"After you, Alphonse"

Today's NYT xword puzzle featured, among other references from the 19-aught's, the comic strip "Alphonse and Gaston". This comic strip appears to be for the French what the Little Black Sambo was for African-Americans. Of course, it's still cool in America to poke fun at the French (e.g. Borat in Talladega Nights -- hilarious!). What I find most disturbing about the comic is that "Their routine 'After you, Alphonse.', 'No, you first, my dear Gaston!' entertained readers for more than a decade" [Wikipedia]. People are simple.