My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #917

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #917 from the issue of October 14, 2024, a beaver gnaws at a Greek column and makes a remark to another beaver. My submission is shown below. The classical drawing is by Mads Horwath.

"Please stop calling it 'iconic.'"

These captions didn't go down smoothly:

"Worst. Tree. Ever."
"Don't tell ME it isn't petrified."
"If you won't pitch in, I'm going to need some dental work."

October 21, 2024 Update:  The Finalists

November 2, 2024 Update:  I voted for the caption from Portland.

November 9, 2024 Update:  The Winner

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The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 164

Nature comes home to roost in the CartoonStock Caption Contest #164. Let's go over how this new monthly cash prize contest works: $5 buys up to three entries and no more. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've spent $45 over the first nine contests and this one makes $50. I somehow won $200 along the way. As more people enter, I don't expect to keep doing this well. My three new entries are shown below, above the break. The full-color drawing of a home infested with beavers is by Dan Misdea.

"Happy anniversary to you too. I got you a Louis XIV clock."
"But you can't take care of even one."
"No, not even if they're rescues."
* * *
"Why do we have to give a dam?"
"This isn't the way I wanted to be closer to nature."
"First of all, yes, I'm glad you remembered my birthday. . ."
"Let me clarify what I meant by whatever you want."

March 14, 2023 Update:  The Winner

My captions, it seems, were not worthy of debate:

Caption Contest Deliberations, Part 1

Caption Contest Deliberations, Part 2

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The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #66

No more than three entries are permitted in the Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #66 and these are mine. The drawing is by Tom Toro.

"I take back my saying you've dammed up everything but the kitchen sink."
"I give up. How busy have you been?"
"What I said was damn this old kitchen."

March 18, 2020 Update:  The Winner

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Tom Toro

Beavers

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

The Moment Magazine Cartoon Caption Contest

All the Collected Cartoon Caption Contests

Attempted Bloggery's Gnawing Index

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My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #410

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #410 for January 6, 2014. The cartoon is provided by David Borchart. The caption is provided by me.

"Feel free to use any expletive other than 'Dammit!'"

This next caption was way too generic to submit, but my wife liked it so I'll share it with you too:

"Just when the world was starting to make sense to me...."

January 13, 2014 Update:  The Finalists

January 27, 2014 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  It should come as little surprise that I really liked my entry in the last Cartoon Caption Contest. In fact, I prefer it to at least two, and maybe all three, of the finalists, no disrespect intended. Worse, I even prefer the captions I wrote but didn't submit to the ones that were selected. That's the real secret to the contest's popularity, if you must know. Humor being subjective, most of us think we're just plain hilarious. It's not just me, I'm sure; a considerable proportion of the entrants must think they're doing a funnier job than the finalists at least part of the time. In other words, the contest feeds our delusions of being clever even when we aren't especially. You can see my delusional notion of a funny caption for a mob hit gone horribly wrong here.

The last time David Borchart created a cartoon for the caption contest he also defied the law of gravity. Coincidence? I think not. See the airborne cartoon here and as a bonus you can read his original caption for said cartoon. What other blog gives you that, I ask you?

David Borchart's New Yorker cartoons are in the Cartoon Bank here.

Cartoonist news about David Borchart can be found on Ink Spill here.

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