Aussie Comedian Scott Dooley and Award-winning cartoonist Jason Chatfield take you on a deep dive into the process of creating their weekly batch of cartoons for the New Yorker and other publications.
Discover shows related to Is There Something In This?, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
#65: "I'll tell you someone who's not discussing the ins-and-outs of pigeon divorce: a dentist in Westchester."
Friday, August 28, 2026 • Duration 01:11:53
“Even for Goblin P_rn, This Is Pretty Out There...”
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writers’ room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
Outside, a lightning storm walked down the East River, and every news helicopter in the tri-state hung in the rain like blowflies over a bin.
Scott and I hadn’t made a podcast in two weeks. I was away winning an award and then losing a dog, and you can’t record a comedy podcast in the fortnight between those two things without it sounding like a hostage video. The award: You’re Not a Real Dog Owner Until...won the Reuben for Best Book Illustration. The book is dedicated to Morris, who died the same week.
Then we did the jokes. A production of Death of a Salesman cast entirely with horses. A dragon that’s been yassified rather than slain. A Scrabble box held aloft at a lake house, chalk poetry on Bedford Avenue, and whether even chalk is too permanent for it.
Somewhere in there, we stopped writing jokes and had a proper argument about opinions versus comedy. Scott wants to be a mirror, not a megaphone. I want a strong opinion, even a wrong one. Bob Mankoff and Dolly Parton were both invoked. We didn’t resolve it, which is why the podcast works.
Also: pigeon divorce, witch daycare, a man in a kiddie pool at the office, and the four rounds of notes I’ve had on a goblin-porn book cover. Because why not?
By the way, if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, you can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge “Is There Something in This?” Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
On the topic: This podcast may include images that are used under the Fair Use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). These images are utilised for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, education, and research. Fair Use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder, provided the use does not infringe upon the market value of the original work.
We do not claim ownership of any third-party images used in this podcast. All rights remain with their respective copyright holders. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used in a way that does not fall within Fair Use, please contact us, and we will address any concerns promptly.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.newyorkcartoons.com/subscribe
#64: The Champagne Opened Itself
Thursday, August 20, 2026 • Duration 54:15
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
There is a moment about six seconds into this episode where a cork exits a bottle of Moët with no human involvement whatsoever. Scott is still mid-intro, still saying the podcast's name, and an inanimate object has already reviewed the show.
We took it as a good omen, because there was something to celebrate: You’re Not a Real Dog Owner Until... picked up a nomination for Best Book Illustration at the 80th Annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards. (Named after Rube Goldberg, founding president of the NCS, and not, as Scott generously suggested, the reason people call the Oscars “the Reubens of film.”) We recorded this one on the way to Columbus, Ohio, where the winners get announced, and where I have spent twenty-four years being extremely relaxed about never having won anything. Scott called the “it’s an honour just to be nominated” position what it is: loser talk.
If you have never listened before, here is the format. Scott Dooley and I are two Australian comedians in New York who draw cartoons for The New Yorker and elsewhere, and every week we sit down with a drink and pitch each other half-finished ideas until one of us says “is there something in this?” Sometimes there is. Sometimes it dies on the table in front of you. Either way, you get to watch the sausage being made, which is either fascinating or deeply unpleasant depending on your relationship with sausage.
This week the drink situation got ahead of us. We went to the pub first. Scott arrived wearing a portion of his beer. By minute seven we had already estaablished that the great advantage of moderate success is that nobody can be bothered canceling you..
By the way, if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®,
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#63: Every Liquid Is Gross
Monday, July 27, 2026 • Duration 56:55
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
This week, we’re trying something a bit new by recording our video of the show. Let us know in the comments if you like it, and we’ll keep doing it… probably.
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#62: Knicks in Five
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 • Duration 46:58
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
This week, we’re trying something a bit new by recording our video of the show. Let us know in the comments if you like it, and we’ll keep doing it… probably.
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#61: Special New Yorker 100th Anniversary Episode: Our Top 4 Favourite Cartoons of All Time & Our New Book!
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 • Duration 47:13
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
This week, we’re trying something a bit new by recording our video of the show. Let us know in the comments if you like it, and we’ll keep doing it… probably.
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
This week, we’re trying something a bit new by recording our video of the show. Let us know in the comments if you like it, and we’ll keep doing it… probably.
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#59: Discussing Post-Election Cartoons
Monday, November 25, 2024 • Duration 01:03:29
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This week we get stuck into:
Therapist Boats
Divided America and Political Fear
The "Swinging Voter"
Talking Salmon with Deja Vu
God’s Arrest Warrant
New York is the City That Never Sleeps because LA Keeps Calling
Airport Uber Complaints
Mall Santa Protest
America Through Baseball
Election Armchair Experts
Picnic Bootcamp
Cats Chasing Laser Pointers During Tactical Ops
Laser Tag for Cats
Watches that Outlast Religion
…and not much else!
▶ Be sure to send in your suggestions via Instagram
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#58: God's Arrest Warrant
Saturday, November 2, 2024 • Duration 01:12:03
Subscribe, rate, and please leave us a funny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review wherever you listen to podcasts.
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Dools and Chatto are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
By the way if you want to binge all of our previous episodes in an endless playlist like it’s some kind of Netflix Drama that just got nominated for an Emmy®, You can find our entire backlog right here.
Send us your cartoon idea suggestions! We can’t guarantee we will read every one on the show, but we will read all messages we get here.
This week we get stuck into:
Therapist Boats
Divided America and Political Fear
The "Swinging Voter"
Talking Salmon with Deja Vu
God’s Arrest Warrant
New York is the City That Never Sleeps because LA Keeps Calling
Airport Uber Complaints
Mall Santa Protest
America Through Baseball
Election Armchair Experts
Picnic Bootcamp
Cats Chasing Laser Pointers During Tactical Ops
Laser Tag for Cats
Watches that Outlast Religion
…and not much else!
▶ Be sure to send in your suggestions via Instagram
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#56: Vincent Price driving a Tarago
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 • Duration 47:51
Subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.▶ PLUS! Order our new book at yourenotareal.com
In this week's episode we discuss...
“I survived the 2024 NYC Tremor” T-shirts
Action Bronson non-sightings
Don’t use the good basket for decapitated heads
Unionised Roombas
Socialist AI regulation
Aftershock jocks
Collective rolling of eyes from Californians
Eclipse view from Jim Davis
Montessori dog school
Surgeon Says!
Chatto gets to inbox zero
A German gallery heist!
Monet’s Flour Period
Vincent Price driving a Tarago
Locksmith CAPTCHA code
Rosie from The Jetsons
Robocall stalker (by Ian Hunt!)
Death doing taxes
Death and Texas
The Book of Cofvefe
Goldfish Election News Cycle
Marrying Up
Catching up on Season 1
Dune 2 Debate
Waiters asking how your meal is after you eat just taken a mouthful
The three waiters
Triplicate receipt factory
Crowd work clips in stand-up
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
#55: Vitruvian Dysmorphia
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 • Duration 01:01:23
Subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.▶ PLUS! Order our new book at yourenotareal.com
Welcome back for another episode of Is There Something In This? Scott and Jason are back in the writer’s room, slinging zingers, avoiding Obvious Ocean Liners and vying for the Outback Steakhouse Pick-of-the-Week®!
Every limited edition flavor is just carbonated cough medicine
Vitruvian dysmorphia
Beer now
Christmas Tree Watch 2024: An Emmy twist
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge “Is There Something in This?” Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
On the topic: This podcast may include images that are used under the Fair Use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). These images are utilized for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, education, and research. Fair Use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder, provided the use does not infringe upon the market value of the original work.
We do not claim ownership of any third-party images used in this podcast. All rights remain with their respective copyright holders. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used in a way that does not fall within Fair Use, please contact us, and we will address any concerns promptly.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit:
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge “Is There Something in This?” Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
On the topic: This podcast may include images that are used under the Fair Use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). These images are utilised for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, education, and research. Fair Use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder, provided the use does not infringe upon the market value of the original work.
We do not claim ownership of any third-party images used in this podcast. All rights remain with their respective copyright holders. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used in a way that does not fall within Fair Use, please contact us, and we will address any concerns promptly.
Send us your ideas!
Genuinely. If you’re watching on Substack, drop your seedlings in the comments. We had precisely zero listener suggestions this week, on account of the eight-year gap, which is nobody’s fault but ours.
We might scribble it up, mention you on the pod, and if it’s good enough, submit it with your name on it. We’re not paying you. Nobody’s paying anybody. This is the arts.
‘til next time!Your pal,
PS. Look, if this actually did something for your brain (or at least distracted you from the creeping dread of your own inbox for six minutes), please consider restacking this and sharing it with your people. It’s the only way the word spreads.
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge “Is There Something in This?” Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
On the topic: This podcast may include images that are used under the Fair Use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). These images are utilized for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, education, and research. Fair Use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder, provided the use does not infringe upon the market value of the original work.
We do not claim ownership of any third-party images used in this podcast. All rights remain with their respective copyright holders. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used in a way that does not fall within Fair Use, please contact us, and we will address any concerns promptly.
If you’re new here…
Hi. We have a podcast called Is There Something In This?, where we sit down with a beer and try to build a New Yorker cartoon out of nothing but two Australian accents and a shared refusal to be defeated by a joke idea.
We hadn’t recorded in a while. How long is hard to say precisely, but Scott put a pin in it for us: the last time we potted, the Knicks hadn’t won anything, there had never been hand-to-hand combat on the White House lawn, and Charlie Kirk was alive.
So. Bit of a gap.
What the show actually is
If you’ve never listened, the premise is embarrassingly simple: Every week we bring in half-formed ideas, and we hold them up to the light together until they either become a cartoon or die of shame. Some become dailies for the New Yorker’s site and socials. Some go into the magazine. Most of them go nowhere, and you get to watch that happen, which is the best part.
The whole exercise is right there in the name. Somebody says a thing. The other one says: Is there something in this? And then we find out, live, with no editing and no dignity.
We got about ninety seconds in before I derailed us with a story about the comedian Gary Gulman, backstage, being told the costumes were designed by a man named Beowulf Borrit. Scott’s contention is that with a name like Beowulf you have exactly two career options: Broadway costume designer, or vampire.
Which led us to the image of young Beowulf brushing his teeth in the mirror while someone gently breaks the news. Hey, buddy. You can see yourself.
It’s like a fighter pilot learning he’s colourblind.
The Knicks cartoon
The cartoon we got up was the Knicks seating plan, because the tickets were eye-wateringly expensive. World Cup fans looked at those prices and said no thank you. The sections were the usual suspects: celebrities, your boss’s boss’s boss, tech and finance bros, and then, in the cheap seats of the soul, real fans who are terrible with money.
A mate texted Scott the same night: Yo, I feel pretty called out, I’m going tonight. He spent a fortune and watched them lose because Trump was in attendance.
We also got fact-checked by Ronny Chieng, who suggested we add crypto. I said crypto lives inside tech and finance bros. It was two in the afternoon.
I officiated a Titanic-themed wedding
This is real. I am ordained in the state of New York, which means going downtown to City Hall to register with the county clerk, where they marry someone roughly every five seconds and you can always spot the second wedding by the white two-piece tracksuit.
The clerk handed me my paperwork and said, congratulations, sir.
I said, oh, I’m not getting married, I’m officiating.
She said, oh, I’m sorry.
I said, no, no, I’m divorced.
We’re now having an entire conversation. I explain that I’ve just filed my divorce papers and I’m about to officiate a wedding. She says: that’s bad luck.
I said: you think that’s bad luck? The theme is “Titanic!”
They are getting married on the door. They have recreated the door. I am dressed as the captain, which Scott correctly pointed out is a man famous for steering directly into a disaster, and if that’s the metaphor for the marriage, well.
Also worth noting, for anyone whose art is stuck: go and sit in City Hall and watch the weddings come in and out. The parents, the divorcees, all in the same building. It is the richest room in the city. I sketched the clerk at the desk and gave it to her, and she went from I hate my goddamn job to oh my God, holy s**t! in about a second. Scott said he could never do that, because he can’t draw, so his version would be walking up and saying “Hey, look at these photos I took of you while you weren’t watching.”
Send us your rubbish ideas
Genuinely. If you’re watching on Substack, drop your seedlings in the comments. We had precisely zero listener suggestions this week, on account of the eight-year gap, which is nobody’s fault but ours.
We might scribble it up, mention you on the pod, and if it’s good enough, submit it with your name on it. We’re not paying you. Nobody’s paying anybody. This is the arts.
‘til next time!Your pal,
PS. Look, if this actually did something for your brain (or at least distracted you from the creeping dread of your own inbox for six minutes), please consider restacking this and sharing it with your people. It’s the only way the word spreads.
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge "Is There Something in This?" Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
On the topic: This podcast may include images that are used under the Fair Use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 107). These images are utilized for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, education, and research. Fair Use allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holder, provided the use does not infringe upon the market value of the original work.
We do not claim ownership of any third-party images used in this podcast. All rights remain with their respective copyright holders. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used in a way that does not fall within Fair Use, please contact us, and we will address any concerns promptly.
We welcome you to download and play the podcast and share it with others for personal use; please acknowledge "Is There Something in This?" Podcast as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content.
