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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Mike Luckovich, Part II

Aired November 24, 2002 - 08:41   ET

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

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


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Every couple of weeks or so, editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich drops by to visit us. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner. He draws for the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution."
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. He's here to share his work with us, and his latest work, including one he just drew a few moments ago. And his leg went to sleep because he had his leg bent drawing. So he hopped.

SAN MIGUEL: Next time we promise to get you an easel. We'll invest in an easel.

CALLAWAY: And we don't want to mistreat our guests. Especially you.

MIKE LUCKOVICH, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, you know, the leg's waking up now. I'm doing much better.

Now, this is the cartoon that I did. I have got -- you see a turkey has cut off his own head and he's left a suicide note. It says, "I couldn't stand hearing about J.Lo and Ben anymore. Signed, the turkey."

SAN MIGUEL: Obviously he's been taking a spelling from the Chick Filet cows.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly. Turkeys aren't very bright so I made some grammatical errors there.

CALLAWAY: You're just upset because you weren't one of the sexiest people in "People" magazine.

LUCKOVICH: To be nudged out by Ben Affleck is just very frustrating, so I am bitter.

SAN MIGUEL: OK, all right. We will excuse you for that. But nice job for coming up on a spur of the moment, impromptu. You know, we do appreciate you doing that.

LUCKOVICH: A half hour cartoon job? You can't ask for anything more.

SAN MIGUEL: This is true.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, we can ask for that. Can we keep it? LUCKOVICH: Yeah, you may have that.

SAN MIGUEL: It's already signed and everything.

LUCKOVICH: It is. It is.

SAN MIGUEL: What else do you have for us this morning?

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know, the last couple weeks have been so incredible news-wise. Probably the biggest topic I think was the re- emergence of Osama bin Laden. Now, to me, it seems like with Bush sort of not mentioning Osama anymore and Saddam suddenly being the big evil guy, Osama I think was just feeling a little bit jealous and worrying about his place at the top. Sort of like Britney Spears. He was starting to fall.

And so...

SAN MIGUEL: Feeling a little left out.

LUCKOVICH: Feeling a little left out. So this is a cartoon I did. A CIA agent is saying to Bush, "we think Osama's alive." And you see Osama walking across the Oval Office saying with his phone, "can you hear me now?"

SAN MIGUEL: From a popular commercial for wireless telephones.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly. Now, all this week we've been learning that the government to pursuit terrorism, they're eroding our civil liberty a little bit, as far as wire tapping and monitoring computers and things like that. And one of the main architects of this whole thing is John Ashcroft. Now, John Ashcroft to me is a little bit creepy. He's kind of like the Michael Jackson of law enforcement.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Don't sugar coat it here, Mike. Just give us what you think.

LUCKOVICH: So this is a cartoon. I've got...

CALLAWAY: Santa Claus is wired.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Right. He's wired. And what I really liked about this cartoon is just John Ashcroft's expression there. Trying to catch that. He's -- the little kid is saying, "and I want an action blaster." So Ashcroft is really paying attention.

SAN MIGUEL: Wide eyed and all ears there.

LUCKOVICH: That's right. Now, also, this week we had the tanker off the coast of Spain sunk, which was a traumatic experience for the White House. And I tried to capture it with this cartoon, if we could show that. I have got Cheney watching television. Someone is saying, "an oil tanker sank threatening an environmental catastrophe and killing marine life." And Cheney's crying. And an aide is saying to Cheney, "the tanker's in a better place, sir."

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Trying to comfort Dick Cheney, who with the energy relationship (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

LUCKOVICH: They're not very environmentally friendly at this White House.

CALLAWAY: I'm not sure if you meant the tanker or better place than Cheney.

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know...

SAN MIGUEL: He's still in that undisclosed location, so who knows if he's in a better place or not.

LUCKOVICH: Now, you know, another -- just a great topic this week was that environmental religious group who came out with the "what would Jesus drive" thing. And so this is a cartoon I did on that. You see -- the Savior is reading car ads.

SAN MIGUEL: Checking out the car ads.

LUCKOVICH: Now, I'm something of a biblical scholar, and I can tell you that in Matthew, there are repeated veiled references to the Pontiac Grand Am.

SAN MIGUEL: Are there really? I have always thought Jesus was the kind of guy who would take public transit. You know, if you really want to save on the environment, you know, take the bus.

LUCKOVICH: Or he would walk, I would think.

SAN MIGUEL: Or he would walk. There you go.

LUCKOVICH: Now, finally, the best story, at least from a cartoonist's perspective, was the Michael Jackson little child over the balcony thing. And so this is the cartoon that I did on that. You see Michael Jackson dangling someone. And oh my god, now he's dangling Liz Taylor.

SAN MIGUEL: You've got the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) going on that one, too. You know, I knew that I was going to be anchoring this weekend. I knew that you were going to be one of our guests on Sunday. And I just knew when I saw this in the news that you were going to be all over this.

CALLAWAY: First of all, Mike, that would be physically impossible.

SAN MIGUEL: You think he's strong enough?

LUCKOVICH: Well, that is cartoon license. And actually, I think with Michael Jackson, I think the reason he dangled that baby over is because maybe the baby made fun of his nose. That could have been.

SAN MIGUEL: We did get a good shot of that during the trial. I am wondering, did you immediately start working on this? This is such ripe material.

LUCKOVICH: Actually, it's one of those things where I saw the photo and I was just flabbergasted by it.

CALLAWAY: How could this happen.

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, and then -- but it actually took a day until I saw that the entire nation was aware of this thing. And then it just seemed, well, this is just such a perfect topic. And I love things like that.

CALLAWAY: I have to say, my favorite one from you this week was the one of Osama bin Laden almost as a telephone pole looking over President Bush, who was hammering a wanted poster of Saddam Hussein.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Right. Well, you see, I think that the terrorism fight has shifted, and I worry that we're not going to get Osama and all those guys. I think we should take care of them first and then get Saddam.

SAN MIGUEL: This is a political cartoonist exercising the rights of opinion. A lot of other folks in the country have that opinion as well.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly true.

SAN MIGUEL: I was wondering, just a quick question, a lot of the Michael Jackson photos, all of that, they circulate on the Internet faster than they do on the more traditional media. And I'm wondering, do you make it a point or how often do you check the Internet? Maybe some of the most popular photos that are on Yahoo or Google or whatever. Do you make that a part of your daily routine?

LUCKOVICH: I do. And that's why I waited a day, because I had seen it on the Internet first. And you know, I love checking out the Internet. The week before they had a photo of Michael in court, where you really saw a closeup of his nose problems. So, yeah. I'm always checking there. And sometimes those things develop so they become nationwide.

CALLAWAY: You know, I can't imagine the e-mail that you get. And I've talked to you about this before, that I know some of your cartoons anger a lot of people, especially the political ones, believe it or not, are the ones that make the Republicans mad or the Democrats mad. Have you ever apologized to anyone or felt the need to?

LUCKOVICH: I once apologized to our then Governor Zell Miller, because I had done a cartoon that was insulting of mountain people, or the sort of the stereotypical term is hillbillies. And he didn't like the cartoon. And he sent repeated letters. He was so upset about the cartoon that I felt a real need to apologize to him. That's the only time I ever...

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAWAY: They weren't angry letters, they were just concern?

LUCKOVICH: Well, they were angry and concerned. He was just so heartsick about the cartoon. And I just felt for the guy. So that's the one and only time.

SAN MIGUEL: But most of the time, you are an equal opportunity offender?

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

SAN MIGUEL: Mike Luckovich with the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution," thanks again for doing that and thanks for the impromptu cartoon. We do appreciate it.

LUCKOVICH: You're very welcome.

SAN MIGUEL: Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 24, 2002 - 08:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Every couple of weeks or so, editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich drops by to visit us. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner. He draws for the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution."
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. He's here to share his work with us, and his latest work, including one he just drew a few moments ago. And his leg went to sleep because he had his leg bent drawing. So he hopped.

SAN MIGUEL: Next time we promise to get you an easel. We'll invest in an easel.

CALLAWAY: And we don't want to mistreat our guests. Especially you.

MIKE LUCKOVICH, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, you know, the leg's waking up now. I'm doing much better.

Now, this is the cartoon that I did. I have got -- you see a turkey has cut off his own head and he's left a suicide note. It says, "I couldn't stand hearing about J.Lo and Ben anymore. Signed, the turkey."

SAN MIGUEL: Obviously he's been taking a spelling from the Chick Filet cows.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly. Turkeys aren't very bright so I made some grammatical errors there.

CALLAWAY: You're just upset because you weren't one of the sexiest people in "People" magazine.

LUCKOVICH: To be nudged out by Ben Affleck is just very frustrating, so I am bitter.

SAN MIGUEL: OK, all right. We will excuse you for that. But nice job for coming up on a spur of the moment, impromptu. You know, we do appreciate you doing that.

LUCKOVICH: A half hour cartoon job? You can't ask for anything more.

SAN MIGUEL: This is true.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, we can ask for that. Can we keep it? LUCKOVICH: Yeah, you may have that.

SAN MIGUEL: It's already signed and everything.

LUCKOVICH: It is. It is.

SAN MIGUEL: What else do you have for us this morning?

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know, the last couple weeks have been so incredible news-wise. Probably the biggest topic I think was the re- emergence of Osama bin Laden. Now, to me, it seems like with Bush sort of not mentioning Osama anymore and Saddam suddenly being the big evil guy, Osama I think was just feeling a little bit jealous and worrying about his place at the top. Sort of like Britney Spears. He was starting to fall.

And so...

SAN MIGUEL: Feeling a little left out.

LUCKOVICH: Feeling a little left out. So this is a cartoon I did. A CIA agent is saying to Bush, "we think Osama's alive." And you see Osama walking across the Oval Office saying with his phone, "can you hear me now?"

SAN MIGUEL: From a popular commercial for wireless telephones.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly. Now, all this week we've been learning that the government to pursuit terrorism, they're eroding our civil liberty a little bit, as far as wire tapping and monitoring computers and things like that. And one of the main architects of this whole thing is John Ashcroft. Now, John Ashcroft to me is a little bit creepy. He's kind of like the Michael Jackson of law enforcement.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Don't sugar coat it here, Mike. Just give us what you think.

LUCKOVICH: So this is a cartoon. I've got...

CALLAWAY: Santa Claus is wired.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Right. He's wired. And what I really liked about this cartoon is just John Ashcroft's expression there. Trying to catch that. He's -- the little kid is saying, "and I want an action blaster." So Ashcroft is really paying attention.

SAN MIGUEL: Wide eyed and all ears there.

LUCKOVICH: That's right. Now, also, this week we had the tanker off the coast of Spain sunk, which was a traumatic experience for the White House. And I tried to capture it with this cartoon, if we could show that. I have got Cheney watching television. Someone is saying, "an oil tanker sank threatening an environmental catastrophe and killing marine life." And Cheney's crying. And an aide is saying to Cheney, "the tanker's in a better place, sir."

SAN MIGUEL: OK. Trying to comfort Dick Cheney, who with the energy relationship (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

LUCKOVICH: They're not very environmentally friendly at this White House.

CALLAWAY: I'm not sure if you meant the tanker or better place than Cheney.

LUCKOVICH: Well, you know...

SAN MIGUEL: He's still in that undisclosed location, so who knows if he's in a better place or not.

LUCKOVICH: Now, you know, another -- just a great topic this week was that environmental religious group who came out with the "what would Jesus drive" thing. And so this is a cartoon I did on that. You see -- the Savior is reading car ads.

SAN MIGUEL: Checking out the car ads.

LUCKOVICH: Now, I'm something of a biblical scholar, and I can tell you that in Matthew, there are repeated veiled references to the Pontiac Grand Am.

SAN MIGUEL: Are there really? I have always thought Jesus was the kind of guy who would take public transit. You know, if you really want to save on the environment, you know, take the bus.

LUCKOVICH: Or he would walk, I would think.

SAN MIGUEL: Or he would walk. There you go.

LUCKOVICH: Now, finally, the best story, at least from a cartoonist's perspective, was the Michael Jackson little child over the balcony thing. And so this is the cartoon that I did on that. You see Michael Jackson dangling someone. And oh my god, now he's dangling Liz Taylor.

SAN MIGUEL: You've got the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) going on that one, too. You know, I knew that I was going to be anchoring this weekend. I knew that you were going to be one of our guests on Sunday. And I just knew when I saw this in the news that you were going to be all over this.

CALLAWAY: First of all, Mike, that would be physically impossible.

SAN MIGUEL: You think he's strong enough?

LUCKOVICH: Well, that is cartoon license. And actually, I think with Michael Jackson, I think the reason he dangled that baby over is because maybe the baby made fun of his nose. That could have been.

SAN MIGUEL: We did get a good shot of that during the trial. I am wondering, did you immediately start working on this? This is such ripe material.

LUCKOVICH: Actually, it's one of those things where I saw the photo and I was just flabbergasted by it.

CALLAWAY: How could this happen.

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, and then -- but it actually took a day until I saw that the entire nation was aware of this thing. And then it just seemed, well, this is just such a perfect topic. And I love things like that.

CALLAWAY: I have to say, my favorite one from you this week was the one of Osama bin Laden almost as a telephone pole looking over President Bush, who was hammering a wanted poster of Saddam Hussein.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Right. Well, you see, I think that the terrorism fight has shifted, and I worry that we're not going to get Osama and all those guys. I think we should take care of them first and then get Saddam.

SAN MIGUEL: This is a political cartoonist exercising the rights of opinion. A lot of other folks in the country have that opinion as well.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly true.

SAN MIGUEL: I was wondering, just a quick question, a lot of the Michael Jackson photos, all of that, they circulate on the Internet faster than they do on the more traditional media. And I'm wondering, do you make it a point or how often do you check the Internet? Maybe some of the most popular photos that are on Yahoo or Google or whatever. Do you make that a part of your daily routine?

LUCKOVICH: I do. And that's why I waited a day, because I had seen it on the Internet first. And you know, I love checking out the Internet. The week before they had a photo of Michael in court, where you really saw a closeup of his nose problems. So, yeah. I'm always checking there. And sometimes those things develop so they become nationwide.

CALLAWAY: You know, I can't imagine the e-mail that you get. And I've talked to you about this before, that I know some of your cartoons anger a lot of people, especially the political ones, believe it or not, are the ones that make the Republicans mad or the Democrats mad. Have you ever apologized to anyone or felt the need to?

LUCKOVICH: I once apologized to our then Governor Zell Miller, because I had done a cartoon that was insulting of mountain people, or the sort of the stereotypical term is hillbillies. And he didn't like the cartoon. And he sent repeated letters. He was so upset about the cartoon that I felt a real need to apologize to him. That's the only time I ever...

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAWAY: They weren't angry letters, they were just concern?

LUCKOVICH: Well, they were angry and concerned. He was just so heartsick about the cartoon. And I just felt for the guy. So that's the one and only time.

SAN MIGUEL: But most of the time, you are an equal opportunity offender?

LUCKOVICH: Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

SAN MIGUEL: Mike Luckovich with the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution," thanks again for doing that and thanks for the impromptu cartoon. We do appreciate it.

LUCKOVICH: You're very welcome.

SAN MIGUEL: Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com