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data-article_description="New Yorker artist opens up about family, obsessions" data-image_url="https://static.timesofisrael.com/ajn/uploads/2022/03/DavidSipresswithhisn_52661.jpg" data-image_width="600" data-image_height="333"> <div class="banner-placeholder-ajn"> <div id="div-gpt-ad-ATF_LB_1" class="banner b728x90 ATF_LB_1" data-class=".banner.b728x90.ATF_LB_1" data-old-name="ATF_LB_1" data-name="header_billboard" data-size="[[970, 250], [728, 90]]" data-account="178876888" > <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-ATF_LB_1"); }); </script> </div></div> <div class="sidebar-control">home page</div> <div class="article-content-container sticky-sidebar-relative"> <div class="article-wrap"> <header> <div class="above-headline"><span class="label"><span class="label" data-text="Cartoonist speaks">Cartoonist speaks</span></span><span class="overline empty"></span></div> <h1 class="headline">Sipress asks what’s so funny in new memoir</h1> <h2 class="underline">New Yorker artist opens up about family, obsessions</h2> <div class="under-headline"> <div class="wrap-byline"> <span class="byline"> By <a title="AJN STAFF" href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/writers/ajn-staff/">AJN STAFF</a> </span> <span class="date">March 23, 2022, 10:58 am</span> <span class="comments"> <a href="#comments"></a> </span> <span class="edit empty"> <a data-id="1242508" href="/wp-admin/post.php?post=1242508&action=edit">Edit</a> </span> </div> <ul class="social"> <li class="facebook"> <a class="popup" data-width="670" data-height="546" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F"> <span>Facebook</span> </a> </li><li class="twitter"> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sipress+asks+what%E2%80%99s+so+funny+in+new+memoir&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F&via=aus_jewishnews"> <span>Twitter</span> </a> </li><li class="whatsapp"><a target="_blank" href="https://wa.me?text=The Australian Jewish News: Sipress+asks+what%26%238217%3Bs+so+funny+in+new+memoir https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F"><span></span></a></li><li class="email open_mailto" data-article="1242508" data-lang="eng" data-site="The Australian Jewish News" data-title="Sipress asks what’s so funny in new memoir"> <a target="_blank" href="mailto:?subject=The Australian Jewish News: Sipress asks what’s so funny in new memoir&body=I found this on The Australian Jewish News and thought it might interest you: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F" onclick="return false;"> <span>email</span> </a> </li><li class="print"><a href="javascript:window.print();"><span>Print</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="media"><a rel="lightbox" href="https://static.timesofisrael.com/ajn/uploads/2022/03/DavidSipresswithhisn_52661.jpg"><img width="600" height="375" src="https://static.timesofisrael.com/ajn/uploads/2022/03/DavidSipresswithhisn_52661-640x400.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" title="" /></a></div> <div class="article-content"> <div class="the-content"> <p><strong>David Sipress</strong> did not sell his first cartoon to <em>The New Yorker</em> until 1997, when he was 50. He wasn’t a struggling artist – his work had long appeared in the <em>Boston Phoenix</em>, <em>Playboy</em> and the <em>Washington Post</em>, and he had some success as a sculptor. But <em>The New Yorker</em> represented the career pinnacle he wanted to share with his father – especially a Jewish father who immigrated from Ukraine “with a fifth-grade education” and ran a jewellery store, and who never regarded art as a viable career. <p><strong>Nat Sipress</strong> lived long enough to hear the good news from David, but not long enough to see the cartoon in print – a twist worthy of a David Sipress cartoon. <div id="div-gpt-ad-BTF_MPU_1" class="banner b300x250 BTF_MPU_1" data-class=".banner.b300x250.BTF_MPU_1" data-old-name="BTF_MPU_1" data-name="article_mrec_inline" data-size="[300, 250]" data-account="178876888" > <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-BTF_MPU_1"); }); </script> </div> <p>The cartoonist’s new memoir, <em>What’s So Funny?</em> explores the fraught relationship between demanding parents and a son whose dreams didn’t match up with theirs. <p>Along the way, Sipress discusses his Upper West Side Reform Jewish upbringing in the 1950s; his way of “obsessing” about his family’s secrets; and his determination to draw inspiration from “what I’m experiencing day-to-day … what makes me happy, what scares me, what makes me angry”.</p> <p>“As I say in my book, the border between my life and my work is flimsy at best,” he said.</p> <p>WITH JTA</p> <p class="newsletter-promo moveto-p2"> <a href="/signup/?utm_source=ajn-articles&utm_medium=middle-link&utm_campaign=signup-buttons"> Get The AJN Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories </a> <a href="/signup/?utm_source=ajn-articles&utm_medium=middle-link&utm_campaign=signup-buttons"> Free Sign Up </a> </p> </div> <div class="article-topics"> <div>read more:</div> <ul> <li> <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/topic/shmooze/">Shmooze</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/topic/the-new-yorker/">The New Yorker</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/topic/david-sipress/">David Sipress</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.australianjewishnews.com/topic/cartoons/">Cartoons</a> </li> </ul> </div> <ul class="social bottom"> <li class="facebook"> <a class="popup" data-width="670" data-height="546" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F"> <span>Facebook</span> </a> </li><li class="twitter"> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sipress+asks+what%E2%80%99s+so+funny+in+new+memoir&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F&via=aus_jewishnews"> <span>Twitter</span> </a> </li><li class="whatsapp"><a target="_blank" href="https://wa.me?text=The Australian Jewish News: Sipress+asks+what%26%238217%3Bs+so+funny+in+new+memoir https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F"><span></span></a></li><li class="email open_mailto" data-article="1242508" data-lang="eng" data-site="The Australian Jewish News" data-title="Sipress asks what’s so funny in new memoir"> <a target="_blank" href="mailto:?subject=The Australian Jewish News: Sipress asks what’s so funny in new memoir&body=I found this on The Australian Jewish News and thought it might interest you: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.australianjewishnews.com%2Fsipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir%2F" onclick="return false;"> <span>email</span> </a> </li><li class="print"><a href="javascript:window.print();"><span>Print</span></a></li> </ul>   <div id="comments" class="comments"> <h5>comments </h5> <div class="fb-comments" data-href="http://www.australianjewishnews.com/sipress-asks-whats-so-funny-in-new-memoir/" data-numposts="5"></div> </div>  </div> </div> <aside class="sidebar sticky-sidebar"> <div class="sticky-sidebar-wrap"> <div id="div-gpt-ad-BTF_SKY_1" class="banner b300x250 BTF_SKY_1" data-class=".banner.b300x250.BTF_SKY_1" data-old-name="BTF_SKY_1" data-name="article_half_page_sidebar" data-size="[300, 250]" data-account="178876888" > <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display("div-gpt-ad-BTF_SKY_1"); 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