The comic series chronicles the life and times of Iznogoud, the Grand Vizier of the Caliphate of Baghdad at an undefined period.

[1] Iznogoud was also adapted into a cartoon series produced by Saban Entertainment, with 52 episodes to its name, again with most of them having been translated to other languages as well.

The series made its debut in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Record on 15 January 1962 under the title, Les aventures du Calife Haroun el Poussah.

Goscinny's taste for sharp satirical writing keeps the repetitive format of the stories constantly fresh, making Iznogoud one of the most popular anti-heroes in the French comic strip world.

When Goscinny died in 1977, Tabary eventually decided to carry on the work himself, just as Albert Uderzo did with Asterix.

This is frequently expressed in his famous catchphrase, "I want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph" (je veux être calife à la place du calife), which has passed into everyday French for qualifying over-ambitious people who want to become chief.

There are occasionally "behind-the-scenes" moments, as when Iznogoud travels in a country in a mirror, and all is reversed, including text in balloons.

Tabary is shown complaining to Goscinny about going through this frustrating "reversal" work, and even threatens him with a gun, to convince him into making a non-reversed "translated" version.

The crew of Redbeard, another comics series published in Pilote, appears in A Carrot for Iznogoud, as it did in many stories of René Goscinny's most famous creation Asterix.

The jury is headed by politician André Santini, who gave the award to himself after failing to become president of the Île-de-France in the 2004 regional elections.