''Odd Todd'' is a website owned and operated by Todd Rosenberg, who has created a series of humorous

Flash cartoon Adobe Flash animation (formerly Macromedia Flash animation and FutureSplash animation) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) platform or similar animation software and often distributed in the SWF ...

s depicting the world of

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

, after becoming unemployed himself. Rosenberg's first cartoon, ''Laid Off: A Day in the Life,'' humorously deals with frustration, despair, and boredom of an unemployed man in his 30s, a situation shared by many in the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

after the dot com crash. After visitors contributed several thousand dollars through the website's "Tip Cup" link, the

New York State Department of Labor The New York State Department of Labor (DOL or NYSDOL) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government that enforces United States labor law, labor law and administers unemployment benefits. The mission of the N ...

attempted to revoke Rosenberg's

unemployment benefits Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...

on the grounds that the site constituted a business. In July 2002, a judge ruled that Rosenberg did not have to return the benefits he had received. His cartoon character was picked up for development at

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

for a half-hour television show but was downgraded to a web series. His book, ''The Odd Todd Handbook'' was published in 2003 by

Warner Books Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

. Rosenberg now works as a screenwriter, with his first film being the 2020 film All My Life.

References

External links

* American comedy websites Flash artists American animators {{entertainment-website-stub