Very Semi-Serious review – droll doc goes inside the New Yorker's cartoon shed

“They make the strange familiar or the familiar strange.” So explains Bob Mankoff, the droll, keenly observant central figure in Leah Wolchok’s droll, keenly observant documentary Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists.

The title could be a nod to one of the single-panel cartoons in the New Yorker, and the film is a wry, slightly cerebral snapshot. It’s a minor work that knows its place in the margins, but is thought-provoking and surreptitiously insightful – and very funny.

The legendary periodical has always had a trump card with its whimsical, satirical cartoons. Wolchok’s film gets the historical characters (James Thurber, Charles Addams, Peter Arno, William Steig) out of the way early to go backstage and show you how this American institution works today. Mankoff, a purveyor of graphic wit himself, has been the cartoon editor for almost 20 years. Each week involves looking at about 1,000 submissions and whittling them down to an essential 15.

Very Semi-Serious confirms what you’ve might have expected: while the magazine’s editorial staff (and aspirational readership) may be well-heeled, the cartoonists are a marvellous band of goony weirdos who look and dress as if they belong in a New Yorker cartoon. “Getting teased as a kid is a prerequisite,” jokes Emily Flake. “There are tics,” Roz Chast shrugs, part of a long list of reasons why she doesn’t much like going outside. Mankoff is grooming a younger crop of geniuses who – and I say this with admiration and affection – might not have become functional members of society were there not an outlet for their unique vision.

Liana Finck, a tremendous young cartoonist who calls herself a “loser” in a self-described wobbly voice, is in a current struggle of tailoring her work to the New Yorker’s sensibility. (Mankoff’s stewardship eventually pays off.) Needing less guidance is Ed Steed, a mysterious young Brit born on a sheep and pea farm, shy to the point of near-silence, who claims he only recently heard of the New Yorker while vacationing in Vietnam. His work is shockingly good – and timeless. Each panel is so brilliant in an obvious way, that it leaves you wondering: “Why didn’t I think of that?!”

Of course, many people do think they can “think of that”, and the documentary shows the magazine’s notorious slush pile – along with the poor assistant who admits an “addiction” to licking envelope glue while sending out rejections. There’s also the caption contest, where readers can supply their own gag to a text-free cartoon.

The artists are all freelancers and none of the current crop are able to do this work full-time. Most supplement their income in other creative ways, either in comedy or art. Chast, who was one of the first women to be regularly featured, starting in the late 70s, is a renowned illustrator who also makes pillowcases based on the designs of old soup cans. (Trust me, they’re terrific.)

Very Semi-Serious subtly probes what separates a typical clever, creative person from a New Yorker cartoonist. There’s a great moment when Mankoff is sifting through submissions, and we see a dopey gag – a visual pun involving a bear and hookers. I’ll admit, it got a laugh out of me. Mankoff blazes by and clucks: “He’s a great cartoonist, but this is beneath him.”

He also explains that the job of cartoon editor doesn’t require him to be “in a good mood”. He’s a gatekeeper, and he always recognises what should make the cut. “I know what would make me laugh if I was in the mood for laughing,” he explains. Usually there’s nothing less interesting in a documentary than a laboratory inspection of what makes something funny. Wolchok, a first-time director, wisely uses the visual material available to keep the pages turning.