Cartoonist for The New Yorker Visits Campus and Appears on "The Drexel InterView"

Roz Chast, left, and Dean Paula Marantz Cohen during the filming of an episode for "The Drexel InterView."

During the fall term, Roz Chast, acclaimed cartoonist for The New Yorker visited Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College for a double episode shoot of “The Drexel InterView,” which is an award-winning half-hour television series produced by the Pennoni Honors College and is hosted by Dean Paula Marantz Cohen, PhD.

Part 1 and Part 2 of the Roz Chast episodes are now available on the YouTube channel for “The Drexel InterView.” Four Film & Video students from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design guided a video production shoot for Season 15 with Chast and Dean Cohen: sophomore Honors Program student Laurel Murr (who edited both Chast episodes), junior Louis Togna and seniors Ethan Lewis and Lucy Moroukain. These students are from Dragon Productions, which is supervised by Westphal College of Media Arts & Design Post-Production Facility Manager Nicholas Natalicchio.

Chast is best known for nearly four decades of cartoon contributions to The New Yorker magazine. She is also author and illustrator of a handful of books, including two recent graphic memoirs: 2014’s award-winning bestseller “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” and 2017’s “Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York.” Both memoirs use illustrative humor to reflect on and poke fun at Chast’s upbringing in New York; her affinity for her native Brooklyn; her family culture and heritage; and her own personal quirks.

During the two episodes of “The Drexel InterView,” which was edited by Dragon Productions student staff, Chast explores these same themes as interwoven with her books. In the first episode, Dean Cohen talks with Chast about the artist’s formative years, her cartoon career with The New Yorker magazine and her unique take on the world. In the second episode, Dean Cohen explores the cultural depth and comedy of Chast’s two latest graphic memoirs.

The Roz Chast episodes are part of the television series’ 2017-2018 season, which also featured controversial author Salman Rushdie, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood and novelist/screenwriter Tom Perrotta. Similar to Chast’s shoot, Perrotta’s episode was produced in part by undergraduate Film & Video students Lewis, junior Ed DiJoseph and alumnus Prannoy Jacob ’16. Murr and fellow sophomore Sean Higgins helped edit, along with Dragon Productions.

Dean Cohen has acted as host of The Drexel InterView for more than a decade, conversing with renowned guests like Nora Ephron, Nile Rodgers, Christopher Hitchens, Wendell Pierce and Billie Jean King.