I tend to cry when I’m scared. The first time I saw “The Sixth Sense” (the first time being infinitely scarier than all subsequent times, for obvious reasons), I was at a friend’s house and started weeping so loudly that my friend’s mother came in and accused my friend of having attacked me. Luckily, only certain, pretty specific things scare me. For instance, I am terrified of ghosts who are children but have old-people voices, but am not really spooked by serial killers. I live in constant fear of the sort of fungal infection that starts as just, like, a pimple but then eats all of your skin, but not of flying in small propeller planes. The way my mom leaves a knife precariously balanced on the edge of the kitchen counter keeps me awake at night, but somehow not (or not nearly enough) the fact that the world is going to end in approximately twelve years because of global warming. All to say I am a fearful weirdo, prone to terror-tearing-up at the strangest things. Thankfully, Lars Kenseth’s horror-filled cartoons make me laugh—the only crying comes when I’m laughing extra hard. Drawing fear, but funny, is a peculiar feat, and Lars was kind enough to be filmed, sharing some of the skills that are required to pull it off. Whether or not that wall of hats behind him is a collection culled from the heads of every hitchhiker he’s murdered—well, that’s for us all to continue to ponder.
—Emma Allen, New Yorker cartoon editor
Do you draw with your left or right hand?
Right. I’m boring.
What art do you have hanging on your studio walls/above your drawing desk?
Three precariously hung shelves jammed with books, art supplies, paperwork, music equipment . . . Now that I’m thinking about it, it could easily all collapse on my head, and I should do something about it. Soon. Wow, this Q might have just saved my A.
Do you snack while you draw? If so, on what?
I don’t snack and draw because I don’t think I can do it successfully. I’m clumsy and I’ll probably get salsa or dry-roasted-peanut dust everywhere.
Do you listen to music or podcasts while you draw? If so, specify.
I listen to a myriad of podcasts, most of which are newsy or political analysis. I’m obsessed with politics. “Rabbit Hole,” “The Daily,” “Left, Right & Center,” The New Yorker Radio Hour (obviously), “The Chuck Toddcast,” “Post Reports,” “NPR Politics Podcast,” “Up First” from NPR . . . Maybe too much news/politics. I also love “Endless Thread,” even though I’ve maybe been on Reddit thrice. And I love, love, love our Fiction and Writer’s Voice podcasts. It’s great, especially when I can’t read the stories in the magazine, which is often. I also listen to a lot of audiobooks. Right now, “Foundation,” a book about the medieval beginnings of England.
What object or setting do you absolutely hate drawing?
Crowd scenes. Too much work. And I always nitpick, so it takes me days to draw a scene that might take another cartoonist an hour.
What’s your favorite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché (e.g., desert island, grim reaper, Rapunzel tower, etc.)?
Probably desert island, because it’s so challenging to come up with an idea that hasn’t been done! However, I do have a burning passion for Minotaur cartoons. Addams has my favorite: a Minotaur posing as a guard, casually leaning against the wall of a labyrinthine museum. Hopefully, one day, if I stay in school and eat my vegetables, I will sell one.
If you could have dinner with one cartoonist, living or dead, tonight, who would it be?
Roz Chast, because I miss our fun dinners whenever my wife and I would visit New York (sob).
What would you serve?
I’d serve pizza and wine, because I make great pizza and I buy great wine.
What was your favorite cartoon (strip or animation) when you were a kid?
Weirdly, the cartoons of The New Yorker. My dad exposed me to Sam Gross and Charles Addams at around seven years old. That was the gateway drug. The world felt so adult. I couldn’t wait to grow up.
What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon-sale check on?
I found out I’d sold my first two right before I walked in to see the scary Swedish rock band Ghost. They’re a group of faceless ghouls whose lead singer is . . . well, I guess I could best describe him as the antipope? I hadn’t got paid yet, but I remember feeling like I should reward myself with some Ghost merch. But I promise that’s the last time I’ll ever use my cartoon money for evil.
If you had to get a tattoo (or new tattoo) right now, what would you get?
My wife, Liz, and I often threaten to get tattoos together, but it never happens. Part of the problem is that I can never decide what to get. So, I guess if I had to get a tattoo right now, it would probably be a tiny dot on my shoulder or something.
Dogs or cats?
Cats, all the way.
