Interviews

Drew Friedman Celebrates Old Jewish Comedians

New York’s Society of Illustrators museum is currently hosting an exhibit entitled Drew Friedman’s Old Jewish Comedians in which you’ll find a bevy of illustrations of old-time Jewish comedians (surprise, surprise), all done in Friedman’s unique and very distinctive style. If you’ve read Entertainment Weekly,.

By Mar 19,2014  0

Drew Friedman's Old Jewish Comedians poster

New York’s Society of Illustrators museum is currently hosting an exhibit entitled Drew Friedman’s Old Jewish Comedians in which you’ll find a bevy of illustrations of old-time Jewish comedians (surprise, surprise), all done in Friedman’s unique and very distinctive style. If you’ve read Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, New York Observer, chances are you’ve run across one of Friedman’s illustrations. Friedman has also illustrated for Mad, National Lampoon, Heavy Metal, and many other mainstream and not-so-mainstream outlets. And trading card collectors may know Friedman’s work from Topps’ Toxic High, Hollywood Zombies, Star Wars Galaxy 2, Mars Attacks Archives; Kitchen Sink’s Drew Friedman’s American Beauties & Cuties, The Ed Wood Jr., Players and More Hollywood Characters; as well as others.

I had the chance to visit the museum this past Saturday and to see Friedman’s exhibit. It was quite impressive to see over 100 of Friedman’s images. Some of the commedians you’ll find are The Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Joan Rivers, Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Mel Brooks, and many others. The museum also has several displays of comedian related ephemera such as books, records, sheet music, advertisements, toys, playing cards, comics and more, all from Friedman’s own collection. I spotted just one trading card—a rare 1995 Topps “Jerry Lewis as Applegate”card from the play, Damn Yankees. But the real star here are Friedman’s portraits.

Drew Friedman images

The portraits show the comedians, warts and all. Most of them ran in the three books Friedman published through Fantographics: Old Jewish Comedians, More Old Jewish Comedians, and Even More Old Jewish Comedians. Many portraits are shown along with the rough.

The cozy museum has two of its three floors devoted to Friedman’s pieces. On the third floor, you’ll find the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, the Dining Room, and the Hall of Fame Gallery, which is currently hosting a Jeffrey Jones exhibit. Coincidently, Jones is another artist’s name that will be familiar to card collectors, having had two complete card series devoted to his work via the 1993 and 1995 FPG series.

After visiting the exhibit, I had the opportunity to interview Friedman about the exhibit and his work.

Some of the illustration were labeled what they were originally created for (DVD covers, magazine covers, etc.). Were the rest created especially for the Fantagraphics books?

Yes, the majority were created for the three books published by Fantagraphics. Additional work was added to the show like my color portrait of the three elderly Marx Brothers which was created for the cover of an upcoming Marx DVD set from Shout! Factory, and also used for the show poster.

Woody Allen by Drew Friedman

Why Jewish Comedians? Have you been a fan of comedians your whole life?

Yes, I’ve always had a love for old Movie and TV comedy and comedians and at one point I had an epiphany that most of the comedians I loved just happened to be Jewish! Not all, I also adore Jackie Gleason, WC Fields, Lou Costello, Buster Keaton, etc, but so many of the greats (The 3 Stooges, The Marx Brothers, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Sid Ceasar, George Burns, Joan Rivers, Jan Murray, Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, the list goes on and on), were Jewish.

Have you gotten any feedback from the comedians you’ve drawn?

I have, most of it positive. I received phone calls instantly when the first book came out from among others Mickey Freeman (from the Bilko Show), Friar’s Dean Freddie Roman and none other than Jerry Lewis, who screamed into the phone: “JESUS CHRIST, I LOVE IT!” The Friars club in New York threw three parties for the three books, hosted and attended by many of the comedians I depicted including Freddie Roman, Larry Storch, Jerry Stiller, Eddie Lawrence, Stewie Stone and Abe Vigoda.

About how long does it take you to create one of the comedian illustrations?

I spend about a day sketching and penciling, then a day two paint it. Usually in two days I’m done.

Some of Drew Friedman's Comedian Ephemera

A showcase of Friedman’s Comedian Ephemera 

How did the exhibit opening go? Anything unusual happen?

We had a fun and lively crowd, among the folks attending were 88 year old talk show legend Joe Franklin, Comedian Robert Kline (who’s in the third book. He was a little annoyed that his portrait was hanging on the lower lever but I assured him it was out of deference to the older comedians who were hung on the main floor), and younger comedians including Gilbert Gottfried who mainly enjoyed the appetizers being served and Paul Shaffer. The special guest was 93 year old Abe Vigoda who posed for photos with anyone who sat next to him. A really sweet man!

Your work is often in black-and-white and you have that unique stippling style. It is quite distinctive. How did you develop such a unique style? Were you ever told early on to follow a more traditional style/technique?

I gave up the “stipple” style 20 years ago or so in favor of painting with watercolor. The stippling stood out in my comics because no one else was really doing it but it finally started to slow me down as far as excepting assignments and it was also beginning to affect my eyesight.

You’ve worked on several cards and card sets for Topps and others. How do you find working on trading cards compared to other mediums?

I had a lot of fun working on several card series for Topps, including Toxic High, along with my friend Mark Newgarden, but I finally wanted to move on to create more personal work like my Jewish Comedians series, a series of Sideshow Freaks portraits, and my next book project, over 80 full color portraits and biographies of the pioneering legends of American Comics books, Heroes of The Comics, coming out in July from Fantagraphics with a foreword by Mad legend Al Jaffee.

Any plans for work on trading cards soon or down the road?

No, no plans right now.

You’re quite active on Facebook. Do you find the site helpful to promote your various projects or just a fun diversion? Or both?

I enjoy Facebook but try not to post too often. It can be distracting and suck you in. It is defiantly great for promoting projects and events.

What are you working on now?

Basically I’m putting the finishing touches on Heroes of The Comics and then I’ll spend much of the rest of the year promoting it. It debuts at the San Diego Comic Con in July, where I’ll be a guest.

Non-Sport Update would like to thank Friedman for his time (and immense talent!). If you live in the New York City area, or are visiting, we encourage you to go check out the exhibit.

If you go: Drew Friedman’s Old Jewish Comedian exhibit runs through May 3 at the Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10065). Visit the Society of Illustrators website for more information on the exhibit, Jeffrey Catherine Jones exhibit, and Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

More info: Be sure to visit Drew Friedman’s blog (there is a very amusing story on the site about Woody Allen’s response to one of Friedman’s portraits) and Friedman’s Facebook page.

Drew Friedman images

 

The Art of Robert Aragon Nominated For Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award

Previous

Smooth as Glass

Next

No Comments

    Join the Conversation

    Email this post to a friend.

    or Close