# Origin on the brain sucker dad joke? "What's this brain sucker doing? Starving!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410 "2024-01-20T21:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![notmenotyou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notmenotyou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notmenotyou)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/1 "2024-01-20T21:22:33Z")
Apparently everyone’s dad did this back in the 90s (and earlier??). Where did it come from? Maybe some TV show? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/2 "2024-01-20T21:25:36Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **notmenotyou**! I remember the joke back from when I was a kid in the early 1960’s. It’s probably older than that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/3 "2024-01-21T13:34:48Z")
I expect it’s probably oral tradition, not from any TV show or the like. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/4 "2024-01-21T23:15:29Z")
It appeared in print at least as far back as 1986: > **[Doc Blakely's "Push Button Wit"](https://books.google.com/books?id=JSBqAvrTknoC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&dq=brain%2Bsucker%2Bstarving&q=brain%2Bsucker%2Bstarving&hl=en)** > > Not only does this humor treasury supply you with over 1,000 specific examples of "Doc" Blakely's own unique brand of wit & humor, it also contains 86 pages with 90 tips on the philosophy & use of humor to be devastatingly effective. For example,... [![](https://books.google.com/books/content?id=JSBqAvrTknoC&pg=PA11&img=1&pgis=1&dq=brain%2Bsucker%2Bstarving&sig=ACfU3U1DjtIEEsGXvaSI-ZFwdFZoZcdcAg&edge=0) ](https://books.google.com/books/content?id=JSBqAvrTknoC&pg=PA11&img=1&pgis=1&dq=brain%2Bsucker%2Bstarving&sig=ACfU3U1DjtIEEsGXvaSI-ZFwdFZoZcdcAg&edge=0) Dunno if this Doc Blakely invented the joke, but even if it only appeared in print in 1986, he might have been using it long before then. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/5 "2024-01-21T23:27:06Z")
We were doing that “joke” on each other, as kids, in the late 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/6 "2024-01-24T14:10:05Z")
I have never heard this joke. Does it require a prop or perhaps putting your hand on your mark’s head or something? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/7 "2024-01-24T19:10:34Z")
Yes, you put your hand on their head and flex your fingers. “What is this? A brain sucker! What’s it doing? _Starving!_” I learned this in school and used to do it to my mom in the late 70s, early 80s (and points beyond, just to annoy her) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/8 "2024-01-24T19:16:09Z")
Encountered it as a kid in the early 80s. I’d put it down as a kid thing, not a “dad” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/9 "2024-01-24T19:16:52Z")
College classmate would do it to me, flexing her fingers as an octopus above my head and saying the line. I ended up drawing comics for her to that theme. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/10 "2024-01-24T19:19:59Z")
I never heard it before either. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/11 "2024-01-24T21:01:59Z")
I’ve never heard it before. And it doesn’t work as what I’d call a dad joke since the punchline relies on the ‘What’s it doing?’ setup no kid is ever going to give dad. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/12 "2024-01-24T22:11:55Z")
It just needs proper prompting. Dad: “What’s this?” Kid: “I dunno” Dad: “A brain sucker. Know what it’s doing?” Kid: “What?” Dad: “Starving.” Although I think of it more as an uncle joke than a dad joke. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/13 "2024-01-25T00:22:59Z")
Growing up my older brother did it to me all the time. I swapped out ‘starving’ with ‘getting plenty of food’ when I passed it on to my kids. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/14 "2024-01-25T00:52:15Z")
Another “never heard it.” ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-on-the-brain-sucker-dad-joke-whats-this-brain-sucker-doing-starving/996410/15 "2024-01-26T19:32:02Z")
A related joke was to hold your hand out palm up with your fingers sticking upward rigidly, reminiscent of a dead spider. “Know what this is?” “What?” “A dead one of these.” Then you flip your hand over, plop it on top of their head, and start sucking their brain.