![\"CartoonStock](\"https:\/\/www.cartoonstock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/webSteinberg_Rabbit_Caption_Contest_-300x218.jpg\")
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In Avi Steinberg\u2019s cartoon, a magic trick has gone wrong. The magician is nowhere to be found, but his hat and wand are on the stage. A worried rabbit is looking out of the hat and addressing the audience. Avi\u2019s original caption\u2014\u201c<\/span>Folks, did he by any chance say when he would REappear?<\/span><\/i>\u201d\u2014suggests that the magician had started the show by making himself vanish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Magicians encourage audience participation by saying, \u201cFor my next trick I\u2019ll need a volunteer.\u201d Because the rabbit needs help getting out of the hat, many of you submitted variations on that line (which is also the title of a great Warren Zevon song):<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n The following entries also suggested that the rabbit needs help:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n This entry went in the other direction by suggesting that the rabbit doesn\u2019t need assistance: <\/span>\u201cI will now get myself out of this hat.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Some of you referred to an idiom\u2014\u201cIs there a doctor in the house?\u201d\u2014that is traditionally used when an audience member needs medical assistance (the house being the part of the theater where the audience sits):<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Bob Mankoff and Trevor Hoey and Joel Mishon and I judged this contest, and we debated the relative merits of those two captions. The first is probably better, but it\u2019s also more obvious (as evidenced by the fact that many of you submitted it). The second variation is unexpected, and it adds an interesting twist because it suggests that the rabbit is looking not for a replacement for his partner, but for someone who can search for and find his partner. When judges are reviewing hundreds or thousands of entries and they keep seeing the exact same caption, that caption loses its power to amuse (even if it\u2019s a good joke), and a slight twist can surprise the judges and make the slightly modified caption seem superior.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The following set of captions explain why the magician is not on stage:<\/span><\/p>\n Because he got offended and stormed off: <\/span>\u201cPerhaps the heckler can pull me out?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Because he\u2019s a drunk: <\/span>\u201cNo, but he is making a quart of vodka disappear.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Because he\u2019s under the weather: <\/span>\u201cDue to illness, the part of the magician is also being played by me.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Because he was blown clear off the stage when the rabbit accidentally discharged a firearm: <\/span>\u201cI was cleaning it and it just went off.\u201d<\/b> (I love dark humor.)<\/span><\/p>\n Because he can never see anything through to the end: <\/span>\u201cThe real trick is getting him to finish what he started.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n The following entry is similar to that last caption, in that it suggests the magician is unreliable: <\/span>\u201cThis must be why the doves quit.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n These captions suggest not that the magician has left the stage, but that he hasn\u2019t yet arrived:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n That first caption is good, but it\u2019s not consistent with the rabbit\u2019s worried expression. The second caption is outstanding, and a good example of the kind of joke that takes a moment to sink in and is therefore at risk of being overlooked during crowdsourcing, when people are rating captions very quickly. It\u2019s even at risk of being overlooked by judges. At the risk of offending Bob Mankoff, I will tell you that this entry was not initially among his top ten. When I told him I loved the caption and thought it was one of the best I\u2019d ever seen, he asked me why. I started to explain and all of a sudden he got it and said, \u201cOh, he\u2019s vamping for time. That\u2019s <\/span>great<\/span><\/i>!\u201d It really is.<\/span><\/p>\n This caption also suggests the rabbit is vamping for time, and while it made us all laugh it\u2019s really just too bizarre: <\/span>\u201cWelcome to my very special performance of \u2018The Vagina Monologues.\u2019\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Here are the best examples of transforming an ordinary statement or common expression into a line that takes on a new and humorous meaning within the context of the cartoon:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n And here are the best puns:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n The next two entries explain the magician\u2019s disappearance by alluding to another common magic act:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n I especially like the way that last caption suggests the magician is incompetent.<\/span><\/p>\n The following caption works well because it matches the rabbit\u2019s expression perfectly: <\/span>\u201cLet\u2019s talk for a moment about separation anxiety.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These captions acknowledge, very concisely, that the trick didn\u2019t work:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n I especially like the way that last caption suggests the rabbit was in charge.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, we have a clever reference to the fact that rabbits multiply quickly: <\/span>\u201cRabbits can also subtract.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n This week\u2019s winner comes from Michael Holmes: <\/span>\u201cThen, after college, I joined the navy. Wait, I think I hear him coming.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n The five runners-up are:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For those of you who are interested in seeing (and critiquing) how we made our selections, we recorded the process this week<\/p>\n\n
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Watch the Judging Process<\/h3>\n