Tom Chitty’s drawing is set in New York City, where two pedestrians are crossing the street. High above them, a huge pink elephant is scaling the Empire State Building. The pedestrian in a white sweatshirt is saying something to the one in yellow jeans.
Chitty’s original caption was a reference to King Kong: “FYI. We’re telling people it’s a gorilla.” A couple of you went in a similar direction by suggesting that the elephant was part of a misguided attempt to remake the movie:
- “These reboots are getting out of hand.”
- “Worst sequel ever.”
And here’s another Kong-inspired joke: “That building can’t catch a break.”
“Seeing pink elephants” is a euphemism for hallucinations caused by delirium tremens or alcoholic hallucinosis. The following entries all allude to that euphemism:
- “Let’s get that elephant. Then we’ll go to rehab.”
- “They nearly went extinct during Prohibition.”
- “How are you enjoying the absinthe so far?”
- “Let’s switch to coffee.”
- “Am I hallucinating or are you really wearing yellow jeans?”
That last caption does a nice job of highlighting a seemingly insignificant detail and making it central to the joke.
Here’s the month’s best pun: “You don’t see that every Daiquiri.”
And here’s the best sick joke: “You’re about to learn what New York hot dogs are made from.”
This next entry combined a reference to King Kong with an allusion to drinking: “It was cirrhosis that killed the beast.”
Some of you focused on the color of the elephant without making any reference to alcohol-induced hallucinations:
- “These gender reveals are getting out of hand.”
- “In Manhattan it’s called Mauve.”
- “I love this time of year when the elephants change colors.”
- “I’d be blushing too if I was up there naked.”
That last caption is missing a couple commas.
A similar entry (submitted, I’m guessing, by a New Yorker) alluded to the way the Empire State Building is lit on the 4th of July: “On Independence Day, he’s red, white and blue.”
Three of you got political:
- “If that’s their strategy for women, the GOP is doomed.”
- “See? There are Republicans in New York City.”
- “Well, Trump Tower has a huge orange ass.”
Several of you suggested that New Yorkers are inured to bizarre sights:
- “You can do anything in New York and nobody notices.”
- “What’s ‘unusual’ is how light the traffic is.”
- “Don’t stare. You’ll look like a tourist.”
- “Nobody ever calls it in.”
- “911 stopped taking my calls.”
For the last two years every contest has elicited some pandemic jokes, and this contest is no different:
- “Our new normal is much worse than anything we feared.”
- “I don’t know about you but I’m really glad that everything is back to normal.”
That last caption would be better without the first six words. They’re unnecessary.
This next caption suggests that the man who’s speaking has not yet seen the elephant: “Yeah, right. Next you’re gonna tell me the Mets are in first.”
The next two captions suggest that the man who’s speaking is completely oblivious:
- “That’s something you don’t see every day…a cab yielding to pedestrians.”
- “I can’t believe what I’m seeing. No litter.”
Because Chitty’s drawing featured an elephant, I was steeling myself for all the references to the idiom about ignoring an important topic that no one wants to discuss, but this one’s not bad: “We need to talk about the elephant not in the room.”
A couple months ago The New Yorker’s caption contest (#810) featured Lonnie Millsap’s drawing of a man who’s trying to explain why he’s sharing an elevator with an elephant. One of the three finalists was, “There’s a mouse on the stairwell.” I loved that caption, and I thought of it when I saw this equally clever explanation for the pink elephant’s behavior: “You should see the mouse that scared him.”
Finally, here’s an entry that came out of left field. It’s silly, but it works: “Of all the days that I forget to bring my giant, pink elephant gun.”
This week’s winning caption comes from Thomas Andel: “You’re about to learn what New York hot dogs are made from.”
The five runners-up, in no particular order, are:
- “Am I hallucinating or are you really wearing yellow jeans?”
- “These gender reveals are getting out of hand.”
- “Let’s get that elephant. Then we’ll go to rehab.”
- “You should see the mouse that scared him.”
- “It was cirrhosis that killed the beast.”