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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Caption Contest Commentary
“Ape on a Tablet” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Anatomy of a Cartoon
Anatomy of a Cartoon: The Dog Days of Summer
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“Executioner and mom” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Anatomy of a Cartoon: Taxes!
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics examine cartoons about the trials of taxes. BUY THIS CARTOON April is the cruelest month, as T.S. Eliot observed and Mick Stevens illustrated. The tax deadline looms ominously from the first of the…
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“God’s Comedian” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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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“Exploding Desk” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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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“Award Show” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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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Anatomy of a Cartoon: God and His Friends
Cartoon critics Phil Witte and Rex Hesner look behind gags to debate what makes a cartoon tick. This week our intrepid critics examine cartoons about the Big Guy. We can’t say much for certain about God, but we definitely know about Cartoon God: He’s an old guy with flowing white hair and a beard, He…
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