Don't forget! DMA#26 Live Tonight @ 7:30pm with Special Guest New Yorker cartoonist & Colbert Writer, Asher Perlman

Join me tonight for a FREE livestream at 7:30pm Eastern for a conversation with Asher Perlman—New Yorker cartoonist, Colbert writer, and author of 2 hit books!

That’s right, Tonight at 7:30 pm Eastern, I’ll be drawing and speaking with New Yorker cartoonist, author, Substacker & Colbert Comedy Writer, Asher Perlman!

For those unfamiliar with Asher's work (and frankly, where have you been?), he's an Emmy-nominated, WGA award-winning, Peabody award-winning cartoonist who contributes regularly to the New Yorker and writes for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His latest book, Hi, It's Me Again, follows his national bestselling debut Well, This Is Me—which raises the delightfully neurotic question he poses himself: "Was this too quick to come out with another book?"

Tickets to his book launch tomorrow night at the Bell House in Brooklyn are nearly sold out, but if you’re quick, you can snag the last few here.

Last time he did a book launch, he had his pal Jordan Klepper from The Daily Show and other special guests send the book into the stratosphere (they ran out of copies on Amazon within hours!) This year, he has one of my favourite comedians of all time, the one and only Gary Gulman! (along with some other special guests, including Aaron Jackson and Michael Cruz Kanye)

Longtime readers will remember my write-up of The Gul’s latest show this past winter— easily one of the best one-man shows I’ve ever seen.

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The man lives in Brooklyn but keeps his heart in the Midwest with his family, which already makes him more emotionally sophisticated than most New Yorkers who can barely locate their hearts under layers of bacon, egg & cheese cholesterol and existential dread.

The thing I like about Asher’s cartoons is that they not only reflect his comic voice, but the drawing style fits perfectly with the tone of the joke. They’re silly, they’re funny, the captions make you laugh even before you look back up at the image. His line economy is great; there aren’t any extraneous details pulling focus from the gag— same with the shading; it only ever leads the eye around the image the way he intends it to. He’s good. I’m a fan.

He would have every excuse to be a pretentious dork with the slew of accolades he’s racked up over the years, but instead, he’s one of the friendliest and most generous cartoonists you’re ever likely to bump into while walking your dog. (He’s the one with treats in his pocket in case the occasion arises.) Here we are at the New Yorker 100th Anniversary Exhibition event at the Society of Illustrators earlier this year. Also pictured: Ellis J Rosen (left), Previous guest Hilary F. Campbell (far middle), next to Elisabeth McNair, and yours truly (middle).

His first book, “Well, this is Me!” was a powerhouse of hilarious gags that I’d never seen before. Think about that— these are the ones that WEREN’T published (or were published, and I wilfully ignored to protect my own ego). We have the same editor at Andrews McMeel Publishing (Lucas Wetzel) and he has a great habit of coaxing the comedy out of people without throwing roadblocks in the way. The book arrived alongside some coasters with a reference to one of the best cartoons in the book:

Asher joined Scott and me in Philly recently for a panel on writing humour in books. He was obviously the most qualified one on the panel, with not only multiple publications under his belt as a cartoonist, but as one of the writers for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (Something we’ll be talking about)

Colbert calls him "keenly attuned to the inherent strangeness of existence," which is perhaps the most elegant way to describe someone who can make you laugh about vampire stress-drinking and piñata family dynamics in the same cartoon collection. Ben Stiller says Asher’s cartoons are “the kind of funny that makes you question what it is to be a person.” And Mahatma Gandhi says, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” That one isn’t as relevant here, but it’s still nice to keep in mind.

If you haven’t seen his attempts on Colbert to finally dunk a basketball… I’ll be honest, you’re going to need to tweak your YouTube algorithm. Allow me:

I've been preparing questions, but honestly, I suspect the conversation will veer into territory I haven't mapped yet. That's the thing about talking to people who've mastered the art of finding humour in life's darker corners—they tend to illuminate things you didn't realise were casting shadows.

The interview will be FREE to stream live tonight (Thursday) at 7:30pm EST. We'll cover everything from New Yorker cartoon submissions to Late Show writing rooms to the divine alchemy of turning personal neuroses into public entertainment.

If you've got questions for Asher, drop them in the comments. I promise to ask at least one that makes both of us slightly uncomfortable—it's only fair, given that discomfort seems to be his artistic medium of choice.

You may remember me writing about Asher last year, and the great work he’s been doing. You can read the rest of that post below if you missed it the first time around.

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What is a DMA?

You've probably heard of an AMA (Ask Me Anything), and sure, that's always interesting. But I figured since you probably don't want to just see my face staring back at you for an hour, it might be more interesting if I point my camera at the drawing board and draw away while you ask me questions, make requests, and I can share tips on the creative process!

Be sure to turn on ‘notifications’ on your Substack app to be notified when I go live. If you haven’t downloaded the Substack app yet, you can do so here. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

See you tonight!

Your pal,