Two laughs-out-loud and a shiver of self-recognition

Cartoons that especially moved me in the latest — 6/1/26 — issue of the New Yorker: two by artists who are old acquaintances on this blog (Drew Dernavich and Frank Cotham), trafficking here in their brands of absurdity (their gags made me laugh out loud); plus one by British cartoonist, illustrator, and writer Sara Akinterinwa (whose work, all recent, explores dating, relationships, identity, politics, and navigating adult life as a young woman of color) that gave me not a great laugh but a shiver of self-recognition: that’s not funny, that’s my life strategy! Two absurdists. First from DD: (#1) “Our Pet Chameleons”, showing two visitors entering a living room with elaborately patterned floor, walls, and furnishings, into which chameleons (Old World lizards famous for their abilities in color- and pattern-shifting for camouflage) could easily become undetectable Then from FC: (#2) “The Hockey Puck”, in which a dentist’s patient expresses astonishment that a hockey puck came out of…