Life — February 1, 1929 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a single-panel cartoon by Greber showing a chaotic street scene with a person apparently run over by a vehicle. An "Embarrassed Wife" apologizes to what appears to be an authority figure (possibly a policeman or official), explaining: "You'll have to excuse him, sir, it's the first time he's ever been run over." The joke is absurdist humor playing on the phrase "first time" — typically used to excuse inexperience in normal activities. Here it's applied darkly to being struck by a vehicle, treating a serious accident with comedic understatement. The cartoon satirizes both the wife's bizarrely apologetic tone and society's tendency to excuse or minimize dangerous situations. This reflects early-to-mid 20th-century American humor's embrace of dark, deadpan comedy about urban hazards and traffic accidents.