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<\/a><\/p>\nFor those of you who have several hundred thousand dollars lying around, the original of that Peter Steiner classic is about to be auctioned off.<\/span><\/p>\nI usually like short captions, but sometimes they need to be long. These three unusually lengthy entries contain no unnecessary words and establish a nice rhythm that adds to the pleasure of the jokes:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- \u201cNow get out there and chase your dreams\u2026or a car or a squirrel or a ball or a stick or your tail.”<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cWe\u2019ll forgo throwing the caps this year to avoid another Fetching Fracas of \u201914.\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cIf you can imagine it, you can do it. Except for driving a car. Don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mankoff says that last caption reminds him of something <\/span>New Yorker<\/span><\/i> cartoonist Jack Ziegler would have come up with. High praise, indeed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLike \u201c<\/span>Fetching Fracas<\/span><\/i>,\u201d this next entry asks the reader to imagine a scene that\u2019s not depicted in the cartoon: <\/span>\u201cPlease note; dinner will be served from five fifteen until five sixteen.\u201d<\/i><\/b> I\u2019d prefer that line if the times were not spelled out, but that\u2019s a minor complaint.<\/span><\/p>\nAs expected, there were a lot of allusions to the \u201cdog ate my homework\u201d trope. These were the two best:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cThis wasn\u2019t easy. We had to eat a lot of homework.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cOn a sad note, no more homework.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This next entry does a nice job with a joke that PIXAR made repeatedly in the movie \u201c<\/span>Up,\u201d <\/span><\/i>which you should see immediately if you haven\u2019t already watched it: <\/span>\u201cOn this solemn occasion, it is with great \u2013SQUIRREL!\u201d<\/i><\/b> The only problem is that the caption does not match the dog\u2019s expression.<\/span><\/p>\nHere is the best version of the jokes about dog years: <\/span>\u201cThese were the best twenty-eight years of my life.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nTrevor Hoey was a little ashamed to admit that this caption, which did nothing for me, made him laugh out loud: <\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re done, bitches!\u201d<\/i><\/b> This may be nitpicking, but doesn\u2019t that joke suggest that all the dogs in the audience are female?<\/span><\/p>\nAs long as I\u2019m highlighting my disagreements with fellow judges, I\u2019ll note that several of them liked this entry, which I found too cute: <\/span>\u201cWhen your name is called, please come forward to receive a belly rub.\u201d<\/i><\/b> I don\u2019t like cute humor.<\/span><\/p>\nI do, however, like this entry, which is even funnier when spoken aloud: <\/span>\u201cNow that you\u2019re all seated\u2026stay\u2026STAAAAY.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nHere are a couple clever references to the standard graduation ceremony requests to hold applause and silence phones:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n- \u201cPlease hold your wagging until the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cPlease silence your squeaky toys.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Finally, we have a refreshing departure from all the positive messages most commencement speakers deliver: <\/span>\u201cTruth is, after today, many of you will spend time on the streets or in shelters.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nCongratulations to MARK SCHAEFER, who submitted this month\u2019s winning caption: <\/span>\u201cThis is not the first time I\u2019ve been asked to speak.\u201d<\/i><\/b> That was also the top-rated entry in crowdsourcing, so for the second month in a row our judges and readers agreed on what deserved the top spot.<\/span><\/p>\nHere are the five runners-up:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- \u201cWe\u2019ll forgo throwing the caps this year to avoid another Fetching Fracas of \u201914.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cPlease note; dinner will be served from five fifteen until five sixteen.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to screw the pooch.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cOn a sad note, no more homework.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n
- \u201cPlease silence your squeaky toys.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Watch the Judging Process<\/h3>\n
For those of you who want to see how we made our selections, we recorded the process with Jason and its posted below<\/p>\n
![\"CartoonStock](\"https:\/\/www.cartoonstock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/smallJasonDogGrad-300x294.jpg\")
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