Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Mike Luckovich
Aired December 29, 2002 - 09:37 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: Editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich is joining us. He a Pulitzer Prize winner, he draws for the "Atlanta Journal Constitution."
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And Mike has been with us this morning creating a cartoon that's based on what you voted as the top story of the year, the biggest story of the year. And you had a number of stories to choose from.
You're looking now at the poll that our viewers logged in there and voted. What stories they had to choose from were amazing, because we've had the war in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, we had the sniper shootings in Washington, D.C., the Enron scandal, and, of course, the story making big news here at end of the year, which would be Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
And that story came out number one. Let's see what you drew.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: All right. Now, you know, I was under pressure here. I was, during the news break, I was just drawing very quickly, trying to get this done. And I actually did two drawings based on the poll.
Now, the first one here, I just love that Michael Jackson baby dangling thing.
SAN MIGUEL: You can't get away from that, can you? You just love that story.
LUCKOVICH: And you can use it for so many things. So I have got Saddam dangling the peace baby over the balcony.
CALLAWAY: And you didn't find out what the number one story was until you walked in this morning.
LUCKOVICH: No, I walked in this morning, and -- but, you know, I like the pressure. And normally, I spend a little bit longer. I don't want my editors at the newspaper to think I can do this in 20 minutes. Normally...
SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, they'll start shortening your deadlines even more.
LUCKOVICH: Now, the second cartoon I did today, based on the poll, was Saddam celebrating. He's yelling "I've won the mother of all unscientific polls." SAN MIGUEL: Based on the poll we just talked about?
LUCKOVICH: Exactly. He's taking whatever victory he can get at this point.
SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, imagine all votes in Iraq are, you know, basically unscientific.
LUCKOVICH: I think that's true.
SAN MIGUEL: When you get 99 percent of the vote...
LUCKOVICH: You know something's not right.
CALLAWAY: I'm just wondering, you know, does he own one of these smiley face hats?
LUCKOVICH: You know, I always draw that little smiley face, because he's sort of a whacky guy, and a little crazy. Well, very crazy. So I just put the happy face up there.
SAN MIGUEL: A little juxtaposition there, I would think.
LUCKOVICH: Yes, yes, yes.
CALLAWAY: You brought more with you today?
LUCKOVICH: Yes, I did. The last couple of weeks...
(CROSSTALK)
SAN MIGUEL: Two under pressure. That's very good.
LUCKOVICH: You know, in a few weeks, I'll put like five and six, there will be 20, 40.
SAN MIGUEL: You'll have a whole panel full of them ready to go.
LUCKOVICH: Now, these are from the last couple of weeks. And what I really love is when it comes to the holiday season, you can use symbols so easily for your cartoons. And of course, the big story, almost taking some of the focus off of Iraq is North Korea. So I did this cartoon. An aide is outside the Oval Office and he's saying "Sir, I know you're focused on Iraq, but do you have time for fruit a fruitcake"?
SAN MIGUEL: There you go, for a fruitcake.
LUCKOVICH: For a fruitcake.
CALLAWAY: And he's carrying a nuclear weapon.
SAN MIGUEL: With Kim Jong-Il, I would assume.
LUCKOVICH: Kim Jong-Il. You know, Kim, I love this Kim Jong-Il. He's got Ernie's hair from "Bert and Ernie." How many world leaders can you say that about?
SAN MIGUEL: This is true. This is true.
LUCKOVICH: Amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
SAN MIGUEL: What else do you have for us?
LUCKOVICH: Well, here's this -- one thing that Bush announced this past couple of weeks was the creation of the missile shield. Now, the problem with the missile shield technology is that unless the missile that's fired at us is as big as the Goodyear blimp and as slow and it has to blink, that's the only way we're going to be able to shoot it down. So I don't understand why they're building this right now when the technology isn't there. It doesn't make sense.
Now, they have been successful in at least one missile shield that they've -- one shield that they've created. And I drew that here. I've got an aide saying to the president -- "Mr. President, our missile shield doesn't work. Plus it will cost billions. Mr. President?" And you see, he's deployed the logic defense shield.
SAN MIGUEL: He's actually inside this logic defense shield.
CALLAWAY: You know, until this, we had no idea one existed, right?
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
SAN MIGUEL: This is one science has come up with there. And the next one here?
LUCKOVICH: All right, let's see, I think we're at the telemarketers. And in the last couple of weeks, they've announced, the FTC, that you can call a number and get off their...
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, the national...
LUCKOVICH: Do not call list.
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, the do not call list, the national program.
LUCKOVICH: And I just figured that telemarketers, being telemarketers, are going to find a way around that ruling. So I drew a gentleman, he's crashed into a home and he's saying, "you need our new long distance service." And the wife is saying -- "telemarketers are finding ways around the no-call rule."
SAN MIGUEL: Now you've gone and done it, you've given them an idea. I don't like this cartoon. We need to get rid of this.
LUCKOVICH: You know, as long as they don't crash through our walls around dinner time. That's my only...
SAN MIGUEL: But they'll find a way to do it, while you're in the shower or something like that. So thanks a lot for giving them a clue there.
LUCKOVICH: Now, another great topic, maybe not for Trent Lott, but for cartoonists has been Trent Lott.
CALLAWAY: Oh, we've been waiting for this one.
LUCKOVICH: And so I drew this one, as you can. He's -- you see a couple of African-Americans and Trent Lott is saying "whassup." They say, well, that's Trent Lott. He lost his Senate majority position as leader, but he still -- they made him head of spitoon cleanup in the Senate. So he still has a role to play.
CALLAWAY: I was expecting Frist to be in there somewhere. Same kind of hair.
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, but he's just not as good for cartoonists at this point. We don't know enough about him.
SAN MIGUEL: He hasn't made a political gaffe yet.
LUCKOVICH: Right, yeah, we're waiting. I've got my pen.
SAN MIGUEL: Pen poised.
CALLAWAY: Mike, thank you so much. You always bring a little cheer to us.
LUCKOVICH: Well, thank you for having me again. It's been great.
SAN MIGUEL: And we hope you have a good new year and we'll be waiting to see what cartoons you have on the other side of the new year.
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 December 29, 2002 - 09:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich is joining us. He a Pulitzer Prize winner, he draws for the "Atlanta Journal Constitution."
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: And Mike has been with us this morning creating a cartoon that's based on what you voted as the top story of the year, the biggest story of the year. And you had a number of stories to choose from.
You're looking now at the poll that our viewers logged in there and voted. What stories they had to choose from were amazing, because we've had the war in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, we had the sniper shootings in Washington, D.C., the Enron scandal, and, of course, the story making big news here at end of the year, which would be Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
And that story came out number one. Let's see what you drew.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: All right. Now, you know, I was under pressure here. I was, during the news break, I was just drawing very quickly, trying to get this done. And I actually did two drawings based on the poll.
Now, the first one here, I just love that Michael Jackson baby dangling thing.
SAN MIGUEL: You can't get away from that, can you? You just love that story.
LUCKOVICH: And you can use it for so many things. So I have got Saddam dangling the peace baby over the balcony.
CALLAWAY: And you didn't find out what the number one story was until you walked in this morning.
LUCKOVICH: No, I walked in this morning, and -- but, you know, I like the pressure. And normally, I spend a little bit longer. I don't want my editors at the newspaper to think I can do this in 20 minutes. Normally...
SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, they'll start shortening your deadlines even more.
LUCKOVICH: Now, the second cartoon I did today, based on the poll, was Saddam celebrating. He's yelling "I've won the mother of all unscientific polls." SAN MIGUEL: Based on the poll we just talked about?
LUCKOVICH: Exactly. He's taking whatever victory he can get at this point.
SAN MIGUEL: I was going to say, imagine all votes in Iraq are, you know, basically unscientific.
LUCKOVICH: I think that's true.
SAN MIGUEL: When you get 99 percent of the vote...
LUCKOVICH: You know something's not right.
CALLAWAY: I'm just wondering, you know, does he own one of these smiley face hats?
LUCKOVICH: You know, I always draw that little smiley face, because he's sort of a whacky guy, and a little crazy. Well, very crazy. So I just put the happy face up there.
SAN MIGUEL: A little juxtaposition there, I would think.
LUCKOVICH: Yes, yes, yes.
CALLAWAY: You brought more with you today?
LUCKOVICH: Yes, I did. The last couple of weeks...
(CROSSTALK)
SAN MIGUEL: Two under pressure. That's very good.
LUCKOVICH: You know, in a few weeks, I'll put like five and six, there will be 20, 40.
SAN MIGUEL: You'll have a whole panel full of them ready to go.
LUCKOVICH: Now, these are from the last couple of weeks. And what I really love is when it comes to the holiday season, you can use symbols so easily for your cartoons. And of course, the big story, almost taking some of the focus off of Iraq is North Korea. So I did this cartoon. An aide is outside the Oval Office and he's saying "Sir, I know you're focused on Iraq, but do you have time for fruit a fruitcake"?
SAN MIGUEL: There you go, for a fruitcake.
LUCKOVICH: For a fruitcake.
CALLAWAY: And he's carrying a nuclear weapon.
SAN MIGUEL: With Kim Jong-Il, I would assume.
LUCKOVICH: Kim Jong-Il. You know, Kim, I love this Kim Jong-Il. He's got Ernie's hair from "Bert and Ernie." How many world leaders can you say that about?
SAN MIGUEL: This is true. This is true.
LUCKOVICH: Amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
SAN MIGUEL: What else do you have for us?
LUCKOVICH: Well, here's this -- one thing that Bush announced this past couple of weeks was the creation of the missile shield. Now, the problem with the missile shield technology is that unless the missile that's fired at us is as big as the Goodyear blimp and as slow and it has to blink, that's the only way we're going to be able to shoot it down. So I don't understand why they're building this right now when the technology isn't there. It doesn't make sense.
Now, they have been successful in at least one missile shield that they've -- one shield that they've created. And I drew that here. I've got an aide saying to the president -- "Mr. President, our missile shield doesn't work. Plus it will cost billions. Mr. President?" And you see, he's deployed the logic defense shield.
SAN MIGUEL: He's actually inside this logic defense shield.
CALLAWAY: You know, until this, we had no idea one existed, right?
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
SAN MIGUEL: This is one science has come up with there. And the next one here?
LUCKOVICH: All right, let's see, I think we're at the telemarketers. And in the last couple of weeks, they've announced, the FTC, that you can call a number and get off their...
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, the national...
LUCKOVICH: Do not call list.
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, the do not call list, the national program.
LUCKOVICH: And I just figured that telemarketers, being telemarketers, are going to find a way around that ruling. So I drew a gentleman, he's crashed into a home and he's saying, "you need our new long distance service." And the wife is saying -- "telemarketers are finding ways around the no-call rule."
SAN MIGUEL: Now you've gone and done it, you've given them an idea. I don't like this cartoon. We need to get rid of this.
LUCKOVICH: You know, as long as they don't crash through our walls around dinner time. That's my only...
SAN MIGUEL: But they'll find a way to do it, while you're in the shower or something like that. So thanks a lot for giving them a clue there.
LUCKOVICH: Now, another great topic, maybe not for Trent Lott, but for cartoonists has been Trent Lott.
CALLAWAY: Oh, we've been waiting for this one.
LUCKOVICH: And so I drew this one, as you can. He's -- you see a couple of African-Americans and Trent Lott is saying "whassup." They say, well, that's Trent Lott. He lost his Senate majority position as leader, but he still -- they made him head of spitoon cleanup in the Senate. So he still has a role to play.
CALLAWAY: I was expecting Frist to be in there somewhere. Same kind of hair.
LUCKOVICH: Yeah, but he's just not as good for cartoonists at this point. We don't know enough about him.
SAN MIGUEL: He hasn't made a political gaffe yet.
LUCKOVICH: Right, yeah, we're waiting. I've got my pen.
SAN MIGUEL: Pen poised.
CALLAWAY: Mike, thank you so much. You always bring a little cheer to us.
LUCKOVICH: Well, thank you for having me again. It's been great.
SAN MIGUEL: And we hope you have a good new year and we'll be waiting to see what cartoons you have on the other side of the new year.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
