - it would be fun to draw him, like Trump. I mean, what a face.

KELLY: And can you share, like, the seeds of the idea of what you would draw?

BLITT: I - no, (laughter) no. I mean, I've drawn some horrible things in my sketchbook and none of which we should talk about.

KELLY: (Laughter).

BLITT: Thanks for asking, though.

KELLY: Barry Blitt, thank you.

BLITT: It was very nice to be here, Mary Louise.

KELLY: That is Barry Blitt, the man behind more than a hundred New Yorker covers. They are collected in his new book, "Blitt."