# What's the oldest joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553 "2001-04-02T22:12:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![babarello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@babarello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babarello)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/1 "2001-04-02T22:12:58Z")
Does anyone know what the oldest known joke on record is, how old it is, and where it came from? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/2 "2001-04-02T22:25:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by babarello \* > \*\*Does anyone know what the oldest known joke on record is, how old it is, and where it came from? \*\* I would guess it was some proto-australopithecine sneaking up behind a fellow tribe member and suddenly shouting the equivalent of “gotcha” at the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/3 "2001-04-02T22:27:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by babarello \* > \*\*Does anyone know what the oldest known joke on record is, how old it is, and where it came from? \*\* I would guess it was some proto-australopithecine sneaking up behind a fellow tribe member and suddenly shouting the equivalent of “gotcha” at the victim. When? Probably about 4 million years ago. Where? Somewhere around Olduvai gorge, Africa. ---
**Author:** ![babarello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@babarello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babarello)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/4 "2001-04-02T22:43:53Z")
All kidding aside for a sec, I did ask what the earliest known joke ON RECORD was. This means the last 5,000 years or so…but I appreciate the hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/5 "2001-04-02T23:31:29Z")
How about restricting this to a classic joke, as in a build-up ending in a punch line? I don’t know the answer any more than you do, but that’s a very good question and I’d like to hear the answer. Until then, here are my observations. I’ve heard that this joke goes back to Roman times: “Who was that lady I saw you with last night?” “That was no lady, that was my wife.” Also, at least one ribald story with a punch line originally from _The Satyricon_ by Petronius is still circulating (thanks to classics scholars). However, the modern story involves sex between a man and a woman, whereas Petronius’ version involved two men. From ancient Greece there are the comedies of Aristophanes, but I’m not an expert on them and I don’t know if they contain any jokes in the restricted definition I’ve proposed. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/6 "2001-04-02T23:40:46Z")
The [humor in the Bible](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=2972) thread contains some _very_ old jokes and a reference to [Cecil’s column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_244.html) on Bible jokes. It also contains some ancient Chinese humor, including jokes from Confucius. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/7 "2001-04-03T00:39:02Z")
Strom Thurmon? Sorry if it not spelled right. ---
**Author:** ![Davidbw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@Davidbw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davidbw1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/8 "2001-04-03T00:46:06Z")
I’d have to say the creation of the homo sapien by either strange series of coincidences or God ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/9 "2001-04-03T01:01:20Z")
The Bible itself. (Not sure if I should duck and run for this one, or stand up and take a bow… Probably both.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/10 "2001-04-03T01:10:18Z")
Oomba Oomba garg fnor? Gnnh? Zorg Grrrr Ommba!! teee heeee (sound of mammoth femur striking flesh) Tee h… oooooooo ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/11 "2001-04-03T03:36:59Z")
From “Sappho and the Greek Lyrics Poets” > [@](#): > > Theognis, 544 B.C. > > **Good and Evil** > Easier to make bad out of good than good out of bad. > Don’t try to teach me. I am too old to learn. Not exactly LOL but humorous. > [@](#): > > Lucillius, first century A.D. > > **Shopping Tip** > Lady, you went to the market > and picked up hair, rouge, honey, wax, and teeth. > For a like amount > you might have bought a face. > > **Gossip** > Some have passed the word you dye your hair. > They lie, Nikilla, > for in the open market > you bought it raven black. > > **Love of Learning** > Zenonis gives a place in her home to Menandros a bearded grammarian, > for she has delivered her son to his instruction; > and the bushy pendant even labors into the night, > with the mother, > practicing their figures, her dangling participles, and his copulative verb. > > **Contagion** > Demostratis walks in a halo of armpit aroma, > but worse, > she makes those who smell her exhale the same he-goat fumes. > > **A Precaution** > Lazy Markos dreamt he was running, running, running… > Out of fear he might run again > Markos never went back to bed. These are more satirical, but still. > [@](#): > > The Anakreonteia, first century B.C. through sixth century A.D. > > **Bargain** > A young peddler was hawking > a wax replica of Eros. > I went to him and said: > “How much is the statue?” > He answered me in Doric. > “You name it. Just so > I can get rid of him. > I’m no sculptor in wax > and I am sick of living > with this grubby Eros.” > Now Eros, make me burn > or I’ll melt you in fire. Homer’s Odyssey also had some very funny bits in it. Much is lost in translation, but there’s quite a bit of humor in the Odyssey. I can dig some up, if you’d like. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/12 "2001-04-03T10:26:54Z")
I think we can all agree on… “Why did the chicken cross the road?” ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/13 "2001-04-03T11:45:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RAWisSYDNEY \* > \*\*I think we can all agree on… > > “Why did the chicken cross the road?” \*\* I’m sure there are jokes older than both roads and domestic chickens. I heard that almost all cultures have a joke that starts out with a traveller asking somebody for a place to sleep and being directed to sleep in the same location as the guy’s daughter, with an admonition not to have sex with her. The farmer’s daughter joke is probably pretty old, probably predates farming. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-joke/60553/14 "2001-04-03T11:46:58Z")
BTW, the chicken joke is only funny if you have already heard other jokes and are expecting a real punchline to that setup.