Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Coverage Continues

The winner of Caption Contest 174 (Harry Bliss's tiny guy in tree with big bird with worm in beak) is

"I want to live at my dad's."
Sean Delaney (Stanardsville, VA)

With that, Virginia goes into double digits, solidifying its fourth-place position between New Jersey and Illinois.


The nominees in Caption Contest 176 (Mick Stevens's wrecked courtroom) are

"This is what I get for convicting the janitor."
Sita Chandrika Palepu (New York, NY)

"For a divorce case, that went smoothly."
Ann Seger (Chicago, IL)

"Sorry about that—new gavel."
Tommy Bryant (Cochran, GA)

My loser:

"This is the last time I preside over a kangaroo court."

The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 177 (Leo Cullums's captive) is

*pew-pew-pew* "Better start talking before I shrink more of you with my finger-ray."
Brian L

No loser from me—I didn't submit a caption in time!


Caption Contest 178 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 178 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all (almost) mapped out here.

30 California

29 New York (25 from the Big Apple)

13 New Jersey

10 Virginia (four from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

8 Illinois (six from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

7 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 Pennsylvania

5 Maryland (none named Mary)
5 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Arizona (two from Tucson)
4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Ohio

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont
2 Washington

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Louisiana (New Orleans)
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE PAUSES, SORT OF!

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest pauses this week, but there's still some news as well as an Anti-Caption Contest result.


The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 149 (Mick Stevens's man with jet pack in doorway of woman in curlers) is

"Good Morning. I have an IM from Kaitlyn: 'IMHO you should wear that cute power-blue top today with your white shirt...I'm hearng that Tyler likes Ashley, but she is so not interested...Didn't Morgan look fat yesterday in that hideous outfit? I'm like: What were you thinking, girl?...Oh, and please get your computer fixed. My mom's starting to bitch that this costs too much. (She's such a Drama Queen)...See ya at school!'"
al in la

My loser:

"I invented the jet-pack and flew over here as soon as I learned you were a cross-dressing exhibitionist, but I'm afraid, sir, that it just wasn't worth the effort."

Otherwise there are at least two caption developments. Recent winner Patrick House of Palo Alto followed his victory ("O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?") with a Slate article entitled, "How to Win the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest." Online respondents to this article include two-time winner Lawrence Wood of Chicago, who wrote

Patrick House's caption -- "O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?" -- was good, but I think even he'll admit that it wasn't as good as the one I submitted: "O.K. I'm at the window. My right or your right?" Brevity being the soul of wit, my shorter caption (which was substantively identical to the winning entry) should have been selected over Mr. House's. Why wasn't it? I can't be sure, but since I've already won two caption contests (nos. 92 and 123), I think The New Yorker is reluctant to give me a third victory. Or maybe it's because I'm Jewish. The New Yorker is a notoriously anti-Semitic publication.

So once again I feel obliged to share my own submission:

"Okay, I give up. What has six toes and ten fingers and climbs walls?"

You know, I'm letting go of the notion that my loser submission was notably close to the winner...but still!

Maybe it should've been "Okay, I give up. What climbs walls and has ten fingers but only six toes?"

I guess I just can't let go of this one.


Of course, I'm not the only loser in Blogland. Michael Neal wrote to Slate to draw attention to his How to lose the New Yorker cartoon caption contest posts at SlapClap.


And Dan Radosh is accepting questions for caption contest gatekeeper Farley Katz.


Caption Contest 149 is here, while the Anti-Caption Contest Bonus is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

27 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)
4 North Carolina

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

California conquers in cartoons again, in controversial Caption Contest 145 (Harry Bliss's belatedly acknowledged takeoff on Jack Kirby "monster at the window" comic book cover art):

"O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?"
Patrick House (Palo Alto, CA)

So House wins with an apartment joke that isn't too far from the caption that I submitted. Yay, me?


The nominees for Caption Contest 147 (Jack Ziegler's attorney representing killer whale) include a strong contender from Brooklyn:

"Objection, Your Honor! Alleged killer whale."
Will Simon (Brooklyn, NY)

"My client maintains that the penguin had a gun!"
Dan Von Kohorn (Chestnut Hill, MA)

"I demand a change of venue to a maritime court!"
S. Michael Ricciardi (Watchung, NJ)

My loser:

"Your Honor, I object! Is this the fin of a loan shark?"

That wasn't any worse than the nominees, was it?

You don't have to answer that.

Maybe I should've submitted one of my rejects:

"Killer, sure. Loan shark, never!"

Whatever.


Catching up on Anti-Captions: The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 147 (Jack Ziegler's attorney representing killer whale) is

"Fuck, it's the dream again. I'm on trial, surrounded by tiny non-whale mammals, and I don't even know what I'm being tried for. Wake up, don't worry, you'll wake up, wake up."
Snazzy Spazz

WWI? player Deborah merited an Honorary Mention with

"Your honor, my client requests a jury of his peers! And some water. Immediately."

My loser:

"Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle
tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle
tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle!!!!!!"

And in Anti-Caption Contest 148 (Drew Dernavich's religious leaders and Satan in a line-up), the winner is

"The black one."
Clambone

My loser (perhaps reflecting my unawareness that the religious figures were in a line-up, not a portrait):

"Of course, they are as nothing compared with our Supreme Lord and Master, Drew Dernavich."

If you think that's off-base (perhaps not such a bad thing for an anti-caption, wait 'til you see my caption submission).


Caption Contest 149 is here, while Anti-Caption Contest 149 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

27 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)
4 North Carolina

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

There's a little more than usual to cover this week. And, it turns out, a little less.

First of all, the winner of Contest 144 (Mick Stevens's fisherman haunted by fish) is

"I'm haunted by the faces of my victims."
Tom Buckner (Asheville, NC)

So that's a real near-miss for me. Tom Buckner, we must have had similar childhoods!


In Caption Contest 146 (Leo Cullum's interview with smiley-faced stick figure), the nominees are

"I'm sorry, this is Tic-Tac-Toe—applications for Hangman are down the hall."
Gavrilo Gnatovich (Tucson, AZ)

"Besides being a stick, what is your greatest weakness?"
Roxie June (Window Rock, AZ)

"It was a rough divorce, but she didn't get the Happy Face."
David Duty (Austin, TX)

My loser:

"You look familiar. Did we meet in the Seventies?"

The big Caption Contest news this week had to do Contest 145. Harry Bliss's "monster outside apartment window" turned out to have been copied from a Jack Kirby cover to Tales to Astonish (as Neil Gaiman and many others have noted). So now the credit for the cartoon is "Drawing by Harry Bliss, after Jack Kirby." The drawing did look familiar to me—I think I've even read the story—but I didn't figure out the source on my own.


As for Anti-Caption Contest 147 (Jack Ziegler's courtroom with lawyer gesticulating next to killer shark), Dan Radosh had not posted the winner by the time I decided to go ahead with this post, so it'll just have to wait.


Caption Contest 148 is here, while Anti-Caption Contest 148 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

26 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)
4 North Carolina

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

A week after Arkansas had its first win, Wisconsin lays claim to its own place on the map with Caption Contest 143 (P. C. Vey's businessman with blow-up doll):

"Hey, you teach C.P.R. your way, and I'll teach it mine."
Rose Locander (Waukesha, WI)

Congrats, Rose! Maybe this'll make up for all those tiresome Locander/Colander screw-ups and jokes (like this one).


In Caption Contest 145 (Harry Bliss's monster outside apartment window), the nominees are

"Better make that a large pizza."
Anne Foster (Seattle, WA)

"It appears that even the window washers are using steroids."
Jim Malatras (Albany, NY)

"O.K. I'm at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?"
Patrick House (Palo Alto, CA)

My loser:

"Okay, I give up. What has six toes and ten fingers and climbs walls?"

Kind of conceptually close to Patrick House's entry, right?


In Anti-Caption Contest 146 (Leo Cullum's business interview with smiley-faced stick figure), the winner is

"I can't tell you how many times I masturbated to that yellow caution sign showing you and your sister crossing the street. What ever happened to her?"
djack

Our own Deborah scored an Honorable Mention with

"Sorry about the chemo. It's good to see you smiling again, though."

so congrats to her!

My loser:

Initial interview with original "Smiley" model, c. 1963 (Ball Archives)

Caption Contest 147 is here, while Anti-Caption Contest 147 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

26 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION COVERAGE CONTINUES!

In a first for, uh, The Natural State, the winner of Caption Contest 142 (Jack Ziegler's taxi crashing a posh club) is

"When you don't want one, they're everywhere."
Christopher Kemp (Rogers, AR)

Congratulations, Christopher—you've put Arkansas on the map!


In Caption Contest 144 (Mick Stevens's fisherman on an analyst's couch surrounded by levitating fish), all the nominees are from the Carolinas.

"I'm haunted by the faces of my victims."
Tom Buckner (Asheville, NC)

"Just once, I'd like it to be fish and chips."
Jean Turlington (Clinton, NC)

"You think this is bad? I used to be a proctologist."
David Krieger (Taylors, SC)

My loser:

"I feel haunted by my past."

Awfully close to Buckner's entry—but not on the same level as Krieger's.


In Anti-Caption Contest 145 (Harry Bliss's man on phone while monster lurks outside window), the winner is

"Me like picture of jewish man! Me put it up on wall!"
Jimby

My loser:

"Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Oh, fuck—this is so annoying!"

Caption Contest 146 is here, while Anti-Caption Contest 146 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

26 California

21 New York (18 from the Big Apple)

12 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania
6 Virginia (three from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville)

5 Connecticut (two from New Haven, three not)
5 Illinois (four from Chicago—two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio

2 Alaska
2 Arizona
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Michigan
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

One week after repeat nominee Lynn Tudor finally won the Caption Contest, another repeat nominee surfaces: Lawrence Wood of Illinois, who is already the winner of Caption Contest 92 (Danny Shanahan dolphin looking for handouts). This time Wood offers this caption in Caption Contest 123 (bull smashes window by red curtain):

"You should be happy. How many husbands even notice window treatments?"

That's up against

"Have you thought about mauve?"
Katy Tracy (Rochester, NY)

"You should see him on Valentine's Day."
Jennifer Just (Woodbridge, CT)

Not in the competition is my submission, which I think was pretty good:

"If you think that's bad, you should see what he did in the china shop."

Winner-wise, top prize in Cartoon Contest 121 (Harry Bliss's funny-face assembly line) goes to

"Yeah, that one's funny, too. Next."
James Keegan (Milton, DE)

Yes, you saw correctly: That's a first win for Delaware, beating out two nominees from New York and keeping the Empire State from tying California in the first-place position!


The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 124 (men crawling across a desert) is

"Kejo: You are overthinking this considerably and *still* being illogical. All the crawlers know that there is no water in the direction they have come. Therefore everyone, upon suddenly coming across a wave of parched crawlers coming the opposite direction, should realize that there is also no water in the direction they are going, and try crawling in a direction that no one is crawling from. Therefore they should make a left or a right turn, although it is impossible to determine which. (Making a 180 degree turn would just send them back where they came from, dooming them to certain death.) In my caption, I hypothesize that most of the crawlers are unable to generate this optimal survival strategy, addled as they are by thirst."
Francis

To get it, I recommend you also check out the Finalists and the first Honorable Mention.

What's that you say? My losers??

"Check out that guy with the bleeping visor cap. I would call him a lucky so-and-so, but I wouldn’t want to offend anyone’s you-know-what sensibility!"

"Reading the Sunday Times just isn’t the same online."

That second one? It's funny in the way it refers to a famous...Roz Chast cartoon? (I've been having trouble finding it.)


Caption Contest 125 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 125 is here.


In other cartoon-related news, Brian Parks has rated New Yorker rating cartoons by the issue for The Village Voice. Don't expect the kind of, um, deep analysis you find here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

20 California

19 New York (17 from the Big Apple)

10 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

5 Virginia (two from Richmond)

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)
4 Illinois (three from Chicago, one from Lake Bluff)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Delaware
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

Before moving along to this week's winners and nominees, here's a nod to Erik Gunther's thorough interview with Emily "Emdashes" Gordon over at Yahoo! Picks.

And now for the main course....

In Caption Contest 119 (Danny Shanahan's businessman in large cradle), the winner is

"If he wakes up, you can give him a Martini."
Alan Schulman (Richmond, VA)

That makes two winners in a row from Virginia, which is now in fourth place. Va-va-voom!


New York, long in second place, now seems perched to provide a real challenge to front-runner California—especially if Lynn Tudor finally enters the winner's circle. That's because the nominees in Caption Contest 121 (Harry Bliss's "funny glasses" factory) are

"This part of the job is easy—it's the whoopee-cushion testing that annoys me."
Eric Lindstrom (Ithaca, NY)

"Yeah, that one's funny, too. Next."
James Keegan (Milton, DE)

"I'm just glad we don't make lingerie."
Steven Scher (Bronx, NY)

My appallingly clumsy loser:

"If only the masses understood the hard work behind their laughter."

On reflection, I think I should've gone with

"It wasn't even funny the first time."

In Anti-Caption Contest 120 (P.C. Vey's judge doing dishes), the winner is

"As a liberal judge, I need to keep my hands soft so those slaps on the wrist don't hurt too much. That's why I use Palmolive. It's more than just mild, it softens hands while you do the dishes. Palmolive: tough on grime, but soft on crime!"
Walt

My crude loser:

"Anyone who needs to take a piss while I'm doing the dishes can use the urinal on my left."

Caption Contest 123 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 123 is here.


And the latest on the Thanksgiving cartoon contests can be found here and here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

20 California

18 New York (16 from the Big Apple)

10 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

5 Virginia (two from Richmond)

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)
4 Illinois (three from Chicago, one from Lake Bluff)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

Let's begin with a cheer for Manhattanite Lynn Tudor, whose Caption Contest 120 (Tom Cheney's guy with giant Mr. Potato Head in bar) submission

"If I start to drink too much, just pull off my lips."

is at least his or her third nominee. Huzzah! Tudor already secured nominations weeks ago in Caption Contest 117 ("Welcome to the greatest living room on Earth!") and early this year in Caption Contest 80 ("Look, honey, it's the new Tickle Me Maniac.").

This time Tudor is up against

"My wife left me for Mr. Peanut."
Marla Mercer (Goleta, CA)

and

"I should have stopped after the Botox."
Sue Clifton (Pittsburgh, PA)

This was one of those occasions when it was hard to tell who was talking in the cartoon. Which partially explains my loser:

"Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?"

As for the winner of Caption Contest 118 (Paul Noth's "angels" perched on giant eggs), it's

"I always figured Hell would be less ironic."
Ben Snyder (Charlottesville, VA)

Wahoo-wa, Ben—Virginia's now in a four-way tie for fifth place.


In Anti-Caption Contest 121 (Harry Bliss's conveyor belt carrying bushy eyebrow masks), the winner is

"Stealing company property? I'm afraid that's grounds for immediate dismissal."
Francis

My loser:

"Get off the line, McGillicuddy. It might be years after that chocolate episode, but you're still not fooling anyone with that disguise."

Caption Contest 122 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 122 is here.


And the latest on the Thanksgiving cartoon contests can be found here and here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

20 California

18 New York (16 from the Big Apple)

10 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)
4 Illinois (three from Chicago, one from Lake Bluff)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)
4 Virginia

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Texas

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

Let's hear it for Brooklyn women! The winner of Caption Contest 113 (Harry Bliss hotel maid with gun outside door) is

"Oh, now you want to talk, when all week it was 'Do Not Disturb.'"
Diane Ferraro (Brooklyn, NY)

So second-place New York keeps pace with first-place California, while poor New Jersey wallows in third place, winless since Caption Contest 88.


In Caption Contest 115 (Leo Cullum's man in radiation suit in bar), the nominees are perhaps more distinctive than usual.

"Ever have the feeling you forgot to turn something off?"
Preston Thomas (Chicago, IL)

"The way I see it, I'm the miner and you're the canary."
Melissa Muntyan (Tampa, FL)

"Trust me, background radiation—it's the new secondhand smoke."
James Gamble III (New York, NY)

My loser:

"Are you sure there are no peanuts?"

In Anti-Caption Contest 116 (Gahan Wilson's cartoonist aliens), the winner is

"Ha! That’s brilliant! Of course we’ll run it - thanks for submitting! Do you have any others?"
Deborah

My losers:

"I don't care what Mr. Shawn would think. You're fired! And by the way, where did you get your turtle neck? I'm starving!"

"I know I'm new at this, but don't you think a caveman would be funnier?"

"Looks like you had a great vacation! So why the big frown?"

John Bucher of Emdashes interviews Caption Contest 111 winner David Wood here.


Caption Contest 117 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 117 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

20 California

17 New York (15 from the Big Apple)

9 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)
4 Maryland (none named Mary)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Illinois
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio
3 Virginia

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Alaska
1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Michigan
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone