In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #989 from the issue of May 4, 2026, a caveman stands and speaks testily to a second caveman who is sitting and carving Lego bricks. The standing caveman speaks. My submission is below. The drawing is by Robert Leighton.
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| "Stop procrastinating and make us a wheel." |
May 23, 2026 Update: The Finalists
May 25, 2026 Update: I voted for the caption from Colorado Springs.
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The surgical team has some news for Dorothy and Toto in the CartoonStock Caption Contest #172. The rules of the monthly cash prize contest haven't changed: five dollars buys up to three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $85 into the first seventeen pay-to-play contests and this eighteenth one brings my total cash outlay to $90. But I've collected $200 from the previous contests, so I'm still doing very well. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds are actually quite favorable. My three entries are shown below, above the break. The cartoonist of a different color is Robert Leighton.
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"We had to use anesthesia. We got nowhere with the poppies." "The tinsmith also forgot to give him health insurance." "Let me begin by saying ding dong." * * * "Yes, yes, yes, we were all there." |
October 29, 2023 Update: The Winner
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| https://www.cartoonstock.com/blog/dorothy-and-the-doctors-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood/ |
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The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #845 from the issue of April 10, 2023 is straight out of the wizarding world. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Robert Leighton.
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| "It has come to my attention that your daughter believes in science." |
May 1, 2023 Update: Tough choice. I waved my wand and voted for the caption from Severna Park.
May 12, 2023 Update: The Winner
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This week, the game is afoot in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #837 from the issue of February 6, 2022. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Robert Leighton.
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| "I have most of it, Watson. All I need from you is a seven-percent solution." |
February 20, 2023 Update: The Finalists
February 27, 2023 Update: I voted for the caption from San Francisco.
March 12, 2023 Update: The Winner
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Two drawings by New Yorker cartoonist Robert Leighton were sold at auction on December 12. The auction house calls them "two original illustrated New Yorker Magazine comic strips with captions, signed by the cartoonist Robert Leighton (lower right)." Let's start by noting that these are single-panel cartoons, not comic strips from your newspaper's comics page.
I was unable to find the captions in the magazine's database, so I asked the cartoonist whether these roughs were published and, if so, where. Mr. Leighton replied, "No—neither one (though the doorman drawing later became a different cartoon I did sell). My guess is these are photocopies that I shaded with marker by hand, and were taken from the 'return' file at The New Yorker." Taken? He elaborated, "With so many piece of paper to sort each week, the occasional misfile wasn't too surprising. I remember getting the work of others too. (Though I never offered it for sale!)"
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| "Just taking an informal poll of the building, Mr. B. Which doorman do you like best?" Robert Leighton Unpublished rough |
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| "Of course I have an inferiority complex!" Robert Leighton Unpublished rough |
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| Robert Leighton's signatures |
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| Versos |
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| Robert Leighton Kensington Estate Auctions listing accessed November 26, 2022 |
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| Presale estimate |
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| Hammer price |
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| "Shall I let your wife know you're home, or do you both like surprises?" Robert Leighton Air Mail |
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In 2005, the National Business Travel Association, or NBTA, commissioned a custom book from the Cartoon Bank, The Lighter Side of Business Travel, a New Yorker cartoon collection. The NBTA did the same again in 2008, publishing another custom cartoon book with the exact same title but a different cover, also designated as a first edition. Presumably, the 2008 book is not merely a reprint of the 2005 book, but it's hard to be certain without examining them side by side. Instead, I examined the eBay listings side by side, surely the next best thing. They are archived below, with the newer collection first, because those photos are the better ones. Incidentally, the NBTA is now the Global Business Travel Association, or GBTA, but there are no new cartoon collections to show for it.
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| The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2008) eBay listing accessed February 8, 2022 |
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| The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2008) eBay item description |
I'm afraid we don't get nearly as good a look at the 2005 collection:
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| The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2005) eBay listing accessed February 9, 2022 |
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| The Lighter Side of Business Travel (2005) eBay item description |
Note: Well, there you have it. An easy way to compare these two books would be to compare their artist indices. The one from 2008 is already included in the first listing, but I would like to be able to also post a scan of the Index of Artists from the 2005 edition, that is, the collection with Pandora's Carry-On by Robert Leighton on the cover. Please help me out, if you can.
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| Signed by Robert Leighton, Mike Shenk, Amy Goldstein, Will Shortz, and Bob Mankoff |
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| The New Yorker Book of Cartoon Puzzles and Games AbeBooks listing accessed March 27, 2020 |
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| Stock Photo |
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| Christoph Niemann "Give Us a Clue" The New Yorker, December 27, 2021 |
I tried not to lose my head over the CartoonStock Caption Contest #125. I wrote four entries this week and submitted three, below. The drawing is by Robert Leighton.
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| "It beats what became of the four and twenty blackbirds." "I meant fly to the Sun KING." "Is it too late to confer with Your Grace's animal trainer?" |
This caption didn't make the cut:
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