# 'Mallard Fillmore' cartoonist does not understand satire, apparently **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090 "2005-07-12T00:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/21 "2005-07-12T05:26:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, if it upsets you that the pictures of Jon Stewart showed him as an ugly dweeb with a hook nose, guess what? It’s because Jon Stewart IS an ugly dweeb with a hook nose! Just so you don’t think it’s just Sampiro… Jon Stewart is an incredible attractive guy. However I’m not going to argue that point. Hey, chachun a son gout. But if you’re going to argue that JS has a \* hooked nose\* this must be a use of the term I’ve never encountered before. Simply put, he doesn’t have one. And if the the great caricaturist Tinsley gave him one I can only think of one “satiric” reason for doing so. Care to come up with another? Beyond that, my take on it is he actually got e-mails from people who thought he contributed to “America” and he’d rather make very lame stabs at Jon Stewart than admit his fan base isn’t all that bright. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/22 "2005-07-12T05:26:57Z")
Two additional thoughts on this: -Tinsley also appears to believe that Stewart was the sole author of the book, and -Tinsley appears to comment that people might have been misled since the _Mallard_ parody wasn’t signed by the parodist. He apparently didn’t realize that, with the exception of the Mad Fold-In parody (which was actually drawn by Al Jaffee), _none_ of the parody cartoons were signed by the parodist. P.S. If one were to actually do some research, it would be obvious that the cartoons are fake- the _Peanuts_ parody is given a supposed date of running that predates the introduction of the Pigpen character. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/23 "2005-07-12T05:33:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Historians have revealed that the foreward by Thomas Jefferson in **America the Book** is a forgery! As evidence they point to the fact that Thomas Jefferson in fact died more than a century and a half before Halle Berry’s first movie, and yet he mentions her! Jefferson is obviously referring to Hallesarian Berry, one of his slaves who was also a talented performer. However, historians are still trying to figure out if most of her “performances” were on the stage or in the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/24 "2005-07-12T06:15:14Z")
I know I’m cynical. But am I the only one who thinks that this is a prelude to a demand letter? Or, perhaps, the sequel to an unsuccessful demand letter and prelude to a lawsuit? Or, even more likely, the cartoon is a sequel to an unsuccessful demand letter, and Tinsley’s lawyers have explained that, due to its clear nature as a parody, he doesn’t have a claim against Stewart and therefore cannot share in the largesse of America. In other words, when someone (whose last name _might_ be Tinsley) saw the cartoon in the book, and noticed that it’s, like, number one on the bestseller list for the eight-hundredth year in a row, someone maybe thought, “hey – I could get a piece of that action!” Then, upon serving a demand letter on Stewart, Stewart’s legal goon squad responded with things like, “satire” and “parody” and “First Amendment” and “_New York Times v. Sullivan_.” To which Tinsley’s lawyers said, “Oh. Yeah. Forgot about that.” To which Tinsley said, “well, even if I can’t get any of the money from the book, let’s see how John Stewart Smarty McSmartpants likes it when someone turns it around on him.” And bad cartooning ensues. Yes, I am a cynical you-know-what. But that’s my gut reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/25 "2005-07-12T06:30:28Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > On the other hand that’s like wailing on a crippled kid. That’s kind of how I feel about this. I sort of feel that John Stewart should leave him alone and let him keep living in his delusional reality. But this is kind of backfiring on Tinsley anyway, because now I’m intrigued and might just buy the book. I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions about the caricature being racist. I did watch the Daily Show tonight and saw that John Stewart’s nose definately does curve downward. It’s exaggerated because that’s how caricature works. Remember the cartoon that depicted Condoleeza Rice as a parrot? That was the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/26 "2005-07-12T06:43:44Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > I know I’m cynical. But am I the only one who thinks that this is a prelude to a demand letter? Or, perhaps, the sequel to an unsuccessful demand letter and prelude to a lawsuit? Or, even more likely, the cartoon is a sequel to an unsuccessful demand letter, and Tinsley’s lawyers have explained that, due to its clear nature as a parody, he doesn’t have a claim against Stewart and therefore cannot share in the largesse of America. > > In other words, when someone (whose last name _might_ be Tinsley) saw the cartoon in the book, and noticed that it’s, like, number one on the bestseller list for the eight-hundredth year in a row, someone maybe thought, “hey – I could get a piece of that action!” Then, upon serving a demand letter on Stewart, Stewart’s legal goon squad responded with things like, “satire” and “parody” and “First Amendment” and “_New York Times v. Sullivan_.” To which Tinsley’s lawyers said, “Oh. Yeah. Forgot about that.” To which Tinsley said, “well, even if I can’t get any of the money from the book, let’s see how John Stewart Smarty McSmartpants likes it when someone turns it around on him.” And bad cartooning ensues. > > Yes, I am a cynical you-know-what. But that’s my gut reaction. Also, you have to consider that a few right-wing radio ranters and pundits have started taking shots at Stewart since his appearance on “Crossfire” last year. To them (and their loyal flock), John Stewart and “The Daily Show” are examples of what typical decadent, Godless, America-hating, liberal elitists think are funny and they certainly don’t want to be like _those_ people. Thus, you have James Lileks taking potshots at Stewart in his column, R. Emmett Tyrrell in **The American Spectator** proclaiming the mock-textbook \*America \* as the worst book of 2004, and Tinsley’s thin-skinned reaction to having his strip parodied. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/27 "2005-07-12T08:14:33Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > Or, even more likely, the cartoon is a sequel to an unsuccessful demand letter, and Tinsley’s lawyers have explained that, due to its clear nature as a parody, he doesn’t have a claim against Stewart and therefore cannot share in the largesse of America. I think ya got it on this one bunkie. He wants to sue desperately but know that he’d get tossed out of court and laughed at for being a prick in the media. By doing the cartoons, he appeals to his fan base so he’s less likely to get gutted about his lack of a sense of humor. The big nose dig is just that: a dig. The “oops I forgot to make a joke” line apparently hit it’s mark and the best that Tinsley could come up with is “Yeah, but you’re nose is big.” It’s lazy, unfunny, and painfully retarted, but I doubt that it’s anti-semetic. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/28 "2005-07-12T14:23:17Z")
> [@Talon Karrde](#): > > Remember the cartoon that depicted Condoleeza Rice as a parrot? That was the same thing. Not quite- a parrot is an animal, not a racial stereotype. Depicting Condoleeza’s substantial hairdo as a modified Angela-Davis-afro, or picturing her as Buckwheat, would be more analagous. Depicting her as the parrot (or as I see her, as “the Brain” [of Pinky & fame]) plays to no stereotypes. There’s no way that Tinsley didn’t know that an exaggerated hooked nose is the oldest Jewish stereotype. (It’s referred to in Shakespeare, for God’s sake.) If he truly is ignorant of this, then he’s too uninformed to be writing a comic strip whose purpose is political commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/29 "2005-07-12T14:32:28Z")
Tinsley hasn’t got a clue about anything except how to make money by churning out irrelevant crap. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/30 "2005-07-12T14:33:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [This is Stewart’s nose in Mallard Fillmore.](http://www.gawker.com/news/20050708mallardwed.jpg) > > Which does it resemble more? > > A. The nose on the [Nazi Propaganda calling Jews evil](http://www.digitalhistory.mcauley.org.uk/Images/Year%209%20images/German2.jpg) > > or > > B. [Jon Stewart’s real nose](http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/images/newsweek-stewart.jpg) I’ll take: [C. Forget the nose; the whole face is a leftover caricature from 1972.](http://www.hudson.lib.oh.us/hudson%20website/Images/Web%20Collection/Posters/Muskie.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/31 "2005-07-12T15:27:43Z")
I must be the only one who looked at that strip and wondered, “why is [John Kerry](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/06/gore.bush.01/link.john.kerry.ap.jpg) in that cartoon?” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/32 "2005-07-12T15:33:13Z")
Ah, those Democrats all look alike. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/33 "2005-07-12T15:59:49Z")
I would hate to be one of Tinsley’s defenders, but do you know if he is aware that Jon Stewart is Jewish? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/34 "2005-07-12T16:15:41Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I must be the only one who looked at that strip and wondered, “why is [John Kerry](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/06/gore.bush.01/link.john.kerry.ap.jpg) in that cartoon?” Nope–me, too. I think it’s the double-chin action, or maybe just that the dude only has one whiteboy face he can draw in caricature. I dunno. I’m not sure about the hooked nose business one way or another, but the transcript of _America’s_ MF comic is the first Fillmore ever to make me laugh out loud. Tiensley needs to understand that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and start flattering the hell out of Jon Stewart. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/35 "2005-07-12T16:19:50Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Look, Bruce Tinsley is almost never funny, True. > [@](#): > > but he’s a superb caricaturist If by “superb” you mean awful, sure. Nobody in a Tinsley comic looks good. They all look like leftovers from the “Eye of the Beholder” episode of the Twilight Zone. Caricature doesn’t necessarily mean make your target into some sorta troll, but that’s all Tinsley does. > [@](#): > > (something no one could ever say about Garry Trudeau). Yes, but a) his original characters aren’t so wretched looking that I can’t read Doonesbury while eating (something I can’t say about Mallard) and b) he gets around it when drawing famous people in hilarous ways (drawing Clinton as a waffle and Bush II was a legion-helmed asterik). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/36 "2005-07-12T16:24:14Z")
FTR, (since I brought up the nose thing in this thread in the first place) While I think Tinsley is an utterly humorless cartoonist who does nothing but bray the least compelling of right-wing talking points, I think his portrait of Stewart is a pretty thin peg to hang a charge of anti-semitism on. I was just taking a cheap shot. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/37 "2005-07-12T16:25:52Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > I would hate to be one of Tinsley’s defenders, but do you know if he is aware that Jon Stewart is Jewish? The alien invaders in WotW probably know that Jon Stewart is Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/38 "2005-07-12T16:37:04Z")
Then they are one-up on me, **Exapno**. I didn’t know before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/39 "2005-07-12T16:39:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Please tell me this is a Whoosh. > [This is Stewart’s nose in Mallard Fillmore.](http://www.gawker.com/news/20050708mallardwed.jpg) > > Which does it resemble more? > > A. The nose on the [Nazi Propaganda calling Jews evil](http://www.digitalhistory.mcauley.org.uk/Images/Year%209%20images/German2.jpg) > > or > > B. [Jon Stewart’s real nose](http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/images/newsweek-stewart.jpg) > > Cue Jeopardy theme Well, he definitely hooked it up a bit more in [this](http://www.gawker.com/news/20050708mallardfri.jpg) one. You picked the least hooked strip from the original web page to make your point. In each of the other two drawings, it’s definitely more hooked. (can’t believe I’m actually discussing the hookedness of Mallard Fillmore’s protrayal of Jewish noses.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090/40 "2005-07-12T16:47:18Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I must be the only one who looked at that strip and wondered, “why is [John Kerry](http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/06/gore.bush.01/link.john.kerry.ap.jpg) in that cartoon?” Nope. Without the context of the dialogue, I’d never have guessed that was supposed to be Stewart. > [@Sampiro](#): > > There’s no way that Tinsley didn’t know that an exaggerated hooked nose is the oldest Jewish stereotype. (It’s referred to in Shakespeare, for God’s sake.) I doubt that it’s intentionally anti-Semetic. I’ve only read Mallard Fillmore when someone posts a link on the SDMB to complain about how bad it is, but the one thing I’ve noticed is that it’s about the least subtle comic strip ever. If Tinsley really were trying to slip an anti-Semetic remark into his comic, I don’t think he’d be able to do it without covering the thing in swastikas and including a Holocaust denial screed. He just doesn’t have the talent to be any more clever than that. I don’t think he’s a bigot, at least, not based off of this comic. He’s just an unfunny hack who can’t draw. Besides which, look at his strip where he explains why what he does is acceptable satire and what Stewart does is dishonest. (“I writes my name on my comics!”) Clearly, this man is plenty stupid enough not to know about the history of Jewish stereotyping, to say nothing of William Shakespeare. > [@](#): > > If he truly is ignorant of this, then he’s too uninformed to be writing a comic strip whose purpose is political commentary. Well, _duh_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mallard-fillmore-cartoonist-does-not-understand-satire-apparently/312090.md?page=3)