" Take my wife … please ! " Whenever you hear a comedian extract that gag out of his pouch , you might moan and consider , " That ’s the oldest joke in the record . " But what is the factual oldestjokein the book ? And does it suffer the test of time ?
In 2008 , a writing professor at the United Kingdom ’s University of Wolverhampton led a team of researcher on a quest to find the world ’s oldest jest . They pass months comb out through old Holy Writ , papyruses and even stone tablets to find grounds of wit . They discover different joke format over the class ( and we ’re talking hundred or thousands of years ) , including interrogation - and - reply , witty proverbs , riddle and puns .
The team constitute that humor has been a common train of thought throughout history — the great unwashed used it to deal with taboo and distasteful guinea pig , much like we do today . Here ’s an example . Just as current comic use world leaders as fodder for antic , the Wolverhampton squad unearthed an Egyptian witticism from 1600 BC that poked sport at pharaohs : " How do you hold a bored pharaoh ? Sail a boatload of young womanhood dress out only in fishing nets down the Nile — and cheer the pharaoh to go fishing . "
Well , maybe you had to be there .
They also discovered Britain ’s oldest joke in a 10th - century book of Anglo - Saxon verse : " What hangs at a valet ’s thigh and need to poke the hole that it ’s often poked before ? solution : A Francis Scott Key . " Ooh , disgraceful ! And an Egyptian hieroglyphic predating Christ illustrate a caper aboutsexthat went a slight something like this : " Man is even more eager to mate than a donkey — his handbag is what limit him . "
The enquiry team was a bit surprised that many of the gag and riddles they found still basically form , so many C later . Past civilizations apparently laughed at the same things we do today . sordid and taboo jokes seem to be part of the human term .
So what ’s the humans ’s oldest joke ? It dates all the way back to 1900 B.C.E. in Sumeria , which is now southerly Iraq . Is it a pithy gossip on social club or religion ? A ironic observation on current politics ? Um … not precisely . It ’s a fart joke .
translate into English , this diachronic piece offlatulencehumor record thusly : " Something which has never occur since prison term immemorial ; a young cleaning lady did not fart in her husband ’s circle . "
There you have it . Whether it ’s today ’s hottest comic populate on stage in Vegas or an ancient Sumerian scribble in ancient texts and chuckling to himself , one affair never exchange — fart jokes are always funny .
