Because she is terribly ugly, he can’t imagine her getting pregnant by anything but chance–such as a man being blind or drunk or blind drunk.
Sexist and lookist. Thankfully, most people can find someone who considers them an acceptable partner.
But in the morning, he’ll be sober…
But seriously, folks, look for a resurgence of this sort of humor.
This is familiar – was it posted previously?
The comic is so tiny that I have to zoom it 200% to make out the details.
If it turns on the woman’s appearance, surely the cartoonist should have avoided entangling her face with the waiter and making it hard to distinguish? Not that the joke is funny, if it’s as SingaporeBill says.
Also, why gigantic cross earring? Is the joke actually that she’s Catholic? Seriously, look at that cross, it’s bigger than her ear.
Andréa, I thought the same thing.
My first thought was that he remembered having a fling with her when they were both young and he’s nervous that it might have had… results. Of course that interpretation depends on her not recognizing him now, which is pretty unlikely in that circumstance.
He was going to say “miracle”, but cut himself off and said “chance” instead.
I first read it just as a “difficulty of making polite conversation with a stranger without saying something awkward/stupd” comic. (If so, also not funny, but unobjectionably so.)
Unlike the classic joke of that ilk: “Ah, you — er — certainly don’t sweat much, for a fat lady, do you?”
She doesn’t seem ugly enough for an ugly joke. Of course, it’s cartoon art, where no one actually looks good. I’m wondering why a tree is on the table.
“I’m wondering why a tree is on the table.”
‘Cause the artists didn’t want to bother drawing individual flowers on the centerpiece.
It’s not a tree. it’s one GIANT communal piece of broccoli.
It’s a floral arrangement in a vase (or vaaaas, if you will.)
I don’t think so, Andréa, but of course all evidence was destroyed during Comicgeddon.
It seemed to be ‘déja vu all over again’ for me . . .
The Buni was a tremendous CIDU…until I scrolled and realized there was a third panel! Was really wondering there for a bit.
Still not funny, but Buni usually isn’t, for me.
Carp, commented in wrong place. Y’all know what I meant.
@ Andréa – Yes, this is a rerun, but as Bill said, if it was before the crash, there’s no way to prove anything, and if the previous appearance was after the crash, then it wasn’t tagged properly (I checked all the threads that were marked “New Yorker”).
No worries.
The floral arrangement was certainly made to look like the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Not sure if this might be likmme what Shrug is getting at, but I took the “by any chance” to be just this guy’s usual tic or filler phrase. But he momentarily feels awkward, over the possible implications; yet continues that way anyway, with some difficulty articulating it because of that awkwardness realization.
I thought he was trying to figure out if the rich lady was worth marrying so that he could inherit her fortune.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Because she is terribly ugly, he can’t imagine her getting pregnant by anything but chance–such as a man being blind or drunk or blind drunk.
Sexist and lookist. Thankfully, most people can find someone who considers them an acceptable partner.
But in the morning, he’ll be sober…
But seriously, folks, look for a resurgence of this sort of humor.
This is familiar – was it posted previously?
The comic is so tiny that I have to zoom it 200% to make out the details.
If it turns on the woman’s appearance, surely the cartoonist should have avoided entangling her face with the waiter and making it hard to distinguish? Not that the joke is funny, if it’s as SingaporeBill says.
Also, why gigantic cross earring? Is the joke actually that she’s Catholic? Seriously, look at that cross, it’s bigger than her ear.
Andréa, I thought the same thing.
My first thought was that he remembered having a fling with her when they were both young and he’s nervous that it might have had… results. Of course that interpretation depends on her not recognizing him now, which is pretty unlikely in that circumstance.
He was going to say “miracle”, but cut himself off and said “chance” instead.
I first read it just as a “difficulty of making polite conversation with a stranger without saying something awkward/stupd” comic. (If so, also not funny, but unobjectionably so.)
Unlike the classic joke of that ilk: “Ah, you — er — certainly don’t sweat much, for a fat lady, do you?”
She doesn’t seem ugly enough for an ugly joke. Of course, it’s cartoon art, where no one actually looks good. I’m wondering why a tree is on the table.
“I’m wondering why a tree is on the table.”
‘Cause the artists didn’t want to bother drawing individual flowers on the centerpiece.
It’s not a tree. it’s one GIANT communal piece of broccoli.
It’s a floral arrangement in a vase (or vaaaas, if you will.)
Here’s a sharper reproduction of the comic:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/03/14
I don’t think so, Andréa, but of course all evidence was destroyed during Comicgeddon.
It seemed to be ‘déja vu all over again’ for me . . .
The Buni was a tremendous CIDU…until I scrolled and realized there was a third panel! Was really wondering there for a bit.
Still not funny, but Buni usually isn’t, for me.
Carp, commented in wrong place. Y’all know what I meant.
@ Andréa – Yes, this is a rerun, but as Bill said, if it was before the crash, there’s no way to prove anything, and if the previous appearance was after the crash, then it wasn’t tagged properly (I checked all the threads that were marked “New Yorker”).
No worries.
The floral arrangement was certainly made to look like the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Not sure if this might be likmme what Shrug is getting at, but I took the “by any chance” to be just this guy’s usual tic or filler phrase. But he momentarily feels awkward, over the possible implications; yet continues that way anyway, with some difficulty articulating it because of that awkwardness realization.
I thought he was trying to figure out if the rich lady was worth marrying so that he could inherit her fortune.