Jake Tapper's Not-So-Hidden Talent

For the past year, B&C’s venerable Fifth Estater column has featured original caricatures of the profile subjects. But this week’s subject, ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper, could’ve supplied his own.

Before he became a reporter, Tapper had visions of becoming a professional cartoonist. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post and Roll Call, for which he contributed a regular comic strip.

These days, his caricatures appear on his ABCNews.com blog, Political Punch, where he’s posted renderings of presidential candidates (including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama), pundits (Ann Coulter) and cultural icons (Tony Soprano).

Tapper’s penchant for artistic mischief dates back to his high school days in Philadelphia—and nearly got him expelled.

When he was a senior, he and several classmates cooked up a Mad Magazine-esque fold-in for the yearbook. Days before graduation, however, school officials learned that the resulting image was “a certain part of the anatomy that only men have,” Tapper explains. He and his cohort got their diplomas after apologizing to the school and agreeing to many hours of community service.

“It was really stupid, and obviously if I could take it back, I would,” he says.

To see a gallery of Tapper’s caricatures, click here.

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