American Magazine: November 2016

PHOTOS BY AMANDA STEVENSON LUPKE
Nick Galifianakis does not draw for
the money. In the world of cartoonists, he is
actually quite famous, not to mention widely
published, but he doesn’t draw for the fame,
either. He doesn’t draw for the plaudits. He
doesn’t even necessarily draw with a hope or
care about what kind of response he might get.
Rather, says the School of Communication
(SOC) alumnus, he draws because, even if he
was doing something else for a living—if he was
a doctor, as he once planned to be, or a teacher
or a lawyer—he would still be drawing. Because
he simply can’t imagine not drawing.
“That’s not to say that I always wanted to
be a professional, but I knew even when I was
little that I could draw what I saw, and I also
realized others couldn’t. As a kid in Durham,
North Carolina, I would decorate neighbors’
driveways,” says Galifianakis, whose family
later moved to Falls Church, Virginia. “And
they must have been tickled by my murals
because they would avoid parking on their
driveways until the rain washed off the
colored chalk drawings.”
A few decades later, that hasn’t changed.
One of the most acclaimed and talented
cartoonists of his time, Galifianakis has for the
past 20 years served as the editorial cartoonist
(and editor, advisor, and sounding board) for
Carolyn Hax’s hugely popular Washington Post
advice column, “Tell Me About It.” It’s a role
that has not only given Galifianakis a massive
stage on which to showcase his talent—the
daily column is syndicated in more than 200
newspapers nationwide—but also one that has
allowed him to stretch his legs creatively in a
way that few other cartoonists have.
Plenty of cartoonists are tasked with
commenting on the world of politics;
Galifianakis, in working alongside the prolific
(and highly opinionated) Hax, has a daily
opportunity to commentate on life. His work
is alternately sophisticated and light-hearted,
sorrowful and whimsical, tragic and comic—
perfect accompaniment, in other words, for
a column that helps readers deal with issues
that hit on universal themes.
“I was doing political cartoons, and
eventually became bored with politics,” says
Galifianakis, who before landing the job at
the Post worked as an editorial cartoonist for
USA Today. “But relationship dynamics always
appealed to me. I was drawn to and excited by
the opportunity to comment on things we’ve all
been struggling with since we lived in caves.”
Indeed, though Hax’s column tackles
any number of topics—from addiction to
family problems to financial issues and so
much more—it is, at its heart, mostly about
relationships: the good ones, the bad ones, the
lasting ones, and the ones that fail. And perhaps
it’s true that the duo’s commentaries resonate
so strongly with readers specifically because
these two longtime collaborators have endured
their own relationship struggles; married in
1994, three years before the column debuted
in the Post, the couple split in 2002.
Galifianakis and Hax shared the news of
their separation in a live chat. She took some
heat from readers when it was revealed (in
the pages of the Washington Post, no less) that
she was pregnant with twins, and engaged to
a childhood friend one year later. “Carolyn
and I had been separated for quite a long time
prior to our announcement so there was no
romantic overlap with her new husband,” says
Galifianakis, who’s close with Carolyn’s three
sons and husband Kenny.
The criticism was withering, but Hax took
it in stride—as did Galifianakis. Their marriage
was not meant to last, they both agreed. But
their professional relationship was. Hax would
continue to pen the column, and Galifianakis
would continue to illustrate it—and edit, too.
Just as he had from the very beginning.
The pair’s process, as they’ve described it,
is a true collaboration. Hax starts by choosing
the questions (out of the countless number
she receives) she thinks might be the most
interesting to her readers, and then writes her
24 AMERICAN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2016