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Interview With Mike Luckovich

Aired September 13, 2002 - 14:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Over the past year, people paid to be funny have had a pretty tough time. Amid terror attacks and war, it's been hard to poke fun at the state of the world, or the nation's political leaders. Joining me now to talk about political humor in the wake of 9/11, cartoonist Mike Luckovich of "The Atlanta Journal- Constitution."
Now as funny as you may be, you also have a serious side, I have got to tell you.

MIKE LUCKOVICH, POLITICAL CARTOONIST: Well, that is true. Normally, I like to get my points across using humor, but after 9/11, there was a time where you just could not use humor at all. And actually, being -- an editorial cartoonist it was -- it was sort of different at that point, because normally I like to poke fun at things, show things -- show that I don't like things that are going on. And in this case, I was trying to help -- I was just trying to be supportive and be patriotic.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know what, you were, with this first one, and this is my favorite one, "Liberty Mourns." And I know, oh, boy, we got e-mails and calls across the country about this cartoon. Talk to me about this.

LUCKOVICH: Well, of course, on that day, I watched it at home. I was watching CNN with my wife and our new baby, and I came into work and I knew I had to do a cartoon, and I couldn't use humor. And I was -- I was so darn upset, as everyone else was, and I had all these different emotions, and so I spent all day trying to come up with an image that would get across how I was feeling.

So I ran out of time and ended up doing this one. And I brought it home, and I put it down -- I said -- my wife said, well, I like it. She could tell I didn't like it, and the reason I didn't like it I guess is because I was trying to say too much in one cartoon. And so the cartoon ran, and there was a -- there was an outpouring from people that found comfort in the cartoon, so I felt like maybe I had not screwed up too badly.

PHILLIPS: No, you didn't. And we even had it hanging in our home, as you know, with much pride.

Well, now, another one, another one of my favorites and a lot of people here in the newsroom too. "The Heroes," and now, in a way, there is some humor here, but boy, so true. LUCKOVICH: Right. Right. After the initial event and the next day after I'd done the Statue of Liberty cartoon, I started thinking about a smaller but still immense aspect of the tragedy, and that would be rescue workers running up the towers to save people, putting their own -- not worrying about their own lives, and so when they came down, I started thinking, well, where did they end up, and this is what I came up with, and I've got a fireman radioing.

PHILLIPS: Radioing?

LUCKOVICH: Radioing. That's a tough word.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it is.

LUCKOVICH: Radioing in and saying, we've reached the top.

PHILLIPS: And yes, they have, many of them.

All right, the next one. This one I guess reflecting a bit of your anger.

LUCKOVICH: Right.

PHILLIPS: "The Holy Koran."

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, the terrorists who claim that they are religious and standing up for the Koran, and then they blaspheme the Koran, so I just tried to show Islamic terrorists crashing into the Koran, like it's a building.

PHILLIPS: "Nativity Scene" is the next one we're going to look at.

LUCKOVICH: Right. You know, I did this -- this next cartoon -- this was -- around the holiday seasons, it's always enjoyable to use different aspects of the holiday season.

PHILLIPS: I guess we do not have this one. I apologize.

LUCKOVICH: All right, well.

PHILLIPS: That's OK. It was more -- you were talking about the holiday season.

LUCKOVICH: Well, it was just -- it was Ashcroft looking at the nativity scene, and he sees the tree wisemen and the whole group, and he says, well, they look Middle Eastern, let's detain them.

Just because I am not sure of what Ashcroft is doing. And his -- I think in trying to save us, he is hurting us a little bit, so that's what I was trying to point out.

PHILLIPS: All right, we've got the next one. We're talking about leaders, of course. Let's talk about National Security Director Tom Ridge. You did this piece.

LUCKOVICH: Oh yes.

PHILLIPS: He actually looks pretty handsome there.

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, well, you know...

PHILLIPS: Usually, you are not so generous.

LUCKOVICH: I know it, I know it. Yeah, he's not a bad looking guy. See, after 9/11, things calmed down a little bit and you could bring humor back into cartoons. And so this was -- this has got to be the goofiest thing of all to me, this terror warning alert system. And so when he announced it, I just thought it was funny, and so I've got a couple here and they're watching him, and he has got his hand on an M&M candy wrapper, and the woman is saying, "Tom Ridge is about to unveil today's terror alert color."

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, this one was another one of my favorites, and this showed the humor of Donald Rumsfeld. Finally, we're getting the humor back into our lives since September 11. Tell me about the cartoon. First, tell the story behind this.

LUCKOVICH: All right. Well, this was not one of my favorite cartoons, but we were having a week of numerous terror warnings, and so Bush is talking to the FBI Director Mueller and Rumsfeld and Cheney, and he's saying, "anything interesting, intelligence warning- wise?" And you see their hair is all standing on end. I think I gave Cheney too much hair, though.

But -- so I did this cartoon, and then a couple of days later, a general called me and said that Rumsfeld liked the cartoon, would you send him a copy? And he said, and send another copy, and he'll send it -- he'll sign it and send it back.

So I did that, but I got to thinking about it, and I thought, well, you know what, it would be fun to send something else along.

PHILLIPS: So you made up this certificate.

LUCKOVICH: Right. I made up this certificate. It's got a little seal with Rummy's face on it, and it says, "from the desk of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld," it's official, and it says: "This entitles American patriot Mike Luckovich weekend use of a gassed-up M- 1 Abrams tank, plus free lunch at Pentagon cafeteria." Now, I sent that along, and it said, "signed, defense secretary." Well, he actually signed that, but he made a couple of stipulations. He said...

PHILLIPS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

LUCKOVICH: Right. First of all, as far as the cafeteria lunch goes at the Pentagon, he says it can't be at the taxpayers expense, and number one, as far as the tank goes, he says, "in the country of their choice."

PHILLIPS: Has he told you yet what country?

LUCKOVICH: No, I'm still sitting by the phone waiting for that call to come in.

PHILLIPS: And a lot of it is talked about how Donald Rumsfeld has brought humor into a lot of his briefing in a really tough time, a lot of curious talk is going on, but he has made us laugh.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Well, that is kind of why I thought I would send this, I figured it could not hurt, and it kind of made me feel good, because if someone's got a sense of humor, it calms me down a little bit when I know that they are making the decisions in this country. So.

PHILLIPS: It shows that they are real.

LUCKOVICH: It shows they're real, exactly.

PHILLIPS: All right. We've got another one too. This is "The Man With the Big Gulp." Explain this one to me. I have not seen this one.

LUCKOVICH: Well, all right. Now, well, you know, security -- I used to be able to get on a plane so easily, and now it's hard. So I drew this cartoon, I've got a guy with the Big Gulp, one of those 7-11 cups, and he is trying to get into the men's room, and the security guard now is saying, "describe the nature of your visit." So things have gotten a little tighter.

PHILLIPS: And finally -- do we have time for one more, guys?

All right, we have got time for one more. We'll move onto the next one, "Powell With Cheney." And Cheney with the bunny ears. This is a cute one. This is actually -- do we have this one?

LUCKOVICH: All right.

PHILLIPS: We are getting it.

PHILLIPS: There it is.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, there it is.

PHILLIPS: This is one of our producer's favorites.

LUCKOVICH: Oh, all right. Well, there seems to be a little rift in the administration as to what to do about Iraq, so you have got Powell making a peace sign, and then Cheney behind him, and Powell is saying, how come your peace sign is always behind my head?

PHILLIPS: Mike Luckovich, it's always a pleasure.

LUCKOVICH: Kyra, it's a pleasure to be here.

PHILLIPS: It's always good to laugh. Seriously. What's next?

You didn't touch CNN; I am really surprised.

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know, I occasionally hit CNN. Don't worry. I will occasionally hit them. You know, Sunday's cartoon -- oh, it's on Osama taking backseat to Saddam.

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy.

LUCKOVICH: So that's my cartoon.

PHILLIPS: Well, the truth behind that, I think the military is after both individuals, though, in a pretty steadfast way.

LUCKOVICH: I think so, yes.

PHILLIPS: All right, Mike Luckovich, thank you so much.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you, Kyra.

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