Chicago lawyer writes about being GOAT at New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

Randy Maniloff, Partner, recently interviewed Lawrence Wood, the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest’s most victorious competitor, for his latest article, “Chicago lawyer writes about being GOAT at New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest,” published in the ABA Journal.

Wood has won the competition eight times and was named as a finalist 15 times, far more than any other competitor.

In this interview, Maniloff discusses Wood’s new book, Your Caption Has Been Selected: More Than Anyone Could Possibly Want to Know About the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, which was released June of this year.

The book, which was inspired by Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker’s former cartoon editor and creator of the caption contest, gave more than just tips on how to win – he also offered, as Mankoff put it, “reflections on what can be learned from the contest about humor, good writing, creativity and even what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence.”

Wood takes a scientific perspective when looking into the success of his captions, something that Maniloff discusses in the interview, along with the possible implications of AI on creative writing in the future and what it could mean for the competition.

While the interview explored Wood’s successes and failures in becoming an award-winning creative writer, Maniloff’s interview also dove into the origins of Wood’s unique sense of humor, including his family and experience as an attorney.

This interview is just one of the many that Maniloff has conducted over the years, including: Judge Judy, John Grisham, James Patterson, Scott Turow, Ambassador Samantha Power, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Secretary Leon Panetta, Preet Bharara, Vernon Jordan, Henry Winkler and Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

To read more about Maniloff’s interview with Lawrence Wood, click here.