Sad News About Cartoonist John Callahan
My friend John Callahan, the hilarious and very un-PC quadriplegic cartoonist, died Saturday. The obit is in The New York Times today.
What it doesn't mention is that pretty much everything good in John's life was due to my dear friend Deborah Levin.
Many years ago, she spotted some crumpled cartoons he'd done on the floor of his Portland apartment, picked them up, saw something in them, and turned them into a career for him...cartoon syndication, books
Here, from NYT obit by Bruce Weber, is classic John:
Like his friend Gary Larson, the creator of "The Far Side," Mr. Callahan made drawings with a gleeful appreciation of the macabre he found in everyday life. He was, however, a man who lived his life with disadvantages, some of them self-wrought, and he viewed the world through a dark and wicked lens."This is John, I'm a little too depressed to take your call today," the message on his answering machine said. "Please leave your message at the gunshot."
Bemused by the culture of confession and self-help fostered by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Geraldo Rivera, he was uninclined in his work to be outwardly sympathetic to the afflicted or to respect the boundaries of racial and ethnic stereotyping, and his cartoons were often polarizing: some people found them outrageously funny, others outrageously offensive.
He'd always laugh at the hate mail he got from people who didn't know he was a quad, snarling at him for making fun of quads and other gimps. Quads and other gimps wrote him and thanked him for making fun of them like they were human like everybody else, not special people to be handled with kid gloves.
He was enormously politically incorrect, and got fired by the dipshits at the Miami Herald, who had a choice of Callahan cartoons to run every week, and selected one that angered their readers. I just loved it -- it was a drawing of a young Martin Luther King with a little puddle in his bed. Caption: "I had a dream."
UPDATE: More on John here.
Hi Amy,
I am sorry for your loss. He sounds like a wonderful person this world is a lesser place for losing him.
Brenda at July 28, 2010 11:11 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/sad-news.html#comment-1737791">comment from BrendaThanks so much. Really sad.
Amy Alkon
at July 28, 2010 11:14 AM
He will be missed by many. That's winning at life, as opposed to going out with the most toys. My condolences on your loss.
MarkD at July 28, 2010 11:59 AM
The first time our eldest son discovered John Callahan's classic collection "Do Not Disturb Any Further" [1990] in our bookshelves was the first time he thought his parents might have a decent sense of humor!
I am so sorry you have lost a friend, Amy.
Jody Tresidder at July 28, 2010 12:44 PM
Does anyone know if this guy was on the National Lampoon team, I mean WAY back in the day?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at July 28, 2010 12:49 PM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/sad-news.html#comment-1737823">comment from Crid [CridComment at gmail]I'm pretty sure he wasn't.
Amy Alkon
at July 28, 2010 12:58 PM
So sad Amy- I have seen his work and the humor was dark but delicious. I hope God has put wheelchair access into heaven.
Eric at July 28, 2010 1:19 PM
ADORED Callahan's wild sense of humor and those sketchy cartoons. Dearly loved and bought several copies of "Digesting the Child Within." Every time I loaned them out, I'd never get them back! Only have one left.
He was an early and forceful opponent against political correctness. RIP.
marybel at July 28, 2010 1:22 PM
You two were lucky to have each other's friendship, Amy. He was great. Damn.
Pricklypear at July 28, 2010 2:03 PM
Yeah, what Marybel said. Loan out a Callahan book and never get it back. I don't know how many I've bought over the years! But I don't begrudge the people who kept them. It just makes me happier to know that somewhere out there, even more people are snickering at that dark, dark humor.
Steve H at July 28, 2010 2:49 PM
This makes me sad. I *just* bought my first Callahan book, too, on Amy's recommendation.
My condolences, Amy.
MikeInRealLife at July 29, 2010 10:51 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705535.html
Howard at July 29, 2010 3:43 PM
I had never heard of John Callahan so I bought "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot". What a sense of humor. Condolences. RIP.
Jason S. at August 24, 2010 8:15 PM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/sad-news.html#comment-1746271">comment from Jason S.Thank you so much, Jason S. I'm so glad you've gotten to experience John. Miss him.
Amy Alkon
at August 24, 2010 8:50 PM
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