A gag cartoon (also panel cartoon, single-panel cartoon, or gag panel) is most often a single- panel

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech balloons, following the common convention of

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption (see also: pantomime comics). As the name implies—" gag" being a show business term for a comedic idea—these cartoons are most often intended to provoke laughter. Popular magazines that have featured gag cartoons include '' Punch'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

''. Some publications, such as '' Humorama'', have used cartoons as the main focus of the magazine, rather than articles and fiction.

Captions

Captions are usually concise, to fit on a single line. Gag cartoons of the 1930s and earlier occasionally had lengthy captions, sometimes featuring dialogue between two characters depicted in the drawing; over time, cartoon captions became shorter.

Media

In the mid-1950s, gag cartoonists found a new market with the introduction of highly popular studio cards in college bookstores. Single-panel cartoons have been published on various products, such as coffee mugs and cocktail napkins. Traditionally, newspapers and magazines printed cartoons in black and white, but this changed in the 1950s when ''

'' began to feature full-page, full-color cartoons in every issue. There are numerous collections of cartoons in both paperback and hardcover, notably ''The New Yorker'' collections. From 1942 to 1971, the cartoonist-novelist Lawrence Lariar edited the annual ''Best Cartoons of the Year'' collections.

Notable gag cartoons

A well-known 1928 cartoon in ''

'', drawn by Carl Rose and captioned by E. B. White, shows a mother trying to convince her young daughter to finish her meal. "It's broccoli, dear." " I say it's spinach and I say the hell with it", which have created an

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...

in English language. Cartoonist Charles Addams drew his first gag cartoon for ''

'' in 1932, and in 1937 started inventing a set of macabre characters which came to be known as ''The Addams Family''. This was turned into a 1960s television series which ran for two years, in an agreement in which Addams gave his characters names and more developed characteristics. Cartoonist Ted Key created a gag panel about a bossy maid named ''Hazel'' for ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' in 1943. This also was made into a 1960s television series, which ran for five years.

Notable gag cartoonists

* Charles Addams * Peter Arno * George Booth * Roz Chast * George Clark * Sam Cobean * George Gately * Sam Gross * Ted Key *

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended on January 1, 1995, ...

* R. K. Laxman *

George Lichty George Lichty (May 16, 1905 – July 18, 1983) was an American cartoonist, creator of the daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday cartoon series ''Grin and Bear It''. His work was signed Lichty and often ran without mention of his first name. ...

* Lorin Morgan-Richards * Virgil Partch (a.k.a. VIP) * Dan Piraro * George Price * Ronald Searle * Jean-Jacques Sempé * James Thurber * Marvin Townsend * Kim Warp * Gluyas Williams * Gahan Wilson * Tom Wilson

Popular setups

There are some well-established setups used regularly in gag cartoons. * Desert island jokes: marooned on a

desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...

. In earlier cartoons the island was quite large, with a shipwreck shown, to deliver the setup of the narrative. Eventually the setup has shrunk to an iconic image of a sand heap with a palm in the middle. * Talking animals * Therapist's couch"Cartoons About Therapy from the Past Century (Well, Almost)"
''

'' (retrieved August 31, 2023)

References