How to Win the New Yorker Caption Contest
Patrick House of Slate has published his strategy for winning the New Yorker Caption Contest, and his findings are eerily similar to my own:
Humor and victory are different matters entirely. To understand what makes the perfect caption, you must start with the readership. Paging through The New Yorker is a lonesome withdrawal, not a group activity. The reader is isolated and introspective, probably on the train commuting to work. He suffers from urban ennui. He does not make eye contact. Laughing out loud is, in this context, an unseemly act sure to draw unwanted attention.
I should mention that Patrick House has, in fact, won the most recent Caption Contest, and his analysis of the previous 145 winners is pretty insightful (and funny). He admits that his caption, while the best, is not necessarily the funniest. The funniest are, and will always be, our own.
Tue., Jun. 3, 2008
Reader Comments (2)
"Laughing out loud is, in this context, an unseemly act sure to draw unwanted attention."
I had to find this shit out the hard way on the subway here.
The caption contest is a hype. It draws in the truly humerous people of the world and fools them into thinking that they have a chance to win. Bulldoggie. THEY HAVE NO CHANCE AND I REPEAT NO CHANCE. All you have to realize is that there are so many entrants. Who is picking the winner? You and I know its by committee. Did you ever sit in on a committee? Everyone has an opinion. They have to vote. If someone (entrant) in the committee is selected it goes to another committee. (There are at least 20 co-committees all selecting an entrant.) The new next committee has to select someone if they can. And on it goes adinfinitem. These committtees are so exhausted (as you are reading this blurb) they'll all need a vacation, well deserved. But you ill advised submitter keep on trying and keep on believing. Sorry for this exhaustive disertation but people are funny you know.