Matthew Diffee
Matthew Diffee is an American cartoonist best known for his single‑panel cartoons in The New Yorker. He was born in Denton, Texas, and grew up in Texas and North Carolina. His father was an airline pilot. He attended Bob Jones University planning to become a Christian missionary, and there he helped start a comedy group called the Leaping Pickes, whose motto was “We put the fun in fundamentalism.” He performed jokes, juggled, and played the banjo, and he also has a background in art and stand‑up comedy.
Diffee moved from Boston to New York and began contributing to The New Yorker in 1999 after winning a cartoon contest the magazine and the Algonquin Hotel sponsored for an all‑cartoon issue. He met the cartoon editor, Robert Mankoff, who encouraged him to submit. After three weeks, Mankoff chose one of his cartoons for publication. In the next year, he submitted many cartoons, but the magazine published only a few. The following year he sold eight cartoons at the standard rate of $675 each.
He remains a devout Christian, does not drink alcohol, and avoids drawing cartoons about sex. His first book, The Rejection Collection, gathers cartoons rejected by The New Yorker, along with questionnaires and portraits of the artists. He notes that about 90% of cartoons are rejected, even for successful freelancers. Many rejected cartoons are good but are not used because they are politically incorrect or sexually explicit. By the time of the book’s publication, The New Yorker had published more than 100 of his cartoons.
Diffee’s work is mostly single‑panel satire. He also creates other art and hosted The Rejection Show, a monthly off‑Broadway event featuring rejected works by famous artists. He plays the banjo and fiddle and has won a joggling race (juggling while running). He will appear in an upcoming documentary and hosts The Steam Powered Hour, a smart and cozy night of bluegrass music, stand‑up comedy, and cartoons.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:58 (CET).