![\"Frank](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/CC40889_Cotham.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMany New Yorker cartoons are set in a hospital waiting room, where a surgeon addresses someone who\u2019s anxiously awaiting news of the patient\u2019s condition. Frank Cotham\u2019s surgeon was mercenary:<\/p>\n
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Zachary Kanin\u2019s was desperate for company:<\/p>\n
![\"Zach](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/CC134434_Kanin.jpg\")
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And Danny Shanahan\u2019s was well-intentioned but misguided:<\/p>\n
![\"Danny](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/CC42229_Shanahan.jpg\")
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Shanahan is now back with yet another variation on this scenario, but this time his surgeon is addressing a potted plant:<\/p>\n
![\"Danny](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-1.jpg\")
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My first idea included a callback to Shanahan\u2019s earlier cartoon\u2014it begins with the same four words\u2014and references to both a plant\u2019s need for light, and an expression used to describe a dead person\u2019s journey to heaven: \u201cIf it\u2019s any consolation, he\u2019s getting plenty of light.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Bad news for a human patient can be good news for a plant, so I next came up with these two ideas:<\/p>\n Finally, I assumed the plant was waiting for news about its human caretaker: \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to water yourself.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s see how you did:<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t the only one to play around with the term \u201cvegetative state:\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d like that first caption more without the exclamation point. The second and third captions are almost identical, but the word \u201cstill\u201d (present in the second caption and absent from the third)\u2014changes the meaning enough to warrant the inclusion of both entries. The fourth entry is unique because it assumes that the plant is not waiting for news about someone else but is the actual patient.<\/p>\n Like I did, a couple of you turned a dark expression into cause for celebration:<\/p>\n Here are this week\u2019s best pandemic jokes:<\/p>\n Both good, but I prefer the one without the exclamation point.<\/p>\n Here are the best puns:<\/p>\n And here\u2019s the best Jewish joke: “I’ll say Kaddish for the wandering Jew.”<\/strong><\/p>\n This next entry doesn\u2019t quite make sense because the surgeon\u2019s wearing glasses, but it made me laugh: “Lasik is perfectly safe Mrs. Nusbaum. I had it done. Nice dress by the way.”<\/strong><\/p>\n I was surprised that four of you came up with essentially the same scatological\u00a0 joke, but I have to admit that it fits the drawing surprisingly well:<\/p>\n My father\u2019s favorite Charles Addams cartoon is set in a maternity ward. A nurse is addressing a new father (who looks quite odd) by saying, \u201cCongratulations! It\u2019s a baby.\u201d \u00a0I thought of that classic when I saw these two entries:<\/p>\n\n
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