# "Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624 "2014-04-08T10:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/1 "2014-04-08T10:22:24Z")
Fresh Air recently ran an [interview](http://www.npr.org/2014/03/24/293761256/new-yorker-cartoon-editor-explores-what-makes-us-get-it) with the cartoon editor of The New Yorker, who just published a new memoir. They started the interview with a discussion of his most famous cartoon, which can be seen on the link, and the caption for which is the title of this thread. This, apparently, is the most famous and reprinted New Yorker cartoon ever, and the line had been parodied endlessly in all kinds of ways. Had you heard it before? I’ve intermittently read The New Yorker for years, and have browsed some of their cartoon collections in bookstores and on coffee tables. Can’t say I ever noticed it. And although it’s a good line, I’m not terribly blown away by it either. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/2 "2014-04-08T11:11:43Z")
I heard that interview. I loved the fact that _that_ was “the most famous” New Yorker cartoon. It epitomizes the NYer style of humor–kind of blandly chuckleworthy, no more no less. I was also mildly surprised that anyone could have been said to have made up that joke–it seems to me like the kind of thing almost anyone could have said. Not a joke you make up, so much as a standard quip that would occur to anyone independently. The things the guy had to say about “what is funny” were kind of hilariously revealing too, though I can’t remember any specifics about that. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/3 "2014-04-08T12:42:01Z")
This is the first time I’ve seen this one, and I’ve seen a _lot_ of _New Yorker_ cartoons. Somebody’s making stuff up, and not just cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/4 "2014-04-08T12:59:53Z")
Yes - I know of it. A buddy of mine was given a signed copy of it for his office, but I knew the cartoon well before that. But I am surprised it would be named as “most famous.” The first one that comes to mind that I would’ve thought was more well-known is “on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/5 "2014-04-08T13:09:53Z")
I’d have thought it would be something by Thurber or even Addams. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/6 "2014-04-08T13:12:13Z")
Never seen that one before, but I’m not the most voracious reader of the New Yorker. All the cartoons I’ve ever seen seem to only elicit a chuckle or a mild groan and are instantly forgotten. However, I do remember the internet/dog one. I have difficulty bringing to mind any other ones, though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/7 "2014-04-08T13:22:56Z")
I do know of the cartoon, but it’s nowhere as famous as [“Back to the drawing board” by Peter Arno](http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/arno11.jpg). And, yes, the cartoon is the origin of the phrase. I also think “[No one knows you’re a dog](http://michaelmaslin.com/inkspill/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/dog-on-the-internet-by-peter-steiner.jpg)” is more famous, too. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/8 "2014-04-08T13:25:24Z")
I don’t believe that it was claimed to be the most famous New Yorker cartoon, just that cartoonist’s most famous. And I suspect it was discussed primarily because that was also the title of the book he was promoting and therefore started with an explanation of the title. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/9 "2014-04-08T14:07:38Z")
My favorite is by Charles Addams, but not the Addams family. A bunch of zookeepers are standing in a line holding a gigantic python, posing for a picture, except one downcast guy on the end, and someone says words to the effect of ‘never mind, you’ll be able to be in the photo next year’. There’s another, of a factory where robots are manufacturing robots, and someone says, where is it all going to end? which is rather creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/10 "2014-04-08T14:32:38Z")
I’ve certainly heard that punchline before, but never realized it had a particular origin. In a sense, that comic is so famous that nobody’s ever heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/11 "2014-04-08T15:09:16Z")
In a typical issue, I find a number of cartoons laughworthy (and therefore laugh), but that would not be one. When you have to explain why it’s funny, it usually isn’t, especially, I find. Am I simply bitter over never winning the weekly caption contest? I don’t think so. After all, I figure you can only win it once (whether that is the actual rule or not), and worst case is to be picked as one of the three finalists and then not win. Still, I am often unimpressed with the nominated captions for what I think are objectively impeccable reasons. Often, a caption will ignore a very salient feature of the cartoon, and no matter how amusing, that strikes me as not meeting the challenge head-on. Also, to reiterate what several others have said here already, the article does not claim that this is the most famous of all New Yorker cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/12 "2014-04-08T15:14:17Z")
What magazine was [“I think you should be more explicit here in Step 2”](http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-think-you-should-be-more-explicit-here-in-step-two-Cartoon-Prints_i8562937_.htm) originally published in? I know Sidney Harris is regularly printed in the _New Yorker_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/13 "2014-04-08T15:37:30Z")
I think it may have been the **The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction**. Either that, or the **National Lampoon**. I know I saw it as an original, which means it had to come from one of those two. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/14 "2014-04-08T15:39:17Z")
I’ve absolutely seen the cartoon before, and its my favorite _New Yorker_ cartoon. I had a co-worker who had this on her office door in the mid-90s (so I’ve been familiar with it for about 20 years now) and I thought it was great then, and still do. (This cartoon comes to my mind every time I’m haggling over the phone with someone tring to find a convenient time to meet, and I’m always tempted to say it.) 😃 I had no idea who drew the cartoon, though, and when the NPR interview with Bob Mankoff aired a couple of weeks ago, he was discussing his favorite cartoons. As they introduced the segment, I hoped they would at least mention this particular cartoon. I was tickeled when it was the first one mentioned, and in fact was the the title of his new book. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/15 "2014-04-08T15:42:34Z")
> [@bup](#): > > What magazine was [“I think you should be more explicit here in Step 2”](http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-think-you-should-be-more-explicit-here-in-step-two-Cartoon-Prints_i8562937_.htm) originally published in? I know Sidney Harris is regularly printed in the _New Yorker_. _American Scientist_. (FWIW, all the people I’ve known who’ve clipped that out for their offices were lousy Scientists. Completely clueless on problem solving themselves.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/16 "2014-04-08T15:43:57Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I’d have thought it would be something by Thurber or even Addams. I almost posted this exact thing. > [@WordMan](#): > > The first one that comes to mind that I would’ve thought was more well-known is “on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” This too, but I would’ve had to check first to make sure it was from _The New Yorker_. I don’t remember seeing the linked cartoon before, though the caption sounds vaguely familiar. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/17 "2014-04-08T15:56:54Z")
I’ve also always liked [this one on relativity](http://tedconfblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/to-you-it-was-fast1.jpg?w=900&h=804), but I’m not sure how well-known it is. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/18 "2014-04-08T16:02:20Z")
Vote for “never seen it before”, but I think it is a good NYer cartoon. Actually, I think, because not everyone here in flyover country has seen it, that makes it a _better_ NYer cartoon. The whole stereotype about NYers is that nothing outside of the city matters. My favorite “cartoon” (technically, it was a cover): > **[View of the World from 9th Avenue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Avenue)** > > View of the World from 9th Avenue (sometimes A Parochial New Yorker's View of the World, A New Yorker's View of the World or simply View of the World) is a 1976 illustration by Saul Steinberg that served as the cover of the March 29, 1976, edition of The New Yorker. The work presents the view from Manhattan of the rest of the world showing Manhattan as the center of the world. > View of the World has been parodied by Columbia Pictures, The Economist, Mad, and The New Yorker itself, among others... ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/19 "2014-04-08T16:06:36Z")
I know the cartoon well, and have seen it in many places. I think I first saw it in Mankoff’s book on how to create cartoons, _The Naked Cartoonist_. But I think some of you are misreading the article. > [@](#): > > His most well-known cartoon shows an executive looking at his desk calendar, saying to someone on the phone: “No, Thursday’s out. How about never — is never good for you?” > [@](#): > > He submitted that cartoon to The New Yorker in 1993. “It turned out to be one of the most reprinted cartoons in New Yorker history,” he says. It’s _Bob Mankoff’s_ most famous cartoon, and _one of the most often reprinted_ New Yorker cartoons, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the New Yorker’s most famous cartoon. My vote for that title would be Charles Addams’ _[The Skier](http://davidseger.tumblr.com/post/2525774656/the-skier-charles-addams-new-yorker-1940)_. EDIT: Just acknowledging that Obfusciatrist said it first. I’m just agreeing for emphasis. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624/20 "2014-04-08T16:27:44Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > My favorite “cartoon” (technically, it was a cover): > > [View of the World from 9th Avenue - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Avenue) Oh, that’s a pretty famous one even I recognize. I might put that above the internet-dog one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thursdays-out-how-about-never-is-never-good-for-you/685624.md?page=2)