The Story of “How About Never” (2014)

https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/bob-mankoff/the-story-of-how-about-never

by walterbell • 3 years ago

66 16 3 years ago

geophile• 3 years ago

Such a perfect cartoon.

It's up there with On The Internet Nobody Knows You'e A Dog. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...

jacobsenscott• 3 years ago

It ends with a broken link to a paywalled video of what might be an interesting video. There must be a cartoon in there somewhere...

walterbell• 3 years ago

https://web.archive.org/web/20220622080307/https://www.cbsne...

Gunax• 3 years ago

That's the comic? It's completely cliche and uninspired.

Sorry to be so blunt--i just don't see the appeal.

MarkusQ• 3 years ago

Things become cliched through repetition. The _first_ occurrence by definition _isn't_ cliched, since it's the thing all the others were repeating.

lancefisher• 3 years ago

Of course this isn’t really monumental, but it can be hard to understand history if you’re looking at it through a modern lens. Humor was different, and this phrase was not in the lexicon like it is now. It was fresher then.

ternaryoperator• 3 years ago

The cliché part is due to its enormous popularity. As the article points out, after the cartoon was published, the phrase became part of the common lexicon. Hence, your view of it being cliché.

aidenn0• 3 years ago

That's like a friend's reaction to seeing Casablanca: "Everybody is speaking in clichés!"

svat3• 3 years ago

I have the book (memoir) that this article is about. It's a fun read (yes it mentions the Seinfeld episode about how incomprehensible some of the cartoons are); my favourite part is the chapter about the New Yorker cartoon caption contest, which mentions difficulties judging it, things that don't work, and the first/only celebrity to win it (Roger Ebert, https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/the-new-yorker-no-the... https://www.rogerebert.com/features/yes-i-won-the-new-yorker... https://www.rogerebert.com/features/many-of-my-losing-entrie...)

fisherjeff• 3 years ago

Okay it’s not Ebert’s but I have to say that “O.K., let's slowly lower in the grant money” from that first link is nearly Gary Larson-tier humor, IMO.

AlbertCory• 3 years ago

I got to help with his talk at Google:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kogikw3InpY&t=4s

That's Udi Manber introducing him. They knew each other, somehow.

tbenst• 3 years ago

Not sure he can claim the phrase. On cursory glance, can find the phrase in multiple books prior to the publication of the cartoon, using the same phrase. Seems it was already in the vernacular.

1986: "How about the afternoon?" "How about never?”

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wild_Nights/IaAA0LV0zWk...

1981:

there had to be someone else in the whole school he could talk to besides her. "How about never?" She turned back to her notes and didn't even notice when Harry left the room.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_Voice/4pQSCfcy4...

svat3• 3 years ago

It looks like you're talking about just the phrase “how about never?”, but the full text of the cartoon—the quote attributed to him—is:

No, Thursday's out. How about never—is never good for you?

It's the whole second sentence that is funny/memorable, and when he says that the phrase is entrenched in culture, that's the part that is meant, e.g. with the quoted “They said to the president, How about never? Does never work for you?”.

(BTW in case it's not obvious from the article, when the title says The Story of “How About Never” it means the story of the cartoon known by that name, not the story of the phrase itself.)

The Story of “How About Never” (2014)

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