The Best of the Rejection Collection: 297 Cartoons That Were Too Dark, Too Weird, or Too Dirty for The New Yorker

They’re back: the funniest cartoons you’ll never see in The New Yorker. Now in its second edition, The Best of the Rejection Collection has 20% new cartoons, new contributors, and a new introduction by the author—all now in a more compact trim size. But not everything’s changed—the new edition keeps 100% of the genius-without-restraint quality that caused Eustace Tilley to hold his nose and turn away when these cartoons were originally submitted. It doesn’t matter if the artist is Roz Chast or Ellis Rosen or Amy Hwang or David Sipress—even Matthew Diffee, the curator of this very collection, isn’t exempt. If the work in question is too weird, too dark, too naughty, too juvenile, or too outrageous, it will be rejected. Fortunately for us, Matthew Diffee rescued these cartoons from the circular file to share with the world, and what a treat it is. The setups are familiar—a couple in bed. A ventriloquist and his dummy. A few people stranded on a desert island. Doctor and patient in the examining room. But the jokes are anything but, with a twist so unexpected—sometimes shocking—you can’t help but laugh out loud. Hundreds and hundreds of cartoons pour into The New Yorker cartoon office every week, and most are rejected. Only Matt Diffee has had the unflinching heroism to sort through these hilarious rejects. Lucky us! • The Best of the Rejection Collection returns with 20% new material, celebrating the funniest cartoons you never saw in The New Yorker • It’s the cream of the crap, from Roz Chast, Gahan Wilson, Sam Gross, Jack Zeigler, David Sipress, and more • In its earlier editions, the Rejection Collection series has over 95,000 copies in print