The Daily Cartoonist shares The New Yorker contributor Paul Noth has been named the first Cartoonist Laureate of Wisconsin. The title was established by the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA), and announced in their Summer 2026 newsletter. Recipients receive a grant to serve as an ambassador for the comics medium in the state for three years, serving in an advisory role on educational programs at the museum (where they’ll also be the subject of an exhibition), and recognition at the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Paul Noth’s portrait, courtesy of his official website
Noth, who has had over 400 cartoons published in The New Yorker, is also best known for creating the animated Late Night with Conan O’Brien segment Pale Force, and the middle-grade graphic novel trilogy How to Sell Your Family to the Aliens, How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth, and How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth (2018-19). He previously received the Thurber Prize for American Humor in Cartoon Art in 2025. MOWA states he will use his role to advocate for the museum as “a center for comic arts.”
Wisconsin follows in the footsteps of Vermont, whose Center for Cartoon Studies established the role of their state’s Comics Laureate in 2011, and appointed Stephen R. Bissette the sixth holder of the title earlier this year. MOWA states it was partly motivated to start the program because of other prominent cartoonists from Wisconsin, like Lynda Barry, and Denis Kitchen, and because of the prominent role the state played in the underground comix movement of the 1960s.
Noth’s “He tells it like it is” cartoon (2016)
One of Noth’s first events as Cartoonist Laureate will be a workshop for kids aged 8-12 on June 17. You can learn more about his work and career in the meantime on his official website.
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