Ronny Chieng Enters The New Yorker Caption Contest

The New Yorker

The actor, and comedian Ronny Chieng tackles The New Yorker's cartoon-caption contest.

Transcript

00:00Hey, I'm Ronnie Chang.

00:01I'm gonna try to caption some New Yorker cartoons,

00:03right here.

00:04I'm seeing all this for the first time, by the way.

00:06I didn't cheat.

00:07I didn't get this ahead of time.

00:08This is pure, in the moment, genius.

00:12There's a man, I guess it's a bartender,

00:16and then there's the planet Earth.

00:18And planet Earth is taking a sip from a drink

00:21and planet Earth looks a bit stressed out.

00:24What were the problems that the Earth would be facing?

00:28I mean, the world right now is perfect.

00:31I don't know, when I see the Earth upset,

00:33I just immediately think about plastic.

00:35I'm just gonna make it like it's a doctor's report.

00:41They found microplastics everywhere.

00:48This is a drawing of the Capitol building,

00:52the US Capitol building, I believe,

00:55in bed with a woman.

00:57So as we know, the Capitol building has undergone

00:59a lot of trauma in the recent years.

01:02It's actually become a very famous building

01:04in American history.

01:05So my first thought is people storming the Capitol.

01:10I'll show you what storming looks like.

01:11All right.

01:13Emphasis on I.

01:17I'll show you what storming looks like.

01:26Tracking myself up here.

01:28Okay, so this is a wizard,

01:31and he's behind a desk,

01:33and he's talking to a man and a woman in front of him.

01:38It looks like a counseling session.

01:41This one, for some reason,

01:42this caption came really quick to me.

01:45You know, even...

01:49Magic can help your marriage.

01:51No, that's not good.

01:52Probably should have seen this ahead of time.

01:54I'm becoming quite self-conscious now, though.

01:56How long do other people take for this?

01:58So I'm thinking this couple has a problem,

02:00but the problem has to be, like, pretty inane, right?

02:04So that it's humorous and not sad.

02:07Here we go.

02:09You don't need a spell to keep the toilet seat down.

02:14What my wife always says.

02:19There's a lawyer here talking to a hooded figure.

02:23Usually this figure's death.

02:25Like, I feel like death is trying to figure out a defense,

02:29and the lawyer is trying to advise against it.

02:32I mean, the lawyer is giving death advice.

02:35So what advice would you give death?

02:39Here we go.

02:40Just doing your job is not a defense.

02:46This is how I work at home, too.

02:47Just a lot of staring in silence with cameras on.

02:50So this is an office setting in a puddle,

02:55or it could be quicksand.

02:57It looks like water, though.

02:58The guy in the water pond looks like he's struggling a bit.

03:01Everyone else seems very nonchalant about it.

03:03And the person who's dying looks older,

03:05and the people who are nonchalant look younger.

03:08It's a real metaphor for society right now.

03:10I think this is commentary on the boomer generation

03:13and how they feel like they're sinking in the office place,

03:17and the young are kind of ambivalent about it,

03:20as they should be.

03:21We're told not to help the boomers.

03:27If you help one, you have to help them all, maybe?

03:30It's tough. It's tough.

03:31This crowd is.

03:32This is a tough crowd.

03:33All right. Here we go.

03:37There you go.

03:38Terrible.

03:39Terrible handwriting.

03:40Anyway, try to ignore the boomers.

03:44If you help one, you have to help them all.

03:47Why don't you try your luck

03:55or your skill at the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest online?

04:00NewYorker.com, I'm assuming.

04:02Or Google it. You can Google it.

04:04I'm an actual fan of this.

04:06I'm not some jaded actor trying to promote a movie.

04:10I live in New York.

04:12I do comedy.

04:12This is what this is.

04:14This is the job.

04:14This is what I love doing.

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