New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast

A short podcast this week with just the hosts talking about the contests and their favorite cartoons from the current week's issue of the New Yorker. Our scheduled guest, Shannon Wheeler had something come up at the last minute and had to drop out. We hope to have him on again sometime early in 2026. We discuss the winning entry for Contest #969 (Ever see a bun dance?") Finalists for Con...

Larry Wood joins us on the podcast this week to talk about the recent CartoonStock contest. There was some controversy with the cartoon in this contest with a happy family gathered together in their living room, with each of the family members holding a gun (including the cat, dog and potted plant). We discuss the use of humor to help make sense of sensitive subjects (particularly in the aftermath...

Kate Isenberg Joins us on the podcast this week. Kate is a New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, animator and musician, but mostly she is a story teller. Along with the New Yorker, Kate's cartoons have appeared in The New Republic, Alta Journal, Air Mail, and Narrative.  We talk with Kate about her background and journey to becoming a New Yorker cartoonist and her cartoons that have been in the...

Kyle Bravo returns to the podcast to talk about what he's been up to since we last talked with him. He's had a couple more cartoons in the New Yorker and a number of cartoons in the Daily. He's also had cartoons in the Wall St Journal, Sat Eve Post, Antigravity, Air Mail, Alta, Private Eye, The Oldie, Woman's World, Weekly Humorist and other publications. We also talk about wha...

Scott Green joins us on the podcast this week. Scott was the winner of contest #962 (Octopus Pilot) and heard us on the podcast talking about it. He contacted us to see if we’d have him on to discuss the caption and his unique way of coming up with captions (it was his first time entering the contest, so  his method seems to work!) Scott is also an accomplished magician (he has appeared on Penn &a...

Larry Wood, the all time New Yorker cartoon caption contest winner, author and CartoonStock caption contest judge, joins us again to talk about the current New Yorker contests, our favorite cartoons from this week’s issue of the New Yorker and the latest CartoonStock contest.  A great discussion of the contests this week. Our thoughts on the captions for the New Yorker contest that did not use cro...

This week on the podcast, we welcome back Ed Himelblau. Ed fills us in on what he's been up to since we last had him on. Turns out he moved from California to Wisconsin. The high point of the move was driving cross country in a Prius with two cats (everyone survived!) He also joins us as we discuss  New Yorker Caption Contest winners for his cartoon in contest #964 (Bears in the outfield). Fi...

Artist, illustrator and cartoonist, Anjali Chandrashekar joins us on the second half of the podcast this week. Anjali had her first New Yorker cartoon published in the June 20, 2022 issue. She is also an accomplished artist and would love to have one of her illustrations on the cover of the New Yorker. We talk with her about being creative and her journey to becoming a New Yorker cartoonist. You c...

Cartoonist and comedian, Greg Nussbaum joins us on the second half of the podcast this week. Greg is a fairly new cartoonist, his first cartoon in the New Yorker was in the Dec. 2, 2024 issue. Since then, he has had one other cartoon and a Daily published. Greg is also a standup comedian. You can see him performing around Brooklyn and Manhattan. We talk about his "baby raised by firetrucks&qu...

Larry Wood, the all time New Yorker cartoon caption contest winner, author and CartoonStock caption contest judge, joins us again to talk about the current New Yorker contests, our favorite cartoons from this week’s issue of the New Yorker and the latest CartoonStock contest.  A lively discussion of the contests this week! Humor is definitely subjective as the hosts and Larry talk about what they...

On part 2 of this week's episode, we talk with former New Yorker Cartoon Editor and current Cartoon Editor at Air Mail Magazine, Bob Mankoff. Bob talks about the New Yorker and CartoonStock caption contests, AI and the logistics of maintaining a cartoon database. It is also noted that Bob has great hair. The new CartoonStock Caption Contest starts next week. Enter here for your chance to win...

Cartoonist, Isaiah Legette joins us on the second half of the podcast this week. Isaiah is a fairly new cartoonist and has been published in the New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Humorist and other publications. We talk with him about how he got into cartooning, his process and some of our favorite cartoons of his.  You can find Isaiah's cartoons (and paintings) on these social...

Cartoonist, David Gomberg joins us on the second half of the podcast this week. David Started creating cartoons in 2019. In 2021, he started getting them published in Air Mail Weekly, Narrative Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The London Times, Alta Journal, American Bystander and Woman's World. The New Yorker has been elusive, but we think he'll get in there in the near future. You can le...

Kaamran Hafeez joins us for a second time on this week's podcast. Kaamran has been a New Yorker cartoonist since 2010. He has recently published a book, "The Best of Hafeez: 60 Cartoons with Anecdotes", a very funny and informative compilation of his favorite cartoons. We talk about his book as well as other aspects of his career in cartooning. You can buy his latest book (as well a...

Matt Diffee joins us for a second time on this week's podcast. Matt had been a New Yorker cartoonist until recently, when he decided to try his hand at creating children's books. His first book, "Zip Zap Wickety Wack", will be available on September 30th. We talk with Matt about the process of creating and publishing a Children's book. We also touch on his Rejection Collec...

Tom Toro returns to the podcast for a fourth time this week. We talk with Tom about the publication of his cartoon book, "And to Think We Started as a Book Club . . .", a curated selection of his best cartoons from over the last 15 years. We also talk about his New Yorker cover he did last November (he neglected to mention that he has also done the cover for the next American Bystander....

Larry Wood, the all time New Yorker cartoon caption contest winner, author and CartoonStock caption contest judge, joins us again to talk about the current New Yorker contests, our favorite cartoons from this week’s issue of the New Yorker and the latest CartoonStock contest.  We have some great discussions on what we think makes good (or bad) captions and why we dislike certain kinds of captions....

On part 2 of this week's podcast we are joined by Illustrator, John Cuneo. John's art has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, Sports Illustrated and The Atlantic Monthly. We talk with John about his background, his distinctive drawing style, New Yorker covers and much more! You can learn more about John and see his New Yorker covers and other illustrations a...

Paul Noth returns to the podcast this week. We talk with Paul about winning this year's Thurber Prize for American Humor, his new Substack, "Noth Things" and his upcoming book project that collects almost 200 of his best cartoons (including dozens of new ones)!   You can find Paul's website here: https://www.paulnoth.com And subscribe to Noth Things at: https://substack.com/@pa...

Cartoonist, Rose Anne Prevec joins us on the second half of the podcast this week. Rose Anne has been creating cartoons since she was young, but has only recently been having them published, most notably in Airmail, Alta Journal, Narrative, Reader’s Digest, The Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Humorist. The New Yorker has been elusive, but we think she'll get in there in the near future. Yo...

Emmy Award winning writer and cartoonist, Ken Levine returns to the podcast this week. Ken has been a writer for MASH, Cheers, Frasier, Wings. The Simpsons and many more TV shows. Ken has the most recent cartoon in the CartoonStock Caption Contest and we talk with him about his cartoon and his reaction to the winning captions. He also joins us for the New Yorker contests and favorite cartoons from...

Cartoonist Harry Bliss joins us on the second half of the podcast this week.  Harry has been contributing to the New Yorker since 1998, first as a cover artist and also as a cartoonist. He has recently collaborated with Steve Martin in a series of cartoons that have been collected in the book, "A Wealth of Pigeons". Harry also illustrated Steve's book, "Number One Is Walking: M...

Screenwriter and cartoonist, Alex Gregory joins us on the podcast this week. Alex was a guest on the podcast three years ago and we mostly talked about his career in cartooning on that episode (#66). On this episode, we go over some of our favorite cartoons of his and talk more about his screenwriting. The most recent show he's been a writer on is "The Studio", which was recently no...

Larry Wood, the all time New Yorker cartoon caption contest winner, author and CartoonStock caption contest judge, joins us again to talk about the current New Yorker contests, our favorite cartoons from this week’s issue of the New Yorker and the latest CartoonStock contest.  We have the usual spirited debates with Larry about the contest finalists and we take a few digressions into politics and...

Humorist and cartoonist, José Arroyo joins us on the podcast this week. José joins us again nearly two years after we last had him on and it's been a very busy two years for him! He's been working with Conan O'Brien on a number of projects including Conan's travel show, "Conan O'Brien Must Go" (currently available on Max), the Oscars and Conan's appearance o...