Life — January 6, 1927 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This six-panel comic parodies Sherlock Holmes detective fiction. A man in a checked suit repeatedly encounters the same bird, declaring "Look, wats! As I live there's Diaper Dan me dip!" He obsessively pursues the bird for years, eventually purchasing a new "bumble" with reward money to chase it. The bird consistently escapes, resulting in comedic chaos—including the protagonist being kicked and violently thrown around. The joke satirizes overly-focused detective work and obsessive behavior. Rather than solving crimes through deduction, this "Holmes" pursues one meaningless case (the bird) with absurd determination, causing personal injury and humiliation. The formally-dressed gentleman observing throughout represents proper society's bemused reaction to such ridiculous dedication and failure.