JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

According to a study by the University of Wolverhampton commissioned by TV channel Dave, the world’s oldest recorded joke was made in Sumer in 1900 BC. It goes like this: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.”

Okay, it doesn’t exactly make you weep with laughter, but remember they had just invented cities at the time. I’m sure there are older jokes, but no one bothered to write them down as writing hadn’t been invented yet.

The second oldest joke dates back to 1600 BC Egypt: “How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish.” Pa-rum-pum.

An Anglo-Saxon joke from about 1000: “What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before? Answer: A key.” This tells us that the Q&A format, dirty jokes, and unfunny jokes are nearly as old as recorded history. What I want to know is how many people were executed for gags that flopped. Like the jester in Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, going : “TB or not TB, that is consumption…”

In the documentary The Aristocrats, comics riff on what is purportedly the filthiest joke ever made. The joke itself isn’t that funny, but embellishing, adding layers and stretching it out to a half-hour is impressive.