In an October 1, 2023 interview, Jeff Keane detailed why it made sense he would one day take over "The Family Circus" strip originally created by his father Bil Keane. After all, as a youngster, Jeff Keane was the main character of the comic. In fact, all of the children in "The Family Circus" were modeled after Bil Keane's offspring. However, Jeff Keane was the only one whose character carried his name.

Jeff Keane laughed when he explained, "Jeffy, he was always the hero. As far as I was concerned he was the savior of the strip."

In a big way, so was the real life Jeff Keane, who started working part-time on "The Family Circus" comic strip with his father in the 1980s. This effort began soon after Jeff Keane graduated from the University of Southern California. But, working on "The Family Circus" was not Jeff Keane's plan at that time. Having studied theater at USC, Jeff Keane intended on becoming an actor and spent most of his time auditioning for roles to perform.

In regards to how Jeff Keane's career plans started to change, he said, "He [his father] asked if I wanted to help maybe answer mail, do some ancillary things, put together books, and sort of free my time so I could do auditions, because I could work at home and do that stuff."

On the surface it may appear Jeff Keane's transition to taking over "The Family Circus" had been a life-long natural progression. He verified the Keane children grew up reading comics, and not just those created by his father.

Pressed for an answer, Jeff Keane responded, "I can't remember specifically what cartoons were my favorites on the comics page at the time. I read all sorts of cartoons, and we read comic books and we read the old Mad magazine. We read all the various cartoons."

Published from 1952 until about 2018, Mad magazine began as a comic book series created by the editor Harvey Kurtzman. Mad magazine was widely imitated and influential as satirical media and strongly affected the cultural landscape of the 20th Century.

Perhaps, growing up, the Keane kids were provided a little "gentle persuasion" to read those comics?

Jeff Keane elaborated, "We were reading the Sunday papers all the time, and somehow they always managed to be open to the comics page whenever we walked out into the kitchen. I think that was my dad's little hint to read them."

Was Jeff Keane aware of his exalted status as the central character of "The Family Circus?"

He stated, "I guess I really kind of knew it all along. Although I wasn't really aware of what that meant."

As Jeff Keane continued to grow older, he learned. Sometimes, situations became awkward.

Jeff Keane bemoaned his fate, "It wasn't the best thing in high school to be having cartoons about wetting the bed and trying to get a date."

Emphasizing family life, and unabashedly wholesome, "The Family Circus" remained on a different chartered course than most other comics of its day.

Explaining his thoughts on this topic, Jeff Keane said in talking about his father, "That was his genius, to create something that is so relatable for families and not worry about having to do a joke, so to speak. He created something that has real heart to it. And, I'm so happy to continue on with that."

In regards to his mother, Jeff Keane added, "[She] was always the heart of "The Family Circus" I think she gave him [his father] the observation that he didn't necessarily have to do a cartoon that had a laugh all the time, which is pretty much what comics were at that period, unless they were story strips or whatever." Jeff Keane went on to say, "Cartoons can have a tug at the heart or a lump in the throat, and people can relate to that. So I think that's why it [The Family Circus] became successful."

Eventually, Jeff Keane increased the amount of work he did on "The Family Circus."

He best told the story, "I was doing penciling, and then I started to color the cartoons. I would watercolor for certain products or whatever. And eventually I was doing everything, and over time learning to draw the characters. I didn't really have any particular style to begin with. So I just learned from him [his father] what the characters should look like."

To say the least, the Keanes' creative process was unique.

Jeff Keane clued the interviewer in by elaborating, "I would send him my pencil drawings, and then he would put a piece of paper over it and overlay that and redraw it, and show where, you know, the arm should be a little shorter here, or this perspective doesn't look quite right. And then he'd send it back to me. So he was critical in what it should look like. But he wasn't critical in his criticism."

Jeff Keane does not believe "The Family Circus" is his strip.

He said, "Oh, I always think of it as his [his father's] cartoon. I don't have a problem with doing the cartoon. It's our family, is really what it is when I'm doing the cartoon. I think of it as this is my mom, this is my dad, this was me, my brothers, my sister. And it brings me great memories when I'm doing that. I'm nothing but proud of the opportunity to continue something that he created that I really think is a special cartoon in the newspaper. I think it has a unique place on the comics page."

Next Time: "The Family Circus"