My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #982

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #982 from the issue of March 16, 2026, a couple walks through a snowy city teeming with penguins. The woman speaks. My submission is below. The drawing is by Meredith Southard.

"I know I could make sense of this with the help of Morgan Freeman."

I felt these captions weren't playful enough:

"Remember when we brought home the first two in our luggage?"
"Spring can't come soon enough."
"I really thought they would bring in more tourists."
"At least they're an improvement over the pigeon."
"Remember when the neighborhood was colorful?"

March 24, 2026 Update:  The Finalists

April 2, 2026 Update:  I voted for the caption from Davis.

April 12, 2026 Update:  The Winner

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Joseph Farris, Sam Gross, Mischa Richter, Claude Smith, and James Stevenson: From the Collection of Paul P. Goldberg

A group of twenty cartoons from the Paul P. Goldberg collection of autograph drawings, signed, is apparently arranged by date. The postal cards sent through the mail in 1967 during the Johnson Era have an assortment of cartoonists that apparently mean nothing to the eBay seller. But at least two notable political cartoonists are there, Pat Oliphant and Don Wright. Oliphant has drawn his ubiquitous penguin Punk. Wright is one of three artists in the grouping to draw LBJ.

There are also no fewer than five New Yorker cartoonists in the mix as well, although one of them, the now legendary Sam Gross, was not to have his first appearance in the magazine until two years later, in 1969. Here the young cartoonist portrays himself smoking a cigar while drawing. He's smiling; there's not yet a scowl in sight. The New Yorker's Joseph Farris, who was to draw men wearing fedoras long after it stopped being commonplace, here draws an ungroomed and bare-headed prophet carrying a sign. Also carrying a sign is Claude Smith's marching self-portrait. His signature, as always, is his first name only. Mischa Richter raises his hat; in the James Stevenson drawing, the hat stays squarely on the head.

Twenty cartoonists
eBay bid history
It's best to be the very last bidder, even more so with thirty-eight bids.

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My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for Winter 2023

It's time to cool down with Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for the Winter 2023 issue. My several captions are shown below for the most part in the order I wrote them. Entries below the divider were submitted the day after the deadline. The drawing of a lost couple is by Benjamin Schwartz.

"And I'm telling you this ISN'T the JCC."
"Say, isn't that our flier from Zabar's?"
"Forty years in the desert and THIS is where you want to retire?"
"It isn't a shortcut if we're lost."
"Remember when you called ME the cutest thing on the beach?"
"Right there. It says formal attire."
"Next time, bring your prescription sunglasses."
"I knew they wouldn't have any iceberg lettuce."
"They already took the best spot."
"What I said was I wanted to swim with dolphins."
* * *
"Now we're going to miss the new issue of Moment."
"They won't all look the same once we get to know them."
"We're not dressed for the occasion or for the weather."
"Doesn't this remind you of Mary Poppins?"
"I don't see how global warming will improve our situation."
"Do you want to be Bert or Mary Poppins?"

April 23, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

July 14, 2023 Update:  The Winner

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