The contest that ended last week featured a drawing by Benjamin Schwartz. Through a two-way mirror we see a baby in a police interrogation room—he’s sitting in a highchair—while outside this room a male cop says something to his female partner. In movies, cops who are frustrated in their efforts to get a suspect to…
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Caption Contest Commentary
“Drinking Like Fish” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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“Baby Interrogation” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Introducing: Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Like many of you, I have lost The New Yorker’s Cartoon Caption Contest hundreds of times. But I’ve won it more than anyone else, so Bob Mankoff thought I might have something useful to say about the contest he recently started running on this website. Each week I will write about the most recently concluded…
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Introducing: Anatomy of a Cartoon
For the past three years, self-appointed cartoon cognoscenti Phil Witte and Rex Hesner have been critiquing New Yorker cartoons each week on their blog CartoonCompanion.com. There, they review each cartoon, discussing its merits, studying its detail and artistry, and ultimately assigning each a 1- to 6-star rating. Self-appointed no longer, we invited Rex and Phil…
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A Word About Voting…
First of all, thanks to all for entering, voting and sending us feedback on the Cartoon Caption Contest, we’re always looking to improve. We’ve had some questions/concerns/kvetching about the voting process. Why does it take so long to see all the captions? Is it fair? Can’t you do it for us and give us three…
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SEVEN-TIME New Yorker Caption Contest Winner Larry Wood Shares his Insights
If the number of caption submissions we receive (and the number of cartoon suggestions the average cartoonist fields each week) are any indication, within the hearts of many lies a frustrated cartoonist. Let’s face it, most people think they’re pretty funny. Many are wrong. Humor is highly subjective; however, there is one metric which is hard…
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New Yorker Cartoons for the New Year (plus a few)
Well folks, here we go again. Another year in the rearview and the next coming in hot with all its dreams and expectations. It’s the perfect time to reflect, reassess what we could be doing better, what we want to leave behind, and then forget all about those big ideas within a week. Or perhaps…
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