Photo by Eric Korenman
A century after The New Yorker began as a humor magazine, women cartoonists are still redrawing its cultural edges. Few have done so as incisively as Liza Donnelly, an award-winning New Yorker cartoonist, writer, director, and one of the most thoughtful chroniclers of women’s humor working today.
Liza is the director and producer of Women Laughing (2025), a short documentary inspired by her book Very Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Women Cartoonists, which traces the overlooked lineage of women who have shaped and reshaped American humor. Her work extends beyond the page: her TED Talk Drawing on Humor for Change has been viewed over 1.5 million times and translated into 42 languages, and she was the first cartoonist ever invited to live-draw the Oscars.
In this conversation, we speak with Liza about the history of women in cartooning, the power of humor to make invisible experiences legible, creative confidence after menopause, and why a drawn line, when paired with laughter, can shift culture faster than argument alone.
1. As mentioned in your documentary, The New Yorker began as a humor magazine in 1925, and one of its founders, Jane Grant, was a pioneering journalist shaping the culture of her time. Beyond Jane, which early women humorists or cartoonists do you see as the lineage you’re part of?
There were some wonderful women cartoonists in the early pages of The New Yorker, among them Helen Hokinson and Barbara Shermund, who are personal favorites. In their drawings, they really show us what life was like for women in the 1920s, 30’s, 40s.
Another person I feel a personal connection to is the writer Dorothy Parker. Everyone has heard of Dorothy Parker of course, and she's known as a sharp wit, but her short stories are powerful and funny.
2. Cartooning requires noticing the world at a slant - its tensions, contradictions, quiet absurdities. Do you think women cartoonists have a distinctive vantage point on this? What do you think women tend to notice that others overlook?
Women don't have a particular vantage point on this, no. You are right that cartooning requires constant observation of the world around us and the human experience. What we do get from women cartoonists at times is the experience of being a woman. That's not something that a male cartoonist can do.
3. Do you see cartooning as a feminist act, even when the humor isn’t explicitly political? How has women’s humor evolved across generations in your view?
Yes! Being a woman cartoonist in and of itself has always been a feminist act because we haven't heard from women cartoonists as much as men. And because women cartoonists are telling their own stories through humor, their work is a way to bring women's lives into the conversation. And that's a feminist act.
And also, just women creating humor is feminist! There just haven't been that many women humorists, although that is changing rapidly. But here's the thing - it's when women humorists push back against the patriarchy is when it's really great.
4. Humor is a kind of emotional literacy. Do you see a connection between women’s inner rhythms (emotional, hormonal, seasonal) and the stories or moments they’re drawn to capture?
I love how you say humor is emotional literacy, I've never heard that before. The only thing I can say is that women may be more in touch with their bodies, for a lot of reasons, and this can lead to great storytelling. Particularly since women's bodies have been the “property” of others for centuries.
Contemporary cartoonist Amy Hwang says in my movie (I'm paraphrasing here), she doesn't think about being a woman cartoonist, but she's sure it comes across in her work. When I asked her how, she said there's a lot of problems being a woman, and that can be funny.
5. Have you ever noticed creative rhythms across your own month e.g. weeks that feel gregarious and funny, and others that feel quieter? Do you think being attuned to cycles, whether monthly or emotional, gives women cartoonists a unique pattern-recognition?
I've never really noticed that, to be honest. I might say that after menopause, I felt perhaps even more creative, more in touch with myself. Perhaps it means there is more of a level of confidence, freedom, or a level of I-don't-care-what-anybody- thinks.
Humor does rely on a certain understanding between creator and audience, but it's helpful to be able to find your inner core to be funny.
6. Women privately joke about cramps, cravings, PMS, rage, tenderness: emotional life of hormones. Yet mainstream cartooning has rarely reflected this. Why do you think cartoons about women’s bodily experiences remain so sparse?
You are right, the female experience has not been in mainstream humor. Usually, it's from the male perspective and it's often wrong. I think this is changing; having a female cartoon editor, which The New Yorker does now, is helpful. Although she's not the final say on the cartoons, a man is!
I look back on cartoons from the 50s and cringe because so many of them were about women cooking or women wanting to find a man - all those stereotypic things. Even the few cartoons you see by women are just repeating the status quo sexist culture of the time.
I should say that in the 50's and 60's at The New Yorker, women cartoonists were all but gone, only to return in the late 70's.
7. Cartoons often name truths before science or society is ready to. Do you see a parallel between the invisibility of women’s hormonal health and the way women cartoonists have long used humor to make the unseen visible?
Cartoonists are always watching and listening. We see things before others do, we follow trends. But it's also about looking at the big picture of society. I really try to shine a light on things that people don't see, particularly in the realm of woman's rights. And I try to say/draw it in a succinct way, with some humor.
I used to teach Introduction to Women's Studies at Vassar, and sometimes would use cartoons (of mine or other women's) to make a point. It was very effective, because it gets into your psyche in a way that an essay about misogyny can't. It shows the viewer the experience, and makes them laugh.
Laughter sometimes makes one more open minded, if only for a second!
8. When filming Women Laughing, did your cartoonist’s instinct shape how you framed the scenes? How do cartooning and filmmaking speak to one another for you?
I love that you asked this question. Filmmaking and cartooning are like cousins. They're visual stories. We decided to make a short documentary (although it's 37 minutes, not that short!) in part because it's like a New Yorker cartoon. Succinct, visual, humorous, serious and to the point.
Our film does not spell it out for you, but offers insight, and the viewer needs to make the connections. I also really wanted to have a lot of shots of drawing in the movie, so much of it is the women drawing with me as we talk. In the movie, we are talking with our drawings as well as our words.
9. What’s next for Women Laughing? Where will it travel, and what do you hope its societal and cultural impact will be?
Women Laughing is going to travel to other film festivals around the country, and hopefully in Europe next year, and I will be giving a lot of talks as well. Eventually later next year, it will be on newyorker.com with other great shorts that the magazine publishes every year.
There's two things about the film that I want people to take away:
- I want them to know about the women cartoonists of the past and the current artists, and how they are and were groundbreaking as they tell women's stories.
- And I also want viewers to understand the power of a drawn line, and the power of humor to bring about change.
It's not just about a joke.
Photo by Eric Korenman
10. What advice would you give young women cartoonists or filmmakers trying to develop a voice that’s both playful and powerful, humorous but also culturally sharp?
The best way to find your voice, in my opinion, is to just keep creating.
Take risks, try new things, and don't take no for an answer!
Don't take yourself too seriously and just assume you're going to make mistakes.
But most importantly, just keep your eyes open, your ears open and be curious.
In Conversation With
Photo by Eric Korenman
Liza Donnelly is an award-winning cartoonist for The New Yorker, as well as a writer and director. She directed the 2025 documentary Women Laughing, based on her book Very Funny Ladies, and writes the daily newsletter Seeing Things on politics and culture. She was the first cartoonist to live-draw the Oscars, and her TED Talk on humor and change reached a global audience.