Life — September 13, 1894 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Mother-in-Law: And Even Then It Was a Very Old Joke" This is a humorous cartoon depicting an ancient Egyptian scene. Two figures in Egyptian dress appear to be presenting or arguing about a woman (likely a mother-in-law figure) to a seated official or authority figure. The elaborate Egyptian styling—hieroglyphics, period costume, architectural details—is the joke's setup. The caption states this joke is "a very old joke," suggesting that mother-in-law humor is so ancient it predates modern civilization itself. By placing the tired domestic complaint in pharaonic Egypt, *Life* satirizes how timeless and worn-out this particular joke has become. The point: even Egyptians were making the same stale mother-in-law jokes thousands of years ago. It's a meta-joke about the exhaustion of a comedy cliché.