On his blog, Drew Friedman describes himself as an “illustration-ist, cartoonist, humor-mongerist, greasy Stooge-Shemp Howard-enthusiast, Danny Thomas glass coffee table ponderist.” Friedman grew up in New York City surrounded by figures of the literary world. While his father, Bruce Jay Friedman, wrote books and screenplays (think of the 1984 film Splash), Drew was drawn to MAD magazine and The Three Stooges. “I’ve always had an obsession for things nobody else was obsessed by,” he says. Friedman developed an early interest in drawing and went to college at the School of Visual Arts from 1978 to 1981. His work, which Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once compared to Goya’s, first depicted B-list celebrities in unfortunate situations. Eventually, Friedman contributed to publications such as SPY and The New York Observer. Kevin Dougherty’s new documentary follows Friedman’s trajectory from underground cartoonist to New Yorker cover artist. A screening at YIVO will be followed by a panel discussion with Friedman, Dougherty, and others. —Jeanne Malle