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The Fun Never Stops!: An Anthology of Comic Art, 1991-2006
The Fun Never Stops is a comprehensive collection of premier
caricaturist Drew Friedman's best comic strips, illustrations, and mug
shots dealing with all the familiar Friedman themes the world has come
to love: showbiz has-beens, ugly old white men, nefarious politicians,
debauched celebrities, the ubiquitous Lord of Eltingville, etc. Most of
the work is from the 1990s, and show Friedman's gradual phasing out of
his famous (and amazing) black-and-white stipple look to his current
(and equally amazing) lush watercolor style. In addition to the works
written by Friedman, Fun includes many collaborations with his longtime partner K. Bidus, as well as Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), Mark Newgarden (We All Die Alone), and Bruce Handy, among others. Also included is artwork from the notorious Topps Bubble Gum Card series Toxic High, as well as art from the card sets Beauties and Cuties and Ed Wood Players. Comic strip highlights include "Everybody's Buddy" (RAW), which examines the legendarily combustible temper of drummer Buddy Rich; "Where's Johnny?" (Entertainment Weekly), a journey into what would have become of Johnny Carson's career had he never hosted the "Tonight Show"; "Hey, Academy!" (NY Observer),
a demand from Friedman that Jerry Lewis be awarded a lifetime
achievement award by the Motion Picture Academy; "The 10 Least Powerful
People in Hollywood" (Details); "Howard Stern & Al Sharpton run for political office in NY" (The New Yorker); and "Kasablanca" (Esquire), which imagines Casablanca
as directed by Oliver Stone. The book is topped off with a detailed,
career-spanning biographical introduction by Ben Schwartz and a
foreword by Daniel Clowes.
caricaturist Drew Friedman's best comic strips, illustrations, and mug
shots dealing with all the familiar Friedman themes the world has come
to love: showbiz has-beens, ugly old white men, nefarious politicians,
debauched celebrities, the ubiquitous Lord of Eltingville, etc. Most of
the work is from the 1990s, and show Friedman's gradual phasing out of
his famous (and amazing) black-and-white stipple look to his current
(and equally amazing) lush watercolor style. In addition to the works
written by Friedman, Fun includes many collaborations with his longtime partner K. Bidus, as well as Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), Mark Newgarden (We All Die Alone), and Bruce Handy, among others. Also included is artwork from the notorious Topps Bubble Gum Card series Toxic High, as well as art from the card sets Beauties and Cuties and Ed Wood Players. Comic strip highlights include "Everybody's Buddy" (RAW), which examines the legendarily combustible temper of drummer Buddy Rich; "Where's Johnny?" (Entertainment Weekly), a journey into what would have become of Johnny Carson's career had he never hosted the "Tonight Show"; "Hey, Academy!" (NY Observer),
a demand from Friedman that Jerry Lewis be awarded a lifetime
achievement award by the Motion Picture Academy; "The 10 Least Powerful
People in Hollywood" (Details); "Howard Stern & Al Sharpton run for political office in NY" (The New Yorker); and "Kasablanca" (Esquire), which imagines Casablanca
as directed by Oliver Stone. The book is topped off with a detailed,
career-spanning biographical introduction by Ben Schwartz and a
foreword by Daniel Clowes.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 25, 2007
3 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Drew Friedman
42 books19 followersAlthough in recent years Friedman has mostly worked doing caricature illustrations for mainstream publications, he first attracted public attention in the 1980s producing morbid alternative comics stories, sometimes working solo but often with his brother Josh Alan Friedman writing the scripts. These stories portrayed celebrities and character actors of yesteryear in seedy, absurd, tragi-comic situations. One memorable story followed Bud Abbott and Lou Costello wandering the urban jungle at night, encountering whores, junkies and other lowlifes. Friedman created strips featuring actor/wrestler Tor Johnson in his iconic hulking moron persona from Ed Wood, Jr. films. The brothers also wrote stories about talk-show host Joe Franklin, including one strip, written by Drew, for Heavy Metal magazine, The Incredible Shrinking Joe Franklin, that prompted Franklin to sue for $40 million. The suit was later dismissed. These stories were generally meant to be amusing, although they were extremely dark and a few were tragic. Drew Friedman's work won high praise from such notable figures as Kurt Vonnegut, who compared him to Goya, and R. Crumb, who wrote, "I wish I had this guy's talent".
The Friedman brothers were first published in RAW Magazine. Working with and without his brother, Drew's comics were published in Heavy Metal, Weirdo, High Times, National Lampoon, and other comics anthologies from the '80s into the early '90s. The brothers published two collections, Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. In a Comics Journal interview, Drew Friedman lamented that he and his brother had failed to earn a living creating work that was time- and labor-intensive yet earned little. Josh no longer works in comics, but continues to write, and he performs music as Josh Alan.
Beginning in 1986, Drew illustrated a monthly feature, "Private Lives of Public Figures," for (the now-defunct) SPY magazine; these illustrations were compiled in a book published by St. Martin's Press in 1992. He also provided illustrations for Howard Stern's two best-selling books, Private Parts and Miss America. Friedman served as comics editor for the National Lampoon in 1991,[citation needed] introducing the works of (among others) Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware to a wider audience. Since 1994 he has provided regular front-page illustrations for the New York Observer.
In 2006, Friedman published Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), a collection of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about which Steven Heller, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces, . . . Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."[2] A sequel, More Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), was published in 2008. A collection of newer work, The Fun Never Stops! was published by Fantagraphics in 2007, containing many comics co-written by his frequent collaborator and wife, K. Bidus. Booklist listed it as One of the Ten Best Comics Collections of 2007.[citation needed]
He is the son of author/satirist Bruce Jay Friedman.
The Friedman brothers were first published in RAW Magazine. Working with and without his brother, Drew's comics were published in Heavy Metal, Weirdo, High Times, National Lampoon, and other comics anthologies from the '80s into the early '90s. The brothers published two collections, Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental and Warts and All. In a Comics Journal interview, Drew Friedman lamented that he and his brother had failed to earn a living creating work that was time- and labor-intensive yet earned little. Josh no longer works in comics, but continues to write, and he performs music as Josh Alan.
Beginning in 1986, Drew illustrated a monthly feature, "Private Lives of Public Figures," for (the now-defunct) SPY magazine; these illustrations were compiled in a book published by St. Martin's Press in 1992. He also provided illustrations for Howard Stern's two best-selling books, Private Parts and Miss America. Friedman served as comics editor for the National Lampoon in 1991,[citation needed] introducing the works of (among others) Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware to a wider audience. Since 1994 he has provided regular front-page illustrations for the New York Observer.
In 2006, Friedman published Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), a collection of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about which Steven Heller, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces, . . . Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."[2] A sequel, More Old Jewish Comedians (Fantagraphics Books), was published in 2008. A collection of newer work, The Fun Never Stops! was published by Fantagraphics in 2007, containing many comics co-written by his frequent collaborator and wife, K. Bidus. Booklist listed it as One of the Ten Best Comics Collections of 2007.[citation needed]
He is the son of author/satirist Bruce Jay Friedman.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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August 21, 2008Drew Friedman is an artist widely known for depicting gross, brutal caricatures of the rich and famous and the unknown and ugly. He's more commonly associated these days with the New Yorker and other highbrow magazines but through it all his artwork has maintained its gritty maddening Mad magazine look. Some of the best work in this collection are the stories written by Mark Newgarden and Friedman's analysis of what would happen if Desi and Fred from I Love Lucy joined NAMBLA. I don't think it's the best collection of his work but it's a good place to start, and the introduction is an excellent summary of how artists like Friedman, Newgarden, Bagge and Clowes got started (apparently Will Eisner was a real out-of-touch windbag that would say stuff like "I was passing by the TV the other day" instead of admitting to actually watching television).
October 23, 2018
I've never met anyone who didn't like Friedman's work, or seen anyone, or smelled anyone (I assume they would stink of sour milk and Bengay), and that's because it's almost impossible not to be blown away by the skill and detail clearly visible in each panel. Each portrait is riddled with life, bringing out the humanity and innate cultural ugliness in each person. No one is too might and mighty not to be brought down a few pegs by Friedman’s work. As Daniel Clowes points out in his introduction Friedman’ charactures are somehow more real than actual photographs of the subjects. In this volume covering his career from 1991-2006 (but not his pieces for Heavy Metal unfortunately), Friedman collects numerous portraits of famous people, satirical strips with obscure pop culture references, and an entire section devoted to The Duke of Eltingville- a rare creation of his own. Also included is a lengthy biography of the man, detailing his first publishing efforts with Weirdo, his rise to success and his problems with Joe Franklin and Woody Allen.
February 12, 2015
REVIEW UPDATED 2015 February 12:
While re-reading a few of my favorite Duke of Eltingville vignettes last night & after reviewing Any Similarities To Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental and Warts And All it dawned on me that I might have neglected to mention how brilliant and valuable a contributor & writing partner for Drew Friedman that K. Bidus is.
She is a terrific writer and struts a biting & corrosive wit that matches Drew Friedman's sense of the absurd.
Her contributions to this anthology can't be over emphasized.
Previously I wrote:
"Up to page 117 (the Duke of Eltingville sections), I went back and began to read the introduction by Ben Scwhartz which consists of biographical info on Drew Friedman and an overview of his career.
Finished this book tonight around 10:45pm - The Man From U.N.C.L.E was airing on METV.
Terrific fun! All of it.
The TV series and this non-related book that I'm attempting to review.
As a long time Drew Friedman fan I can enthusiastically recommend this book.
9 thumbs up!"
I stand by this review!
February 10, 2015
I adore Drew Friedman. Naught will quench my love for Drew Friedman. Jewish down to the wrinkle and sharing my obsessive unabashed love for anything and/or everything.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews