How do cartoons make it (or not make it) into the New Yorker? The
Washington Post (via Arts & Letters Daily) describes the weekly process that editor David Remnick and cartoon editor Bob Mankoff go through to choose cartoons:

Remnick picks up a cartoon of a corporate boardroom with a bunch of guys in suits sitting around a conference table with one chair occupied by a brain in a jar. The caption reads, "But first let's all congratulate Ted on his return to work."
" Ewwww!" Remnick says, half groaning, half laughing. "Bob!"
"It's great!" Mankoff says.
"It's horrible!" Remnick responds, laughing.
"What? A little brain in a jar?" Mankoff replies. "No animals were hurt in the making of this cartoon."
Remnick laughs. But he doesn't change his mind. "Not here," he says. It's a No.

That's too bad. Brains in jars are as delightful as feces, flatulence, and monkeys.