5 minutes to slow down, laugh, and share something in common. Every Thursday.

Let's Make a Cartoon Caption Together

As many of you know, I’ve won the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest. Twice.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve won the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest—Twice.

The Contest runs weekly, from Sunday to Sunday. Anyone with a New Yorker subscription can submit a caption. People vote on the captions, and the Top 3 are selected for a final vote. The winner is announced the following week.

My first win (of two—I’ve won twice) was March 13, 2022:

Hilarious.

Fun fact: I usually screenshot my submissions to share on my Instagram and add to my list of non-winners. Apparently, I was so unimpressed with this submission that I didn’t even screenshot it. When I was notified I made the Top 3, I found out what I had submitted along with everyone else.

My second win (of two—I’ve won twice) was December 18th, 2023:

Comical.

I was nervous Dick Nymeyer’s caption might beat mine. He had a great one. Better luck next time!

With my two wins just a year and a half apart—and having only started submitting a few years ago—my ego is now so inflated that I expect a Top 3 selection email every week.

Obviously, I have not gotten my third win yet. I would certainly let you know about it.

In pursuit of that third win, I thought it would be fun to come up with my caption on the fly, right here in this newsletter.

We’ll learn together whether it works…

This week's New Yorker Caption Contest

Sometimes, I can tell right off the bat there’s a lot to work with. This isn’t one of those times…

I see a dinner party and a circus performer, so the joke will likely combine those two situations…

Given the time of year, maybe the joke references Thanksgiving…

The performer is juggling something unclear, and that’s where the dinner guests are looking. So the host—the person whose point-of-view the caption will come from—would probably be referencing the performer and/or the juggling…

I don’t have one for this line of thinking yet—let’s come back to it later.

Perhaps the performer is there for a different reason, like he’s just another person at the dinner…

The reference to Canadian Thanksgiving being a different date might be too far a stretch…

But the performer being her husband gives me an idea in the “completely unrelated” field…

This one doesn’t feel as strong…it’s all about trying a bunch of different possibilities to find the one that lands best!

Let’s go back to the first idea, referencing the intersection of the juggling and the Thanksgiving meal.

OOH we’re on to something now. I can feel it…

I can sense I’ve zoned in on the right sphere of joke—a comment that applies to dinner but is also applicable to the juggling—now it’s time to iterate at a smaller level…

This doesn’t feel as good as #1. It’s hard to know if that’s because it doesn’t have the ‘Aha!’ essence of the first one, or it’s legitimately just not as funny…

This feels better than #2, but I’m not sure how it compares to #1. I like the idea that somehow his juggling results in food being provided for the guests when they throw him their plate…

Which gives me one more completely new idea…

I don’t like this one as much personally, but it feels like one that may resonate more and thus is more likely to be selected for the Top 3, which is my goal.

This feels like a natural stopping point!

I like to re-visit it with a few days in-between, and use that fresh perspective to see what I like best, and any other ideas that may arise in that new mindset.

Which one do you like best? Let me know by replying to this email, or head to my Instagram this weekend to vote on your favorite!

😄 Funny Business

📊 Community Poll

Results for last week’s question: You've just reached the crosswalk, and a courteous driver waves you on to walk across. What do you do?

Big fan of the fake jog over here. Upper body is very gracious for your time, lower body doesn’t give a fuck.

I do the same, T! As a walker, I assume all car drivers will bow down to me kindly.

As a driver, I assume all walkers are intentionally sauntering to mess with me.

The paradoxes of life.

On to this week’s question…

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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. - Epictetus