When comics pioneer Robert Crumb emerged in the 1960s, his work was unlike anything anyone had ever done with the form. Bringing a sophisticated visual language to a medium that was considered primarily for children, Crumb connected disparate strands of postwar self-examination and anxiety with avant-garde visual culture, creating a playful, profound, daringly original style that has influenced generations of artists and writers in his wake. And on April 15, Crumb and his biographer, comics scholar and curator Dan Nadel, join us onstage with The New Yorker’s Naomi Fry to discuss Crumb’s life and work — and Nadel’s new biography, Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life.
Ahead of this conversation, Dan Nadel sat down to talk to us about the highly anticipated event and writing the life of Robert Crumb — Crumb’s artistry and influence on American culture, his elusive public presence, why he’s ready to discuss his life in public, Nadel’s long friendship with Naomi Fry, and more.
Robert Crumb is perhaps the most influential cartoonist of his generation, and you’ll be talking to him at the Poetry Center, where some of the greatest writers of the last century have gathered to talk about the art of literature. How should we think of Crumb as a writer? What do you think makes him a great artist, literary or otherwise?
Robert is an excellent prose writer, full stop. His dream diaries were published a few years ago, and he’s an avid letter writer, which is a backbone of this biography. He’s clear, brisk, funny, and does some of his best thinking in prose. As a cartoonist, his artform is fundamentally about bringing together words and pictures. When Robert draws himself, or his brother, or Jelly Roll Morton, he is communicating so much about these characters in their posture, the way their clothes are moving, or the way they’re framed against a window. The dialogue then has to rhyme with the pictures, in a sense; correspond with them, or allow for some kind of ironic distance between what is being said in words and what is being said visually. The pictures and the words almost dance with one another. That’s Robert’s brilliance — he is that rare cartoonist that you can read on multiple levels at once. He’s earned his place on stage at 92NY as a narrative artist, and his body of work has fundamentally changed comics, art, and visual culture in general.
Crumb’s work has been beloved for decades, but despite his uncommon candor he has always retained an air of mystery. What do you think makes him willing to discuss his life’s work onstage at this point in his life?
You’re right — despite an enormous amount of personal candor in his work, he is still a bit of a mystery. Part of that is that he is removed from 21st century life. He doesn’t use the internet himself, and he rarely gives interviews. Plus, he lives in France and doesn’t often come to the US to discuss his work. But Robert is in a place in his life where he is essentially free. He’s 81 years old. He’s still making great work. His place in the culture is secure — anybody making ambitious comics today owes a lot to Robert. He has nothing to lose.
What made him open up to you?
I’ve loved Crumb’s work since I was a teenager, and I’ve written a lot about the history of comics — we first met in that capacity, when I interviewed him ten years ago. One of the reasons he agreed to talk to me for this biography was that he knew he wasn’t going to have to explain the language of comics to me. He synthesized an enormous swath of comics history, and that’s why his work hit so hard in the ‘60s. He took the visual language of, to start with, Walt Disney and Little Lulu — cartoons and comics created for children — and turned it into an art form for adults. He felt comfortable that I would understand that context and get it right.
You and Crumb will be talking to New Yorker cultural critic Naomi Fry — what makes her the ideal interlocutor for this conversation? What can she bring out in a conversation between you and Crumb that no one else can?
Naomi is a dear friend of mine and a Crumb fan. She has seen me through every stage of this book, and we’ve been talking about it for the entire six years I’ve been working on it. She’s very knowledgeable about cartooning, the creative life, and autobiography in general — a huge theme of Crumb’s. She is completely unafraid to ask questions that someone else might shy away from — whether it’s about sex and race or the lint on your shirt, she knows how to find the way to interesting conversation. Robert and I talk frequently and have developed a conversational shorthand and rapport, and having Naomi there will keep things open. And she is extremely funny.
What do you hope those who attend this conversation take away with them?
I hope that by seeing Robert and I onstage together, people will get a feel for what it’s like to undertake writing a biography. And I hope people get a sense of the depth of Robert’s achievement. He has had such profound insight into American culture for so many years, and his anarchic comedic sensibility has influenced everything from Saturday Night Live to Girls to Uncut Gems to painters as varied as Joe Bradley and KAWS. His relentless search for meaning, and his openness to being criticized — his willingness to go there in conversation, has keep him relevant for decades and in 2025, at a time when American culture is undergoing a radical shift, I think that perspective matters. I believe he can help us understand ourselves.
Dan Nadel and Robert Crumb talk to Naomi Fry on Tuesday, April 15. Get your tickets today.