Here we have another drawing by Benjamin Schwartz. It shows a caveman proudly displaying his latest invention, a square-wheeled tricycle, to his neighbor. The tricycle needs round wheels. The invention of such wheels is credited, at least in cartoons, to cavemen. Initially, therefore, I came up with eight variations on a joke about a caveman…
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“Baby Interrogation” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
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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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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