TIps for winning the New Yorker cartoon caption contest?

Instructions for being clever and original and funny verbally are like teaching someone how to sing on pitch or draw a bicycle...I think one is born w. certain gifts, some develop them and some have them thrust upon them, w. marginal success. I am always amazed at just how original and hilarious the captions are. For many of the original NYorker cartoons, note that the artists drew them and E.B. White, writer extraordinaire, contributed the captions. Thurber, who wasn't much of an artist, wrote his own captions - funny because he was primarily a writer.

Newsweek did an article last year on Zachary Kanin, the guy who edits and judges the contest...the article has some good insights and tips into how they decide who wins. You can check it out online at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15994159/site/newsweek/

be the main character in the cartoon (mentally) !