Peter Steiner On The 20th Anniversary Of “On The Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Dog”
On this day twenty years ago, Peter Steiner’s “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” was published in The New Yorker. The cartoon went on to become the most reprinted New Yorker cartoon in modern times, and according to The New Yorker’s Cartoon Bank, it continues to this day to be the magazine’s #1 reprinted cartoon. Ink Spill caught up with Mr. Steiner the other day as he was heading out the door. He was kind enough to pause and respond to this brief flurry of questions.
Michael Maslin: It’s been twenty years since “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” was published in The New Yorker. The popularity of that drawing has moved you into the rarefied company of New Yorker cartoonists who have drawn an instantly recognizable cartoon. I think of Charles Addams famous skier who has managed to ski around both sides of a pine tree , or Thurber’s Seal in the Bedroom, Arno’s “Well, back to the old drawing board” or Bob Mankoff’s “No, Thursday’s out. How about never –is never good for you?”
What, if anything, does that mean to you, and what do you feel about the drawing now?
Peter Steiner: If a couple of journalists hadn’t contacted me about the anniversary, I wouldn’t have known it was coming. One contacted me, or tried to, by way of my Facebook page which I never visit, so I missed seeing his effort for a good month. It’s kind of amusing that I did this “seminal” cartoon about the internet and am so inept at making use of it.
I’m of course pleased to be in such lofty company as Arno, Thurber, Addams, etc., but that still seems to me like an accidental thing. The cartoon owes its popularity to its coincidental arrival with a burgeoning interest in the internet. I still don’t think of it as a great cartoon or even one of my best, although people are always telling me it is. That’s probably evidence of my biggest failing as a cartoonist: I could dream them up and draw them but I couldn’t tell if they were any good. Having said that though, when I consider the body of my work I am proud of the quality of the ideas and the drawing.
When I look at the cartoon now, it’s like it has taken on a life of its own. I don’t feel much of a connection to it. And my drawing has developed since then, so it’s not how I would draw it now.
MM: How would you draw it now? And at the risk of pushing my luck, want to take a crack at it?
PS: I’d make the drawing looser, the lines surer, everything a little less tidy. I’ll pass on drawing it again.