>> hankin: kind of. it makes you feel alive. ( laughter ) >> mankoff: i know what that feels like. bit like a punch in the stomach. it always feels bad. >> safer: mankoff should know. starting out, he submitted about 2,000 cartoons to the magazine before making a sale. this is one of his greatest hits-- "no, thursday's out. how about never? is never good for you?" he's lifted the line as the title for a memoir he's written, about his rise from the bronx to the big time. you write of your mother, molly- - "she wasn't really an audience for my jokes; she was a target." what do you mean? that sounds cruel. >> mankoff: well, it's freudian. my mother was this sexy, flamboyant, annoying woman to me. and also, i loved her. >> safer: like many an only child, he got smothered with love and pierced with sarcasm, fertile ground for his new yorky neuroses. >> mankoff: she thought i was lazy. i was lazy. >> safer: he talked back a lot, and developed a talent for one- liners and imitating jerry lewis. >> mankoff: you know, i would do the jerry lewis thing-- "hey, lady." and i did one of the thin