Sandwich Bag Dad brings dad jokes to the National Cartoon Gallery
Loved by pun-lovers and kids alike, this ingenious illustrator is taking the humble dad joke and turning it into an art form.
Coffs Harbour
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One of the country’s greatest purveyor of puns, Sandwich Bag Dad, has garnered a worldwide attention after a daily ritual for his daughter sparked a cult following.
Every day David Blumenthal aka Sandwich Bag Dad sends his daughters to school with a lunch bag decorated in a hand-drawn illustration and the Victorian father is now headed for Coffs Harbour.
Mr Blumenthal said what started out as carving simple shapes into sandwiches quickly escalated into “more intricate carvings” as he began taking requests from teachers and schoolmates of his daughter.
Tired of the “time consuming” and restrictive nature of bread, Mr Blumenthal picked up a pencil and started drawing on sandwich bags, incorporating themes or subjects that were being taught in class.
But most importantly, they each feature a terrible (amazing!) pun.
“Nine years later I am still drawing on bags. I haven’t missed a day and I am now doing three bags a day for each of my daughters.”
“I tailor them so the youngest gets more simple puns and then I try and make them a little more sophisticated for my elder ones.”
The birth of the Sandwich Bag Dad moniker came about when he started posting his work on social media and suddenly Mr Blumenthal’s dad-joke creations were being consumed by a pun-loving public across the world and he now has thousands of followers.
The National Cartoon Gallery will be featuring a selection of his works in a world first at the newly redeveloped Bunker in Coffs Harbour. Mr Blumenthal will be launching the exhibition on April 16 and will then be running drawing workshops for kids the following day.
Mr Blumenthal spends an hour or so each night drawing, trying to create “a buffer” of work that he can pop his daughters’ lunch into when needed and he never thought he would be sharing his creations with people across the globe, let alone having his work hung in a gallery.
“I get so many lovely messages from people who reach out to me and just say ‘hey I have had a really tough week but your bag made me smile’,” he said.
“I am just doing this for my kids but to know it makes a difference is very cool.”
For more information on The Chronicles of Sandwich Bag Dad exhibition or to book a spot in his workshop visit the National Cartoon Gallery website.
Sandwich Bag Dad and thousands of his creations can be found on Facebook or Instagram.
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