Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People

by Matthew Diffee

Finally, a book that’s not for everyone! From award-winning New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee—editor of The Rejection Collection and the “de facto leader of a young generation of cartoonists”(The Wall Street Journal)—a hilarious mix of cartoons, visual riffs, and illustrated one liners that will appeal to anyone who is beautiful and intelligent.

For almost fifteen years, Matthew Diffee’s uniquely funny single-panel cartoons have gussied up the pages of The New Yorker, winning him countless fans, big shot friends, and a pile of hilarious material he’s never used. Yet shockingly, a small sector of the population is not enamored with his work. Diffee has met some of these people and reports that they are, without exception, dumb and ugly, whereas the people who enjoy his work are just the opposite. In fact, the smarter and more attractive people are, the more they tend to appreciate Diffee’s humor. This book is for them.

This collection contains Diffee’s funniest drawings and writings from the past decade as well as all-new cartoons and sketches organized into categories that will appeal to smart attractive people in all walks of life, based on profession and circumstance: smart attractive Medical Professionals, sharp and good-looking Old People; beautiful geniuses in Prison; brainy handsome Lumberjacks; and more. Are you an alluring well-read utensil user? Well, there’s a chapter just for you!

If you’re a fan of Demetri Martin and Jack Handey, or if you happen to be George Clooney or Natalie Portman, Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People will leave you laughing your smart attractive ass off.

Genres: Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Comedy, Art, Comic Strips

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2015

About the author

Matthew Diffee has been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 1999. His work has also appeared in Time, The Huffington Post, The Believer and Texas Monthly magazines. He is the editor of three volumes of “The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw and Never Will See in The New Yorker” published by Simon & Schuster and is working on a new book for Scribner called “Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People.” He’s done illustration work for bands like the Punch Brothers and for a special collector’s edition of Stephen King’s novel “Under the Dome.” Last year Diffee received the Silver Reuben Award for best single panel cartoonist of the year and was recently named Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, the best part of this book is its inspired title: Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People. The rest is either clever, but not funny, or offensive depending on the page. It's a shame really- the artwork itself is great and it's clear that Diffee is a talented cartoonist. I just didn't connect with much of the work.

Out of all of it, my favorite cartoon was on page 188- Moses: The Teen Years where a young adult version of Moses is depicted staring into a mirror, carefully parting his long hair with a comb. The worst was the entirety of Chapter Eight: For Smart Attractive Indians and Eskimos and really soured this whole book for me.

Pick up at your own risk, I can't really recommend it. Some graphic novels that I DO recommend: Penguins with People Problems or Shakespeare's Guide to Parenting.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Diffee is, among other things, a cartoonist for The New Yorker, which sort of means in the world of cartoonists, that he made it. But just to underline this fact, he published The Rejection Collection I and II, cartoons "too dumb, too dark, or too naughty for The New Yorker. That sounds about right. I laughed aloud a few times reading this, so it gets my highest praise. He is really funny.

Isn't the title enough to convince you of that? I mean, he draws for The New Yorker, so he has to be that kind of droll and diffident.

Diffee puts them in categories, like for Eskimos or Animal Owners, Relationships, Lumberjacks, and so on, introducing each section with a kind of stand-up routine that I found consistently funny.

Diffee is just funny! This is, as he says, what he does all day. And I'd say he should keep his day job.
Okay, he's not as crude as Johnny Ryan or as hip as some of your art comics dudes, but I laughed.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don’t get sarcasm. Or I should say, I don’t care for it in my comedy.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I laughed a lot and probably would have rated this four stars if not for the unfortunate chapter in the middle of the book entitled "For Smart Attractive Indians and Eskimos." The cartoons played with old stereotypes and seemed generally disrespectful to indigenous people. With the rest of the chapters about innocuous topics like pets, jobs, food and sports, I just do not understand why the cartoonist took such a misguided swerve into racial humor.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ARC kindly provided by NetGalley on behalf of the publisher.

some quite funny parts, some not so funny parts. Overall, I’d say it’s average, nothing spectacular, and I wouldn’t go buy it.

A few words of wisdom from the book:
“it’s better to look your age than smell your age”
“Marriage takes work, otherwise you’re home together all day.”

And a couple of lines I really liked:
“people ask you if you’re a cat person or a dog person as if penguins didn’t even exist”
“I’m going away for the weekend. Would you mind feeding my husband?”

[Bèbè ✦ RANT ✦ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't get it. Does that not make me attractive?

A collection of comics from a guy who does drawings for The New Yorker, I would think it would be funny. But one after another, I just started to skip pages because I wasn't getting it and they were ridiculous, racist and absolutely infuriating. So that about sums up my experience.

DNF.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must be in the target audience group, because I found this collection hilarious!

[Fr. Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't laughed so loud or so much in ages. Only real problem: too short! Like much good humor, Diffee's work skates on the edge of stereotypes and "isms" and makes them hilarious. Not for everyone, as not everyone finds such things funny. I can laugh at the silliness and not adopt some kind of agreement that the stereotype is in someway truly representative of anything but the stereotype itself. But hey, maybe it's possible to not share the humor of something and still choose to not condemn it as "racist" or whatever. Your choice.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars primarily because there were some classic Diffee comics in here that I had previously encountered in The New Yorker and forgot how much I enjoyed. Giggles a'plenty. The actual book though, is not so great. The intros to each chapter were not my kind of funny - many were just plain bad. Diffee's comics are my favorite of those frequenting The New Yorker; however, this book is just not really worth the price of entry. Very passable.

[˗ˋˏ Bri ˎˊ˗ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really get it so unfortunately I am not like Cate Blanchett

[AmandaEmma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an eArc from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

So, this was quite different to anything I've read this year so far. There's handwriting all the way through - instead of being printed in the usual way.

The book itself is split into different categories; there's jokes for lumberjacks, couples, old people, pet owners, people in the medical profession etc. Some of them I could relate to and others I could not..
The funny thing is that I didn't get the 'picture-jokes', I understood the jokes within the text but the actual pictures didn't let me laugh out loud like the text.

I didn't really know what to expect from this but nonetheless it disappointed me - I guess I'd expected to laugh, and I did a couple of times but it really wasn't that funny.

If you understand Matthew Diffee's humor or have the same kind of humor this is a book for you.

[Chris Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Every time I hear Bob Dylan singing, I wonder, "Who in the world told him he could sing? And who in their right mind actually PAYS him to sing?" I get it, he's a good musician, a genius if you like that kind of hyperbole. But singing? Not so much.

So now you're thinking, "Uh, what does Bob Dylan have to do with this book?" Let me tell you. The author/artist is a reasonably competent artist. He could probably get a job drawing caricatures at the state fair. But funny? No. Amusing? Not really. Arrogant and pretentious? Bingo!

If you're going to publish a book of "hand drawn jokes" (because he doesn't like the term "cartoon". Pretentious, remember?), they should at least be funny. Otherwise, you're like Bob Dylan singing, causing almost everyone within earshot to wince.

[Janeka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: e-ARC provided by Scribner through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes may not appear in the final edition.

I may not be attractive, but I consider myself a smart girl.
Well, maybe I am not, because I couldn’t find this book to be funny in any way.

The idea is interesting, the themes could have been quite hilarious, and most images were good, but the jokes just didn’t make it for me.

People ask you if you’re a cat person or a dog person as if penguins didn’t even exist.

I hate to be so rough on a review, especially on a supposedly-funny one. But it is what it is.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining drawings with a little text.

Sample of text: "I enjoy eating and one of my favorite things to eat is food but I don't call myself a 'foodie.' It just seems silly to use that term when your favorite foods come on sticks or in buckets. Actually, it seems silly always. Do we really need a word for people who like food? Who doesn't? And what do we call them? Starvies? And I don't think it's food exactly that foodies like anyway. I think it's food fads. So really we should call them 'food faddies.'"

And one of my favorite drawing shows a Halloween party hostess greeting a mother and son: "Come on in. The kids are in the backyard bobbing for pinkeye."

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC for review.

I suppose I must cop to being only moderately smart and attractive - some of these cartoons from New Yorker artist Matthew Diffee were cute, but others were just OK...though I am the first to admit there is a cadre of people out there who adore nearly all the cartoons in the magazine, and I'm not part of that group. Also, my review copy contained a lot of empty spaces where I'm assuming there might be text to come, but considering the focus is on the cartoons, I doubt the additions would change my ratings.

[Scott Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing an advanced copy to read and review.

First, I am glad I liked this book, because the book stated that if I didn't I was dumb and ugly. This is a book of really funny adult cartoons. These are not your Sunday morning comics, so don't buy this for children. Mr. Pettit is a very talented and funny cartoonist, and you will read straight through in one sitting.

If you need a good laugh, then get this book!

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is kind of a mixed bag for me. I like some of the comics Matthew Diffee draws for the New Yorker and his style is absolutely impeccable. But I really dislike how unbelievably smug he is, and his attitude throughout just left a bad taste in my mouth. Just give me the comics, leave the commentary. He is very clever, but he is definitely not funny.

There is also quite a bit of that gross passive racism, sexism, etc. passed off as intellectual commentary. Hard pass on that.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I will be honest, I just read the comics and didn't bother with his intro to each chapter. So of what I read, it was pretty amusing. Like with any comic or humor book, some things are better than others - so your mileage may vary.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny for what it is: a collection of New Yorker style joke cartoons with some one-liners thrown in. I was the laugh track for my office for 2 lunches.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People by Matthew Diffee was a Christmas present from my daughter, Sara. Diffee is a Texas-born cartoonist who lives in New York City. Though his single-panel cartoons have been published in many periodicals, most of his work appears in The New Yorker and Texas Monthly magazines.

There are sixteen chapters or categories each labeled as being for smart, attractive people. Over the years Diffee has noticed something about people who don’t love his work. “They are all, without exception, ugly and dumb.” Most of the categories are commonplace, but a few, like Prisons, Lumberjacks, Utensils and Tattoos are unexpected and unconventional. That sets the frame for his insights and humor: a bit sassy, a tad twisted and frequently ironic. There is a large portion of social commentary and satire. If you are thin-skinned, be careful. You are probably going to be the target of several of his zingers. Be assured, however, that he is an Equal opportunity offender.

Check Diffee out. He’s bound to make you smile.

[Grace (The Reading Raindoe) · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title got my attention as I was scrolling through NetGalley one day. However, I should have known better than to think this would be of a high quality. There were, of course, a few (very few.) jokes that made me laugh, but I wasn’t a fan overall. I was also bothered by a number of jokes that didn’t seem to be the most politically correct, including an entire chapter on Indians and Eskimos. This book was racist, sexist, and the jokes about religion seemed very off base. The author seemed quite smug about it, as well. It just was not for me. Or most people, I would hope. I couldn’t even finish it.

This review was originally posted on The Reading Raindoe

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud hilarity! Quickly drawn to the title, I checked this out at the library, devouring it in one hour. I was only going to read one chapter, but just couldn’t put it down. Makes me wish I was artistic enough, & funny enough, to choose a new life path as a cartoonist. Forget more cowbell! More spork!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. A few of the cartoons got a grin out of me, but for the most part, the author came across as a real jerk. I don't know if he was trying to be tongue-in-cheek, or if he really is that egotistical, but either way... I've definitely read better cartoon collections. Still, there were some that brought a chuckle, so as a quick read, it's not NOT worth the time.

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the jokes are slightly amusing. Most of them just felt like talking to a condescending jerk. Self-deprecation only goes so far in relieving the snobbish tone. In all, this is a good reminder about why I don't waste money on publications like New Yorker.

[Charlie Eckhaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this by chance as part of a library-curated grab bag.
Much of the art is attractive and I like the body language.
I get maybe 85% of the jokes, the wordplay reminiscent of Steven Wright. Quite a few lols.

[Nyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cute and funny and because it's comics is a fast read! I really enjoyed it

[Bonnie Arriola · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not so much the stereotypes (though, there are many), but the way too easy jokes that bothered me. Also: the feeling that I was watching a d-list comedian who was trying very hard.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of New Yorker cartoons. Definitely some strong laughs, though some of the jokes fell flat. A good break from my usual reading.

[Abe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts made me laugh out loud; parts made me cringe. Love his drawing style.