People ask, or used to, do you laugh at your own jokes? And if one introduces oneself as a cartoonist the response can be a sort of ” go on then, tell me a joke” expression, or ‘Have I heard of you?’ or the most likely is” “Oh my favourite cartoonist is: ( put almost any name here of a famous cartoonist, but if in doubt just put in Matt of the Daily Telegraph)” The subtext here is that because I’ve never heard of you and I’ve never seen your work, you are of no consequence whatsoever. Perhaps one should just say you work for GCHQ, in which case the conversation about work stops there, instantly.