Chip Zdarsky is a Toronto-based cartoonist, and an alumni of UofT's 1-year General Arts course, and in true alumni spirit has selflessly contributed Prison Funnies to the campus paper The Independent Weekly from September 2000 - April 2001, with no thought of financial compensation. Since then he's published "The Collected Prison Funnies", a preamble if you will, to an ongoing Prison Funnies comic book. He currently resides in the hearts and minds of our brave soldiers overseas and in a shitty, overpriced apartment in Toronto.

 



Chip hasn't always been on top. In 1996, this budding young cartoonist's career was almost destroyed with a 30-day stint in the Barrie jail. A harmless prank involving his ex-girlfriend, Jodie Stein, in which Chip playfully accosted her while wearing a ski-mask, backfired when Jodie, not getting the joke, panicked, and rendered Chip unconscious. She then proceeded to needlessly involve the authorities, setting into motion the darkest days of Chip's life.
The resulting prison experience changed Chip in many ways. He found that he could no longer laugh without crying, and in some extreme cases, bleeding. He couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong, and in some humorous instances, between water and urine.
It was at this low, low point that Chip found Mandy. Mandy Bartlett, a fellow Barrie-ite, taught Chip to love again, and to laugh without fear of pain. This intense bond between Chip and Mandy not only brought Chip back from the brink of death, but also propelled him to enroll in UofT, where Mandy was about to enter into Political Science.

 


While at UofT, Chip rediscovered his love of art. With his talents emerging, Chip felt an unfamiliar rush of confidence. With a new outlook and attitude, Chip finally introduced himself to Mandy after a beautiful two years of admiring from afar. Her friends, fearful that a love this strong could take Mandy from them, thwarted Chip at every turn, eventually breaking Mandy into filing a restraining order against the one man that could bring her bliss.
Upon graduation, Chip finally tapped into his past Prison Experience to create Prison Funnies, a cathartic cartoon that teaches while it entertains notions of making you laugh. With the success of Prison Funnies comes the adoration which Chip so greatly deserves. One of these admirers was Steven Murray, a recent graduate as well, but of a lower-class establishment, Sheridan College. Steven was so taken aback with Prison Funnies, he allowed Chip to post his cartoons on his website. Granted, there are no indications on Steven's site of Prison Funnies, but he has assured Chip that people will find it.