Frequent Caption Contest finalist, John Konno joins us on the podcast this week. John (or a member of his family) has been a finalist in the New Yorker contest five times and more times than we can count in the CartoonStock contest (he's been the top winner in the last two contests). We talk with him about the how he got into entering the contests and he joins us in the contest discussions and our favorite cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker. The podcast was much saddened...

Michael Maslin returns to the podcast to talk some more about cartoons, process, motivation and the contests. We get into a great discussion on a new trend in humor that we're calling "shared experience". You can find Michael's Ink Spill Substack here: https://michaelmaslinsinkspill.substack.com Liza Donnelly's documentary , "Women Laughing", is starting to be shown in theaters. You can find where it's playing and learn more about it here: https://www.womenlaughingfilm.com Rusty Epst...

Bob Mankoff returns to the podcast for a fifth time. We talk with him about the changes to the CartoonStock contest, The recent decision by Air Mail to no longer publish cartoons in its weekly digital magazine and the current state of AI and it's ability to be funny. The co-hosts have a lively discussion on the current New Yorker contests and Paul, once again, digs in the gutter for another caption idea. Here's the link to the games page at CartoonStock: https://www.cartoonstock.com/ga...

Larry Wood joins us this week to talk about the contests and cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker. We have some great discussions and disagreements on the finalists for the New Yorker and CartoonStock contests. Humor is very subjective! We discuss the winning entry for Contest #1000 (Rocky Swords Picture Show.) Finalists for Contest #1002 (Singin' in the Rain Barrel of Monkeys.) Current Contest #1004 (Hello Doggy, Checkmate!) Be sure to enter the latest CartoonStock Caption C...

Guy Richards Smit joins us on the podcast this week. Guy has followed his muse down many paths: art, music, video production and most recently, gag cartooning. His art has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, The Hirshhorn Museum and The Pompidou Center among many other museums and galleries. His first cartoon was published in the New Yorker in 2022 and he has had many published since then in the magazine and the Daily cartoons. We talk with him about his career, cartoons a...

John Klossner returns to the podcast to talk some more about cartoons, Children's book illustrations, his stint doing the Caption Contest Commentary for Beth's facebook group and puns. We really dig into puns on this one (fair warning). Here are the links to the books John worked on: Smalltown City https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZQM2ZBM?lv Everyone's Trash https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942155778?lv And some links to other Caption contests that John contributes cartoons to: https://moderncat.com/...

Olivia Noble joins us on the podcast this week. Olivia Started submitting her cartoons to the New Yorker through Submittable in 2024 and had her first Cartoon published in the magazine in September, 2025. She has had a second cartoon published since than and has had a cartoon appear in a recent caption contest. We talk with Olivia about her journey to becoming a New Yorker cartoonist, her process, cartoons and the never ending thrills of copy editing. She hopes to have a webpage or at least a...

Larry Wood joins us this week to talk about the contests and cartoons from the current issue of the New Yorker. We were all pretty much in agreement with the New Yorker contests, but the podcast gang did take Larry to task for some of the Cartoon Stock picks. Larry was able to defend his personal picks, but could offer no defense for the other judge's picks (he actually agreed with us for a change). Larry also states that he thinks his caption for New Yorker Contest #1000 is one of the ...

Rusty Epstein joins us on the podcast this week. Rusty's cartoons have appeared in The Weekly Humorist, The Times and other magazines and will soon be published in the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker (he recently received an "O.K.", but it has not been published yet). We talk with Rusty abbot his journey to becoming a cartoonist, his process and the challenge of tracking where you've submitted your cartoons. He has also created and runs the Reverse Caption Contest, a contest where he s...

Avi Steinberg returns to the podcast to talk some more about cartoons, the rewards of being a kindergarten teacher and his soon to be published book, "The Jumble". We also talk about aour love of cartoon tropes (more desert island cartoons? Yes, please!) At the end of the podcast, Avi asks the hosts about their recent attempts at drawing their own cartoons. Those cartoons can be found in the comments at the podcast facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0wy...