# Have all civilizations had jokes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156 "2005-03-06T02:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/1 "2005-03-06T02:15:13Z")
Or is it a relatively new thing? Is there a first joke? ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/2 "2005-03-06T02:21:19Z")
Aren’t there jokes in Shakespeare and in Greek tragedies? How far back would it even be possible to go? What types of jokes are you thinking of? “Guy walks into a bar …” kind of things, or pratfalls? If the latter, I’m sure people have been slipping on banana peels for about a bajillion years. ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/3 "2005-03-06T02:29:13Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Is there a first joke? Well… > [@Genesis 2: 18](#): > > And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/4 "2005-03-06T02:40:11Z")
Setting: Pleistocene era. Two guys around campfire. Gar: Hey Urg, knock knock! Urg: Who’s there? Gar: Og! Urg: Og who? Gar: Og smash!!! (hits Gar with club) Urg: Heh heh heh… (falls down in a heap) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/5 "2005-03-06T04:25:44Z")
> [@Dignan](#): > > Aren’t there jokes in Shakespeare and in Greek tragedies? How far back would it even be possible to go? The Master speaks. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_244.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_244.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/6 "2005-03-06T04:34:43Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Is there a first joke? Civilization. [ANCIENT JOKES](http://www.curculio.org/Ioci/) > [@](#): > > When Plato had defined Man as a featherless biped, and was > admired for it, he plucked a chicken and brought it into the > lecture-room and said “Here is Plato’s Man”. After that, > ‘broad-nailed’ was added to the definition. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/7 "2005-03-06T05:10:25Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Setting: Pleistocene era. Two guys around campfire. > > Gar: Hey Urg, knock knock! > > Urg: Who’s there? > > Gar: Og! > > Urg: Og who? > > Gar: Og smash!!! (hits Gar with club) > > Urg: Heh heh heh… (falls down in a heap) Second joke: you ever heard the one about Ug, his mother-in-law, and the saber-toothed tiger? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/8 "2005-03-06T05:20:21Z")
Come on people. No more jokes. This is a serious question. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/9 "2005-03-06T05:21:03Z")
Isn’t humor an essential part of what makes us human? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/10 "2005-03-06T05:24:31Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Isn’t humor an essential part of what makes us human? Do jokes define humor? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/11 "2005-03-06T05:30:30Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Do jokes define humor? Again, it depends on how you define ‘joke.’ I think a joke is any statement or action meant to be taken humorously, and I think humans have always been making jokes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the higher nonhuman primates make jokes, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-all-civilizations-had-jokes/293156/12 "2005-03-06T05:30:43Z")
Leaning into GD territory now… Are pratfalls jokes? Do jokes have to be intentional? I’m sure chimps laugh at one of their own slipping on a banana peel. But yes, I would say that all human societies have had humor in some form or another.