American Humor - Cartoons, Magazines and Animation

Cartoons, Magazines and Animation

American cartoons and comics have commented, humorously or scathingly, on American life since Thomas Nast or earlier. Humorous print cartoonists of note include Charles Schulz, Scott Adams, Jim Davis, Gary Larson, Walt Kelly, Johnny Hart, Bill Watterson, and others.

U.S. humor magazines of note include Mad, Humbug, Trump and Help!, as well as the National Lampoon, and Spy magazine.

National Lampoon began in 1970 as an offshoot of the Harvard Lampoon. The magazine regularly skewered popular culture, the counterculture and politics. The magazine was at its height in the 1970s, and its influence spread to films and comedy programs. In the mid 1970s, some of the magazine's contributors left to join the NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). The magazine stopped publication in 1998, but films and other programs attributed to "National Lampoon" continue.

In the 20th-century, film allowed for animated cartoons of a humorous nature. The most notable of these perhaps being Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Friz Freleng and Mel Blanc (providing voices for many popular characters), were instrumental in these and many other animated shorts continued popularity. What's Opera, Doc?, Duck Amuck, and One Froggy Evening garnered enough critical appeal to be inducted into the National Film Registry. Warner Brothers' cartoons often dealt with themes beyond US culture or society, but did involve a great deal of commentary on American life. Although many of the American winners of the Academy Award for Animated Short Film are not examples of American humor, a significant percentage would qualify as such. On television, noteworthy American cartoons include The Flintstones, The Simpsons, Futurama, Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill, Ren and Stimpy, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, American Dad and South Park.