CR 053: Cartoonist Ellis Rosen on Finding Humor in the Ordinary

The New Yorker cartoonist discusses his work, his influences, and why cartooning is a numbers game.

Ellis Rosen is a New York-based artist whose work regularly appears in The New Yorker. His one-panel cartoons hilariously mock everyday mundanities, using a simple image and a caption to bring awareness to the ridiculousness of a common thing—a full dishwasher, an overflowing spice rack, our never-ending complaints about the weather. And through his fantastic newsletter, he shares how he came up with some of his more well-known cartoons and answers readers’ questions about his work.

I recently spoke with Rosen over Zoom about his career, his advice for aspiring artists, and why he no longer does political cartoons.