Guest Review by Roz Chast

Matt Diffeeâ??s cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker since 1999. Since then his distinctive drawings have made me, and almost everyone I know, laugh like a bat. They donâ??t look like anyone elseâ??s. He has a style thatâ??s hard to describe. He draws with a soft pencil in a sort of realistic way. The faces are never cartoon-goofy. They have a comic bite that is original and dark and completely his own. He also has some interesting obsessions, like lumberjacks. I never thought much about lumberjacks. But thanks to Matt, I now know: lumberjacks ARE funny. Maybe itâ??s the hats they wear, or those plaid lumberjack shirts, or the way they stand there in their lumberjackian get-ups, thinking their lumberjack thoughts. It could also be the word â??lumberjack.â?? All I know is that seeing the world through Mattâ??s eyes makes things seem funnier, which is a good talent to have if for some reason you have decided that you are a cartoonist.

Anyone who reads The New Yorker is familiar with certain cartoon genres: the food cart, the caveman, heaven jokes, cocktail party banter, talking dogs, desk jokes, Grim Reapers, Fountains of Youth, and diners in a restaurant, for starters. Itâ??s no small accomplishment to bring something new and truly funny to these set-ups. Matt does. Bigtime. One of my favorite cartoonsâ??not just in this book, but in the ENTIRE CARTOON UNIVERSEâ??is the one where a waiter tells a man and woman seated at the table: â??Careful. These plates are extremely dirty.â?? I would say that is a classic gag. Another one is the old man at a crossroads where there are two arrows, one pointing to the Fountain of Youth, the other to the Fountain of Bacon. That's hilarious. I won't quote any more. I don't want to give too many of these jokes away.

His work is contemporary, but never in a contrived way. The drawings are wonderful. This is an original and funny book.