Leonardo6/ny_cartoon_1k huggingface dataset:
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: They keep watch on the offshore accounts. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Offshore accounts are bank accounts run by island nations where wealthy people keep money to avoid taxes. Here, the Moai statues, which normally are on Easter Island, have haircuts which make them look like wealthy businessmen from the USA. The idea is that these modified Maoi statues' job is to make sure that the wealthy businessmen's money is safe on the island.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: We need to screen our organ donors more closely. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the term "organ donors" --- an organ donor usually refers to someone who opts in to having their organs donated after their death; these folks might be screened for health conditions to make sure transplantation is safe. But here, the organ donor is someone who gave the musical instrument organ to the church; a more close screening process for someone donating a musical instrument would have presumably caught the fact that the organ isn't an instrument, it's a radiator.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I'd suggest you keep them away from the gingerbread men. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: These odd female dancers are being sold at the meat counter as a product: while this remains unexplained, the butcher's advice is to keep these women away from gingerbread men, which are a type of cookie shaped like men. One would want to keep the men and the women apart because romantic hi-jinks between the men and women might occur.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Sorry I'm late. I hit every traffic light coming home. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the phrase "hit every traffic light" --- usually, "hit" is a figurative expression someone would say if they encountered lots of red lights at traffic stops driving home: this would cause them to be late because red lights cause drivers to stop. But here, "hit" takes on a literal meaning: because the giraffe is the one coming home and giraffes are tall with long necks, they literally physically hit their head on every single traffic light.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: We never should have sold those air rights, Ed. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: The couple on the bottom apparently sold the air rights above their property, not realizing that whoever they sold the rights two would be able to construct an entire parallel house/property above them. The people on the bottom have a more cramped property now that their vertical neighbors live so close. It's funny in part because of the contrast between the benign/everyday nature of legal concerns vs. the whimsical idea that an upside-down house could be constructed.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I clearly recall choosing hell over high water. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A reference to the idiom: "hell or high water": in this case, they were literally given the choice, and despite apparently choosing "hell", they were given "high water", as depicted.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: It just looked so uncool to wear a seat belt in the Batmobile. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A dark joke about batman dying in a car crash. We know the angel on the right is batman because the black wings are similar to accents on the batmobile, and we know he died because he's in heaven talking about how he didn't wear a seatbelt.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Take away the computers and they’re just sitting ducks. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the phrase "sitting ducks" --- figuratively, sitting ducks are vulnerable people. The joke from the professor is that, if computers were taken away from their students, they would be incapable and vulnerable, a reference to dependence on technology. But, because the students are literally ducks, if you took the computers away, you would literally be left with a room full of ducks sitting down.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: When did you first encounter my client's balloon? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A man with a hook for a hand is on trial. Apparently, his crime was popping a balloon, which he did either purposefully or accidentally, with his hook. It's funny partly because it's unclear what type of balloon popping crime would be significant enough to put him on trial.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Honestly, I’m not sure you’re partner material. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the word "partner" --- in the context of a law firm, a "partner" is a high ranking lawyer at the firm. But here, everyone at the law firm is dancing on a table, and so "partner" takes on the second meaning of dancing partner. Here, the lawyer might not achieve law partner possibly because he isn't a good dancing partner.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Why don't you get the coffee this morning? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: This bedroom is quite dangerous --- there are holes in the floor that would be easy to fall into. These two people are apparently taking turns navigating these hazards, and one is saying it's the other person's turn to brave them to grab them both coffee to bring back to the safe bed. It's funny because it's not clear why they are trying to live normally in this overtly dangerous place.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I can keep it together during the ceremony. The reception is where I fall to pieces. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on "keep it together" and "fall to pieces" --- people at weddings will often get wrapped up in the emotion of the event, and end up crying: that is, they figuratively don't "keep it together" and do "fall to pieces." However, both these take on a literal crumbling interpretation for a wedding cake: it's easy to keep it together for a cake during the ceremony because no one is eating cake yet. But, during the reception when people eat the cake, the cake literally is cut into different pieces to serve.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Last time I'll book a discount vasectomy, for sure. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Spaying/neutering pets is a commonly performed operation for animal sterilization performed at animal shelters; the human equivalent sterilization procedure is called a vasectomy and is usually more expensive due to higher quality, human medical requirements. But here, the two men are trying to save money by having their operations done at an animal shelter. It's funny in part not only because this is an unusual way to save money, but also, because vasectomies only are performed once per person, so this is literally the last time the person will do this procedure, even if they liked it; the quote implies they aren't enjoying being locked in an animal cage.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: You call THAT pushing? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A joke about childbirth. The woman is pushing her kids up the hill in the stroller, but the quote references the pushing associated with the pain of labor/giving birth. The woman has had a few kids and is unimpressed with the "pushing" the man is thus unimpressed with the man who is only pushing a rock up a hill.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: He wants to know if you can move your seat up. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Moving a front seat up is an everyday request from people sitting in the backseat of cars if they don't have enough room. The whale is making this request: the contrast between how unusual it is that the whale is in the backseat and the benign-ness of the request is what makes it funny.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Technically, I'm guarding two posts. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on words: to guard a "post" usually means to patrol a location, but here, the guard in the hammock is just relaxing and not working. However, in another sense he is guarding the two literal posts his hammock is attached to, which he argues means that he's technically doing twice the expected work.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: If we truly believe in golf, I don't think we have much of a choice. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Armed conflicts are usually between two sides with opposing ideals; in this case, the golfers fighting the army would mean that they are standing up for their core principle: golf. This is not a core principle worth risking violence for, but they are considering it.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Any final thoughts? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A therapist might say "any final thoughts" prior to a session ending, but here, "final thoughts" refers to death. The therapist is a bit late to ask about these though, because her client has died and is in a coffin. It's funny in part because she seems to not have noticed yet, despite looking intently directly at it.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I'm just saying, after this haircut, it's difficult to trust you. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A joke about precision with sharp objects. Here, the archer apparently gave this person their haircut, and they think it's ugly. They are planning to shoot an apple off the other person's head, which requires deft coordination with a sharp object, i.e., the arrow. But the person with the haircut doesn't trust their capacity with sharp objects, because the scissors used to cut their hair weren't used skillfully, as the haircut turned out ugly.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: This would work out a lot better if we had kids. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: This couple’s car probably broke down, and, unusually, now they are rowing from the car’s windows to move it which would be quite difficult. Not only is it absurd to think using oars will help move a car at all, but, it's funny that the proposed solution to their prediciment is to get more people to row, i.e., their hypothetical children, instead of, e.g., calling a mechanic.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: This is what we get for walking down a dark alley before 5 p.m. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: There's a trope that young people may rob you if you walk down a dark alley at night. But, this caption suggests that if you go down before 5PM during the day old, people would rob you --- this references that old people tend to go bed early. This is funny because 1) we usually don't expect old people to be criminals (particularly these folks who look well off); and 2) the man seems quite nonchalant about the situation, accepting that it was their fault.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Let's just give him the damn cheese. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Scientists often run mice through mazes as part of science experiments, but here, the mouse in the experiment has not only solved the maze, but has solved the maze by transcending the experiment and building a jet pack --- the scientists decide that this subject has done more than enough, and should just be given the cheese which acts as a reward in the maze because this mouse has gone above and beyond.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Fellas, your empathy for victims is outstanding. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A dark joke: firemen, police officers, and priests might all be involved if someone was to commit suicide by jumping off a building, and in the process, they might build empathy for victims. But here, they take their empathy too far and literally step out on the edge to understand the victim.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: 4B wants you to make her husband disappear. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Magicians can often perform illusions to make objects disappear. In this case, the man is putting on a magic show for an entire apartment block -- because the magic show has intersected with people's living situations, they are making requests having to do with their home life via texting the magician's spouse (next to him on the roof). One person, the resident of apartment 4B, is experiencing marital troubles and has requested that her husband be disappeared to solve her problems.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Personally, I think Prozac is a lot easier. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: "As funny as a barrel of monkeys" is an idiom that refers to the plastic barrel of monkeys that's a children's toy. The delivery man is assuming that the other person ordered a barrel of monkeys to make himself happier, and quips that he feels that prozac, and antidepressant, might have the same effect, but be easier to use.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: But how will we raise the kids? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Ideological differences, e.g., religion, between parents are often considerations prior to two people having kids because it's desirable to have a consistent moral framework to raise kids with. In this case, the ideological difference is about geometric art.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Watch your step, I think this street is paved with Good Intentions. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the figurative saying "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions" --- this saying means that good intentions, left unchecked, can often lead to the worst outcomes. But here, the street is literally a path to hell, and so the man is saying it must be the street from the saying.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Well, after you beheaded the groundskeeper, we had to go with something low-maintenance. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: The king doesn't like the cacti decorating his throne room, but cacti are low-maintenance plants that don't require a lot of water, and grow easily. They had to switch to low-maintenance plants because he had the groundskeeper killed so there wasn't anyone to take care of the plants, but it seems like he regrets this decision.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I'm really more of a painter-gatherer. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the phrase "hunter-gatherer" --- the deer these two cavemen are hunting look like cave paintings instead of actual deer. So, instead of hunting normal deer, they prefer to interact with the painting deer, and they are "painter-gatherers," as a result.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Could you trim the sides but leave it feathered on top? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the word "feathered" --- it's possible to cut and style hair in a "feathered" fashion, which refers to a particular look. Here, "feathered" takes a literal meaning, because there's a pigeon on the man's head: in this case, "leave it feathered on top" is a request to the barber that humorously means that the bird should be left alone.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Remember that domino factory? Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A joke about an unusual construction company which demolishes buildings that have humorous interactions with the wrecking ball. Here, the wrecking ball is similar to a bowling ball knocking over the pins, and the workers are discussing the previous jobs. Like bowling pins, dominos are also knocked down after being arranged, and the wrecking ball accordingly played the same role at the domino factory.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: There's mutiny in the air. Also Viennese dark roast, but mainly mutiny. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Pirates, like the one working at the cash register, often would mutiny if they felt they were being mistreated by their captain; you can say that there's a broad consensus a a mutiny is coming by saying it's figuratively "in the air". But, in this coffee shop, the smell of Viennese dark roast is literally in the air: this contrast of figurative serious mutiny threat and literally coffee both being in the air is funny.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I put some beer on the hook. I figure if that's what got him into this mess it should be able to get him out. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A man fell through the ice because he was drunk (indicated by the body outline in the ice), and his friend, instead of trying to save him by diving in, humorously thinks that fishing with a beer as bait will be sufficient to save his drunken friend. Also, a partial play on the saying: "I got myself into this mess, and I can get myself out."
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Remember when your rubber seal broke? I'm pregnant. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Condoms are a common form of birth control referred to as "rubbers". In this case, the woman is dating a blender, which also has a rubber seal and is notorious for leaking, e.g., smoothies. The joke connects these two disjoint rubber things in a way that makes sense in a world where women date blenders.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: We have to find a better way to record our meetings. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: Meeting recordings usually happen, e.g., via note taking, via video recording, etc. The goal is to provide an exact reference of the discussion for future interested parties. But this company has humorously employed a set of parrots to listen in --- this type of bird is technically capable of repeating human speech. But, it's likely to be inefficient --- the parrots memorize and repeat incompletely and at their own discretion, and are difficult to control, defeating the point of the meeting recording.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Yes, I asked very politely. But he still says the rest room in there is for employees only. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: It's unusual that a desert island would have guards around it; instead of explaining why these people are being carefully guarded despite how remote the island is, the people nonchalantly are most annoyed by not being able to use the employees-only bathroom.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: It's big and blue. You can't miss it. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A lost cowboy riding a seahorse might be looking for the ocean, which is what the other cowboy is providing directions towards. The ocean is what is big and blue, and because it's so big, it's difficult to miss. It's funny that the seahorse cowboy could find himself so far from the ocean because it would be hard to get this far without trying to.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: An optimist would see the room as half dry. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: A play on the "glass half full/empty" thought experiment, which is used to identify optimists (who see a glass as half full) vs. pessimists (who see a glass as half empty). The wife who is on the dry side is telling her spouse to look on the bright side/be optimistic and stop complaining about the rain on his half. It's funny because her dismissiveness is partly driven by the fact that she's not experiencing the rain, so doesn't really understand where he's coming from.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: Let’s hope for some nut allergies. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: These two people are defending themselves against a crowd of zombies using two very different methods. One has a standard gun to shoot and kill zombies. The other has baked cookies with nuts in them in the hopes that some of the zombies have severe nut allergies and will die after eating the cookies. It's funny because cookies usually aren't used as a weapon, and it's not clear why the baker thought this would be more effective than a gun.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: I think my wife is having us tailed. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: The man is cheating on his wife with this other woman, and apparently she has noticed. Sometimes, to prove their partner is cheating someone will hire a private investigator to spy on the cheating spouse --- however, this private investigator is not being subtle, he is literally in the middle of the bed while the cheaters are in the act of cheating. It's funny because the man has somehow not noticed the obvious investigator until this point, and still seems unsure of his existence.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: You're gonna have to roll me outta here. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: After eating too much, people sometimes feel bloated like a balloon, and exaggerate by saying that they need to be "rolled out" because they feel unable to even walk. But here, while the people are eating a lot, "rolled out" takes on a second meaning, because they are eating wheels, which are capable of literally rolling.
user: Given a cartoon image and a caption. Caption: You’re in luck! It's cannabis. Question: Generating an explanation of why this image/caption combination is funny. Answer: 

assistant: The man has an unusual medical condition that causes plants to grow from his skin. Instead of curing him of this condition, the doctor points out that the plants are marijuana plants, which would be good either because he could sell what he grows, or he could smoke it and enjoy using drugs. A doctor that sees these upsides of his condition (rather than curing them) comes across as humorously untrustworthy.