If you’ve ever tried to enter The New Yorker’s back page cartoon caption contest, you will have realized it’s not all that easy. Making the caption sound real, sound funny and work with the art is, well, an art form. I started this audio feature several month ago, I wanted to hear how the captions sound as just captions, without the art. Are they well-written, funny in-and-of themselves? How much is the art a part of why the thing is funny (assuming it is)? So I wanted to read captions and listen! Let me know what you think.
The cartoons were developed by the cartoonists and the editors in the early days of the magazine specifically to have the art and words “dance” seemlessly together. It quickly became a beloved and iconic form and remains so after almost 100 years. Kind of amazing.
Thanks for being here, happy Wednesday.
Live Reading Of New Yorker Captions