Episode 233 - 2025 Year in Review

On this week's episode, Vin, Paul, Beth and Nicole review past and present contests from 2025 and choose our best and worst of the year.  We also talk a bit about the CartoonStock contest and our favorite regular cartoons from the issue for the year.We talk a bit about Keith Huie's caption for the Finalists of contest #972. Keith is a terrific artist living in Wisconsin (just a couple of towns over from Paul) and you should check out his art here:https://shopotlag.com/collections/all/artist_keith-huie?And you can follow him on social media:https://www.facebook.com/KeithHuieArthttps://www.instagram.com/huieart/And of course, we discuss...  The winning captions for New Yorker contest #970 (A deathly good read.)  (Congratulations to our own Nicole for her first place win!)Finalists for contest #972 (Caption flame out!) Current New Yorker contest #974 (The Rat Six-Pack.)Dig into the contest data at Victor Chongchua'a great website, WordsBelow:https://wordsbelow.appYou can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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 Contest #971 (Get to the chopper.)Current Contest #973 (Snowman is an island.)Original New Yorker cartoon artwork can be found at:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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 of the horrific shootings in the last few days) and when it is appropriate or inappropriate to do so.We then talk about the actual contest and we all were impressed by the quality of captions that were entered. Larry also noted that this was the 200th contest since it started and it has given away $40,000 dollars since it started the cash prize. You can order Larry's book, "Your Caption Has Been Selected: More Than Anyone Could Possibly Want to Know About The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest" here:   https://www.amazon.com/Your-Caption-Has-Been-Selected/dp/1250333407/You can purchase original New Yorker cartoon art from Curated Cartoons here: https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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 New Yorker and CartoonStock caption contests. We also talk a bit about the value of being a creative person. You can find more about Kate at her website here:https://www.kateisenberg.comAnd follow her on Instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/thekateisenberg/On Part 1 of the episode, we discuss the current contests:Winning captions for New Yorker contest #968 (Global puppidemic.)Finalists for contest #970 (Booked for murder.)Current New Yorker contest #972 (Oh Godzilla.)We also talk about our favorite cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker.You can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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 what makes a good cartoon and caption and he also joins us as we discuss  New Yorker Caption Contests and our favorite cartoons from the current issue.We talk about the winners for contest #967 (We'll always Have Paris of animals).Finalists for Contest #969 (Plenty of nothing). And the current Contest #971 (We get stumped).  You can Buy Kyle's books at his Etsy shop:https://www.etsy.com/shop/KyleBravoThingsSubscribe to his SubStack:https://kbravo.substack.comOr his Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/kylebravo/postsAnd check out his cartoons on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kyle_bravo_You can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to : [email protected]

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 & Teller’s Fool Us), comedian and a frequent game show contestant. We talk about all this and more!You can check out Scott’s website here:https://www.scottgreenmagic.comSee his Penn & Teller appearance here:https://www.youtube.com/@ScottGreenMagicBuy his book, "Excellence in Family Magic", here:https://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Family.../dp/1548665223And see a couple of game show appearances here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist...Scott also joins us to discuss the current contests:Winning captions for New Yorker contest #966 (I'm paranoid because everybody knows my name)Finalists for contest #968 (Teacher's pets)Current New Yorker contest #970 (Dewey Dismal System)We also talk about our favorite cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker.You can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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 crowdsource voting (Vin found something nice to say about one of the captions!) We also discuss the CartoonStock contest and have a discussion about the subject of the current one open for captions.Larry mentions a Pat Byrnes cartoon, but couldn't quite remember the caption. The caption is: "We will now observe a moment of silencing critics of gun violence."We discuss the winning entry for Contest #965 (Television Dead Air.)Finalists for Contest #967 (Raters of the Lost Ark.)Current Contest #969 (Feeling a bit Hornie.)You can order Larry's book, "Your Caption Has Been Selected: More Than Anyone Could Possibly Want to Know About The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest" here:   https://www.amazon.com/Your-Caption-Has-Been-Selected/dp/1250333407/You can purchase original New Yorker cartoon art from Curated Cartoons here: https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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).Finalists for Contest #966 (Let's go, Let's go, Freudian Quip). And the current Contest #968 (Every Good Boy Deserves Fetching).  We also choose our favorite cartoons from the current issue.You can learn more about Ed on his website. Be sure to sign up for his newsletter!www.himelblau.comYou can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comHere's the link to the Words Below app:https://wordsbelow.appSend us questions or comments to : [email protected]

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 can find Anjali's website here:https://anjalic.comAnd follow her on Instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/anjalichandrashekar/On Part 1 of the episode, we discuss the current contests:Winning captions for New Yorker contest #963 (Seriously funny business)Finalists for contest #965 (Date fright TV)Current New Yorker contest #967 (Noah's Arktic.)We also talk about our favorite cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker.You can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comSend us questions or comments to:  [email protected]

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" routine during the podcast and if you want to see the image we talk about, you can find it on the podcast facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075679507023You can check out his growth as a cartoonist on his instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/gegnussbaum/You can also buy some of his merch (with prints coming soon) at:https://geg.threadless.com There was a problem with Greg's audio initially, but we got it cleaned up by the 13 minute mark.On Part 1 of the episode, we discuss the current contests:Winning captions for New Yorker contest #962 (Tentacly, I'm the pilot)Finalists for contest #964 (Bearly caught out)Current New Yorker contest #966 (What is the root, root, root cause?)We also talk about our favorite cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker.You can buy original New Yorker cartoon art at Curated Cartoons:https://www.curatedcartoons.comDig deep into the New Yorker cartoon caption contest data at:https://wordsbelow.app Send us questions or comments to:  [email protected]