Bruce McCall (born 1935) is a Canadian author and illustrator, best known for his frequent contributions to The New Yorker.Born and raised in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, he was fascinated by comic books and showed an early aptitude for drawing fantastical flying machines, blimps, bulbous-nosed muscle cars and futuristic dioramas.In his memoir, Thin Ice (1997), McCall admitted that he was never good at physical activity as a boy, but could count on his mother to encourage his creativity. Bruce's father T.C. was imperious and unemotional, and left his alcoholic wife Peg without the attention she needed. Peg and the children tried to strike an attachment to him, but his stormy moods frequently pushed them aside.Without any serious technical training, McCall began his illustration career drawing cars for Ford Motor Company in Toronto in the 1950s. After several decades in advertising, he sought opportunities elsewhere in the publishing industry.He went to New York City, and was hired by National Lampoon and made a name for himself as an artist with intelligent and whimsical humor. McCall also spent a brief period writing sketches for Saturday Night Live.McCall has illustrated magazine covers, regularly appearing in The New Yorker and other magazines. He has been a contributor to the magazine since 1979.McCall is also a humourist, and has written essays on some of the social ironies of modern life. He writes frequently for the "Shouts & Murmurs" section of The New Yorker.McCall lives on the Upper West Side of New York near Central Park.
Canadian society was carefully devised to run on the oiled ball-bearings of amity and cooperation, ensuring a near-Scandinavian calm, as in: an aversion to firing semi-automatic Russian assault weapons into schoolrooms; the casual embrace of free health insurance, even for deadbeats; debate over same-sex marriage that's about as heated as that over licensing dogs; open arms to immigrants, swarthy and otherwise; volunteering for U.N. peacekeeping duties, no questions asked; and a national disinclination to jaywalk, even at 3 a.m. on an empty street because, heck, they told us not to.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Downer Channel
2001
TV Series
Saturday Night Live
TV Series writer - 6 episodes, 1976 - 1977 written by - 1 episode, 1976
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Encounters at the End of the World
2007
Documentary original artwork
Space Truckers
1996
conceptual art
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Story of the National Lampoon
2015
Documentary
Himself / Lampoon Editor
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Late Show with David Letterman
2001-2013
TV Series
Himself - Guest / Himself
Thin Ice
2000
Documentary
Late Night with David Letterman
1982
TV Series
Himself
Known for movies
The Downer Channel (2001) as Writer
Saturday Night Live (1976-1977) as Writer
Encounters at the End of the World (2007) as Art Department
DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015) as Himself / Lampoon Editor
$1.9 Million
