The cartoon is the thing for these siblings
The two Ottawa brothers have had success with a comic strip dreamed up on a P.E.I. vacation, PETER ROBB writes.
Brian and Ron Boychuk are brothers in arms and cartoons. Brian is a violinist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Ron is a golf course superintendent in the Ottawa area. But together they produce the Chuckle Bros, a syndicated cartoon strip that appears in 40 papers across North America, including The Citizen. On Wednesday, Brian and Ron will release Return of the Chuckle Bros, The Second Edition Collection, in the Fountain Room at the NAC at 3:30 p.m. We thought this was an appropriate time to talk to them: What follows is an edited transcript of an email interview between Ron Boychuk and the Citizen’s Peter Robb.
Who are the Boychuk brothers?
We grew up the best of friends. Even though we were four years apart (Brian is the elder), we played together constantly. We invented crazy games, threw the Frisbee, baseball and football — all the while pushing each other competitively, but always with an element of fun. We both love vintage automobiles and we share a passion for golf.
When did you create your panel?
The panel was created when Brian was on a family vacation on Prince Edward Island in the summer of 2003. He was sitting in his cabin, when he got the impulse to write down a funny thought. By the end of the evening, he had written down 20 ideas. By the end of the vacation, he had over 120 ideas. When he got home, he called me up and asked if I wanted to try creating a newspaper panel cartoon with him. By the end of the summer, we had documented over 800 ideas.
Why did you create your panel?
We (wanted to) help fill what we perceived to be a gaping hole left with the retirement of Gary Larson’s Far Side and Jim Unger’s Herman. They were heroes to us.
What is your panel about?
The panel has no set agenda, other than to make you chuckle. We mix the future with the past, animals with humans and the mundane with the extraordinary.
Where does the name come from?
The first part comes from combining the ‘chuk’ part of our last name plus the fact that both of us were nicknamed ‘Chuck’ throughout our high school years. The second half of the name has to do with the fact that we are actually brothers. We didn’t spell out brothers because there is a comedy group in England called the Chuckle Brothers and second, we think it looks better and feels more easy-going.
Where is it seen?
We peaked a couple of years ago at about 60 papers in Canada and the U.S. We have lost a few of those. Our primary syndicate is Torstar Syndication Services. They signed us in 2006 and we ended up having one of the most successful cartoon launches in their history. Shortly after, Torstar partnered with Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles, who were given the rights to market us in the U.S and internationally. You can also find our cartoon on our website, chucklebros.com, creators. com/comics/chuckle- bros. html, and at GoComics at gocomics.com/ chucklebros.
How does it work between the brothers?
Brian is the idea guy and essentially the writer, while I actually draw the cartoon. We meet at my place once a week and produce seven cartoons per session. Brian usually starts off by throwing a rough idea out to me, to see if anything sticks. If I show even the slightest inkling of interest, Brian usually bombards me with every trick he can think of to convince me that the idea has merit. On occasion, I’ll just start writing the idea down. In at least half the cases, I will shake my head in silent quasi-disapproval and an often-painful negotiation will then begin. Sometimes, ideas will be tossed around for a long time and then all of a sudden, it will trigger a humorous thought in a completely different direction, or sometimes the idea will die a painful, ignominious death. As soon as I have inked the cartoons, Brian takes the original art and scans it into the computer, adds any necessary lettering and signage, adds the caption and the credit lines and sends it in to our editor for final approval.
Are you still friends?
Yes, we are still friends but our relationship has definitely changed. This is a business and, like any family business, it can have its pitfalls. I find that Brian has had to work harder to make me smile. But, on the positive side, I feel it has kept our cartoon at the consistently high level of humour that we first set out to achieve.
Tell me about the new book.
This new book is very important to us, not only as a milestone in the celebration of our 10th Anniversary of the conception of Chuckle Bros, but more importantly, as our opportunity to show the world the real Chuckle Bros, as we always intended our feature to be — just me and my brother. We started out as a trio — my brother and me and an artist named Ronnie Martin. In fact, our first book contained all the artwork of our previous artist. This book contains only my artwork. In fact, the opening cartoon in this book is — appropriately — the very first cartoon that I drew as the official artist of the new Chuckle Bros.
Who is publishing the book?
We are self-publishing through Volumes Publishing, based in Kitchener-Waterloo. For the moment, the book will be available only through our website at www.chucklebros.com and at volumesdirect.com/ detail.aspx?ID=5292. We hope to make it available through major bookstores nationwide in the future.