New Yorker Cartoon Gags

About eighteen years ago I read how cartoonist seek gags and pay a percentage of their proceeds for ideas used, so I began writing gags and sending these to cartoonists on 3’’x 5” cards. I did this as a hobby for about a year. It was a good diversion as I was going through outplacement, determining if I wanted to find a new job and eventually starting a consulting practice.

I sold probably twenty or so gags, making enough money to cover part of the postage for sending the ideas off.

The New Yorker Magazine has a cartoon contest. Online, they publish a cartoon, and gags can be emailed in to complete the picture. I’ve been sending ideas in for this over the last several years. I haven’t won yet, but it’s a good exercise once a week to dream up a gag for a cartoon. I discovered that fellow mystery author and Mystery Writers of America Board member, Hank Phillippi Ryan, does this as well. One of these days one of us will win.

Have you ever written a gag for a cartoon?