Caption Contest Commentary

“Charmingly eccentric.” That’s what Kirkus Reviews called me in its review of my book on The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, which will be released on June 4, 2024. “Wood,” Kirkus states, “has a great time here, mixing the bizarre, the jocular, and the wise into a clever package.” The book is available for pre-order…
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This month’s contest featured a drawing by New Yorker cartoonist Jason Chatfield, who joined our judges’ panel to help select the winning entry and five runners-up. His drawing is set in a bar where a baby is sitting on a stool, looking down at his shot glass, and saying something to the bartender and other…
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This month’s contest featured a drawing by Lila Ash, with whom I’ve collaborated on New Yorker cartoons. Here’s my favorite: Lila has a terrific new book, “decodependence—a romantic tragicomic,” that you should all buy. (Speaking of books you should purchase, mine comes out on June 4, 2024, but you can pre-order it here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250333407.)  Lila’s…
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This month’s contest featured a drawing by New Yorker cartoonist Drew Panckeri, who helped us pick the winning entry and five runners-up. His drawing is set in an office, where a man in a cubicle is addressing a female co-worker. Behind them is a hellish landscape. There are flames everywhere, and in the distance we…
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This month’s contest featured a cartoon by Robert Leighton, whose work and insights appear throughout my upcoming book, “Your Caption Has Been Selected—More than anyone could possibly want to know about The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest,” which will be published on June 4, 2024. (I decided to change things up this month by opening…
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For the first time, our panel of judges did not include Bob Mankoff, who was busy preparing for his daughter Sarah’s wedding. Congratulations to Bob, his wife Cory, and especially Sarah. In the HBO Documentary “Very Semi-Serious,” Sarah recalls a time when she was much younger and told Bob that something he said wasn’t funny,…
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