Why does everything with you have to be so jokey ?
I’m a comedian.
We had a funny guy with us in Korea. Tail gunner, they blew his brains all over the Pacific.
There’s nothing funny about THAT.
Ya like ice?
Don’t you find you get more without it?
I'll have mine with PLENTY OF ICE
Don't you find that you get more without it?
Who is the lipstick for?
No one.
do I like it?
Hez in da bathroom
Baetroom
Pendant? Those bastards!
"...in da batroom". I still like to say this.
It's hard to keep a sense of humor, when you're kicking in a skull
That's GOTTA hurt!!
My dad says you reminded him of a guy in Korea lol
Nothin funny about that
That's not funny.
Jerry's on the fringe of the humor business
I’m a joke maker.
I'm a comedian...
You may tell jokes Mr Jerry Seinfeld, but you are no comedian
The ultimate smackdown!
That's not so funny.
You’ve made some good observations but it’s over.
He's a joke maker. Tell em Jerry.
I'm a joke maker
Because, he cannot not be funny.
FUNNY GUY!
HO-HO
JERRY SEINFELD IS A FUNNY GUY!
See, smart people think this is funny!
That's funny.
It’s a Ziggy!
Some charlatan has taken a Ziggy and tried to pass it off as their own!
Quick, to the archives!
To the idiot mobile!
That irreverence, that wit. I'd recognize it anywhere
Flash of lightning!
It’s merely a comment on contemporary moops.
MOORS!
MOOPS!
That's not a real word
It's a misprint!
Maybe if you quone it, it'll become one.
To do that, you need the majority whip
It's impossible, given the statue of limitations.
I’d measure it first with a barometer.
That's my father's cabin!
His wife's a slut
Now that's a complaint.
Id like to see that complaint rectified
It has something to do with that 42 in the corner
That’s the page number !!!!
Well, I can't crack this one!
Rectum? I hardly knew em
Can’t believe I had to scroll this deep to find the correct reply
Volshtein?
That’s not a word.
His wife is in a coma.
His wife's a slut
What a sow.
His wife is in a coma.
That one was the best! 😂😂😂😂
Cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer.
I always thought this was about the looney tunes character 🤣
overture, curtains, lights, this is it, we'll hit the heights, oh what heights we'll hit, on with the show, this is it
Is that the big hairy red scrotum guy? I refuse to look it up.
Yes, conceptually it sort of fits because bugs bunny shaved him and there was nothing there…
Such eeeeenteresting monsters have such eeeeenteresting hair.
I’d like to see that complaint get rectified!
Unironically, this is the answer.
It’s obviously not something that the complaint department can handle
Volshtein
That's not a word.
I like the kitty.
I'd like to see that complaint get rectified.
I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a rabbit in a hat and a 64 impala!
Rabbit in a hat with a bat*
D'oh!
30 years ago, just a reminder
Skee-lo Doh!
I wish I had a girl that looked good, I would call her
You know, almost 30 years later, I’m still wondering if that line meant he didn’t have a girl, or he DID have a girl but she was ugly so he didn’t want to call her 😂
Sweet ref
Shot calla
Why doesn't everything with you have to be so jokey?
I'm a comedian!
You, Mr. Timey_Wimey, may tell jokes, but you are no Comedian.
I don't know if this was a serious question or just a humorous reference to the episode, so feel free to ignore if it wasn't meant to be answered sincerely. However, to answer the question, I always saw this as a layered absurd antijoke, very similar to "Why did the chicken cross the road?". It's completely absurd that a pig would go to a complaint department, but you could see the idea as a setup that's going to deliver a punchline similar to an X walking into a bar joke. Of all the things you can imagine a pig complaining about, farm life, animal treatment, or possibly the pig represents a person with classic symbolism like a police officer or a glutton, instead the comic veers off into the absurd. Why would a pig complain about his height, it makes no sense and that's the joke. You're expecting some funny and impactful reason for the pig to be there, for the whole absurd setup, just like you expect there to be some reason the chicken crossed the road, and ultimately the violation of your expectations is what is meant to get a chuckle. The joke is that you thought there'd be a joke when there wasn't. The joke isn't the pig, the joke is you.
Classic gossamer dissection going on here.
Oh man, one shouldn’t do that.
I believe the joke is just that a complaints department isn’t intended for general complaints about oneself. It’s usually for the return/replacement of a purchased product. Hence “I’d like to see that complaint get rectified!”
He didn't have a receipt, either.
Brilliant!
I thought the joke was why isn’t he wishing he weren’t a pig, but I think yours is the more likely take👍
It’s a Dilbert
It's a Farbman!
It’s a ‘47 cabin
Love Farbman. I have a Farbman desk set where I write all my skits.
It’s a slice of life.
Hey Reilly the zoo called you’re due back by six!
My uncle is a big reader of the new yorker cartoons and poetry lol. He has these type of new yorker cartoons everywhere in his house. Like dozens of original ziggys. And they are all as dry and not necessarily funny. I stopped asking him to explain the jokes years ago as it turned into exactly how it goes on the show when Laney asks the guy to explain it lol
Every New Yorker cartoon improves 110% when you change the caption to either "Christ, what an asshole!" or "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn."
Maybe he liked the kitty…
A nickel.
The New Yorker is stealing my ideas
I've gotta complaint: this cartoon stinks.
PIG MAN BABY!! PIG MAN!!!!!
What's the deal with Seinfeld?
There's a Pig Man.
There's a Pig Cartoon.
They should call it Pigfeld.
That's gold Jerry! Can I use that?
Department store used to have an in store complaints department, this was mostly for returning items. It was not for general complaints, and he’s a pig and that’s his complaint! Perhaps she could direct him to the Tom Cruise shoe section of the store?
It's not even a complaint, it's a wish!
How is anyone supposed to explain it without the 42 in the corner?
He’s the pigman, Jerry!
I like the piggy.
ha, i commented the same
I would ask Tor Eckman, he has a lot of good insights
The joke is that the complaints department is supposed to be for complaints about the store or whatever and the pig is complaining about being short.
It’s a pig because… pig funny? I don’t know. Every New Yorker cartoon has to have an absurdist element like that.
I once used the line at work on an employee named David "Some charlatan has stolen my idea and passed it off as his own! Quick David....TO MY ARCHIVES!". He stared at me and said "What the hell are you talking about?" as I ran out of the room.
The cat is obviously heightening
It must’ve seeped into my subconscious, Puddy has Ziggy bedsheets
Shouldnt we be the ones wearing the bucket?
He’s just getting started, he also wants to be a baller and wishes his girl would take better care of herself so he would actually want to call her. Maybe if he had magic like a rabbit in a hat he could have the classic car he desires
When you think you’re making a good joke and then realize 200 comments beat you to it.
Look at it! The pig wants to be taller. And what's this guy gonna say huh? Nothing! Hahaha
That’s what I’d like to know about it!
It’s a slice of life.
No it isn’t
Well, cartoons are like gossamer. And one doesn’t dissect gossamer.
Elaine: "The pig says "My wife is a slut""
Jerry:"Now that's a complaint"
YOU SHOULDN'T MAKE FUN OF PIGS!
Now there’s a complaint I’d like to see rectified!
Miss Benes, cartoons are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer
I’d like to see that complaint get rectified.
Not my problem. Take it up with Todd Gack. He's in charge of complaints.
“I’d like to see that complaint get rectified!”
It's not a usual complaint!
That reminds me of a Ziggy.
I like the kitty.
I’d like to see that complaint get rectified!
While on my way to return these pants I'm wearing I slipped in some mud. May I still return these?
The very pants I was wearing…
I'd like to see that complaint get rectified!
Take it up with Consumer Affairs
He’s a short king
Sure.
(Chuckles at comic and slowly walks away.)
This is from Puddy’s Ziggy bedsheets
He was sold a pig in a poke
Better than poking a pig …
It’s Vornstein
Pig: "I GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!"
Seinfeld's comeback, the sty remark was spot on
Good comedy is good timing ⭐
Everything has to be so jokey with you.
Quick Elaine! to my archive.
Jerry could create really good cartoons if he had a Farbman.
The humour is in setting confusing expectations. As one reads the cartoon from top to bottom, we first read "complaints", and then see the pig. Our immediate thought is - OK this is already stupid, but it's probably going to involve some comment on contemporary mores. Then you read the caption/punchline, and it completely fails to deliver what you thought the set-up was leading to. In fact it doesn't even matter that he's a pig at all. The joke has not only completely fallen apart but like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, the confusing expectations and failure of delivery satirize mass media and expose contemporary culture as relying merely on anti-humour and misdirection than on a substantive exposé. In imitating what it seeks to ridicule, it offers a pointed critique and suggests to the reader that high art is not lost after all.
Pretty obvious. the layers of irony here must be lost on me. But its a guy wishing he was taller without realizing his biggest problem(i assume with dating) is that hes a pig.
It’s gossamer . One doesn’t dissect gossamer
It's a Ziggy.
Look at the lady in window, what’s she gonna do?
Nothing! Lol
it's a Vollstein?
Vorshtein?
Volshtein
seeing it drawn now, I actually find the absurdity of it funny. Like if a pig could talk, of all the things he complains about he chooses his height? That's gold
I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her
Wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat
And a six-four Impala
Volstein?
My place is a sty!
Here is what a robot told me:
"The joke in "The Cartoon" episode, where Elaine submits a caption for a New Yorker cartoon, is intentionally obscure and somewhat nonsensical, which is part of the humor. Elaine's caption is, "I wish I was taller," paired with an image of a pig at a complaint counter. The humor derives from the absurdity and the fact that it doesn’t quite make sense, mirroring the often inscrutable nature of New Yorker cartoons.
Elaine herself is frustrated because she doesn’t fully understand why the pig wants to be taller, highlighting how some highbrow humor can be overly abstract or opaque. The episode pokes fun at this type of humor by showing Elaine’s struggle and the eventual realization that the cartoons can sometimes seem like they don't make much sense.
So, you're not necessarily supposed to understand why the pig wants to be taller. The confusion and the character reactions to the caption are central to the comedic effect." - ChatGPT-4o
But we never see the original cartoon that Elaine doesn’t understand. The pig cartoon is Elaine’s cartoon. So, of course she understands her own cartoon. AI gets this fundamentally wrong!
I tried to use my own brain to honestly answer OP's question, and it was an even worse result
ERROR
I cannot imagine how your answer could be worse than the robot one! Your post is such a good example of how AI can wrap a nonsensical response in words that sound right. Thanks for that.
it’s a slice of life
No one can
The lady on the escalator is key. Very high brow.
puddy has ziggy sheets
It has something to do with the number in the corner
Kramer: IT'S A PIG-MAAAAAAAN!
Ziggy! I know that humor anywhere
yes
It's a pun.
One doesn't dissect gossamer...
You shouldn't make fun of pigs.
It has something to do with that ‘42’ in the corner
It has something to do with that 42 in the corner.
He looks tall enough to me…. so…. No!
A literal Pig. But if he was taller he’d get all the ladies ?
How about something like, "I can't find my receipt, my place is a sty."