Friedman, Drew 1959(?)-

views updated

Friedman, Drew 1959(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1959, in NY; son of Bruce Jay Friedman (a writer); married; wife's name Kathy.

ADDRESSES:

Home—PA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, MAD Magazine, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

American satirist and artist. Contributor of political cartoons and satirical drawings based on entertainers to periodicals, including Spy, Entertainment Weekly, Weekly Standard, New Republic, and MAD Magazine.

WRITINGS:

(With Josh Alan Friedman) Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead Is Purely Coincidental, Fantagraphics (Seattle, WA), 1986.

(With brother, Josh Alan Friedman) Warts and All (collection of editorial cartoons), Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1990.

(With the editors of Spy) Private Lives of Public Figures, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

SIDELIGHTS:

Drew Friedman is a political cartoonist whose satirical drawings grace magazine covers such as the Weekly Standard and MAD Magazine. A 2004 Friedman cover for MAD sums up his sharp wit and take-no-prisoners attitude: entertainer Michael Jackson holds the MAD mascot, Alfred E. Newman, in a "friendly" embrace, while Newman sweats nervously. Friedman has skewered American performers in this manner for decades, first for Spy magazine and later for other periodicals. He is equally devastating to political figures, from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and conservative spokesman Pat Buchanan to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Friedman has published several collections of his work. Two of them, Warts and All and Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead Is Purely Coincidental, were written with his brother, Josh Alan Friedman. A third collection, Private Lives of Public Figures, was prepared with the help of the editors of Spy. In the Village Voice Literary Supplement, Barry Walden noted that Friedman's work "reconciles the apple-pie pleasantness of '60s sitcoms with the news of the day." Walden added that Friedman's style "is detailed, expressive pointillism—very noir, like black-and-white television with superb reception." Booklist reviewer Ray Olson praised Warts and All for its "epidemic extremities" that induce "the quaking and quivering ;h3 of laughter."