The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #944 appeared in the issue of May 12 & 19, 2025. A psychotherapist administers a Rorschach test to a patient while a butterfly flies off the paper. My entry appears below. The drawing is by Drew Dernavich.
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| "Don't worry—we're on a locked ward." |
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| "What's Bluesky?" "They migrate." "And that's why we used to carry nets." |
May 26, 2026 Update: The Finalists
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In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 192, we find two cats, a psychiatrist and a patient, both sitting in boxes in the office. The patient is speaking.
The rules of the monthly cash prize contest have not changed (and neither has my description of them): 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 $185 into the first thirty-seven pay-to-play contests and this thirty-eighth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $190. Having achieved runner-up status with two previous entries, I've collected $200 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, just. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds may generally be considered favorable even for us less-gifted caption writers. My three entries are shown below, above the break. The cartoonist is Scribbly G—or Grant Meikle—who is new to me and new to the blog.
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| "No one cares about my indifference." "I've been imagining everyone as a cat." "I should have started with the litter box." * * * "I miss upholstery." "I'm sad, yes, but at least I don't wear a collar." "Hey, I found last week's office notes." |
May 11, 2025 Update: The Winner
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| https://www.cartoonstock.com/blog/feline-psychiatrist-and-patient-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood/ |
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Yesterday, six rough drawings by cartoonist William Hamilton were sold at auction by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates. One of them is framed. All have significant toning or paper loss. They are all property from the estate of Regina McKeever Syrjala of Middleburg, VA, who died in 2019 at the age of 100. It seems likely that each of these was submitted to The New Yorker at some point. I do not know if any of these ideas eventually saw print in some form.
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| William Hamilton Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates listing accessed April 12, 2025 |
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| William Hamilton Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates item description |
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| William Hamilton Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates listing accessed April 12, 2025 |
Sold!
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In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #929 from the issue of January 20, 2025, a pair of clocks showing different times undergoes couples therapy. The timely drawing is by Mort Gerberg.
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| "Who says we need a reset?" |
These captions wouldn't give me the time of day:
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| "It's not just that. We can't agree on anything." "We work different shifts." "When we met, we were completely in synch." |
February 1, 2025 Update: The Finalists
February 9, 2025 Update: I voted for the caption from Tujunga.
February 22, 2025 Update: The Winner
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An artist goes to her psychotherapist in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #913 from the issue of September 16, 2024 and she paints a Rorschach test. My submission is shown below. The insightful drawing is by Suerynn Lee.
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| "But I'm not repressed. It's just a kitty cat." |
These captions lacked awareness:
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| "I'm going to have to charge you for this." "This is more about you than me." "That's it. Too sane for you?" "If you want, I can make it more deranged." "Whoops! Is that too much self-doubt?" "I see the inability to make a living as an artist." |
October 5, 2024 Update: I voted for the caption from Rochester.
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| "And why do you think you push people away?" |
This caption was unprofessional:
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| "Just keep talking." |
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The MDLinx Comic Consult is a caption contest open only to doctors with a sense of humor. Prizes are a $100 Amazon gift card for first place, and $50 gift cards for up to four runners up. I won a $50 gift card for contests #12 and #13, so I was excited to try again. This is contest #14 and it features Santa Claus on a psychiatrist's couch. Five entries are permitted; each of mine is shown below. The cartoon is by Jonny Hawkins.
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| "Sure I check it twice, but then I go back and recheck it over and over." "I better not cry." "I don't suppose you could prescribe some cookies?" "I hope you're not making a list." "Actually, I'm bipolar." |
December 30, 2023 Update: The Winner
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I've written several times about the appropriation art of Karl Haendel, who came to my attention because his subject matter is, at least occasionally, New Yorker cartoons. His selection of these cartoons baffles me—and then it doesn't. I do, after all, understand why an appropriation artist would want to appropriate something extraordinary and few things are more extraordinary to me than New Yorker cartoons. But what of his selection? Are they simply random, contemporary examples of cartoons, as they frequently seem to be? Is there some esthetic or perhaps autobiographic reason for his choices? And how does he decide which works to group together and when?
The untitled 2001 work which starts with the word Depressed? does little to answer these questions. It certainly doesn't appear to arise out of an esthetic imperative. The unadorned typography looks mind-numbing to have to replicate with a pencil. The size, at least, gives the drawing the presence of a statement piece.
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| Karl Haendel Wright Editions & Works on Paper auction accessed before the August 8, 2023 sale |
Chances are you are not familiar with the work of New Yorker cartoonist David Stein. I certainly wasn't. His only cartoon may be found way at the back of the issue of April 19 and 26, 2004, the Spring Humor Issue. Ask yourself then why Haendel might choose to appropriate the work of Stein, thus:
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| New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #20 Karl Haendel |
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| https://www.art.salon/artist/karl-haendel |
So, once again, Karl Haendel's choice of New Yorker cartoon may not originate from any particular appreciation of the art form. Rather, he simply may be making a connection between depression and psychotherapy, just as his Depressed? drawing did.
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| "Are we there yet?" David Stein The New Yorker, April 19 & 26, 2004, p. 194 |
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| New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #20 Karl Haendel |
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| A cartoon by David Stein |
Note: Would you like to know what a New Yorker cartoonist really thinks of having his work appropriated by Karl Haendel? Then you'll want to read "Stop, Thief! My Work Gets Appropriated" by David Sipress here. Yes, the title kind of gives it away.
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