Roger Ebert’s Final Cartoon Captions

When I found out late yesterday afternoon that Roger Ebert had passed away, I was saddened but not completely surprised. I knew he had been ill but I had a feeling that he was much sicker than he was letting on. Why? Because he hadn’t entered our most recent Cartoon Caption Contest, No. 375. Ebert won contest No. 281 with this entry:

After his win, Ebert claimed, a bit hyperbolically, that he had sent a caption in every week. In fact, he had entered a mere hundred and seven times. But after he won, that statement was no hyperbole. Ebert really did enter every week of the ninety-three contests that followed. And, in a tribute to the human spirit, which is nothing without the humorous spirit that Roger so nobly and ably embodied, he was entering right up to the end. And he always entered early. For example, in contest No. 374, out of over five thousand entries, Roger submitted the hundred and thirty-sixth entry:

Maybe not his best effort, but considering the circumstances, at least worth one thumb up. And, anyway, if I had been able to ask Roger about this effort, I’d like to think he would have quipped, “Hey, give me a break. Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”

Here, in a two-thumbs-up tribute to Roger, are what we think are his best captions: