# What is the origin of this joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940 "2005-11-01T18:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/1 "2005-11-01T18:30:53Z")
The joke goes like this: Person A: Back in the day we had X. Person B: You had X? All we had was Y (something inferior to X) and we were glad to have it. Person C: You had Y? All we had was Z (something inferior to Y) and we were glad to have it. … I’ve seen it several times here on the SDMB. Is this some kind of inside joke? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/2 "2005-11-01T18:35:56Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > I’ve seen it several times here on the SDMB. Is this some kind of inside joke? SDMB Ha! in my day all we had was telnet and BBSs. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/3 "2005-11-01T18:38:33Z")
Probably lots of sources, but the most well-known one is a Monty Python sketch. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/4 "2005-11-01T18:38:41Z")
I don’t know if it’s the original, but Monty Python had a sketch along these lines with 3 old geezers trying to one-up each other with the poverty and hardship of their youth, ending with a completely and utterly ridiculous bit about working 36 hours a day at the mill, paying for the privilege and being killed by one’s father every night by being hacked to pieces, but “tell that to young people these days and they don’t believe you.” ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/5 "2005-11-01T18:39:25Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > The joke goes like this: > > Person A: Back in the day we had X. > Person B: You had X? All we had was Y (something inferior to X) and we were glad to have it. > Person C: You had Y? All we had was Z (something inferior to Y) and we were glad to have it. > … > > I’ve seen it several times here on the SDMB. Is this some kind of inside joke? This may be an inside reference to a sketch that’s usually called “The Four Yorkshiremen”, although other variations are out there. The Four Yorkshiremen was most famously done by Monty Python during their concert at the Hollywood Bowl, but I think it was written either by Marty Feldman or by members of the Goon Squad. I am sure I saw it with Marty Feldman on TV, long before Monty Python ever came out. In the sketch, four men from Yorkshire are sitting around in a swanky setting, reminiscing about their youth. Their tales of privation and hardship grow increasingly absurd and outrageous, and they constantly try to outdo each other: “House? You were lucky. We had to live in a hole in the road!” “We had to work in mine 24 hours a day, pay 10pence for the privilege, and when we came home, our parents would slice us up with bread knife…” At the end, one of the Yorkshiremen says “and you try telling that to the youth of today, and they won’t believe you!” Occasionally one of them will say “and we were glad to have it!” This has been exaggerated over time into a standard line of “oldsters” remembering how hard things were back in the “old days” and yet how they never complained. Bill Cosby does this sort of stuff, too. An example: In my day, we only had 300 bps modems. And we were thankful! ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/6 "2005-11-01T18:39:38Z")
Specifically, this one: [http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four\_yorkshiremen.htm](http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four_yorkshiremen.htm) ---
**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:** [November 1, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/7 "2005-11-01T18:39:54Z")
So much for answering the question before the frivolousness starts… I think it’s from a Monty Python sketch, but I’ve never seen that particular one. Thing is, the Monty Python version _ended_, eventually… Once it sets hold in a thread, though, the posters never seem willing to let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/8 "2005-11-01T18:40:15Z")
Though its origins are no doubt much older, the most popular source is the [Four Yorkshire Men](http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/jokes/monty-python-four-yorkshiremen.html) sketch by the Monty Python comedy troupe. More recently, a comedy sketch where the characters rapidly increase the absurdity was a recurring bit on SNL in the “Bill Brassky” routines. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/9 "2005-11-01T18:41:42Z")
I first recall seeing it as a Monty Python skit from the original series. That kind of one up manship has gone on forever but the Monty Python skit took it to extremes. From [here](http://homepage.eircom.net/~odyssey/Quotes/Popular/Films/Monty_Python.html): > [@](#): > > FOUR YORKSHIREMAN SKETCH > (Hawaiian music) > Man#1: Aye, in them days we was glad to have the price of a cup of tea! > Man#2: Aye, a cup of cold tea! > Man#4: Without milk or sugar! > Man#3: Or tea! > Man#1: Aye, in a cracked cup and all! > Man#4: Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled-up newspaper! > Man#2: Aye, the best we could manage in those days was to suck on a piece of damp cloth! > Man#3: Aye, but we were happy in those days, though we were poor. > Man#1: Because we were poor! My old dad used to say to me: Money doesn’t buy you happiness! > Man#4: Aye, he was right, I was happier then and I had nothing. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof. > Man#2: House! You were lucky to live in a house! We had to all live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, half the floor was missing, and were all huddled together in a corner for fear of falling! > Man#3: You were lucky to have a room! We used to 'ave to live in a corridor! > Man# > \ > > Man#4: Right. I had to get up at ten o’clock at night, half an hourbefore I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down at the mill and pay the mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our mother and father would kill us and dance on our graves singing Halleluja. > Man#1: Aye, and you try telling young people of today that. And they won’t believe you. > Man#4: Aye, they won’t! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/10 "2005-11-01T18:44:49Z")
Dang it! (I should’ve known I wouldn’t be first in a Python thread) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/11 "2005-11-01T18:49:18Z")
> [@633squadron](#): > > The Four Yorkshiremen was most famously done by Monty Python during their concert at the Hollywood Bowl, but I think it was written either by Marty Feldman or by members of the Goon Squad. I am sure I saw it with Marty Feldman on TV, long before Monty Python ever came out. According to “Monty Python Speaks!”, the sketch was originally done for [“At Last The 1948 Show”](http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/559951/), which John Cleese and Graham Chapman were writers for. The sketch never appeared on the Monty Python television program; rather, it was dusted off and performed by Python at their stage show, where it was filmed as part of the Hollywood Bowl concert. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/12 "2005-11-01T19:27:33Z")
Dana Carvey’s recurring SNL sketch of The Grumpy Old Man, in which he’d tell a story like the one above, and end it with “And that’s the way it was, and we _liked_ it!” reinforced the meme. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/13 "2005-11-01T21:07:08Z")
I think Monty Python just took the joke and stretched it to ridiculous extremes, they didn’t invent it. The version of this joke I’ve most often heard was, Man #1: “We had to walk through 2 miles of snow with holes in our shoes.” Man #2: “You had shoes?” Man #3: “You had _feet_?” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/14 "2005-11-01T21:45:10Z")
The joke is old, very old. I have seen old footage from the 40’s of either George Burns or another ex-vaudvillian perform a series of exchanges like this. In the early 70’s I first saw it on the Flip Wilson show. This may or mey not pre-date Monty Python’s skit. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/15 "2005-11-01T21:51:04Z")
I’m pretty sure that every kid who’s ever had to listen to his Dad has come up with some riff on this. I know I’m giving my kid material. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/16 "2005-11-01T22:01:02Z")
I’ve only ever seen the Four Yorkshiremen sketch as something which was already playing on layer-upon-layer of cliches and self-referential jokes. And it wouldn’t be the only in-joke among comics, [_The Aristocrats_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats) (possibly NSFW link) being perhaps the best example. ---
**Author:** ![Rashaverak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a5b964/32.png) [@Rashaverak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashaverak)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/17 "2005-11-02T00:44:46Z")
[Oneupmanship, Nerd Style!](http://home.tiac.net/~cri/2003/likedit.html) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/18 "2005-11-02T03:30:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So much for answering the question before the frivolousness starts… > > I think it’s from a Monty Python sketch, but I’ve never seen that particular one. Thing is, the Monty Python version _ended_, eventually… Once it sets hold in a thread, though, the posters never seem willing to let it go. Back in our day, we would have killed for frivolousness. We had to make do with simple merriment. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/19 "2005-11-02T03:53:04Z")
It’s a pretty obvious thing about which to joke and I am sure it goes back to pre-history. When I was around ten years old, my friend’s father used to tell us about going to the movies and getting a giant bag of popcorn all for a dollar or something. We’d make fun of him with the price getting cheaper and the bag of popcorn getting bigger. Of course we weren’t nearly as clever or funny as the famous Python version of this. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940/20 "2005-11-02T03:58:59Z")
You had merriment? Back in the day, all we had was restrained mirth. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-this-joke/328940.md?page=2)