The Wasp — 1876 — page 101: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 15-panel sequential comic from *The Wasp* (October 12/19, 1878) depicts a barber attempting to shave an old man under increasingly chaotic conditions. The humor escalates through physical comedy: the customer becomes progressively agitated, moving, gesticulating wildly, and falling from the chair. By the final panels, the scene devolves into complete chaos with the barber losing control and the man apparently injured or unconscious. The caption presents dialogue between the old man (asking if the barber has experience) and the barber (confidently claiming competence). The satire appears to mock either incompetent service providers or difficult clients—a relatable Victorian-era scenario depicting how simple tasks become disasters through mismanagement or obstruction. The exaggerated physical slapstick was typical of period American comic satire.