{{Short description|American cartoonist|bot=PearBOT 5}} '''Pat Byrnes''' is an American cartoonist, humorist, illustrator, and former aerospace engineer, best known for his work in ''The New Yorker'' <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Doing the Daily – Pat Byrnes |url=https://nationalcartoonists.com/doing-the-daily-pat-byrnes/ |access-date=2025-09-22 |language=en}}</ref> and for creating the syndicated comic strip ''Monkeyhouse''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=At home in the Monkeyhouse {{!}} Notre Dame Magazine {{!}} University of Notre Dame |url=https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/at-home-in-the-monkeyhouse/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727110304/https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/at-home-in-the-monkeyhouse/ |archive-date=2024-07-27 |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=Notre Dame Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Byrnes is also a voiceover actor, award-winning advertising copywriter, and author of multiple books. He has twice received the National Cartoonists Society’s Silver Reuben Award for Gag Cartoons in 2017, after six nominations, and for Advertising Illustration in 2001.<ref name=":0" />
==Biography== Byrnes was born in Detroit, Michigan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2015-12-15 |title=Pat Byrnes {{!}} Narrative Magazine |url=https://www.narrativemagazine.com/authors/pat-byrnes |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=www.narrativemagazine.com |language=en}}</ref>
He developed an early interest in cartooning and pursued a degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Notre Dame, motivated in part by the university's daily newspaper, which provided an outlet for his cartoons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.nd.edu/Commencement/1981-05-16_Commencement.pdf|title=University of Notre Dame archives; 1981 Commencement|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Byrnes |first=Pat |date=2025-07-07 |title=Editorial Cartoon: Pat Byrnes (July 7, 2025) |url=https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/editorial-cartoon-pat-byrnes-july-7-2025/image_b832dd68-c100-413d-b122-5654f7b2f9a7.html |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=Yakima Herald-Republic |language=en}}</ref>
== Career == Byrnes has been a regular cartoonist for ''The New Yorker'', contributing single-panel cartoons since the late 1990s.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-01-15 |title=Opinion {{!}} Cartoons by Pat Byrnes, Joe Heller, Mike Luckovich and Joel Pett |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/15/cartoons-by-pat-byrnes-joe-heller-mike-luckovich-joel-pett/ |access-date=2025-09-22 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
=== Advertising and voice over work === Byrnes began his professional career as a copywriter for advertising agencies including W.B. Doner and J. Walter Thompson, winning several industry honors such as the Clio, Addy, and Mobius awards. He later worked as a voiceover actor, lending his voice to national campaigns for McDonald’s, Budweiser, Jeep, Cap’n Crunch, Raid!, and Quisp, among others.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Degg |first=D. D. |date=2021-10-28 |title=Cartoonist Pat Byrnes' Confessions |url=https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2021/10/28/cartoonist-pat-byrnes-confessions/ |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=The Daily Cartoonist |language=en}}</ref>
=== Comic Strip and Books === Byrnes created the comic strip ''Monkeyhouse'', a family-oriented series about a single father and his daughter. The strip concluded on the day of Byrnes’s wedding and was compiled into two anthologies.
He is also the author and illustrator of ''Captain Dad: The Manly Art of Stay-at-Home Parenting'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Staff |first=N. P. R. |date=2011-11-02 |title='Captain Dad' Finds The Funny In Parenting |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/02/141941484/captain-dad-finds-the-funny-in-parenting |access-date=2025-09-22 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref> ''What Would Satan Do?'' and ''Because I’m the Child Here and I Said So''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Account Suspended |url=https://ncschicagocartoonists.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi |access-date=2025-09-22 |website=ncschicagocartoonists.com}}</ref> He illustrated the American edition of ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves'' by Lynne Truss and contributed to ''The Rejection Collection I & II''.<ref name=":0" />
===''The New Yorker'' and ''Daily Cartoon''=== Byrnes has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker since the late 1990s. Though initially avoiding topical or political humor, he was encouraged by fellow cartoonist Ken Krimstein to take on The New Yorker’s Daily Cartoon during a politically volatile period in the U.S.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Cinza |date=2016-03-15 |title=The Mind of a Cartoonist |url=https://craftsmanship.net/the-mind-of-a-cartoonist/ |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Craftsmanship Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> His run as the solo Daily Cartoonist lasted ten weeks, during which he addressed contemporary events, particularly during the Trump administration.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Archbishop Byrnes' brother, cartoonist Pat Byrnes: 'Cartoons promote empathy' |url=https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/archbishop-byrnes-brother-cartoonist-pat-byrnes-cartoons-promote-empathy |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Detroit Catholic |language=en-US}}</ref>
His work is noted for its wit, satirical humor, and clean illustrative style. In addition to his magazine work, he has published collections of his cartoons and collaborated on illustrated books, most notably ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Illustrated Edition'', which paired Truss’s original text with his humorous illustrations.<ref name=":3" />
The assignment required rapid response to breaking news while maintaining ''The New Yorker''’s stylistic standards avoiding labels, allegory, and overt caricature. Byrnes often relied on humor rooted in moral contradiction and absurdity.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Back to the Old Drawing Board: the power of humour in social change {{!}} From Poverty to Power |url=https://frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk/back-to-the-old-drawing-board-the-power-of-humour-in-social-change/ |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=frompoverty.oxfam.org.uk}}</ref> His cartoons from this period received significant attention, including a viral piece retweeted by author J.K. Rowling.<ref name=":1" />
=== The Drawing Board === Byrnes is co-founder of ''The Drawing Board'', a business consultancy that applies cartooning concepts to organizational problem-solving, including areas such as business ethics, culture change, and innovation. Clients of the consultancy have included Ethisphere, Mojang, the Red Cross Climate Centre, and the Conference Board.<ref name=":5" />
=== Artistic Style === Byrnes is known for his character-driven humor, preference for evergreen gags over topical content, and interest in moral conflict as comedic subject matter. He draws inspiration from both classical cartooning and modern satire, often eschewing political allegory in favor of understated wit.<ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == Byrnes is married to Lisa Madigan, who served as the Attorney General of Illinois from 2003 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-07-08 |title=Lisa Madigan won't run for higher office |url=https://thesouthern.com/news/lisa-madigan-wont-run-for-higher-office/article_bc6e5bfb-6ff6-5d95-88b4-cabbacceaa09.html |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Southern Illinoisan |language=en}}</ref> His brother was Michael J. Byrnes, an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Agaña, Guam.<ref name=":4" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Official website|http://www.patbyrnes.com/}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060106021759/http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp NCS Awards], including a [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/biogs/byrnes.asp biography of Byrnes] * [https://archives.nd.edu/Commencement/1981-05-16_Commencement.pdf University of Notre Dame archives]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrnes, Pat}} Category:Living people Category:Notre Dame College of Engineering alumni Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:American comics writers Category:American magazine cartoonists Category:American advertising artists and illustrators Category:Spouses of Illinois politicians Category:Artists from Detroit Category:The New Yorker cartoonists Category:Year of birth missing (living people)