Caption Contest Commentary

Dr. Benjamin Schwartz has drawn a shirtless and hooded executioner introducing a kindly old woman (also wearing a hood) to his next victim: a prisoner who’s on his knees with his hands tied behind his back and his head above a chopping block. The executioner—whose expression, from what we can see, is not very threatening—is…
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Kim Warp has drawn a prop comedian (he has an arrow through his head) performing a stand-up routine for that toughest of audiences: God. Because the comedian is in heaven, I first thought of the old saying that addresses both death and comedy: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” I then thought of captions that…
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The late Charles Barsotti drew an employee crawling out from under an exploding desk, addressing his colleague, and delivering the line that must address both the explosion and the office setting. Barsotti is perhaps best known for this cartoon of a friendly and anthropomorphic piece of rigatoni answering the phone by saying, “Fusilli, you crazy…
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Drew Dernavich has drawn an awards ceremony, where the trophy is being presented by three men operating a huge slingshot—the type that was used in Modern Family to “chunk a punkin.” They’re aiming the trophy, which is enormous, toward the back of the auditorium. The announcer is on stage, behind a lectern, wearing a tuxedo,…
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A novice cartoonist, Bob Mankoff, has drawn a married couple on a couch floating down a river, seemingly unaware that they’re headed toward the edge of a waterfall. The wife is calmly addressing her husband, who’s reading the paper. I initially thought this couple, just seconds before their untimely end, might be oblivious enough to…
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David Borchart has drawn several angry sheep circling a few frightened herding dogs. One of the dogs is speaking. Because it looks like the oppressed have risen up against their oppressors, I first went for something political. Maybe the sheep were radicalized by something they read, and that possibility led to, “Damn that Communist Manifesto.”…
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